The Wire, half of Season 3
This is the busiest time of year in re: film-critic-land, so had to stop my re-watch of The Wire to make room for new releases. I’ll get back to it!
All Is Forgiven (2007; d. Mia Hansen-Løve)
Hansen-Løve’s first film, released in the United States for the first time – I reviewed for Ebert.
The Card Counter (2021; d. Paul Schrader)
In the running for my personal Best Film of the Year. (There are a couple others on the list, and I still have more to see.) But Card Counter destroyed me, and has one of my favorite shots of the year – one of Paul Schrader’s most startling shots. Wow. To call this film “powerful” doesn’t really do it justice. It’s more tortured and anguished than that (because of course, it’s Paul Schrader). I love reading Glenn Kenny on Paul Schrader, and his review of Card Counter is the one to read.
Velvet Underground (2021; d. Todd Haynes)
In the running for my favorite documentary of 2021. It’s been a really strong year for docs! This one, though!! Todd Haynes! Lou Reed, Nico, Andy Warhol … familiar figures, a familiar story, but Haynes’ style is so startling, so hallucinogenic, he almost makes you feel like you were there. A lot of times documentaries are proclaimed “the best” because they address serious important subject matter. The doc could be filmed in a banal cliched way, it doesn’t matter, it shines light on a problem and blah blah. I watch a lot of documentaries and many of them all feel and look the same, regardless of the subject matter. I appreciate documentarians who try something different. Haynes, of course, is a veteran filmmaker of narrative features … with the entire cultural history of America – its colors and interior designs and its music and clothing – swirling around in his head. His frame of reference is vast. Here, he unleashes all of it. Velvet Underground – as a documentary – is quite intricate, and I have no idea how one would even begin to put together something like this. Please check it out if you haven’t already! And I must thank Todd Haynes for this beautiful juxtaposition:
Cusp (2021; d. Isabel Bethencourt and Parker Hill)
A documentary following around three teenage girls in Texas over the course of one long summer. Lots of disturbing things, and an amazingly intimate approach. I reviewed for Ebert.
Quantum Leap, Season 2, episode 22; “M.I.A. – April 1, 1969” (1990; d. Michael Zinberg)
As busy as November always is, when Dean Stockwell died I had to take a MOMENT. I wish I had time to take more than just one. I want to do a full re-watch of all of his stuff (or, as much as possible). The way I did when I first got obsessed. For now, though, I decided to watch a couple of episodes of Quantum Leap, starting with the one I mentioned in my tribute for Ebert, the final episode of Season 2, where you learn more of Al’s backstory.
Quantum Leap, Season 5, episode 22; “Mirror Image – August 8, 1953” (1993; d. James Whitmore Jr.)
I then moved on to watch the finale, which is basically a follow-up to “MIA”, three seasons before. Bruce McGill! I actually had forgotten just how powerful this finale is. Stockwell isn’t in it all that much. It’s mostly Bakula and McGill – both of whom do stunning work. Bakula is so emotional, so earnest, so open … It’s really emotional.
Miami Vice, Season 2, episode 8, “Bushido” (1985; d. Edward James Olmos)
Stockwell only has one scene in this, but the buildup is intense. His character’s presence is felt long before he appears. He is set up as this fearsome figure, truly dangerous – a Black Ops guy, someone you do not want to mess with. And then we finally meet him, and it’s Dean Stockwell, with his almost gentle air, his quiet sorrowfulness … which provides a sense of tragedy and scope to the situation. He is so key to this whole thing working. Olmos knew what he was doing casting him. Their scene together is superb. Wonderful episode.
Quantum Leap, Season 4, episode 6, “Raped – June 20, 1980” (1991; d. Michael Zinberg)
I picked a couple episodes to watch, at random. It’s been a long time, but so much of it came back! This is a pretty powerful episode about rape, and – similar to Supernatural – it’s an anthology series, almost, with no standing sets, no “home base” – and so each episode is its own little contained world. The amount of detail the production designers, costume designers, actors, everything – were able to get into these little worlds is why this show works.
Quantum Leap, Season 3, episode 12, “8½ Months – November 15, 1955” (1991; d. James Whitmore Jr.)
Scott Bacula as an unwed pregnant teenager. It’s pretty funny – Sam becomes convinced he is actually pregnant – while Al keeps saying, “Sam, that’s impossible.” Again: a whole world is erected here, a dusty scrabbly little Texas town.
Quantum Leap, Season 4, episode 22, “A Leap for Lisa – June 25, 1957” (1992; d. James Whitmore Jr.)
The From Here to Eternity inspired episode, complete with making out on the sand as the surf rolls in around you!
