Att summera Bob Dylans artisteri känns som en tämligen omöjlig uppgift. Hans produktivitet kan närmast liknas vid en värphönas och kultstatusen överskuggar alla samtida musikikoner. Todd Haynes spelfilm ”I’m Not There” från 2007 hyllades av en samstämmig kritikerkår, men att tro att den på något sätt skulle ge en djupare inblick i Dylans sinnevärld var att hoppas på för mycket. Trots strålande skådespelarinsatser – inte minst från Cate Blanchett – lyste den etablerade schablonbilden igenom allt för ofta.

Hur som helst är filmens tillhörande soundtrack det bästa coveralbumet som gjorts. Det finns ingen skiva som har spelats mer flitigt i min iPod det senaste halvåret.

Jim James och Calexico – Goin’ To Acapulco

Albumet på Spotify:

There have been times when I’ve found it difficult to pick a favorite record for a given year, but 2007 wasn’t one of them. Granted, any time Joe Henry releases a new album, it makes the Album of the Year race fairly tough to call for me, but 2007’s Civilians felt particularly timely and triumphant. Part of it was that the album was the follow-up to Tiny Voices– an album that had by then become my all-time favorite, by Henry or anybody else– and that it had been some four years in the making. But more than that, the album followed on the heels of a particularly turbulent political season and looked ahead to the election cycle that was to come, yet it was not, as Henry has always been quick to point out, a “political album.” Actually, it was a decidedly spiritual one, casting its eye to national affairs but also invoking God’s name on nearly every song and exploring profoundly theological matters– namely, the providence and grace of God, themes it addresses more poetically and richly than any other album I know of, save perhaps Sam Phillips’ A Boot and a Shoe.

Henry was 2007’s true MVP, not only for that album’s superb songwriting but also for his skilled work as a producer, both on Civilians and on a pair of albums he cut for other artists– Loudon Wainwright III’s Strange Weirdos and Mary Gauthier’s Between Daylight and Dark. These three albums are produced immaculately and cut with the same core band, which made them feel, at the time, a bit like a trilogy, though all three have very distinct characteristics. If Henry’s album is about poetry and spiritual exploration, Wainwright’s is about joy and humor, and Gauthier’s about gritty blues. All three are utterly excellent, though, and rank as three of the finest albums from 2007, which I still think of as The Year of Joe Henry.

But if the big story in 2007 was, for me, Joe Henry, it was, for everyone else, Radiohead. In Rainbows appeared from out of the blue at the tail end of the year and made huge waves for its unorthodox release strategy, but, with a little distance, the album is now starting to be celebrated not just for its cutting-edge marketing, but, more importantly, for its standing as a very fine Radiohead album. In fact, it’s become one of my favorites: The sound of it is (comparatively) warm, romantic, and comfortable in its own skin in a way that no other Radiohead album is. When I get a Radiohead itch, it is, more often than not, for In Rainbows.

Another trend: Rock and roll. 2007 was full of great rock, ranging from The White Stripes‘ Icky Thump– their hardest-rocking set, and one of their most peculiar– to Queens of the Stone Age and the loud, nasty, primitive roar of Era Vulgaris. My two favorites might be Arctic Monkeys‘ piledriving rock and roll set Favourite Worst Nightmare and Spoon’s sensational, inspired tribute to pop songcraft, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. Rounding out the rock and roll set is Dinosaur Jr. and Beyond, one of the decade’s most thrilling comebacks, an album of great hunger, energy, and roaring rock and roll vigor.

Behind Joe Henry, though, the thing I listened to most in 2007 was The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter, a blindingly great pop album for which I hold boundless affection. I’m not sure that anyone else loves the album in quite the same way that I do, but I stand behind it completely: Ritter reshapes American myth and music in his own image, and the album is both heartfelt and incredibly fun. More than anything else, it reminds me of the great Nick Lowe albums of the late 1970s– it’s a jukebox of great songs and styles, but it holds together due to the sheer magnetism of the singer and the consistent nature of the songwriting.

2007 was also the year of what is arguably my favorite soul album of the decade– it’s gotta be either Solomon Burke’s Don’t Give Up on Me (from 2002) or Bettye LaVette’s The Scene of the Crime. The latter album is an exemplary entry in the genre, for a number of reasons: Not only is it a crash course in the art of song interpretation, with LaVette pulling songs from diverse sources and styles and turning them all into not only soul songs, but soul songs that tell her own, unique story, but it’s also a primer on inspired collaboration; LaVette and her backing band, the Drive-by Truckers, create a speaker-rattling, soul-stirring roadhouse fury, and few soul albums released in the 00s match this one in sure, unhinged fervor or edginess.

And though he didn’t release any album of his own in 2007, Bob Dylan was nevertheless the source– or at least the source material– of one of my very favorite albums from the year, the dynamite two-disc soundtrack to I’m Not There. Dozens of vintage Dylan tunes covered by some of the best artists around, and the whole thing is virtually devoid of clunkers of filler. It’s inspired, and compulsively playable; it still finds its way into my stereo all the time.

And the list goes on and on. Over the Rhine got playful with The Trumpet Child. Maria McKee made her more inspired and colorful album with Late December. Nick Lowe made his best-yet collection of country/rock/R&B gems with the easygoing, romantic At My Age. Arcade Fire mixed politics and religion for the fiery, ferocious Neon Bible. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss got contemplative for the sublime Raising Sand. Patty Griffin turned in another winning set, mixing country and folk and gospel, in Children Running Through. LCD Soundsystem made what might be my favorite dance recording of the decade, Sound of Silver. Nick Cave and some of his Bad Seeds rocked their way through midlife crisis in Grinderman’s self-titled debut. Andrew Bird made one of his most ambitious and provocative works, Armchair Apocrypha. Miranda Lambert gave mainstream country a much-needed dose of rock and roll in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. The National turned in working-class poetry with their beautiful album Boxer. And on and on it goes; all told, I’m pretty sure 2007 was my favorite musical year of the decade.

But how about you?

See also: 2000; 2001; 2002; 2003; 2004; 2005; and 2006.

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4 bandes sonores à trouver absolument.

4 soundtracks que l’on doit avoir – vieux ou récent, folk ou rock, reggae ou blues, original ou pas.

1. Ray.
   La vie de Ray Charles en image et en son, voilas ce que propose le film. On connaît tous Ray Charles, alors pour le résumé du film: «Cinq décennies de succès, une carrière musicale émaillée de classiques qui ont inspiré des générations d’artistes, la légende Ray Charles est née. Mais derrière cette image, se profile l’histoire émouvante d’un homme qui a réussi à surmonter ses handicaps et ses drames personnels pour s’en inspirer brillamment et toucher à différents styles musicaux, du jazz à la country en passant par le rhythm & blues, le rock et le gospel.» (trouvé sur Cinefil.com, linternaute.com). La musique est géniale et Jamie Foxx dans le rôle de Ray Charles est géniale et attachant. Pour les soupesr, les soirées intellectuelles, le travail ou un cadeau, la trame sonore est un must have!
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2. Lock, Stocj & two Smocking Barrells.
   Film typique de Guy Ritchie. Si vous connaissez le Film Snatch, on retrouve mêmes acteurs, style, thèmes, idées et motifs. Le film est super et la trame sonore est originale et amusante. On y trouve James Brown, Dusty Springfield, Ocean Colour Scene, The Stooges et plusieurs autres. À utiliser pour se faire des compilations pour la voiture et le métro.
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3. I’m not There.
   Le film est génial et la musique, interprétation des chansons de Dylan par différentes voix, est extraordinaire. Le résumé du film sur Wiki : «Six acteurs incarnent différents aspects de la vie de Bob Dylan (rebelle, enfant fuyant les orphelinats, chanteur de folk engagé, puis vedette internationale, comédien, prophète chrétien « born-again », hors-la-loi) à travers des personnages fictifs dont l’histoire ressemble à celle de Dylan…» Une des meilleures : Ballad of a thin man sur Youtube.
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4. Pulp Fiction.

