Experiencing Anti-Matter With Some Friends

Yesterday afternoon, I trekked out to Brooklyn again to Keith and Dan’s. Their friend Michael was also joining. Keith was making dinner, and we were all going to watch Certified Copy, which I have been absolutely chomping at the bit to see. The snow is finally melting, and the weather is mild. Brooklyn looked beautiful.

We all converged in the cozy living room. We talked about Norman Mailer, and the Peter Manso oral biography of Mailer – that Michael had been trying to sell at a used bookstore. I haven’t read it, although I did read Manso’s poison-pen bio of Brando (yeah, I think I made myself clear about that here). Michael said, “It’s amazing that Mailer had any time to write.” Dan is currently obsessing (as in, I have never seen him so obsessed) on Heartbeats (which I am also dying to see), and so he did not join us for Certified Copy, since he needed to watch Heartbeats for the 3rd time in a 24-hour period. He said to me later, “I’m so insane about this movie that I found myself reading Shakespeare’s Sonnets this afternoon and I don’t even know why.”

I had never met Michael before, although he also writes for Fandor: it’s so fun to meet someone whose writing you’ve already read! Here’s one of the pieces of his that I had read. Keith, Michael and I lined up on the comfy couch, facing the television, and we watched Certified Copy. They both had already seen it. I feel like I’m the last person to see it (it hasn’t opened in the US yet, although it played at the NYFF).

The movie is an absolute dream, a dizzy dream, and I’m still thinking about it. It’s an intense experience: intense on every level: intellectual, emotional, comedic. It’s funny, and it was great to see Kiarostami really delve into that. There are even sight-gags. Bestill my heart. I’ll be reviewing it when it finally comes out for Capital New York, so it’s good to have time to let it percolate. There’s a lot to discuss. But as we watched, we just howled with laughter, and then subsided into silence, watching the events unfold, and twine around one another. Wonderful film, I am totally in love with it. Some people burn with desire to see the next Christopher Nolan. I burn with desire to see the next Kiarostami. The Kiarostami/Binoche pairing had already begun with Kiarostami’s Shirin (which I also loved), and what a delight to have already heard so much about Certified Copy (although I have avoided full-on reviews) and to find it far exceed my expectations.

After the movie, we talked about it, and talked about Kiarostami’s other films, and how it might fit into his body of work (I was not at all surprised to see a long sequence in a moving car. I think if Kiarostami had his way, he would film in nothing but moving cars), and also … what do we think happened? What is the story? Is what we saw on the level? Or were the two characters playing out some kind of game? It’s that kind of movie. It makes you want to talk about it. You MUST talk about it.

So then Keith disappeared into the kitchen to make our feast. There were rib-eye steaks involved, mashed potatoes, and carrots with rosemary. Dan dragged Michael and me into the other room to watch his favorite sequence from Heartbeats, which only made me chomp at the bit even more to see the damn thing. Dan was surrounded by hand-written notes, and a paperback of Jean Cocteau’s drawings. He was in the zone.

Dinner was fantastic. The four of us sat around the dining room table, talking, laughing, the topics running far and wide, as all such great conversations do. When you get right down to it, we are new-ish friends. There’s still so much to learn about one another, and it’s so fun getting to know these guys.

We were talking about classics, and which movies of today will be considered classics in generations to come. My point was that it’s never the critics who decide that. It’s often the unexpected things that have durability, things that may have been pooh-poohed or ignored, or treated like a nice little comedy, but not anything with staying power. But it’s fun to speculate.

Me: “Groundhog Day will be watched long after we are all dead.”
Michael: “That is a perfect movie.”
Me: “Absolutely.”

Things are heating up again with my script, plans moving forward, we’ve had a couple bumps in the road, but somehow it came up. Michael asked about it. Dan had been to the reading in New York, so I said to Dan, “How would you describe it?” And Dan went OFF on it, and I wish I had had a tape recorder. Not because it was complimentary, but because it is so good to hear someone else’s impressions of what you have created, and in such detail. It’s also good to hear (especially in these preliminary stages) that what you meant to do, you have done. What I wanted to say is on the page, and Dan “got it”. I had spent yesterday morning re-reading the script (I do that periodically), so it was a total gift to hear Dan describe those two characters and what the hell is going on between them.

Then came the final phase of our time together. Dan had been telling me about a horrible movie back in the 70s called Moment by Moment, starring Lily Tomlin and John Travolta. Done in the heyday of both of their careers, it was a notorious bomb, and you can’t find it anywhere. Written and directed by Lily Tomlin’s girlfriend, it was a misfire of the highest order, making these two giant talented stars look like absolute no-talent nitwits. How does that happen?? Dan happened to catch it one night on Encore, and video-taped it. He has since transferred the video to DVD. I was curious to see the badness, to experience it. Dan had described it in detail. “It’s just the two of them, on the beach, talking, and there is NO chemistry, and it’s fascinating to watch.”

So we all piled back into the living room and watched the first hour of Moment by Moment, which was actually a long time, considering the pit of doom the film is. I’m surprised we didn’t race back from the edge of the void beforehand, but it has that badness that is compelling to watch, rather than irritating.

