Review: Finding Steve McQueen (2019)

Posted on March 15, 2019 by sheila

My review of Finding Steve McQueen – a heist movie based on a true story – is now up at Rogerebert.com.

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Review: Girl (2019)

Posted on March 15, 2019 by sheila

My review of the Belgian film Girl – about a trans female ballerina – is now up at Rogerebert.com. It premiers on Netflix today. I cannot recommend it.

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Happy Π Day

Posted on March 14, 2019 by sheila

It’s 3/14, which is Π Day (naturally). A couple of things:

I’d like to direct you to one of the most fascinating New Yorker profiles I’ve ever read: It’s called “The Mountains of Pi”, and it’s from 1992, a profile of the Chudnovsky brothers on their quest for Pi. It is a profile of shared obsession, two men driven to extremes by their desire to understand Pi. It’s also from a time when something like a “computer” in your house was a novelty, let alone a “supercomputer”, built to serve Pi and Pi alone.

The Chudnovsky brothers claim that the digits of pi form the most nearly perfect random sequence of digits that has ever been discovered. They say that nothing known to humanity appears to be more deeply unpredictable than the succession of digits in pi, except, perhaps, the haphazard clicks of a Geiger counter as it detects the decay of radioactive nuclei. But pi is not random. The fact that pi can be produced by a relatively simple formula means that pi is orderly. Pi looks random only because the pattern in the digits is fantastically complex. The Ludolphian number is fixed in eternity – not a digit out of place, all characters in their proper order, an endless sentence written to the end of the world by the division of the circle’s diameter into its circumference. Various simple methods of approximation will always yield the same succession of digits in the same order. If a single digit in pi were to be changed anywhere between here and infinity, the resulting number would no longer be pi; it would be “garbage”, in David’s word, because to change a single digit in pi is to throw all the following digits out of whack and miles from pi.

“Pi is a damned good fake of a random number,” Gregory said. “I just wish it were not as good a fake. It would make our lives a lot easier.”

Around the three-hundred-millionth decimal place of pi, the digits go 88888888 – eight eights pop up in a row. Does this mean anything? It appears to be random noise. Later, ten sixes erupt: 6666666666. What does this mean? Apparently nothing, only more noise. Somewhere past the half-billion mark appears the string 123456789. It’s an accident, as it were. “We do not have a good, clear, crystallized idea of randomness,” Gregory said. “It cannot be that pi is truly random. Actually, truly random sequence of numbers has not yet been discovered.”

Second thing: I have Jessie to thank for pointing me in the direction of Kate Bush’s song about Pi.

Third thing: I have seen Lucy Kaplansky perform numerous times. Her father was a mathematician, as well as a musician/composer, and he wrote “a song about Pi”, where the notes of the song correspond to the starting digits of Pi. At every Kaplansky show I’ve been to, some audience member requests “song about Pi.”

So, in honor of Pi Day, here is Lucy Kaplansky singing her dad’s song “Song About Pi”. So glad it’s on Youtube. Great introduction too.

Posted in On This Day | Tagged | 31 Comments

The ’90s: When Amazons Walked the Earth

Posted on March 12, 2019 by sheila


Photo by Peter Lindbergh

It’s hard to grok, if you weren’t there, the ’90s supermodel era, when battalions of supermodels – impossibly gorgeous, otherworldly, like alien freaks – stomped across the land – on every magazine cover, on billboards, in every commercial, music video, everywhere – like Robert Crumb’s towering monster-women burst out of their frames and set loose upon the populace. It’s hard to get across what it was like when these Amazons – whom everyone knew by name, whom everyone knew everything about – were everywhere. My favorite was Linda (no last name necessary, at least not in MY world: they all were referred to by their first names). Linda said, famously, “I don’t get out of bed for less than $10,000.”

To this day, I still perk up when one of these women in the original superstar group does something, says something, shows up somewhere. I follow all of them on Instagram. They post pictures of their ’90s photo shoots, and they all tag each other, and I want to faint from awe.