Long Day’s Journey Into Night (1962; d. Sidney Lumet)
Had to do it. As I wrote about in the first piece I devoted to Stockwell, Long Days Journey was what made me zoom the lens in on him, and get curious about who he was as an actor. I had already seen so much! Probably the first thing I ever saw him in was The Secret Garden, which I loved as a kid. I was a Quantum Leap fan. But re-watching Long Days Journey started my own long journey of investigation into Stockwell’s career. I hadn’t seen it since. It’s a tough one. That SCRIPT. It’s so wonderful, though. Hepburn is a giant and this performance is MAJOR. Watching Stockwell watch her – seeing how his heart breaks every time he looks at her … it’s this incredible two-way current between them. He is FIXATED on her.
Prayers for the Stolen (2021; d. Tatiana Huezo)
A terrifying movie about a real-life humanitarian crisis. I reviewed for Ebert.
Passing (2021; d. Rebecca Hall)
A super strong first film from Rebecca Hall, an actress I’ve always loved. Based on Nella Larsen’s 1929 book of the same name, Passing tells the story of two women who knew each other as girls, and have taken very different paths. One has followed the conventional route, and is busy with activism through the NAACP and etc. The other has decided to “pass” as white, marrying a white man, and circulating in the elite white world, completely divorced from her own people. It’s complicated, though. Larsen’s view is complicated, as is the film’s. Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga both give superb performances, but Negga’s in particular is special. It’s the kind of performance I really love, which doesn’t exist very much anymore in today’s day and age of super-kitchen-sink casual acting and/or the flat-lining cliched style required by superhero/comic movies. Negga is in a Vivien Leigh mode here – I wonder if it was one of the influences. The gestures, the mannerisms, the self-conscious “Belle” aspect to it … this is a woman who performs every minute of every day and night. Her whole life is a performance. She’s phenomenal.
Procession (2021; d. Robert Greene)
A very VERY difficult watch. Alissa Wilkinson wrote a wonderful piece on Procession for Vox. I will be thinking about this movie for a long time.
Parallel Mothers (2021; d. Pedro Almodovar)
One of my contenders for Best Film of the year – and Penelope Cruz gives my favorite performance by an actress. She is so so good here. Always great to see Almodovar regular Rossy de Palma! And her outfits. The COLORS. But Cruz … her expressive face, the horror dawning, the doubts, the terrors, the incomprehensible ways she tries to deal with the crisis …. she makes crazy choices, but there’s logic at the heart of all of it. An additional element has to do with Spain’s fascist past, and a location believed to be the site of an unmarked mass grave (there are many, all over the countryside). Part of the job of the government is to “restore memory” – which means to dig up these mass graves and give these executed men proper burials among their loved ones. So alongside this story of childbirth and motherhood – and all its crazy twists and turns – is also a political story. The story of a nation’s past is often in the hands of those who survive, who carry the torch into the present and future, who demand that the past be remembered and acknowledged: this is often the job of women. Women are the ones demanding the restorative justice of memory. Almodovar, of course, is all about women. I loved this film so much!
Hive (2021; d. Blerta Basholli)
Another contender for Best Film of the year. Definitely on my list! I watched this back to back with Parallel Mothers, and it was a complete coincidence, but they made a powerful double bill. Hive takes place in Kosovo, a decade or so after the genocide, and the film starts with a mass grave being opened, the bodies of men being identified and tagged. Women throughout Kosovo watched their men be dragged away from home, marched off down the road, never to return home again. They have been attempting ever since to get at LEAST some kind of official acknowledgement, proper recognition, so that they – and the country – can move on. Hive is based on a true story. The less said about it the better. It’s the story of one very real woman, who decided to try to make life better for herself – in what is essentially a peasant-village environment – patriarchal doesn’t even begin to cover the level of hostility towards women in this world. It’s the kind of movie where they show the real person at the end credits and I burst into tears at the sight of her. I loved Hive.
Bergman Island (2021; d. Mia Hansen-Løve)
Another on my list of Best Films! Tim Roth and Vicki Krieps go on a writing vacation to Ingmar Bergman’s “island”. They are both filmmakers and Bergman nuts. Roth is the more successful filmmaker, and he is busy with hosting panels and QAs, while she is aimless and suffering from writer’s block. Halfway through, Hansen-Løve switches it up in an unexpected way. The whole form of the movie changes. As much as I loved the first half, if there had been no second half – if there had been no tear in the space-time-continuum of the film’s linearity – the film wouldn’t be what it is. It’s all well and good to watch artists suffering from writer’s block in gloriously beautiful settings – but writer’s block is not, how you say, DRAMATIC. Hansen-Love makes it so, and the second half – where the writer’s block works itself out, weaving in elements of real life AND fantasy – or, taking some random element from real life and then expanding it out in the story – that’s what the creative process is! It’s how an artist breaks through. The self-conscious bifurcation of the film’s structure mirrors Bergman’s Persona. I love Hansen-Love – and it was great to review her first film for Ebert this month, as well as see her latest, just to get the full scope. One of my favorite current filmmakers.
