Music and my aunt Anne.

Posted on July 23, 2023 by sheila

We said farewell to Anne yesterday, four generations gathered together, to mourn and celebrate our mother, aunt, sister, wife, friend. I wrote about Anne and my family, and music.

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Review: The Deepest Breath (2023)

Posted on July 19, 2023 by sheila

For me, this documentary about free diving is the stuff of nightmares. The hook is getting to hang around with people who are monomaniacal about one thing only – and you have to be if you are going to do the insane things these people do. The cinematography is mind-blowing but seriously … I almost couldn’t look at some of it. Very good doc, I reviewed for Ebert.

 
 
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Lose yourself in the (banjo) music: Kasey Chambers’ cover is a cover in name only

Posted on July 15, 2023 by sheila

There are many stories behind Kasey Chambers’ cover of Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” … but you can look all that up if you are so inclined. Which I imagine you might be after you watch the above clip. Australia’s mega-star Kasey Chambers’ cover of Eminem’s “Lose Yourself”. Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” is one of his greatest accomplishments and it call it a “hit” doesn’t even begin to describe where that song has gone, how far it has traveled. The song came out in 2002. 20 years ago. That’s wild. Now it’s hard to imagine the world without it. Like, it’s here now. A high watermark of hip hop (or one of them), maybe the most well-known hip hop song of all time. Teenagers in Bangladesh know it by heart. Kids who weren’t even alive when it came out. (Just out of curiosity, I went back to the very beginning of my blog – I started in October, 2022. 8 Mile premiered on November 8. So I spent a lot of incoherent time ranting about Eminem – in the leadup to 8 Mile and the aftermath. This was before I had a real audience, so I was ranting to myself. The funny thing is I’m STILL – to this day – ranting about Eminem … I mean, it’s endless … including seeing him in concert and then … this lockdown-monster (writing that helped me get through the very difficult summer of 2020) and I started OUT with him. I am nothing if not consistent! It’s annoyed some people. Why are you posting so much about that nasty mean misogynistic man? Because I want to? I know. It’s difficult to grasp.) The song speaks the struggles and pain, the unfairness of financial inequality, financial instability, the cycle of poverty, the fear of not being able to take care of your family, the desperate unrealistic dreams, and etc., so many people understand all of these things. Eminem talks about very specific things but ultimately the song is universal. It’s a hell of a motivational song, and Eminem can be a petty brat (I love petty Eminem), but he can also hold out his hand to his audience and say, “If I did it, you can too. But you gotta WANT it. So WANT IT.”

It comes from him, from his soul. Which is why it’s so wild and goosebump-worthy to see someone else take it, re-shape it (but you’ll notice she maintains his rhythm and cadence, punching the same words – albeit in different ways), and totally own it. Like, it’s hers now. The opening part was captivating, I enjoyed the innovation of it but then – at a certain moment – “the mood all changed”, and she drops IN, and my hair was blown back.

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Review: The Miracle Club (2023)

Posted on July 14, 2023 by sheila

I reviewed The Miracle Club for Ebert.

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Trapped: La Cabina and After Hours

Posted on July 13, 2023 by sheila

This lies outside the scope of my essay on After Hours, although I wondered if I could somehow include it. Not meant to be. When I interviewed Michael Koresky about his book Films of Endearment, during our conversation he mentioned a 1972 short television movie called La Cabina. He said it was the scariest movie he’d ever seen. Naturally I was intrigued so I sought it out. The whole thing is on YouTube. It is truly terrifying. Michael did not exaggerate. It is one of the most unnerving things I’ve ever seen.

And it came up for me as I was writing and thinking and dreaming about After Hours all spring. Or, at least, for February/March/April. There are so many connections, I think, particularly in the ending … although After Hours’ ending is more ambiguous than La Cabina (and slightly less terrifying). I always remember that during the last camera move through the office, after Paul staggers in, covered in plaster dust, and sits back down at his desk … the camera zips away from him and races up and down the aisles (the office is empty: no one is in yet) and when the camera comes back around to Paul’s desk he is no longer there. Where did he go? Did he actually die inside that “statue”? And he’s now a shade, wandering the earth? There are big golden gates in front of his office, after all. But maybe not. Maybe after the crazy night he had, he sat down at his desk and thought, “I don’t want to do this anymore” and got up and left. Either way, I just love that he’s no longer there.