Pas grand chose à dire sur cette bande sonore, on la connaît tous par coeur, mais ça reste un “must have”.On peut penser aux titres sur Dazed & confused aussi. Bon vieux classique rock américain.
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LES meets UES in matrimony; image courtesy of gossipgirlinsider.com

So, I finally saw last week’s episode of Gossip Girl. For my money, there is nothing surprising about Sonic Youth performing “Starpower” and bassist/guitarist Kim Gordon marrying Rufus Humphrey and Lily van der Woodsen-Bass-etc. The reason, as I will outline chronologically below, is that flirtations with mainstream popular culture is completely in keeping with their career. This cameo isn’t an isolated incident. If anything this network-savvy band pioneered how indie does synergy.

March 1, 1988: Ciccone Youth, a side project formed in 1986 between the band and Minutemen bassist/co-founder Mike Watt releases The Whitey Album. In this configuration, they took part of their name from Madonna’s surname. They also covered some of her songs, including “Into the Groovey” and “Burnin’ Up.” For good measure, they also covered Robert Palmer’s “Addicted to Love.” Were they taking the piss or celebrating 80s blockbuster pop? Maybe both? You decide.

June 26, 1990: Goo is released on DGC, marking their major label debut. 

In 1991, the Goo video album is released, a clip accompanying each song on the album. Among them are “Mildred Pierce” which features Sofia Coppola dressed as Joan Crawford, who starred in the 1945 film noir of same name, “Disappearer,” which was directed by Todd Haynes, and a few clips directed by Tamra Davis, including “Dirty Boots” and “Kool Thing,” which also featured Public Enemy’s Chuck D.

September 17, 1991: Kim Gordon co-produces Pretty on the Inside, Hole’s debut album, released on Caroline, a subsidiary of Virgin.

July 21, 1992: Dirty is released. Two noteworthy music videos come along with it. Actor Jason Lee, then unknown, is featured as a tragic skateboarder in ”100%. The clip was co-directed by Davis and Spike Jonze, who just made some movie about kids and monsters based on a children’s book. Chloë Sevigny, once a Sassy intern, stars in “Sugar Kane,” which also showcases Marc Jacobs’ Perry Ellis grunge collection.

August 9, 1993: “Cannonball” is released as the lead single to The Breeders way-ruling Last Splash. Kim Gordon co-directs the music video with Jonze.

September 14, 1993: Judgment Night is released, along with a successful soundtrack from Epic that pairs alternative/metal acts with rap groups. Sonic Youth and Cypress Hill collaborate on ”I Love You Mary Jane.”

Cover to Judgment Night (Epic, 1993); image courtesy of brianorndorf.com

1994: Kim Gordon creates X-Girl with Daisy von Furth, a sister clothing line to Beastie Boys Mike D’s X-Large collection. I see DJ Tanner wear an X-Girl blue jumper on Full House and want one.

August 25, 1994: Sonic Youth contributes “Genetic” to the My So-Called Life soundtrack. Released on Atlantic, the compilation features other Juliana Hatfield, Afghan Whigs, Daniel Johnston, and (of course) Buffalo Tom, who every fan remembers played a show on Pike Street.

Track list to the My So-Called Life soundtrack (Atlantic, 1994); image courtesy of mscl.com

September 13, 1994: If I Were A Carpenter, a Carpenters tribute album, is released on A&M. An alternafest, acts like American Music Club, Shonen Knife, Babes and Toyland, and Matthew Sweet share time with SY, who cover “Superstar.” In late 2007, the song would make an appearance in the movie Juno.

Cover to If I Were a Carpenter (Rhino, 1994); image courtesy of whizzo.ca

October 27, 1995: CBS airs “The State’s 43rd Annual All-Star Halloween Special,” marking the MTV sketch comedy troupe’s network television debut. Sonic Youth is the musical guest. Few people watch (I am one of them), and CBS decides to pull the plug. 

May 19, 1996: Fox airs ”Homerpalooza,” The Simpsons‘ penultimate episode of its seventh season. In it, Homer goes on tour with Hullabalooza (re: Lollapalooza), taking canons to the gut to the bemusement of thousands of jaded slackers. Several acts made guests appearances, including Smashing Pumpkins, Cypress Hill, Peter Frampton, and Sonic Youth. The band also provides an “alternative” version to Danny Elfman’s iconic theme song, perhaps getting closer in tone to what creator Matt Groening had originally envisioned when suggesting that avant-jazz composer John Zorn write the show’s theme song. The song is later featured on Rhino’s Go Simpsonic With The Simpsons: Original Music From The Television Series compilation.

"I'm so disillusioned!"; image courtesy of taringa.net

June 5, 1996: James Mangold’s debut feature, Heavy, is released in the states. Moore composes the score.

June 1998: I watch the “Kool Thing” video at a Gadzooks in the Mall of America during a trip to Young Life camp in Minnesota.

July 13, 2001: Larry Clark’s Bully is released in theaters. Moore composes the score.

July 25, 2005: Gus Van Sant’s Last Days, the director’s take on Kurt Cobain’s final days, is released in the states. Gordon appears as a record executive based on Danny Goldberg trying to turn the main character’s life around. Moore also served as a music consultant.

May 2006: Former Pavement bassist Mark Ibold joins the band. This has nothing to do with matters of synergy or cross-promotion; I just happen to think he’s kinda cute. He was also featured in a comic strip, but the name escapes me. His catchphrase is something to the effect of “I’m Mark, the bassist from Pavement” but I’m butchering it. My friend Susan told me about it, so maybe she’ll share in the comments section.

Mark Ibold, perhaps around the time he was dating Oksana Baiul and before the Pavement reunion tour; image courtesy of amazon.com

May 9, 2006: Moore and Gordon appear with daughter Coco in “Partings,” the Gilmore Girls‘ season six finale. 

June 15, 2007: Pitchfork reports that SY will be contributing a track to a Starbucks compilation.

November 21, 2007: Todd Haynes’s I’m Not There is released. Gordon’s makes a cameo as folkie Carla Hendricks, who is based on Judy Collins. The casting furthers my suspicion that SY friend Todd Haynes must have been influenced by the band’s fandom of The Carpenters and preoccupation with Karen Carpenter’s tragic struggle with anorexia. They cover “Superstar.” He makes a biopic about Carpenter called Superstar. Coincidence?