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The Wedding Party (1963): Really Young Young Robert De Niro and Jill Clayburgh

Posted on March 11, 2019 by sheila

In 1963, Brian De Palma made his first movie, basically a student film, co-directed with Wilford Leach. (It’s listed as 1969, because that’s when it was completed, and got released, because of De Niro/De Palma’s rising stardom. It’s just been released again in a new “early De Palma and De Niro” box set, with The Wedding Pary, Greetings and Hi Mom!). The Wedding Party brings in every cliche in the book: a young guy about to be married travels to Shelter Island before the wedding, meets his prospective wife’s slightly terrifying rich family, and on the eve of the wedding starts to freak out, egged on by his two rowdy friends (one of whom is played by De Niro). Now it’s 1963, okay. So we’re talking pre-ERA, pre-birth-control-pill, pre-women’s-liberation. Not that women hadn’t been bucking against constrictions and limitations and unfairness for centuries, but here, you can still feel the 50s’ influence on the characters. There are sections in the film that unfold in speeded-up fashion, like a Keystone Cops film, an early silent, and the sound is sometimes dubbed in later, giving an eerie dissociated quality.

This is Robert De Niro’s first film. This is Jill Clayburgh’s first film. It’s fascinating to see them before they became themselves.

Young pudgy Robert De Niro is cast as “one of the guys,” a rowdy friend of the bridegroom. It’s total miscasting, but he’s so young he doesn’t know it yet. It’s touching to watch him try to do what the character requires: being rowdy and funny and girl-crazy and joshing around with his friends. It doesn’t fit him at all! Already, it doesn’t fit. There’s something unformed in him, he doesn’t register, you would never pick him out for Great Things. It would take almost a decade – the decade where the culture broke apart, where things got ugly, where the studio system collapsed and independent film rose, where certainties vanished, where Bonnie & Clyde happened, ushering in violence on film … all of that … it would take all of that for films to catch up with him, to present him with the roles where he could actually use that unformed anti-social part of himself, the part of him as a person that “doesn’t register”. Because Travis Bickle “doesn’t register.” Travis is a void. De Niro understood that void. Robert De Niro didn’t need “forming.” He needed “revealing.” But who could even see it yet at this early point? But he tries in The Wedding Party and it’s sweet to see the attempt.

There’s also Jill Clayburgh, timorous and needy, girlish and hovering. She takes tiny little steps, meant to be funny I think, and she’s all slumped posture and body shape. Again, it would take the 1970s to unleash Jill Clayburgh, to make her THE symbol of the burgeoning women’s movement. There’s not even the slightest indication here of what is to come.

Except … that they’re both working, and working hard. They’re where they need to be.

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50 Best Albums, by Brendan O’Malley, #44. The Descendents, Milo Goes To College

Posted on March 11, 2019 by sheila

My talented brother Brendan O’Malley is an amazing writer and actor. He’s wonderful in the recent You & Me, directed by Alexander Baack. (I interviewed Baack about the film here.) His most recent gig was story editor/writer on the hit series Survivor’s Remorse. Brendan hasn’t blogged in years, but the “content” (dreaded word) is so good I asked if I could import some of it to my blog. He did series on books he loved, and albums he loved. I thought it would be fun to put up some of the stuff here. So we’ll start with his list of 50 Best Albums. I’ll put up one every Monday.

Brendan’s list of 50 Best Albums is part music-critique and part memoir and part cultural snapshot.

I have always loved these essays, because I love to hear my brother talk. I am happy to share them with you!

50 Best Albums, by Brendan O’Malley

44. The Descendents – Milo Goes To College

In 1982 The Descendents put out their first full-length record, Milo Goes To College. Anyone who was familiar with the band, and there were several hundred of us across the nation, knew that the title of the album was not code of any kind. Milo Aukerman was their lead singer and he had gone off to college. To us they were already superstars. Their debut album announced that they were no longer really a band thanks to higher education.

If you heard The Descendents right now you might not think twice about them. But in this case, context is everything. Hardcore punk music was rapidly transforming the music business against its will. Much like rap, it began to succeed in spite of the rigorous attempts of those in charge of mass media to squelch it. Most of the hardcore music was angry, political, naive, and boring. We listened to that section of the genre almost dutifully. But The Descendents were LIKE US. So like us that one of them was going to college. They weren’t Wham! They weren’t The Thompson Twins. The music they made that we loved so much was not lucrative enough for Milo to abandon his education.

There are 15 songs on the album, none of which clock in at longer than 2 minutes 14 seconds. I don’t even know if I should bother singling anything out. This album is like a time machine for me, instantly dropping me back into my buddy Tom’s room. We probably walked to his house from high school. We might have gone into a record store. We might have bought sodas at the 7/11. When we got to his house we rummaged through the cupboards and found something to eat.

We turned on his amplifier, he plugged his guitar in, and we started playing the songs we wrote. We were no different from The Descendents who we probably just listened to. Tom’s Mom would shout up to us and tell us to turn it down. So we would. Then we’d probably do our homework.