Mass (2021; d. Fran Kranz)
Jesus LORD this film is a tough watch. Two couples meet in a church basement. Jason Isaacs and Martha Plimpton play the parents of a boy who was killed in a school shooting. Ann Dowd and Reed Birney play the parents of the killer. This meeting has been engineered by a lawyer, and facilitated by the church, in hopes that there might be healing or some kind of moving-on made possible. There’s no mediator, though. It’s just those four people in this terrible room, saying terrible things. Honestly, the acting is as good as it gets. You won’t see better performances this year. I was particularly impressed by Isaacs, but it seems unfair to pull him out specifically. It’s just that … his pain at times literally seems to be BOILING beneath his skin. His character has found an outlet for his pain in political activism. But … it’s not working. There’s too much pain to be managed. Seriously. Great fucking acting all around.
No Man of God (2021; d. Amber Sealey)
I was looking forward to this. I love Luke Kirby and I was very curious to see him as Ted Bundy. He does a wonderful job – he’s almost unrecognizable. Kirby is so handsome, but he understands that Bundy’s handsomeness is a garish leering mask … so he somehow turns his own handsomeness into something vile. Check it out. It’s very good work. I just really disliked Sealey’s approach – those montages! – and I disliked her credulity and her cliched attitude. I know that’s harsh. But the whole “getting close to a killer is dangerous because you start to identify with the killer” thing has been done SO MUCH BETTER, and most recently in Mindhunter – like, that was the whole point of Mindhunter, and the series handled it brilliantly. Sealey is not up to the task at ALL, and takes a cliched approach (these artsy “montages” of disturbing sexual images, ugh, so bad. She might not have meant to do this, but her approach ends up corroborating Bundy’s cynical plea in the 11th hour that “the porn made me do it.”)
The Guilty (2021; d. Antoine Fuqua)
Jake Gyllenhaal in an English-language remake of the 2018 film of the same name, directed by Gustav Möller. First off, you should see the original. It’s superb. Second of all, you should see the remake! It’s the same premise, albeit with an Americanized-Californiaized slant: A 911 dispatcher gets sucked into the roller coaster of one particular 911 call – and he starts to feel like if he can just “solve” this call, he will find redemption and forgiveness for all of the terrible terrible things he has done, on the job and off. It’s a one-person show, in other words. Just a man and his headset and the voice on the other line. I must call out the voices on the other line: Peter Sarsgaard, Ethan Hawke and Riley Keough – you never see any of them. But their performances are incredible – the degree of difficulty here is super high. Actors having to give full-blown performances in a voice recording booth … having to believably generate pain, terror, anguish, rage … and then there’s Jake G., trapped in the control room … You totally believe he’s talking to these people in real time. Would love to see a little making-of.
Writing with Fire (2021; d. Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh)
I reviewed this powerful documentary about a woman-run newspaper in Uttar Pradesh. I admire these women so much.
The Beatles: Get Back (2021; d. Peter Jackson)
I’ve read a couple of whiny moaning reviews criticizing the length of “Get Back”. Apparently, to these ingrates, it’s “aimless.” What the actual fuck is wrong with people. There is such a thing as a wrong opinion. I can’t wait to watch it again. I reviewed for Ebert.
The Shrink Next Door, (2021)
Allison and I watched the four episodes available thus far. I remember vaguely hearing about this horrible situation, and hearing about the podcast. I’m not a podcast person, in general, but the furor around this particular podcast reached even me. Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd give amazing performances – as does Kathryn Hahn – and it’s just such a terrible story of manipulation, coercion and thought control … this poor sap being the perfect “mark”. I almost feel like this might have been more effective in a single two-hour movie, as opposed to a series. Going episode to episode, with Will Ferrell being completely brainwashed and trapped – ruining his life in slow-motion … is a tough haul. The character is so frustrating. But it’s a great performance. And RUDD, in particular … he gets to use parts of himself that have always been there, but never really highlighted in a negative way. Easy charm, facile intimacy, the sense that maybe he’s a little bit of a dick … all of that. It’s so FUN to watch Paul Rudd get to work in this zone!