September 8, 2008: Choosing not to renew their contract with Geffen, SY sign with indie stalwart Matador.

November 3, 2008: Moore and former Be Your Own Pet frontwoman Jemina Pearl cover The Ramones’ “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker” specifically for “There Might Be Blood,” a season two episode of Gossip Girl. 

February 16, 2009: Gordon debuts a clothing collection called Mirror/Dash for Urban Outfitters.

Is this bad? Hmm, maybe. I suppose it depends on your outlook. I’d say it’s no worse than The Flaming Lips performing on Beverly Hills, 90210 (although, maybe for it to be equal, Wayne Coyne would have to play a short-order cook at the Peach Pit). Beyond paying the bills and circulating their brand, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a fair amount of post-modern, art-school, post-Warholian why-the-hell-not? factoring into all of Sonic Youth’s above-ground forays. Or perhaps they (gasp!) like many of these texts and ventures. 

Perhaps the band knows that dabbling with the mainstream is tricky business. Maybe this explains why Moore (and, to a lesser extent Gordon and guitarist Lee Ranaldo, though not media-shy drummer Steve Shelley) cultivated an authoritative presence in recent music documentaries like Punk: Attitude, Kill Yr Idols, and I Need That Record! It may also have fueled a need for an outlet through which to channel more experimental projects, resulting in the band forming Sonic Youth Recordings in 1996, along with Shelley’s Smells Like label and Moore’s Ecstatic Peace label. In addition, Ranaldo has done a considerable amount of writing, creates installation projects with his wife Leah Singer, has an extensive solo career, and has performed improvisatory film scores as a member of Text of Light.

And, you know. The band is still really good. Even as folks mine their discography or weave them into above-ground mainstream corporate media culture enterprising, they’re still challenging themselves and making great music. Earlier this year, the band released The Eternal, their 16th album. Peaking at #18 on the Billboard charts, it also boasts a consistently great set of songs and a painting by late guitarist John Fahey for its cover. This blurring of art and commerce, for good or for bad, is in keeping with the band and their contributions to music culture.

FilmWipe365 is very sad to reveal it is in a state of utter confusion.  For the first time in a movie watching career that has spanned over two decades I am completely and utterly confused.  I have no idea what I have just watched.  Was it because the film made  was just rubbish? No.  Was it that the direction was done simply to confuse the audience? Possibly.  Or was it because I was sat behind someone who’s head was so large it made Michelle McManus look like a twiglet,  making it almost impossible to see what was going on? Definately.  For nearly two hours his head was in my way.  I could see every bite as he tucked into a big bag of sweet popcorn, however I struggled to see Heath Ledger in his final screen performance. But don’t fear FilmWipe fans.  After I confronted Mr Fatso about his unnaturally large head and a misplaced tears I am happy to report I was able to watch the rest of the film and get a good sense of what is the strangest film of year.  Mr Fatso on the other hand hopefully went and got liposuction after he stormed out of the cinema in accordance with the excellent advice I gave him, and will be down to svelte 30 stone by Christmas.

If you hadn’t guessed already we are looking at the Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. The film follows a travelling show called Dr Parnassus and his extraordinary Imaginarium.  The show gives audience members the opportunity to go into a world where they can live out their imagination.  Dr Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) is joined by a small band of followers which include his daughter Valentina (Lilly Cole).  She is unhappy with the travelling show and craves a normal life with a respectable mother and father.  The group is turned upside down by two events.  Parnassus made a pact with the devil (Tom Waits)so that he could live forever.  However, a condition of this pact was that if he had a daughter she would become the devils on ehr 16th birthday.  And you will never guess what each she is about to become in the film?  The other is the arrival of Tony (Heath Ledger, Jude Law, Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell) a disgraced a charity worker who they find hanging from London Bridge.  He turns out to be polarising figure who both unites and dirsupts the group.  It is his influence that puts Valentina in the position of choosing the path that her life will take.

Frankly I found this a very confusing experience.  The film is difficult to follow in terms of working out what is going on.  However, in terms of truly comprehending what it all means it becomes something that even Stephen Hawking would struggle with.  It is very obvious that after Ledger’s death Gilliam had to try and save the film.  He brought in a variety of different actors to play the role of Tony, and fortunately for him Ledger had filmed most of the scenes in and around London.  This allowed him to use the other actors to play his character when they go into this other world that is part of the show.  However, what is very clear is that key chunks of story were obviously cut out in order to make this all fit.  And this is inevitably to the detriment of the film as a whole.  Furthermore the problems are compounded as the other actors give this film a very strange vibe.  It would have worked better if just one actor had been used, using three just gives the impression that Gilliam watched I’m Not There and thought; “Hazaar I have saved another disaster I mean film”.

What adds to the failing of the enforced technique used in the film is that the acting is quite bad.  Yesterday i described the acting in The Aryan Couple as being so bad it made Bungle from Rainbow look like Sidney Poitier.  While the different incarnations of Tony are not this bad they are pretty awful.  And I am sad to say that Heath Ledger is the most confusing.  His accent varies horrifically.  One minute he is doing a cockney accent that would make Mike Reid proud the next he has slipped into a weird Australian-American hybrid that is so incomprehensible it makes listening too someone with a voice box an absolute pleasure.  The others in put in reasonable performances although Colin Farrell can also be accused of pulling a strange accent that is only comprehensible for dogs.

Even with all of the films difficulties kept in mind one alarm bell rings loudly.  Gilliam has lost the plot.  He has not made anything good since Twelve Monkeys and frankly the man needs to look at bowing out of the film industry with his beleaguered reputation still in tact.  Currently he has got a one way ticket to career oblivion and currently the train has one more stop to make.  This was not a good film.  It was poorly directed and incomprehensible.  The ideas were great.  The execution was not.

Overall this was an reasonable.  The film ranged from barely enjoyable to thrilling and exciting.  Momentary glimpses of fantastic imagination were normally matched with hours of tedium.  Watch on your own or with film fans.  If you’re with someone who doesn’t really like film be prepared for an attempted suicide in the cinema.

4/10

Cover of Persepolis (Pantheon, 2007); image courtesy of shelflove.wordpress.com

When I saw the film version of Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel Persepolis, it was a pretty rad time to be a feminist moviegoer. In the last month of 2007 and the first month of 2008, this movie came out, along with Juno and 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. Having just completed a girls’ studies course, I was ecstatic that three different movies, each from a different country, were released with complex, resilient protagonists who were girls and young women.

Two of these movies earned Oscar nominations a few months later. Juno won Best Screenplay. Persepolis was nominated for Best Animated Feature, but unfortunately lost to Ratatouille. 4 Months, which documents the harrowing day of one college student trying to procure an illegal abortion for her roommate during the last years of Nicolae Ceauşescu’s in Romania, won the Palme D’Or at Cannes earlier in 2007, but failed to receive any nominations. For some reason. Perhaps it escaped nomination as a technicality, but I don’t understand why no one, particularly writer-director Cristian Mungiu or lead actress Anamaria Marinca, got any Academy recognition. Perhaps because it lacked the allegorical importance of No Country For Old Men or There Will Be Blood and cut to very real (and tremendously gendered) issues facing real people in the real world, many of whom reside in developing nations. 