Lily Tomlin plays a pill-popping rich woman, dressed in white silky blouses and white silky skirts, and John Travolta plays a beach-bum who’s also a drug-dealer (I think) and there’s supposed to be- supposed to be – a kind of Tennessee Williams vibe to their encounter. But … but …. the air is so DEAD between them, that you feel like you are in the presence of anti-matter. Like, time starts to flow backwards, and in that process, everything comes to a dead stop. Leaving nothing real, nothing of substance. It is FASCINATING. Lily Tomlin is good at so many things. John Travolta is good at so many things. This is a movie that doesn’t allow EITHER of them to do what they are good at. Travolta takes off his shirt on the beach at one point, and he’s wearing black Speedos, and he’s really kind of swaying his hips back and forth jauntily as he walks into the surf, but there’s a self-consciousness behind it … Like: HE DOESN’T KNOW WHAT THE HELL HE IS DOING. Everyone appears to be on some kind of sedative. Well, I say “everyone” but there are no other people in this movie. It is a long duet between these two. And Lily Tomlin takes forever to warm up to Travolta, which doesn’t serve the story, because who wants to see an ice queen reject a beach bum in 10 consecutive scenes? When they finally make love, her energy is so maternal towards him that I found the whole thing truly disturbing.

Also, they have identical haircuts, which makes it difficult to tell them apart.

Comments made during the film:

Michael: “She has not been wearing a bra in any scene.”
Dan: “Often I watch this movie and I go into such a zone that I can’t tell where I am anymore.”
Me: “There’s nothing to hold onto in this movie.”
Keith: (began to sing along with the omnipresent soundtrack, bascially narrating what we were seeing in song): “So the car turns arouuuuund …. on the highWAY … and heeeeee’s NOT wearing a shirt ….”
Me: “Why are their haircuts the same?”
Michael: “I don’t understand why she doesn’t call the cops. He keeps showing up.”
Me: “Wow. Look at her eat that drumstick.”
Me: “Oh, please don’t have sex. I can’t deal with it.”
Michael: “Look, he’s snot-crying.”
Me: “I don’t understand this plot at all. What is he crying about?”
Keith: (singing) “Aaaaaaand now … she REEEEEEADS her maaaaagazine, and watches teeee-veeeeeeee….”
Me: “It’s really weird to watch something that is so dead.”
Michael: “I am so curious about people in movies who are that persistent. Like, in real life, wouldn’t you give up after a certain point?”
Me: “Poor Lily. She’s so talented. This is a travesty.”
Michael: “Oh God, she’s cold to him again? I can’t take it.”
Keith: (singing) “And nowwwwww, she picks up the PHOOOONE … sheeee is crying …”
Me: “Wait a sec – why is she crying? I think I missed something.”
Dan: “This film is a total black hole.”

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27 Responses to Experiencing Anti-Matter With Some Friends

  1. Desirae says:

    At the Agony Booth (they recap bad movies/tv, for the most part) they did a recap of this movie that picked up a lot of the same things you did – the maternal vibe between Travolta/Tomlin, the identical haircuts, etc.

    It’s here, if you want to read it:

    http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/Moment_By_Moment_1978.aspx

  2. sheila says:

    Ha!

    // The two could have just as easily been playing mother and son, with their identical dark hair and shaggy hairdos.//

    I love the caption on one of the photos: “For those of you confused, Trish is the one on the left.”

  3. sheila says:

    Wow, that was entertaining to read. PAINFUL movie, baffling to watch. I would not place all the blame on Tomlin and Travolta, though – I think all of the blame (or, at least 90% of it) must go to the woman who wrote and directed it.

    God, it was such a strange experience watching it. It’s hard to describe what it feels like to watch NOTHING.

    Especially with two actors I love. It’s horrifying!

  4. sheila says:

    // Hey, have you’ve gotten what a haughty, rich Ice Princess she’s supposed to be? If not, there’s going to be about three dozen more Icy Stares over the course of this movie to help you out.//

    Exactly!

  5. Desirae says:

    “Especially with two actors I love. It’s horrifying!”

    That’s always the worst – when you know that the project is somehow killing everybody’s talent. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy felt like that. I’ve seen most of the cast in other movies and totally enjoyed them, but that movie just ended up being so boring to me. I had that watching nothing feeling.

    Did Travolta’s career really crash that badly after Grease and Saturday Night Fever? I don’t know much about that – I’m mostly familiar with his post-Pulp Fiction reputation.

  6. sheila says:

    Oh man did he crash. Pulp Fiction was the comeback of all comebacks. It even eclipses Mickey Rourke’s resurrection of his career. John Travolta had fallen even further than that. You also have to get how huge he was in the 70s – a cultural ICON. So he did have a long way to fall.

    • nightfly says:

      Jeepers, yes. He also did, what – Two of Hearts? And there was one where he was an intrepid photo-journalist of some sort? It’s so horrifying the details tend to blur into a grey smear of wretchedness.