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982; d. Amy Heckerling)
Allison and I watched it on my birthday. Allison, who grew up in California, kept pausing it to exclaim at this or that landmark that was either no longer there, or so transformed as to be unrecognizable. The mall in Santa Monica! She used to hang out there – I guess everyone did. All of these memories were coming back to her. All the stores. She remembered buying some lotion for her grandmother at The Body Shop one year, and lo and behold, there was The Body Shop in the background of one of the scenes. For Allison, it was like strolling through a photo album of her own past.
Licorice Pizza (2021; d. Paul Thomas Anderson)
The more I think about this movie, the more I love it. I can’t wait to see it again.
The Power of the Dog (2021; d. Jane Campion)
What a powerful film, from an absolute master. Campion’s first film in a decade! Her films are always “events”. I’ve been looking forward to this one for months. Gorgeous, painful, brutal.
Drive My Car (2021; d. Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
I will be writing something on this film. It’s my favorite film of the year, by a long shot.
McGill was also amazing in the Miami Vice episode “Out Where The Buses Don’t Run.” Even David Strathairn is in it.. I seem to recall that episode was nominated for an Emmy.
Ooh I need to track that one down – thanks!
David Strathairn is absolutely heartbreaking in the upcoming Nightmare Alley – AND he just starred in my friend Derek Goldman’s play Remember This – unfortunately I couldn’t get to Chicago to see it, but apparently he was phenomenal:
https://globallab.georgetown.edu/projects/remember-this/
I can’t wait to see the PTA. His talent is astonishing to me, both as a writer and director. He can create characters like Bergman, energy and momentum like Scorsese, a sense of time and place like Linklater. Incredibly high “ceiling” as they say in the sports world, and what’s exciting is I sense he’s still growing and evolving into who knows what.
His movies can be painful and challenging sometimes and are all the better for it, but it sounds like he tried to make more of a “crowd pleaser” this time (certainly nothing wrong with that) and if so it’s well timed and welcomed. I treasure his work.
// what’s exciting is I sense he’s still growing and evolving into who knows what. //
I know! so exciting! and … as far as I can tell, he hasn’t compromised. He really doesn’t care. He does what he wants. He goes from Phantom Thread to THIS – two completely different worlds and moods and eerything. also, unlike Linklater, he hasn’t done any “teenage” stuff. That hasn’t been his thing at all.
So it’s fun to see him do a teenage focused movie because – as you probably can imagine – it’s not like other peoples’ teenage movies. He has nostalgia but it’s a different kind of nostalgia. I can’t explain it. I love Linklater’s ache of nostalgia – but PTA doesn’t have that. It’s different.
I’ll be very curious to hear peoples responses to this film. It’s … all OVER the place. It feels like it could be called “Gary and Alana: A Series of Unfortunate Adventures”. It’s like the whole thing is made up of scenes like the Alfred Molina scene in Boogie Nights – I mean, not as scary, but random like that, whole SET pieces of dramatic development, and then the characters barrel on to the next thing.
Let me know what you think when you get a chance to see it!
Just saw Drive My Car. It was excellent.
I’m really looking forward to reading what you have to say.
I haven’t seen it mentioned in the reviews I’ve read – do you know if it was shot on film? I was marveling at how beautifully shot it was and I noticed the wheels on the car looking like they were spinning in the wrong direction – like something you’d see the stagecoach wheels do in an old western when 24 fps and the rotation of the wheels had a funky frequency mismatch. I don’t think digital video does that, but I could easily be wrong.
Hm, I don’t know whether or not it was shot on film. It really was so beautiful – especially the night scenes, those scenes at the bar, and inside his Hiroshima house. I’ll find out.
I have no idea if our NYFCC awards dinner is going to be canceled or not – the way things are playing out in New York right now makes me wonder – but one of the main reasons I’m looking forward to it is meeting Hamaguchi and his cast, all of whom are supposed to be there. (We awarded Drive My Car “Best Picture”.)
I don’t think it was shot on film – if it were, I’d see more mention of it in my clicking around reading pieces on it.
Here’s a really good and detailed interview with him:
http://www.reverseshot.org/interviews/entry/2847/drivemycar
Thanks so much for checking.
I did a bit of digging on the “wagon wheel effect” and found that it’s possible to occur in many conditions. For example, when humming one can make the eyes vibrate in such a way that wheels can appear to spin the wrong direction even under constant lighting. I don’t think I was humming, but the Beatles have been on my mind a lot lately.
I also checked on the technical details on IMDB and found that it was shot on something called ARRIRAW format – which is digital. And that some digital processing can create a shutter effect if the team is trying to adjust sharpness and other features. So, without hiring the Mythbusters I’m not sure how to find out what caused that particular case of wagon wheels.