But it is really no matter. No Country, There Will Be Blood, Julian Schnabel’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and Todd Haynes’s I’m Not There were but more examples of what a very fine time this particular two-month period was for movies. But 4 Months was easily my favorite movie of that year. The movie whose source material will be the focus of this post was a very close second.

Having seen the movie upon its U.S. release, some context has changed considerably upon revisiting Satrapi’s autobiography about coming of age inside and outside of Iran from the late 70s to the early 90s, a time period where the country witnessed the fall of the Shah (aided by the United States), the swift and crushing oppression of its citizens by Islamic extremists, a devastating eight-year war with Iraq, and the neighboring country’s launch of the Persian Gulf War. In late 2007, we were still living under the Bush Administration, so the country’s positioning as part of the ”axis of evil” was in my mind, but being pretty ignorant about the country’s political history and our involvement with it past the Iran-Contra Affair, Bush’s branding of the country read more as a promise that the United States were, in fact, going to try and spread democracy by force to all of the Middle East, snatching up its real or imagined WMDs and drain its oil resources in the process. And I knew about President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and was disgusted by his views on the Holocaust and heartened by the student protests around his adminstration, but was not yet aware of just what a dangerous despot he is.     

This was, of course, before this year’s highly controversial presidential election, which Ahmadinejad “won” by a suspiciously high margain over rival candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, an Independent reformist. At the time, what seemed more present in our minds in the states was what Twitter was doing to help cover and contextualize the civic protests and how quickly mainstream broadcast news was going to incorporate the still-emergent micro-blogging site’s Tweets into their 24-hour cycle, regardless of how accurate they were. 

As a result, I was a little jaded by the “Twitter users coverage of the Iran election is going to change news reporting” angle many seemed to be taking and instead wanted to know more about how the election was fraudulent, why certain people (specifically journalists, protesters, students, and politicians) were being arrested, what the stakes were, who was doing a good job covering this news story, and, most importantly, what circumstances led to the current iteration of Iran. Remembering that local branches of Barnes & Noble were donating proceeds to the Paramount upon purchase last weekend, shilling out my money to the big box chain for the sake of preserving a historical movie theater seemed as a good an opportunity to buy the book that may provide answers.

And, I’ll be honest. Reading the book left me with more questions than anything else (a similar feeling came over me when reading Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, two books whose timelines stretch past the 70s-90s, but contain a considerable overlap in terms of time with Persepolis, focusing on what was going on with ordinary people in Afghanistan, another contentious Middle Eastern country that borders Iran). It was hard not to check some ugly American tendencies I have toward Islamic traditions — particularly toward its views on marriage, sexuality, gender politics, and dress. At the same time, I was incredulous of how pro-West rhetoric and ideology, alongside our smuggled trinkets of popular culture, could possibly reform a nation, or at least save a person.

Luckily, Satrapi is skeptical of both and, like me and other feminists from all over the world, has a lot to negotiate. She grapples with these issues head-on. She argues with teachers against the physical restrictions and societal double standards that come with the hijab and the burka (sidenote: I know that Faegheh Shirazi, who teaches Middle Eastern Studies at UT and rejects traditional Islamic dress, has written and taught courses on gender and clothing in the Middle East, but any other suggestions for further reading are welcome). She watches her female peers grow up to only want marriage and children, in large part because these are the only things their nation’s leaders believe define their worth. Particularly poignant for this co-habitator, she regrets getting married to a man named Reza because they could not legally live together (or even walk the street) without proof of marriage, dissolving the marriage and leaving for France.

Marjane and friends reject the hijab; image courtesy of rand.org

Satrapi is a smart rebel who reads constantly, thinks clearly, and never backs down from an argument. She yells at authority figures who bully her or deny that there are any political prisoners in Iran after learning about the loss of her grandfather, who was son and prime minister to the ousted king (a tie that Satrapi suggests is not uncommon).

College student Satrapi damns the man; image courtesy of butterfliesandbears.wordpress.com

Luckily for Satrapi, she gets through all of this with the love and support of her politically aware and resistant parents, their friends, and one rad paternal grandma. Not so luckily, she also knows and meets lots of folks who suffered for speaking up, speaking out, or just living in the wrong house during an aerial bombing. Something tells me that many Iranians could recount similar tales of horror.

Satrapi also learns that the ways of the West are not always ideal, either. While a pre-pubescent in Iran, she hangs Iron Maiden posters on her wall her parents smuggle from a vacation in Turkey when the government lifted border restrictions. She defiantly walks around her neighborhood, blaring Kim Wilde’s “Kids in America” from her Walkman while sporting a Michael Jackson pin. But noting that their daughter’s rebelliousness is hardly a phase and that escalating conflict with Iraq could mean the imprisonment or death of their mouthy teen, her parents send her to live with a friend of her mother’s in Vienna.

Still from the film; image courtesy of whatsontv.co.uk

Satrapi finishes high school, barely scraping by as she finds odd jobs, dates dumb boys, takes a lot of drugs, and runs into authority figures who want her to tow the line and behave. She also falls in with a group of radical misfits who dabble with nihilism, Marxism, hair dye, and punk. While Satrapi initially finds a home with these punks and new wave kids, she soon discovers their privilege has made them cowardly, pretentious, self-righteous, entitled, and lazy. Her outsider status also makes her cool, her Austrian peers clearly jealous by what she has seen and experienced without really processing the weight of it between drags off their joints and skims through their copies of the Marx-Engels Reader in their well-appointed bedrooms. It’s small wonder that, when Satrapi finally returns home to Iran after she finishes high school homeless and afflicted with bronchitis, she washes off a punk stencil from her bedroom wall. And while she’s sad that her mother gave away her cassette tapes, she probably wasn’t going to listen to them anyway. She would’ve kept the Kim Wilde tape, however.

So, ultimately, I do feel this revisit of Persepolis helped clarify my feelings about the state of Iran. It also left me with several questions and a need to know more. Ultimately, though, it left me with the sense of universality that exists between people, especially tough, smart women and girls, while at the same time recognizing the particularities that inform their realities. And continues to inform them. Back in June, Satrapi spoke out against the election results with filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalba. Something tells me that her grandmother, who passed away shortly after Satrapi moved to France at the close of the book, would be proud.

Quality time with grandma; image courtesy of rwor.org

The trailer for “The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus” has finally been released. This is sure to garner a TON of buzz on the internet and elsewhere with this being Heath Ledger’s final film. He was beginning to emerge as a star after his Oscar winning performance for “Brokeback Mountain” and his turn as Bob Dylan in “I’m Not There.” Then came “The Dark Knight” which showcased his ability to adapt to any role and make it uniquely his own. Now we have “Dr. Parnassus.”