La Cabina can play without subtitles. You don’t need language at all. It is a relentlessly horrifying experience, of increasing helplessness and panic, no way out. I think there’s something there, it made me wonder if Scorsese – or the writers – or producers – saw the film.

Enjoy the horror!

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Coach Beard and After Hours

Posted on July 13, 2023 by sheila

I remember when this episode – “Beard After Hours” – aired and there was a lot of confusion about it. Some critics clocked the reference to After Hours (and well they should, especially if they’re paid the big bucks), but others didn’t even mention it. Kind of egregious. No excuse. It took a simple Google search to discover the homage. I was disappointed that more critics didn’t take the opportunity to dig into the source material, excavating the comparisons and associations, and also maybe talk a little bit about the original? Am I the only one who thinks that would be a cool way to approach a TV re-cap?? Others had zero idea what was going on. A friend of mine said to me, “I know this is referencing SOMEthing but WHAT IS IT.” I told her. She was very excited and I was psyched she KNEW already even if she didn’t know what the episode was in reference TO.

I mentioned this episode in my essay on After Hours, clocking just a couple of the “nods”. Keys. Underground nightclubs. A bouncer. An endless night.

I mentioned it expressly because After Hours has a devoted fan base (understatement) and many people name this as their favorite Scorsese (particularly among younger Gen-Z-ers, according to my nephew. This is fascinating and should be talked about more. I told “Marty” about my nephew’s thoughts in this regard and he was very interested. I’m proud of that! lol). But what influence did it have on the industry? Where did it GO? What shadow did it cast? You can look at Richard Linklater’s films, and their experiments with time – the “Before” trilogy, of course – each movie taking place in a 24-hour period. You could look at some of Seinfeld’s more hallucinatory surreal encounters, the absurd and the random careening through people’s lives. There are other “one wild night in New York” movies, but … is that really an After Hours nod? Vincente Minnelli’s The Clock came out in 1945 and it’s the quintessential “24-hours in New York” movie.

“Beard After Hours” aired long before I got the Criterion gig, but it made me happy because I remember seeing After Hours in the theatre, and how much fun it was. Decades passed before I saw it again and I remembered it vividly. Shots, characters, mood: all fresh in my brain as though I saw it yesterday. Not every film is like that!

So I did just want to shout it out, as the most explicit “nod” we have to a great and under-sung (except by its fan-base) film – and a fun and intriguing way to get people to check out the source material.

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The phone dominates: Marnie and After Hours

Posted on July 13, 2023 by sheila

Here’s the shot in Alfred Hitchcock’s Marnie which I reference in my Criterion essay on Martin Scorsese’s After Hours.

There’s also a moment where Paul (Griffin Dunne) is running down the street holding a crumpled note in his hand. Scorsese keeps the camera on his hand. Dissociating Paul. Atomizing him. In Marnie, there’s the terrible nearly unwatchable moment where she is forced to kill her horse after a jump gone bad. She walks towards her horse, holding a gun, and Hitchcock keeps the camera solely on the gun, as “it moves” towards the horse, almost by its own power. I read an interview with Scorsese during my research for the essay where he said he blatantly stole that shot from Marnie.

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Martin Scorsese’s After Hours (released today on Criterion)

Posted on July 12, 2023 by sheila

My booklet essay on After Hours, is up on Criterion’s site. Criterion’s release is now available for purchase.

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Review: The YouTube Effect (2023)

Posted on July 7, 2023 by sheila

Alex Winter’s latest documentary is about the rise … and rise … of YouTube. This is all such recent history – as of course it must be – that it’s hard to get perspective on it, and I’m not sure there is much here that will be revelatory and/or new information. Worth a watch though. I reviewed for Ebert.

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July is Elvis Month on Criterion Channel!

Posted on July 2, 2023 by sheila

Okay, that’s an exaggeration, there’s a lot more going on over there, but Criterion Channel will be streaming 7 Elvis movies on their channel in July. This is a big deal. Elvis gets no love from film people, as I have said a bazillion obnoxious times, so it’s exciting this is happening! I’m glad they’re streaming Wild in the Country, not enough people know it. More to come along those lines, but in the meantime, here’s the trailer Criterion launched for their series. I love the song they chose to accompany (from Jailhouse Rock, a song Elvis sings I think three times in that film, and different each time). It’s an unexpected choice but perfect. Listen to the lyrics.

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