But the short answer is that it wasn’t shot on film. I should have done this leg work before pestering you, sorry.
Thanks for the link to the interview, that was good.
I hope NY is safe enough that the NYFCC dinner happens.
You’re not pestering me at all! It’s super interesting!
// I don’t think I was humming, but the Beatles have been on my mind a lot lately. //
hahahaha That’s crazy – you’re humming and the wheels turning change appearance? I never knew what created that illusion – I’m still not sure I understand. The eyes are clearly tricking themselves somehow.
haha, Carcetti’s nodding head, what a way to start. I have seen almost zilch here yet but one of the joys of your diaries is adding annotations for all the titles that are On The List. I have so much Stockwell to catch up on! I did a Married to the Mob rewatch after he passed and this time my favourite half second of the whole thing was after he gets busted at the end, just him running across screen, out of focus and behind Pfeiffer, in a complete tizzy. I have to rewind it lie five times. Hysterical.
I cannot, for some reason, start Get Back. Just the thought of it slams me back into watching The Beatles Anthology obsessively on VHS as a kid, so I know it will be a viewing experience full of many pleasures and because of that I think I feel like I have to clear the decks for a pure uninterrupted watch session. Which will never happen! So I should just dip in. Also I am so excited for a slow and luxurious and methodical look at the creative process. I was listening to a podcast the other day where the interviewer described Topsy-Turvy as a procedural and my soul screamed out yes! I am in the mood for trial and error creation.
I did watch The Guilty, going in knowing nothing but that I love JG and one-handers. As you might be able to guess the successive reveals of that one made me feel very unwell. But I’m glad I stuck with it because I thought it was phenomenal, less in ‘this is a masterpiece’ terms but in sheer effectiveness at forcing surrender. At all levels of craft it was just super, super effective at doing exactly what it was trying to do. The sweat and the smoke. I was not trying to puzzle it, I was not trying to analyse it, it was just so much emotional and energetic noise that it swept me along to each twist at the exact right time. I enjoyed having my assumptions exploited. Reminded me of the Safdies’ Good Time in its assaultive force. I don’t know if I will be able to watch the original but glad I saw this one. Gyllenhaal man! And Keogh and Sarsgaard. What a triangle they created.
// just him running across screen, out of focus and behind Pfeiffer, in a complete tizzy. //
hahahahaha!! Yes! It is such an entertaining performance. The stuff he did as a kid is just so wonderful – The Secret Garden and Boy with Green Hair are faves.
// I think I feel like I have to clear the decks for a pure uninterrupted watch session. //
I totally know what you mean. and I feel like I am STILL absorbing the Anthology. It’s a LOT. The weird thing for me is that getting a link to view this thing to review was like breaking into Fort Knox. I had to sign an NDA, I had to scan my signature, the link itself was impossible to forward (I would never have done that anyway) – AND they gave me the link two days before the damn thing launched. I had to watch the whole 7 hours in one sitting. Well, I broke it up – 6-10 one night, 7 to 9 the next morning, or whatever. And then instantly write the review. It was so frustrating they wouldn’t get the links out earlier – although I understand the precautions, it being the Beatles and all. The main thing is – watching it that way, in a frenzy, taking notes, instantly writing the review following so I make my deadline – is CLEARLY not ideal. I need to watch it again, at LEISURE. There is so much to absorb, Jessie – little moments, glances, body language – plus the VIBE of it all. and the outfits!!
Hearing “Get Back” emerge from thin air is such a GIFT. This kind of thing is just not usually on camera. It’s amazing!
hahaha oh wow I think that viewing experience would spin me OUT! I’m surprised you made it through intact! You did well!
I was definitely spun out. It was so not ideal – and I was, frankly, irritated – it was right before Thanksgiving too, as well as the anniversary of my brother in law’s death – I was like, “REALLY? I’m not gonna blast the link over the internet – can’t I have a LITTLE bit of lead time??” – I had to really calm down and let go of all of that in order to watch.
But I look forward to re-watching in a more leisurely way. I’m sure I missed so much!
// I enjoyed having my assumptions exploited. //
That’s such a good way to put it.
I recently watched both Long Day’s Journey Into Night and The Power of the Dog so this was a handy diary to revisit!
I’ve no idea where I picked it up but for some reason I had in my head that Dean’s part in LD… was mostly ‘dying in a corner watching things go down’ and so watching it was a slow unfurl of pleasure as he moved through the various two-handers. His scenes with Hepburn are riveting and it was the way he listened to Richardson’s monologues about acting that helped me understand what Richardson was doing. I had to laugh, L came in while it was on and said “who is that? is that Dean Stockwell? Oh my god he’s GORGEOUS.” I fully agree! If this had been on my radar when I was falling in love with the likes of River and Johnny Depp in the 90s he would have easily made the roster.