From what I understand the story follows Dr. Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) and his imaginarium which has the ability to transport people directly into their fantasies and dreams. But Dr. Parnassus has a dark secret (and who would expect less from a man that can transport people into a fantasy land?). He’s been gambling with the devil, Mr. Nick (Tom Waits), and now he owes him a prize he covets more than anything – his daughter Valentina (Lily Cole). Dr. Parnassus devises a plan to win his daughter back, but a mysterious stranger named Tony (Heath Ledger) has entered the picture. Valentina has fallen in love with Tony, and Tony apparently has motives of his own. What motives? I have no idea. They’ve left the plot details fuzzy enough that we aren’t quite sure what to expect. But one thing is certain: director Terry Gilliam has not held back on the visuals.

The trailer looks like a mix between “Moulin Rouge!”, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” and Gilliam’s own “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.” It looks to be an excitingly trippy/psychedelic thriller with appearances by Ledger, Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law all as Tony (although the latter 3 are all manifestations of Imaginarium Tony). Depp, Farrell, and Law all stepped in to finish Ledger’s role as it was only about half completed at the time of his passing. Christopher Plummer, Tom Waits, Lily Cole, Andrew Garfield as Dr. Parnassus’ assitant Anton, and Verne Troyer as Parnassus’ second assistant Percy round out the sparse but obviously talented cast.

The movie is set for a limited relase on December 25th, but expect to hear much more about this movie as trailers start to hit the theaters in the near future. Ledger’s legacy will stand as a short but talented one, but Gilliam has the opportunity to further that legacy with this strange and eclectic film. With movies like “12 Monkeys,” “Brazil,” and “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” under his belt, Gilliam has proven that he can direct good movies, but, like the look of this film, it’s hard to categorize him. That eccentricity will definitely lend to a movie like “Dr. Parnassus.”

기타 케이스를 껴안고 걷는 저 소년은 친구와 즐거운 듯이 이야기하고 있어. 좋아하는 음악의 이야기인가 아니면 좋아하는 여자의 이야기일까? 그 기타로 미래를 바꿀 생각이야? 그런거라면 언젠가 동료로 넣어줘. 나도 뭐든지 이해심 좋게 받아들이며 나이를 먹고 싶지 않아.

눈 앞을 가로지르려고 하는 그 노인의 등은 심하게 굽어 있어서 걷는 모습을 가만히 보고 있자면 다리가 자유롭지 못한 것을 알 수 있어. 계속 감싸왔던 다리 때문일까 아니면 생각대로 움직이지 않는 현실에 힘껏 눌려져 구부려진 마음이 등까지 일그러 뜨리고 있는 걸까. in 東京.

Photo by Kwaku Alston

Name: Heath Andrew Ledger
Birthdate: 4 April 1979
Starsign: Aries
Height: 6′ 1″
Natural hair colour: Light brown
Eye colour: Brown
Parents: Kim Ledger (remarried, Emma Brown) and Sally Bell (remarried, Roger Bell)
Siblings: Kate, Ashleigh Bell (half-sister) and Olivia Ledger (half-sister)
Grandparents: Colin and Es Ledger, and great-grandfather Sir Frank Ledger; John and Jackie Ramshaw
Heritage: 1/2 Irish and 1/2 Scottish
Birthplace: Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Current residences: Brooklyn, New York; Los Angeles; Sydney
Education: Guildford Grammer School
Secret passion: Photography
Favourite hobbies: Art, reading, writing, surfing, skateboarding
Piercings: One in each ear
Marital status: Engaged to actress Michelle Williams (”Dawson’s Creek”)
Children: Matilda Rose Ledger, born Friday 5pm, 28 October 2005 in New York
Pets: Yorkshire Terrier named Bob (as in Dylan), Cocker Spaniel named Ned (as in Kelly)

When in early 2006 Heath Ledger was feted worldwide for his performance in Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain, most reviewers expressed surprise that the young Australian was capable of such stirring efforts. After all, wasn’t he just the pretty boy who’d sung, dance and smirked his way through the teen comedy 10 Things I Hate About You? Hadn’t he stared smugly down from the posters of hip mediaeval comedy A Knight’s Tale, posters which loudly boasted “He will rock you”? Wasn’t he, for God’s sake, in Home And Away?

Perhaps the reviewers should not have been so taken aback. Ledger had already shown great promise with his brief but telling appearance in the Oscar-winning Monster’s Ball. Moreover, hugely adventurous and artistically ambitious, he’d proved from an early age to be a fledgling Renaissance Man, a cultural sponge, sucking up the wisdom of those older and more experienced than himself, and he’d continued this practice in his film career, drawing on the likes of Bryan Brown, Mel Gibson, Roland Emmerich, Billy Bob Thornton, Terry Gilliam and Geoffrey Rush, to say nothing of a string of girlfriends considerably his senior in age. Like Johnny Depp before him, he’d made a conscious decision to escape the heart-throb image and worked hard to become more a substantial actor. If there was anything surprising to his story, it was simply that he’d succeeded so quickly.

He was born Heath Andrew Ledger on the 4th of April, 1979, at the Subiaco Hospital in Perth, Western Australia. The Ledger name was well-known in Perth, the family having run a foundry that provided much of the raw material for the famous Perth to Kalgoorlie Pipeline, which ran 557 kilometres east out into the desert and, beginning to pump back in 1903, first supplied the Western Australian goldfields and now served over 100,000 people and 6 million sheep in 44,000 square miles. The Sir Frank Ledger Charitable Trust, named after Heath’s great-grandfather, was renowned for granting funds to the area’s universities, paying for visiting lecturers and scholarships for gifted students.

In keeping with the family tradition, Heath’s father Kim, a racing enthusiast, ran several engineering firms in the city, while Heath’s mother, Sally, hailing from the Scottish Campbell clan, was a French teacher. High romantics, they named their son after Emily Bronte’s Heathcliff having some four years earlier called their first-born daughter Catherine (she’d be known as Kate). There would be two more half-sisters, Olivia and Ashleigh, born to Kim and Sally respectively once they had separated. This would happen when Heath was 10. By then he’d already enrolled at the Guildford Grammar School, an all-boy academy set on 100 glorious hectares of undulating land beside the Swan river, some 15 kilometres to the north-east of the city. For 10 years this would be the seat of Heath’s education. Dedicated to “the growth and freedom of young minds and bodies”, it had vast playing fields, horse riding facilities and even its own farm. Students could go rowing on the river or test themselves in an Olympic-sized swimming pool. The choir sang in the Chapel of St Mary and St George, one of the finest and most imposing examples of gothic architecture in Australia.

Credit:http://www.heathledger.net

Un film che è pura poesia, un capolavoro che a molti risulterà noioso, indigesto o peggio ancora incomprensibile. In effetti è necessaria una preventiva conoscenza del mondo fantastico di Bob Dylan, perché questa è la strampalata biografia della sua strampalata vita.

Presentato nel 2007 alla 64°  Mostra del Cinema di Venezia, dove ha vinto il Leone d’argento, I’m Not There presenta un cast spettacolare, fra cui: Cate Blanchett (vincitrice della coppa Volpi e del Golden Globe per questa interpretazione), Heath Ledger, Richard Gere, Christian Bale, Markus Karl Franklin, Ben Whishaw, Charlotte Gainsbourg e Michelle Williams.