Justin would show up and we would bust each others balls mercilessly. Someone would get their feelings hurt, usually me. Feathers would be ruffled and then smoothed somehow without any real discussion. We longed for booze and weed. We lusted after chicks. We talked sports. We talked smack.

In the background Milo would be singing “Suburban Home”.

California pop run through a wood chipper. Imagine The Ramones are supposed to do a show in a garage that opens out onto Venice Beach. Their equipment is all set up and ready to go. But The Ramones can’t do the show! The Beach Boys circa 1964 stroll up to the stage and offer their services. They play their set without changing the amplification at all.

This might capture the spirit of The Descendents. Throw in a dash of potty humor, outsider resentment, teenage hormones, and you’ve got quite a brew.

I just came here from Facebook. If The Descendents happened today they’d have a Myspace or Facebook page 2 days after they got together. By the time I heard about them in 1984, Milo had already completed his freshman year.

I only wish they’d recorded the sequel. Milo Completes Grad School. Which he did.

— Brendan O’Malley

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March/April 2019 Film Comment: Elia Kazan’s A Face in the Crowd and Hollywood Jim Crow

Posted on March 9, 2019 by sheila

I’ve got two things in the current issue of Film Comment (print only).

First is a review of Criterion’s upcoming release of Elia Kazan’s 1957 film A Face in the Crowd – a frightening and accurate film, not just a mirror of “what could be if we’re not careful” but “what has happened, and my God, how quickly.”

An unremittingly dark film about the powers of populism, and what that would look like when unleashed on American soil by a storytelling “just plain folks” hayseed, who seethes with resentment about the Harvard graduates on the East Coast, and anyone anywhere who has … learning, critical thinking, expertise, tolerance. Similar to the “folksy” boob in Sinclair Lewis’ It Can’t Happen Here. With an astonishing lead performance from Andy Griffith who – at that point – had only done standup. Incredible film. The Criterion release comes out mid-April. If you haven’t seen this one, make sure you do. The dark underbelly of American politics now – sickeningly – gone mainstream.

I also reviewed the new book The Hollywood Jim Crow: The Racial Politics of the Movie Industry, by Maryann Erigha, an excellent study of the demographics of African-American films in Hollywood, and how the myth of black films being “unbankable” persists in the gate-keepers’ decision-making process, even when evidence to the contrary stares at them in the face.

Erigha may not reveal anything we don’t already know – but she lays out her case in detail, looking at the industries of film-making, distribution, foreign markets, marketing, and how all of these aspects then dovetail into the crucial point: who gets funding, who gets to work with big budgets, what films are considered worthy of big budgets, and etc. The conversation goes much deeper than who wins Oscars. Erigha has done an amazing job of pulling all of these strands together, and then suggesting next steps. I highly recommend the book!

Both pieces in the latest Film Comment, on shelves now.

Posted in Books, Movies | Tagged | 2 Comments

Supernatural: And we’re back

Posted on March 7, 2019 by sheila

I have been so bad about keeping up with comments the last two weeks. Lots going on. I will come back and comment when I have time to dig in. Same with this post. Have at it!

Posted in Television | Tagged | 6 Comments

February 2019 Viewing Diary

Posted on March 7, 2019 by sheila

St. Agatha (2019; d. Darren Lynn Bousman)
I reviewed this nunsploitation horror film which I resisted at first for some reason, but then I got into the spirit of it. It’s fun. It’s what it needs to be. It also looks gorgeous. I reviewed for Ebert.

Cold War (2018; d. Paweł Pawlikowski)
The Oscar-nominated Cold War is Paweł Pawlikowski’s follow-up to Ida (which I wrote about here). Cold War feels like a continuation of Ida, and together they make this chilly tapestry – if a tapestry can have a temperature – of Cold War Poland. Music is present in Ida but it takes center stage in Cold War. I wrote about it here. Ted and I went to go see it during the run at Film Forum.

Supernatural, Season 14, episode 13 “Lebanon” (2019; d. Robert Singer)
Let’s hear it for Jared Padalecki’s amazing emotional work in the 300th episode. I haven’t re-watched since it aired, but I remember his work, in particular, vividly. It was heartbreaking.

Mad Men, Season 4, 5, 6, 7 (2010-2014)
Fell into a re-watch. This has been a weird couple of months. Surreal, almost. There’s been a lot of comfort food round these here parts, drawn to the familiar. Like this.