Power of the Dog was compelling in a lot of ways…..I felt like there were a couple of chapters missing, some lines drawn too directly and fast, and some needed connections not made at all. It left me wanting more! Funny how for a movie about burial everything was so crisp and clear, no indulgence in haze. What an extraordinary job casting Smit-McPhee with Cumberbatch. Not an instant masterpiece for me but it’s lingered. Never heard of the book before but you can bet it’s on order now!
Jessie – okay so this comment got lost in the shuffle of February and I am just now discovering it. I hate it when I miss comments.
This is all fascinating to read – I love to hear your thoughts on Long Day’s Journey!!
// I had in my head that Dean’s part in LD… was mostly ‘dying in a corner watching things go down’ //
lol I know!! and so often actors play it that way. They’re a passive lump in the corner, kind of waiting for the moment where they get to have their big monologue about drunkenness, etc. But he helps everything happen – he’s the audience in this family of actors. They’re playing for him in so many ways – and his illness is the fulcrum of all. the thing everyone knows about but can’t discuss. I just love how Stockwell is an undeniable presence – his listening is active, and you really get the sense of his participation – as a listener. I honestly think it’s the hardest role in that play filled with intimidatingly difficult roles.
// His scenes with Hepburn are riveting and it was the way he listened to Richardson’s monologues about acting that helped me understand what Richardson was doing. //
I know!! He clarifies, just by standing there, and focusing on her.
and yes, I agree with L. This is peak Dean gorgeousness, although he always had a beauty about him, even as an old man. He’s … delicate, in a way. Pretty. Even as an old dude, he had that elegance about his looks, somehow.
and interesting in re: Power of the Dog. It’s funny – I saw it a second time and felt some missing things, the same ones you mentioned. A friend of mine truly disliked it – and he’s someone I trust – so it’s interesting to hear him point out what he felt were its flaws. I didn’t agree with a lot of what he said, but I do think that it doesn’t quite “add up”. My second time viewing I was far more drawn into Dunst’s performance than I was the first time – this lonely sad woman, having this whole other experience than the tormented men around her – I have always admired Dunst, but my admiration for her grows as she moves into middle age and she takes all these interesting challenging non-vain parts. I love that about her.
For me, Drive My Car was the film of the year – I don’t know if you’ve seen it yet – its 3 hour running time is … daunting, lol – but for me, it’s a perfect film. It’s all these scenes of driving, back and forth, back and forth, lots of repetition, lots of repeat scenes, but somehow all this repetition acts as a slow build towards the final catharsis and comign together of these two very different people – the theatre director and his chauffeur – and it’s so powerful that the first time I saw it I thought my heart would burst. I hadn’t even realized – over the 3 hours – how much I needed the catharsis.
Power of the Dog and Drive My Car have nothing in common – except that they were talked-about films of 2021 – but it’s just interesting to note how quickly Power of the Dog faded from my mind – and how vivid Drive My Car remains.
This happens a lot. I am sort of swept away in a first response – and on further reflection, I start to sense that something might be missing. This is often a real trap – since I have to write down and then PUBLISH those first responses. But then … my opinion shifts. and yet my first response is out there in the world!!
No wonder Pauline Kael only watched movies once. But I can’t do that!! I always re-visit.
Thank you for the comment, as always.
Licorice Pizza. Oh boy. I saw it about a month ago and wanted to let it settle in my head a bit before commenting.
First off, I saw it in the theater, and it was my first theater experience in exactly two years due to the pandemic. The last movie I saw in the theater was 1917.
I am positive that’s the longest I have ever gone in my life without seeing a movie in a theater, and I didn’t realize how much I missed it. The best movie experiences of my life have been in the theater. Watching The Shining, Titanic, Aliens, Pulp Fiction, The Departed and so many more with other people simply enhances the experience. Tarantino spoke beautifully recently on how wonderful a good movie theater experience can be. In a world where any studio movie without a “…man” (Spider, Bat, Ant, Iron etc) or a Dinosaur will be increasingly rare, just being able to see a PTA movie in a theater felt amazing.
Now, about the movie. This f^@#ing guy. I was ready for a pure “feel good” movie, but somehow this manages to be both an incredibly entertaining “hang out” movie
while also pushing every button imaginable.