È un’opera simbolista questo film, dettagli nascosti e ricercati, citazioni sublimi e una perfetta analisi della società americana degli anni Sessanta-Settanta. La struttura del film è costruita su sei diversi aspetti della vita del cantastorie, interpretati ognuno da un attore diverso. Persino nell’affidare loro il nome il regista Todd Haynes non lascia nulla al caso, “scomodando” Woody Guthrie, forse il cantante folk di protesta più famoso di sempre, Billy The Kid e Arthur Rimbauld. Haynes non tralascia nemmeno i dettagli veritieri sulla vita di Dylan, fra cui i tanti incontri con Allen Ginsberg o il rapporto di odio/amore con la factory girl Edie, che nel film diventa Coco Rivington. Non mancano nemmeno le donne della sua vita, Alice su tutte.

La colonna sonora non poteva che essere tratta dall’immenso patrimonio musicale di Bob Dylan, affiancando i pezzi originali a cover realizzate ad hoc da artisti di grande calibro quali i Sonic Youth, Jeff Tweedy, Antony and the Johnsons, Cat Power e gli stessi attori protagonisti del film.

Magari guardarlo una sola volta non sarà sufficiente, ma se non altro potrete ascoltare       davvero della buona musica oltre che vedere all’opera uno dei migliori registi americani degli ultimi anni. Per quanto mi riguarda lo considero un capolavoro, arricchito dalle interpretazioni magistrali della Blanchett e della Gainsbourg.

e i gatti sul tetto, pazzi d’amore, gridano nelle grondaie.. e sono io ad essere pronto..pronto ad ascoltare.. mai stanco.. mai triste.. mai colpevole..

7 Simple Rules for a Life in Hiding

Jeg skal gerne indrømme at jeg blev enormt skuffet den første gang jeg satte noget på mit anlæg med Bob Dylan, for efterhånden en del år siden. Det var The Times They Are A-Changin’ fra 1964. Manden kunne jo ikke synge (!) og hvad fanden var alt det for noget pynt folk havde prakket på ham når de havde anbefalet ham, eller havde fortalt om ham i diverse dokumentarer ?! Der var jo ingenting at komme efter…!

Men årene er gået…jeg har siden læst hans selvbiografi Chronicles vol. 1 fra 2004, set diverse dokumentarer, erhvervet hele 3 af hans plader fra de glade 60′ere (The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963), Bringing It All Back Home (1965) og Nashville Skyline (1969)) og selvfølgelig set I’m Not There, som egentlig ikke handler om Dylan som sådan, men har mange elementer og personligheder og lignende fra hans ovennævnte selvbiografi. Og jeg må da indrømme, at han vinder mere og mere ind på mig som tiden går og jeg gentagende gange støder på hans musik. Jeg er endelig ved at give mig 100%.

Grunden til at jeg fortæller jer om alt det her, er fordi at der om en uges tid (mandag d. 21. september) bliver afholdt et seminar på Syddansk Universitet i Odense, hvor en række professorer hver især skal give deres bud på, hvorfor Bob Dylan burde få tildelt den næste Nobelpris i litteratur. De har valgt at fremhæve følgende sange, som vil dukke op i løbet af dagens program, som en baggrund for, hvorfor det lige præcis skal være denne gamle garvede sangskriver der skal indstilles som kandidat (klik på sangen, og du vil blive ført til lyrikken):

A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall (1963)
Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right (1963)
Subterranean Homesick Blues (1965)
The Ballad of the Thin Man (1965)
Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands (1966)
All Along The Watchtower (1967)
Positively 4th Street (1967)
Every Grain of Sand (1981)
Jokerman (1983)
Cross the Green Mountains (1989)
Series Of Dreams (1961-1991)
Highlands (1997)

Hvis du skulle få lyst til at dukke op (hvis der da stadig er pladser) skal du ringe til Anya Aarestrup på 65504062 inden d. 14. september og reservere plads. Det koster 200 kr. Hvis du er studerende på SDU, er det gratis.

Herunder er lidt yderligere Bob Dylan inspiration…Først her den såkaldte trailer for dokumentaren, som er at finde nedenfor:

Dokumentaren Don’t Look Back, som siges at være den første musikdokumentar der nogensinde er lavet. Giver et rimlig intimt portræt af Bob Dylan (og til dels også Joan Baez), da de besøgte England i 3 uger i 1965. Den kan ses her:

1. del
2. del
3. del
4. del
5. del
6. del
7. del
8. del
9. del
10. del

I’m Not There; Bob Dylan – I Want You

La dernière fois que j’ai posté un truc sur ce blog j’étais encore blanche de peau. Là après bronzette toussa je vire un peu donut qu’on aurait trop laissé frire dans l’huile. Bref, je reviens de loin et j’ai faim…

J’ai revu Marock récemment, et ça m’a permis de dépoussiérer un morceau génial, presque une hymne.
Rock’n'roll Suicide – David Bowie

Parce que j’ai aussi vu “I’m Not There”, le très atypique film sur Bob Dylan. Il faut un peu s’accrocher pour saisir les nombreux sous-entendus glissés dans les images mais ça n’empêche pas de passer un bon moment. La BO est un petit bijou et compte la reprise de Anthony and the Johnsons. Je vous propose aussi bien celle-ci que celle de Bob Dylan.
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door – Anthony and the Johnsons

Morceau génial, devenu culte grâce à Tarantino. Vous reconnaitrez facilement le tube qui passe à la radio dans Reservoir Dogs pendant que Mr.Blond arrache l’oreille d’un officier de police au razoir. Jamais regarder un mec se faire taillader la face n’a été aussi agréable.
Stuck in the Middle With You – Stealers Wheels

Voilà, trois morceaux pour faire mon come-back, les articles plus lours vont bientôt pleuvoir : P
J’ai également posté une nouvelle vidéo, un clip du duo Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson. De la pop sucrée et agréable.

Photo: David Bowie the gangster

Not too long ago, I was thinking about something to watch. I have so many different media options that it can be overwhelming. I have a nice collection of the somewhat outdated media known as the Digital Video Disc (aka DVD) filling most of my room and other areas of my apartment. Sometimes I would rather just turn on the National Geographic channel instead of trying to decide whether to watch “Ashes and Diamonds” from the Andrej Wajda Criterion collection or compare the Artificial Eye versions of Pather Panchali or the very expensive out-of-print version by Sony. I don’t know what I wanted to do but this is what happens when you have options.

Instead of getting up, I thought heading to Rocket Video on La Brea, which is a post by itself. Rocket Video is the best video store in Los Angeles and on Thursdays and Saturdays, they have 2-for-1 rentals for ‘members’. I sometimes do this when I can’t decide of what to pull out from the dvd shelf. For those that don’t know of Rocket, google:  “Rocket” or just go here. For those with some so-so knowledge of the Hollywood landscape, it’s located across the hot-dog stand that constantly has a line that goes around the place. I wonder if those at the end of the line know that they will be waiting there for 2 hours to pay $3 for a hot dog?