  7. sheila says:

    Oh, and at one point: “sometimes when we touch, the honesty’s too much” is playing on the record player in the background. (shaking my head in amazement)

  8. Desirae says:

    “Oh, and at one point: “sometimes when we touch, the honesty’s too much” is playing on the record player in the background. (shaking my head in amazement)”

    I actually just laughed out loud. I am so embarrassed for everyone involved in this movie.

  9. sheila says:

    The only valid question to ask about that is: “What on earth was everyone smoking on that set?”

  10. Desirae says:

    Sheila, this is totally unrelated to what we were talking about, but have you read this article?

    http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/02/14/110214fa_fact_wright

    It’s not just about Paul Haggis – it goes into a lot of other info about Scientology. Though you may know this stuff already.

  11. DBW says:

    OMG. I have always said this was the single worst movie I ever saw. It was another one I saw in S. America. I used to joke that this movie drove Travolta to Scientology because he questioned his own identity, place in the world, and the meaning of it all after this movie. God had failed him, so he had to look elsewhere. This movie has all kinds of personal attachments to it for me. I won’t go into that, but I have a HISTORY that means I will never be rid of it. LOL.

  12. sheila says:

    // he questioned his own identity, place in the world, and the meaning of it all after this movie //

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

    Anyone would have an existential crisis after acting in that thing.

    I am of course dying to know your story attached to this movie – and I can’t believe you’ve seen it!!!!

  13. Bob says:

    The picture of “Certified Copy” has me thinking of “The Science of Sleep”. I thought it was a very underrated movie.
    “Moment by Moment” was considered a great date movie way back when. It was nice to have your date walk out of a movie before it was half way through. Sure, women walk out on violent movies, but this was considered to be a special loving movie. I still don’t know anybody who has watched the whole thing.

  14. Bob says:

    Oh yeah, Your comments made me shoot some drumstick out my nose. Please feel free to post your comments of bad films – very funny indeed!!!

  15. debra t. says:

    This was the movie I saw on my last date with a boy. So I guess it had some special powers. I came out. I read the long recap-thank you for that link.
    I wonder how many other young girls became lesbian after viewing this stinker.

  16. sheila says:

    debra t – no way!!!! That is a GREAT story.

  17. sheila says:

    Bob – // It was nice to have your date walk out of a movie before it was half way through. //

    hahahahahaha

    Oh man! I suppose this is a good date movie if you need a good nap – like, what?? It’s an abyss of nothingness!

  18. sheila says:

    I am so excited that so many of you have seen this trainwreck. Now I don’t feel so alone.

  19. Jake Cole says:

    I’ve never seen Moment by Moment but of course want to know despite (read: because) of all this talk of ridiculous badness.

    I’m just thrilled you got to see Certified Copy. I’ve been waiting to hear your thoughts for months. I’ve thought about it so much since I saw it, not only because Kiarostami found a way to make one of his most moving films (and there is stiff competition in this regard) along with his funniest. Binoche is so good I had to hold myself back from just backing up a truck to my review and dumping platitudes all over it, and I think Shimell’s own inexperience with the quieter, less-projected forms of acting made him fit into the teasing mystery of it all.

    I keep debating with myself over importing the region-free Blu-Ray, but I keep holding out to see if it might get the full treatment here. I see myself being able to wait maybe another month for news.

  20. sheila says:

    Jake – I am letting Certified Copy percolate and the more I think about it the more I am in love with it. I almost feel like writing about it and trying to pin it down will ruin the pleasure of it. (I felt that way about Shirin too). Binoche was fantastic, and Shimell was amazing. The anger he showed in that restaurant scene at the end …. wow. Keith said in the special features Shimell admitted that he had actually never yelled at anyone in his life, so that was very difficult for him. He was amazing, it was painful.

    Loved it so much!!!

    Moment by Moment not so much … although it has its own hypnotic dark glow …

  21. sheila says:

    Jake – and yeah, I’ve seen a lot of Kiarostami and I can feel his tenderness (and also his intellect) – but here he goes so far in both of those directions, it really all feels so unselfconscious to me. Yet also totally self-conscious. You know, that Kiarostami dichotomy. “We are making a movie!!

    How about the sight-gag with the guy speaking frustratedly into what turns out to be his phone but it looks like he is berating the woman standing there right in front of him.

    GOD, I love that vaudeville shit. Hilarious. Perfect. Nothing is what it seems.

  22. sheila says:

    Jake – I just got an invite to a press screening of this – can’t wait – mainly because I want to see the damn thing again and can’t wait! I wonder how it will look to me a second time through – now that I’ve seen it once.

  23. Ken says:

    Didn’t see the movie, but the book warn’t no better (what I read of it, anyway)….

  24. Bob says:

    Sheila – It was good to have your date walk out on a movie that she picked. That left plenty of time to make out. (Did I say make out? God I’m old.) Seriously, please have a section of your site devoted to useful comments you or your friends have made during movies. Some of the things you write have me falling off my chair.

  25. sheila says:

    Bob – nothing better than making out. Seriously.

    Glad my post made you laugh!!

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