Starting with the elephant in the room, the age difference. He could have made them 19 and 23, but he obviously wants people to ask the questions, ” Is this ok? Why? If the genders were reversed it wouldn’t be okay at all. Or would it? Should it?” He’s specifically asking us to consider all this. I’m not sure to what degree that helps or hurts the film. Part of me wanted them both to be 18 so I wouldn’t have to think about it. I felt a little dirty rooting for them, which I guess is the point. Is that the point? What is the point?
I was not bothered by the John Michael Higgins character and viewed him the same way I viewed Archie Bunker. It wasn’t glorifying racism, it was mocking it. But does a racist know that? Did this need to be in the movie? Why? Just to provoke? I’m not sure it’s in the movies’ best interests, though it’s clearly in PTAs interests.
I had some issues with logistics, like “Could all this happen in one summer? Can a 15 year old get a business license even in 1970s California. Multiple businesses? How does he staff and stock up so fast? ”
It played somewhat like a dream state to me, again I am sure on purpose, to evoke a mood. And time and again I “got” that mood..the awkward no talk phone call, the pain of seeing your crush with someone else, running towards your love…all great. But at other times I felt it was too preposterous to be taken as seriously as it seemed to want us to take it.
The acting was great, particularly the leads, and it was amazing to watch Cooper Hoffman, and at times see a mannerism or line delivery that felt exactly like his father, who I consider one of the best ever.
PTA is an artist and I cherish his work. Did I like Licorice Pizza? Absolutely, it’s hard not to. Sean Penn and Bradley Cooper alone are worth the price of admission.
Is it up there with what I consider his big 4 (Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood, The Master, Phantom Thread)? Not to me, but that’s okay. I will say that I have a feeling it’s a movie that I’ll want to revisit, so my opinion of it may grow. We’ll see.
Todd – hi! How wonderful that your first time back in the theatre after two years as Licorice Pizza!! Mine was Christian Petzold’s Undine – which was wonderful. and then I just stayed in the theatre – the IFC Center – and saw whatever movie was playing next – which was Holler (I highly recommend it. One of my top films of last year). But Licorice Pizza was also in that first wave – I saw it at the Village East in 70mm , sitting in the balcony – and I’ve had so many amazing experiences in that beautiful theatre – seeing REDS during its re-release – the theatre was packed – unforgettable – but so many others. I am so glad I saw Licorice Pizza in the theatre.
// Part of me wanted them both to be 18 so I wouldn’t have to think about it. //
Ha. I know. Diary of a Teenage Girl – which I loved – has a similar uneasy quality, only this times the sexes are reversed – and it’s a 15-year-old girl with a man in his 30s – which is even worse. Even WORSE, it’s her mom’s sometimes boyfriend! and yet – it’s not filmed as this cautionary tale, and she’s not positioned as a victim. Clearly the whole situation is wrong – not to mention illegal – but the film’s attitude towards it is ambivalent. It’s on her side. She’s a teenager discovering the joy of sex. It’s a mess. I loved it. This comes right up against the whole trend now of wondering if a film “condones” a certain situation – Scorsese faces this constantly. It’s a boring conversation to me – but it’s still a conversation that deserves to be heard and considered. What is the purpose of what is being told? What is the filmmaker’s attitude? If it’s not obviously condemnatory … then what are we to make of this? Should we ENCOURAGE teenagers to sleep with 20somethings? or a 20something to hang out with a teenage boy? Obviously not!! But stories aren’t always about showing the right way to behave if you know what I mean.
Licorice Pizza really swims around in that uncomfortable space – it creates an uneasiness, and a tension, because … you want to root for them, but what are you rooting for, and … what exactly is even going ON between them? It’s weirdly chaste – and they’re more like playmates and in CAHOOTS with each other – than anything more straightforwardly romantic – it’s a wild mix.
// But does a racist know that? Did this need to be in the movie? Why? Just to provoke? I’m not sure it’s in the movies’ best interests //
Yeah, I didn’t care for that. I understood that the guy’s racism was being mocked – that was totally clear – AND it was clear that the wife was not an idiot, in fact she was a strong person who could see everything that was happening – but I think it detracted, especially since it wasn’t developed. It was more like a “bit”, a schtick showing “local color” and “local eccentrics” but it was jarring for me. Granted the movie is full of kooks who only have one or two scenes – but that one left a bad taste in my mouth.