A couple of friends come over before I can get my lazy self to get up and for one reason or another, start to talk about David Cross. Maybe it was a reference to Cross as ‘Tobias‘ on “Arrested Development” but I don’t remember. All I know is that the conversation veered into the area of absurdity when someone mentioned that Todd Haynes could have got a better actor to play Allen Ginsberg in “I’m not There”. This person did not have a compelling reason why they believed this, who would have been a better replacement or why would they be so compelled about it that they would bring it up randomly. If I was trying to defend that claim I would have said that all people that have seen A.D. forever link Cross to Tobias and it’s not Cross we see as Ginsburg. It’s Tobias. Lets not forget that Tobias was an aspiring actor.

the best way to solve this problem was to do a direct comparison. We watched the clip from “I’m not There” and we GIS’d (google image search) Ginsburg. It’s pretty clear that Haynes could not have had a better ringer for Ginsburg than Cross. Find a professional better and email me. The next step was to find a clip of Ginsburg. The only thing we could think of off the top was the clip of him in the alley in that Bob Dylan music video.

That wasn’t good enough. We decided to watch, “The Life and Times of Allen Ginsburg” which was showing on Joost.

(This is where the story really begins)

For all those familiar with Hulu, you may know of Joost. It’s not as big but it’s sort of the same animal. For those that are not familiar of this animal, both Hulu and Joost are websites where you can watch many different types of video and film (for free). It’s essentially what will compete/replace cable/satellite television— since the only thing you need is a broadband internet connection.

I think many people would dump their paid cable bills if they weren’t relegated to their computer screens. Well they aren’t! They may just not know. For those that are into collecting TV toys, there is the fun Apple TV product. If you own this device, you can view any of your media in the music playback giant, Itunes.  With Itunes receiving most of the new digital download format, The Apple TV is worth the investment if you download a lot of media from the Itunes store. As of right now, Apple has a lockdown on those downloads you purchase so you either have to watch it on your TV or the Apple TV.  If that’s not enough to convince you, your amazing Apple TV has the ability to Boxee’d.

Boxee (from their website) is : On a laptop or connected to an HDTV, boxee’s free software lets you navigate all your personal movies, TV shows, music and photos, as well as streaming content from websites like MLB, Netflix, Pandora, Last.fm, and Flickr from one screen with a remote.

So if you combine the Two: Apple TV and Boxee, you can watch “The Life and Times of Allen Ginsburg” on your tv, as I did. And so much more and you can debate with your friends about various media. There’s also Plex. But that’s for another time.

here’s some boring video of playing with the boxee interface:

Front and back cover of the official 1975 "Basement Tapes" album

Of all the big-name old-school rock critics, Greil Marcus is one I had always intended to get around to but never had.  Given my newfound free time, I decided now would be a good time to start.  While several of Marcus’s books intrigued me – I’m already familiar with Lipstick Traces just from other people’s citations – I settled on Invisible Republic (aka The Old, Weird America) because of its focus on Bob Dylan and The Band’s The Basement Tapes.  The album The Basement Tapes draws from a series of recordings made in 1967 that were never intended to be released, but which nevertheless trickled out to the public through bootlegs (including the first ever rock bootleg, 1969’s Great White Wonder) and cover versions (most famously Manfred Mann’s “The Mighty Quinn” and The Byrds’ “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere”).  In 1975, The Band’s Robbie Robertson compiled some of the best basement recordings, as well as some Band-only, non-Dylan demos, to create the officially-released album called The Basement Tapes.  The result is my favorite album, for the following reasons:

1)      Not only is every song on the album good, but it has one of the highest percentages of gobsmackingly great songs of any album I’ve heard: “This Wheel’s on Fire,” “Crash on the Levee (Down in the Flood),” “You Ain’t Going Nowhere,” “Too Much of Nothing,” “Open the Door, Homer,” “Tears of Rage,” “Orange Juice Blues (Blues for Breakfast),” and “Yazoo Street Scandal,” just for a start.  The only other album I can think of that comes close to having as many 5-star tracks on it is Singles Going Steady – which, like The Basement Tapes, is a compilation, albeit one that’s not your standard greatest hits package.

2)      Not only does it feature two of my all-time favorite artists (Bob Dylan and The Band), but it has them working together and bringing out the best in each other.  As much as I love Blonde on Blonde and The Band, neither has quite the heft to be my favorite album.  The Basement Tapes does.

3)      The songs are based in traditional American forms of music – blues, country and, most essentially, that mysterious backwoods folk, the type of which formed the basis of the Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music compilation.  This genre of music has fascinated me since before I can remember.  Was it from spending my summers, age 10 to 17, at camp in Appalachia? Was it from my grandmother, singing old songs as we washed dishes in her small-town (now rural) Mississippi kitchen? Or was it, as Marcus implies, because these songs dwell in the collective unconscious, written by no one and thus belonging to everyone, harkening back to the weird old days before nationalization and the advent of frequent travel smoothed out all the wrinkles in regional American culture?

4)      Compounding the mystery of the old folk songs is the mystery of the basement tapes themselves.  The theories of why Dylan collaborated with The Band in their house after his near-fatal motorcycle accident, choosing to record some songs and not others, are too many to list here.  But other mysteries abound: why did Dylan start over with a fresh batch of songs for John Wesley Harding, recorded only a few months later? How was Dylan able to hammer out so many great songs, seemingly off the cuff? Why was “I’m Not There (1956),” one of the standouts not only among the basement recordings but in all of Dylan’s catalog, only ever recorded in one take and never played again in his entire career? Why are the lyrics, despite being nearly indecipherable and frequently nonsense, so compelling? On top of these questions, the low-fi and often distorted sound of the recordings (especially the ones not overdubbed for the official Basement Tapes album), some of which break off early or start in media res, make the songs sound older than they are, and like they were piped in from another dimension.  The recordings owe less to Highway 61 Revisited and more to Robert Johnson’s old warbled singles, or even the supernatural eeriness of the earliest recording of the human voice.  Listening to the basement tapes, it’s hard to believe that Bob Dylan is still alive, walking the same earth as the rest of us (not to mention Robbie Robertson and Garth Hudson).  But counteracting the ghostliness is the private glimpse into how Dylan constructs his songs and the charm of listening to him and The Band goofing off and revisiting their influences.

What I hadn’t expected before reading Invisible Republic was how much Marcus would focus not only on the official Basement Tapes album, but the entire body of recordings made at the same time, most of which remain available only on bootleg albums.  I was aware of these other recordings, but it was Marcus’s writing that influenced me to finally seek them out.  Yesterday morning was spent continuously listening to the first two volumes of The Genuine Basement Tapes, as I compared what I heard with Marcus’s “Discography” notes and with the official versions of those songs I already knew.