Ruben Brandt, Collector (2019; d. Milorad Krstić)
I absolutely loved this animated film. I reviewed for Ebert. I just got a note from the PR company asking if they could blurb my review in upcoming marketing. This is the quote they want to use: “‘Ruben Brandt, Collector’ is like ‘To Catch a Thief’ as filtered through the multi-eyeballed gaze of Joan Miró, or ‘The Pink Panther’ as imagined by Pablo Picasso.” It’s not exactly “Fun for the whole family”, is it?

A Face in the Crowd (1957; d. Elia Kazan)
I reviewed the upcoming Criterion release of this classic film for the current issue of Film Comment. I hadn’t seen it in a long time. Certainly not since the 2016 Presidential election. I watched it with a sickened queasy feeling. It’s all there.

Russian Doll (2019; d. Leslye Headland, Jamie Babbit, Natasha Lyonne)
I need to write about this extraordinary series eventually. I took it very personally. It was eerie, actually. My life in New York has felt like that. And I’m sure I’m not alone in this.

Badlands (1973; d. Terrence Malick)
One of my most engrossing projects during this weird last two months was a long piece on Badlands – a film I love, have loved, go to again and again, and YET I have never written about it. Until now, that is. The piece isn’t live yet, whenever it’s live I’ll put up a link.

Man of Aran (1934; d. Robert Flaherty)
I reviewed Robert Flaherty’s 1934 “documentary” Man of Aran for Film Comment. He made his name, really, with his 1922 film Nanook of the North. Supposedly the “father of documentary film” – even though so much of what we see onscreen is fabricated. But the nature photography (for lack of a better word) is awe-inspiring (especially when you consider how huge the cameras were then). This footage is incredible.

A Boatload of Wild Irishmen (2010; d. Mac Dara Ó’Curraidhín)
I watched this documentary in preparation for Man of Aran – I mention it in the review. It’s about Flaherty’s career, and it was helpful.

Climax (2019; d. Gaspar Noé)
God, I loved this film. The dance sequence at the beginning is so exhilarating I wanted to cheer. I reviewed for Ebert.

I Am Cuba (1995; d. Mikhail Kalatozov)
Charlie and I went to go see this at the Film Forum. It felt like I was watching low-rent poorly-written Clifford Odets, or agitprop “literature” from 1936. The propaganda is STIFLING. It’s such BULL. SHIT. and you wonder: who on earth would be fooled by this? You literally can’t breathe the propaganda is so … bossy. Afterwards, Charlie said to me, “I kept wanting to go back to the hotel with the hookers” and I burst out laughing. Me too! Those opening scenes were supposed to show the decadence of Western corruption but … sitting in a nightclub listening to live music and having a cocktail … To quote my dad, “I see no problem.” I mean, I GET it, I get the critique, don’t explain it to me, but the rest of it was so dreary and didactic and noble peasants and dead doves, etc. Meanwhile: the people in Cuba – the REAL people – suffered, beneath this STIFLING propaganda. It’s infuriating. (The backstory of this film is interesting. Look it up!)

Hidden Figures (2016; d. Theodore Melfi)
Member what I said about comfort food? This is comfort food. It makes me laugh, cry, swells my heart, and etc. It works every time. Here’s what I wrote about it.

Love (2015; d. Gaspar Noé)
I’m an Enter the Void girl. (The opening credits sequence is one of my favorite opening credits ever). I missed Love when it came out, even though I was excited to see it the second I heard about it: Gaspar Noé was directing a sex movie … in 3D. WHAT? So I watched Love, getting ready for Climax, and I found it less than exciting. Even the sex got boring. Of course there are moments, visually, where it grabbed me, but other than that … Still: I’d rather watch Gaspar Noé’s less-than-thrilling 3D sex movie than some other conventional movie playing it safe with no distinction whatsoever.

The Master (2012; d. Paul Thomas Anderson)
It says a lot about me that this movie counts as “comfort food.” But it’s true.

The Post (2017; d. Steven Spielberg)
“Comfort Food” again. It works every time.

The Nice Guys (2016; d. Shane Black)
Comfort Food. The most comforting. I love this movie so much, and love Shane Black’s movies. “The porno …. young lady …” Why didn’t people go see this? I so want a sequel. I want to watch more movies where these two guys fight crimes.

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Review: Gloria Bell (2019)

Posted on March 7, 2019 by sheila

My review of Gloria Bell, Sebastián Lelio’s remake of his own film, 2013’s Gloria, is now up at Rogerebert.com.

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