// It played somewhat like a dream state to me, again I am sure on purpose, to evoke a mood. //
I was just talking about this movie with a friend last weekend. He just did not get it. At all. Now, he is much younger than I am, and more accustomed to straightforward movies – although he’s not un-curious. To educate himself, for example, he watched the Top 100 movies listed by the AFI. So he’s not just watching dumb superhero movies. But he just didn’t get what the hell Licorice Pizza was about. and I said just what you said – I said I thought it was about “the vibe” of that moment, the mood of that era – It was meant to evoke a time and a place, and that was the whole purpose. That made sense to him. Mia Hansen-Love’s “Eden” is similar – although it’s a very different kind of movie. It takes place over a 20 year time span and it’s about the development of house music in France in the 1980s. The main character is the “scene” itself – and there is a main character who moves through those years, involved in that “scene” – but the “scene” is paramount.
The whole Sean Penn/Tom Waits scene was great.
I love the feeling that “show business” – i.e. Hollywood – is very close by – it’s tangential to everything, even though the main characters are kids fucking around in the Valley – still: Hollywood is this gigantic magnet, just over the hill, and everyone is somehow involved. It’s La La Land. (I hated that movie so I’m referring to the concept of La La Land, not the movie, lol).
Bradley Cooper. WHAT THE HELL. That entire sequence – with the water bed – and her “driving” the truck – backwards – down that hill – was the best sequence. The movie is so episodic – nothing really connects – or, they do – but not in any linear way. I think that crazy sequence encapsulates the mood best of all.
I was talking with Glenn Kenny about the movie. He said he just couldn’t understand why everyone was classifying it as a “coming of age” movie – and I couldn’t agree more. That’s a category error if ever there was one. “Coming of age” movies imply growth and change. Do those two characters grow and change? I mean … yeah … but not in a typical “coming of age” way. They have an understanding between them but … I don’t know. It’s just not “coming of age” – It does have that structure, like the “last summer before we have to get serious about our lives” kind of thing, but still … this is PTA. He’s not a traditional filmmaker. Phantom Thread was a romance but … with some serious quirks! Anyone interested in strict genres will always find PTA’s stuff a little jarring – you keep expecting the conventional. He will not provide it.
I just met Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman at the NYFCC dinner! They sat at the table right next to us. (We awarded PTA best screenplay.) There was a lot of star power in that room – Jane Campion, Scorsese – freakin Al Gore was there. People who are used to being in rooms filled with famous people. But Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman aren’t – at least not as the “stars”. And they were having such a blast together, it was so adorable.
One thing I noticed: In the beginning of the night, our chair Stephanie Zacharek – read out loud the list of critics in the NYFCC. There are 40 of us. It’s a long list. People applaud for each name, but, you know, it’s not the organic roars of applause for “Marty” or whatever. At one point I glanced over at Alana, and she sat there, clapping for each and every name. She didn’t tune out – like a lot of people tuned out, focusing on their meal, or quietly chatting. She was focused on the moment, on the experience at hand. She really listened to each name, and clapped for each one. In a very surreal moment, I literally watched her clap for me. I watched HER clap for ME. lol Life is strange.
But I thought it was so touching. That was who she was and is. Just lit up and alert and happy to be in whatever room she’s in.
When PTA got up to go accept his award, the “Licorice Pizza table” – which – as I said – was right next to us – leapt to their feet to cheer for him. I took a picture of Alana, standing, screaming and clapping. Cooper Hoffman too. It was weirdly moving.
“I just met Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman at the NYFCC dinner!”
“In a very surreal moment, I literally watched her clap for me. I watched HER clap for ME. lol Life is strange.”
You kill me! OMG!!!! That’s amazing. It’s great to here how in the moment and present they were, it must be wild for them, and it seems they’re being humble about it. Cooper was so young I realize when his dad passed, but something acting wise was passed down for sure.
The Bradley Cooper stretch was the best part of the movie. Reminded me of the Martin Short stretch in Inherent Vice – I wanted entire movies about these guys. Same with Sean Penn.
I think Licorice Pizza worked as a whole. It wanted to evoke the memory of those summers we all had, ages 14-19, when we’re young but growing into ourselves and anything seems possible and the summer seems to last 5 years. It worked in that way.
I love that PTA makes this weird shit, and far be it for me to suggest he make more conventional films, but I actually think this one may have worked better with more traditional storytelling structure. ( I can see him reading this and laughing in my face. LOL. )
We’re just so lucky PTA exists and they let him make movies.
There is something so refreshing about someone like PTA who just doesn’t give a fuck and does what he wants to do and acts like Twitter doesn’t exist. I’m serious. too many people worry about what Twitter would think – they give it way too much power. I’ve fallen prey to it which is why I barely go there anymore!
I have a feeling that because Phantom Thread was so tightly controlled – so different from anything else he’d ever done – a project 5, 6 years in the making – (and in many ways his most personal) – in this one, he just wanted to let his hair down. Be beholden to nothing. I’m just guessing!