One more thing: Here’s an article I wrote for Salon. “How Can White Americans Be Free?” The default belief that the white experience is a neutral and objective one hurts both white and American culture. I also talk about Spring Breakers (great), and Girls (great and not great). Fighting the Default has been the main point of Mirror in many ways. Who knows what infamous commenter Max Oblivion will think. How Can White Americans Be Free? Measure, measure, measure. We learn to measure first. We spend our days measuring. And when we count we start at one. Every number after is in relation to one. Two is one after one. Three is two after one. And so on. Every child […]
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Django Unchained
django I’m off to focus on my own films now. Here is my last post, my thoughts on Django, completely unedited. This is what something I write looks like before it’s anywhere close to being finished. Before I’ve toned it wayyy down or toned it way up, all out of order etc. I better get out of here before I start making disclaimers up the wazoo. *** Blood is so red. Thank god for its color. Thank god for blood’s redness and thank god for red blood in Django. In January. Its good to see guts in the wastelands of winter. In winter, the exteriors of everything rub on the exteriors of everything else. Coats pass other coats. Gloves shake […]
Prince Avalanche
Paul Rudd walked by me on Main Street in Park City wearing reflective sunglasses so I couldn’t see if his eyes could see that my eyes saw him and were staring. I knew it was him from the way he walked. I can recognize a gait a mile away. But I didn’t know yet that “Prince Avalanche” was a masterpiece or I could’ve had a good conversation starter. David Gordon Green’s new film opens with a piece of text that sets it up: In 1987, wildfires ravaged Texas and thousands of people lost their homes. The cause of the fires were never discovered. The story takes place the following year. In the film (Alvin) Paul Rudd, and (Lance) Emile Hirsch […]
The Wandering Spiritual Nomadic Couchsurfer of Sundance
Why is it that the culture surrounding art is so far removed from the process of making that art? I suspect this week is hell for many filmmakers here. The world you have to exist in as a great artist (one that values the interior over the exterior, the spiritual over the corporeal) is directly opposed the world you have to exist in to get your movie made. I wonder how many other people here are wondering what’s wrong with them. How many people are pretending they love partying in order to not feel like a weirdo. Continue reading at rogerebert.com
Things at Sundance
chancha Today at Sundance I wandered aimlessly around a supermarket picking up different cheeses and putting them back down. I can never decide on a brie. Cheese-less I journeyed to a bustling main street (a very steep hill) where altitude-acclimated rich ladies breezed by me in furry hats and sunglasses. They were having a good time. Having spent a terrifying night gasping for air in Cuajimoloyas, Mexico (10,000 ft. elevation), I rang Doctor Singla. “Doc, I need some altitude sickness meds” I said, but before she could reply the call disconnected. Dejected on Main Street with only a tidbit of oxygen left in my lungs, I glanced up. There, between me and death, was a coffee shop. Then I drank […]
Wes Anderson’s Arrested Development
My immediate reaction to Wes Anderson isn’t hatred, love, or even annoyance. It’s jealousy. After scorn-filled years spent perceiving him as a threat to my personal identity, this is the unsophisticated truth. I am not jealous of the fact that his films exist, it’s not the envy of an artist to another’s success and popularity. Instead I’m jealous that I don’t belong to the group that’s thrilled and inspired by his work. I want Anderson’s anti-authority themed films to matter to me (an anti-authority themed person), in a significant, or at least delightful way, and I’m frustrated that they don’t. And though he has his critics, it feels lonely not to fall in love with Wes Anderson. In his new […]
Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie! (and more)
Ay dios dios dios mio. I’ve forgotten to post these links and you’ve been staring at Keira Knightley’s vagina for almost two months. Below are some articles I’ve written recently for Salon. They’re TV related, but let’s not kid ourselves. You watch a lot of TV too. Tim and Eric’s Comedy of Repulsion: In their new movie, the cult comics push the limits of human vulnerability — and generate laughs from nerves TV’s Eerie New Race-less World: In an Obama age, shows like “Parenthood” flatter us into believing race no longer matters — and avoid hard truth. The Great Sitcom Divide: Once you’ve grown used to adventurous shows like “30 Rock” and “Louie,” the traditional sitcom feels like a relic.
Keira Knightley’s Vagina (A Dangerous Method)
method A Dangerous Method opens with the ominous notes of a cello, that, leading out of the opening credits, give way to a horn & string crescendo and the disturbing first scene: Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley) arrives screaming, restrained by men, in a black carriage, drawn by black horses at the Burgholzli Clinic. And as our stomachs vibrate from the bass and the violence of the scene just past, a calm Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) greets his new patient in a beige paneled room with dark parquet floors and bounced light. This is Zurich. It is 1904. Sabina suffers from mental hysteria (with spontaneous orgasms provoked by humiliation). She and Jung eventually begin a sexual relationship. In these early meetings between […]
Pasolini’s Accatone
**Update: Accatone is a pain in the ass to see, but it’s on youtube right now. Great quality in one full video. Watch it before it vanishes (make sure to turn on CC)** Ballila the Fat Thief to Accatone the Starving Pimp: Did you sell your car? Is all the gold gone? You really look like a beggar. What a bad end! Hai venduto la macchina? E finito l’oro? Ma tu mi pari proprio un dizgrazato. Che brutta fine! Che brutta fine! Che brutta fine! I watched Accatone for the first time eight years ago, and for eight years now I’ve recited those words “Che brutta fine!” with regular regularity. I say them out loud, not to myself, and I do this the most as I walk […]