I had never met Michael before, although he also writes for Fandor<\/a>: it’s so fun to meet someone whose writing you’ve already read! Here’s one of the pieces of his<\/a> that I had read. Keith, Michael and I lined up on the comfy couch, facing the television, and we watched Certified Copy<\/i>. 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). <\/p>\n The movie is an absolute dream<\/i>, 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<\/i>, 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<\/a>, 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<\/i> (which I also loved<\/a>), and what a delight to have already heard so much about Certified Copy<\/i> (although I have avoided full-on reviews) and to find it far exceed my expectations. <\/p>\n 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<\/a>), 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. <\/p>\n 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<\/i>, 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<\/i>. <\/p>\n 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. <\/p>\n 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. <\/p>\n Me: “Groundhog Day<\/i> will be watched long after we are all dead.” 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<\/i>. It’s also good to hear (especially in these preliminary stages) that what you meant<\/i> to do, you have<\/i> 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. <\/p>\n 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<\/i>, 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.”<\/p>\n So we all piled back into the living room and watched the first hour of Moment by Moment<\/i>, 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<\/i> to watch, rather than irritating. <\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Also, they have identical haircuts, which makes it difficult to tell them apart. <\/p>\n Comments made during the film:<\/b><\/p>\n Michael: “She has not been wearing a bra in any scene.” 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 … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Certified-Copy-Movie-Poster.jpg\" "\\"Certified-Copy-Movie-Poster\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n
\nMichael: “That is a perfect movie.”
\nMe: “Absolutely.”<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/moment-by-moment.jpg\" "\\"moment")
<\/a><\/p>\n
\nDan: “Often I watch this movie and I go into such a zone that I can’t tell where I am anymore.”
\nMe: “There’s nothing to hold onto in this movie.”
\nKeith: (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 ….”
\nMe: “Why are their haircuts the same?”
\nMichael: “I don’t understand why she doesn’t call the cops. He keeps showing up.”
\nMe: “Wow. Look at her eat that drumstick.”
\nMe: “Oh, please don’t have sex. I can’t deal with it.”
\nMichael: “Look, he’s snot-crying.”
\nMe: “I don’t understand this plot at all. What is he crying about?”
\nKeith: (singing) “Aaaaaaand now … she REEEEEEADS her maaaaagazine, and watches teeee-veeeeeeee….”
\nMe: “It’s really weird to watch something that is so dead.”
\nMichael: “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?”
\nMe: “Poor Lily. She’s so talented. This is a travesty.”
\nMichael: “Oh God, she’s cold to him again? I can’t take it.”
\nKeith: (singing) “And nowwwwww, she picks up the PHOOOONE … sheeee is crying …”
\nMe: “Wait a sec – why is she crying? I think I missed something.”
\nDan: “This film is a total black hole.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"