After hours of being seeping in Dylanalia, the obvious choice of movie was I’m Not There, Todd Haynes’s non-biopic portrait of Bob Dylan’s various personae.  Cate Blanchett’s portrayal of Dylan as Jude (The Mighty?) Quinn got the most acclaim when the movie was released, but I thought that segment suffered from being too literal in places, such as the direct quotes from Dont Look Back and the overlong enactment of “Ballad of a Thin Man.”  (The machine gunning at Newport was pretty cool though, and “See ya later, Allen Ginsberg” was a nice subtle counter-reference to the forced “Just like a woman!”) Instead, I was most drawn to the lyrical, almost abstract segment featuring Richard Gere as an aging William Bonney.  Judging from reviews, this seems to be the most misunderstood segment of the movie – due in large part, I suppose, to being drawn so heavily from the basement tapes (as well John Wesley Harding, Desire and, of course, Dylan’s appearance in Sam Peckinpah’s Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid).  This segment also is the one densest with references, from characters named Homer and Mrs. Henry, to town denizens who looked like they walked straight off the cover of The Basement Tapes (see above), to young “Woodie Guthrie’s” exclamation “This is chicken town!” But in addition to drawing from Dylan’s work, the portrayal of fictional Riddle County in I’m Not There owes a lot to Marcus’s mythologized description of Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina in Invisible Republic – the year-‘round Halloween store was a particularly nice get, and one I wouldn’t have picked up on had I not read that chapter the night before.  (Marcus is thanked in the movie’s end credits, so I’m not just making baseless connections based on the fact that I happened to read Invisible Republic and saw I’m Not There in the same week.)

Invisible Republic, like I’m Not There, opts for a fractured approach to its subject.  The basement tapes are little more than a starting point for Marcus to branch off and talk about Harry Smith, Dock Boggs, the Child ballads and anything else pertaining to the titular “invisible republic” that influenced Dylan yet also exists apart from him.  There’s no coherent, consecutive narrative to be constructed out of something that’s undocumented, that’s invisible.  This “old, weird America,” still extant but now barely visible, is as ultimately unknowable as the nature of the basement tapes, or Bob Dylan himself.

Udah beberapa kali gue mencoba untuk menonton I’m Not There, a film by Todd Haynes.., tetapi ko ga pernah berhasil. Padahal moodnya udah di set untuk berfantasi ke alam lain.., hihihihi ni film memang aneh bin ajaib, permainan warna dan B/W nya kental banget. Plot2 yang selalu berpindah dalam adegan yg tidak lazim membuat gue selalu berakhir tertidur di sekitar menit ke 60.

Apa lagi yah yg harus di set untuk menikmati film ini dari awal sampai akhir..??

De voorbije twee maanden of zo:

• Noise (Henry Bean, 2007). Kwieke grootstadssatire over een op hol geslagen burgermannetje (Tim Robbins) dat besluit om in ware guerillastijl iets te doen aan de geluidsoverlast in de stad. Fijn basisidee, maar nodeloos lang gerekt. (**1/2)
• Charlie Wilson’s War (Mike Nichols, 2007). Nichols is de man die ooit debuteerde met Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? en meteen erna The Graduate maakte, dus hij weet waar hij mee bezig is. Charlie Wilson’s War is toch ook een verrassing, en totaal anders dan wat ik verwachtte; een lepe combinatie van intelligentie en boertigheid, en de zoveelste keer dat Philip Seymour Hoffman de show kan stelen. Nochtans is Tom Hanks ook best straf als wijvenzot Wilson en mag hij enkele van de grappigste dialogen uit zijn carrière debiteren. De hand van Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing) is duidelijk voelbaar. (***1/2)
• Tyson (James Toback, 2008). Vrij goede documentaire over de gevaarlijkste man ter wereld (na Freddy De Kerpel en mezelf). Combinatie van archiefmateriaal en een diepgaand interview met de man zelf. Stilistisch bevat het geen verrassingen, maar de figuur van Tyson zelf blijft een eindeloos intrigerende figuur, die moeiteloos erin slaagt om haast infantiele commentaren af te wisselen met scherpe inzichten. En uiteindelijk blijf je achter met een getroebleerd lager-than-life-figuur. (***1/2)
• THX 1138 (George Lucas, 1971). Een mini-klassieker, deze cerebrale en arty sci-fi van George Lucas. Mijlenver verwijderd van de speeltuin van Star Wars en van invloed op films als Blade Runner, Gattaca, The Matrix en misschien zelfs Solaris. Een film over dictatuur en vrije wil, mens vs. systeem, strak en kunstig vormgegeven, met een opvallend hedendaagse look. De director’s cut oogt ronduit prachtig, al zijn de digitale toevoegingen hier en daar overbodig. Die DVD-editie bevat ook een bonus-DVD met extra’s die de moeite zijn, waaronder een documentaire over American Zoetrope (Coppola’s productiefirma die de film uitbracht) van een uur, een making of van een half uurtje en tenslotte ook de korte versie van THX 1138, nl. de studentenfilm die Lucas een paar jaar eerder maakte. (****)
• Who’s Afraid Of Kathy Acker? (Barbara Caspar, 2007). Kleurrijke documentaire over schrijfster, feministe, exhibitioniste en mediafiguur Kathy Acker, een van de meest opvallende figuren uit de recente(re) Amerikaanse literatuur geschiedenis en een agressief wijf waar de gemiddelde biker met bierpens schrik van krijgt. Poëzie, proza, theater, performance art, ze wilde het allemaal gedaan hebben en deed het ook, zij het dan met wisselend succes. Van pornografische arthouse-films tot literaire eerbetonen, het passeerde allemaal in die onnavolgbare, provocerende stijl, een postmodern alles kan, gestuurd via sex-positive feminism, Burroughs en continentale filosofie. De interviews met Acker zijn stuk voor stuk de moeite, de interviews met volk uit haar kennissen- en vriendenkring balanceren soms op het genante, maar de kleine filmstukjes, waarin fragmenten uit haar boeken uitgebeeld worden, zijn eerder storend. Een toepasselijk onevenwichtig portret van een al even ontastbaar figuur. (***1/2)
• Untraceable (Gregory Hoblit, 2008). Het enige dat ik onthouden heb is dat Diane Lane er nog altijd goed uit ziet, ondanks die bezorgde frons van 90 minuten. Voor de rest: dertien in een dozijn. (*1/2)
• I’m Not There (Todd Haynes, 2007). Een zootje, maar dat was dan ook de bedoeling, vermoed ik. Kaleidoscopische, bombastische, soms wat eigengereide prent. Fijne vertolkingen (Christian Bale en Cate Blanchett stelen de show wat mij betreft), en talloze knipogen en referenties naar het leven en werk van de grote troubadour. (***1/2)
• Leonard Cohen – I’m Your Man (Liam Lunson, 2005). Documentaire-annex-concertfilm die een eerbetoon is aan de man. De interviews met Cohen zijn de moeite; de man heeft het zo erg onder controle dat je automatisch in een zen-staat terechtkomt door naar hem te luisteren. De interviews met zijn artistieke bewonderaars variëren tussen aandoenlijk en irritant, net als de performances. Nick Cave, Kate & Anna McGarrigle en Antony hebben het begrepen, Jarvis Cocker zit wat arrogant te neuzelen, Rufus Wainwright hangt wat aanstellerig te janken met z’n ballen in de knoop, terwijl z’n zus nog maar eens het aandachtshoertje van dienst is met een aanstellerige performance. (***)
• Doomsday (Neil Marshall, 2008). Vijftien jaar geleden kwam ik na een concert van monsterlong Peter Brötzmann en medetoeschouwer tegen die zich afvroeg of hij dat concert wel goed mocht vinden. Bij Doomsday doet zich hetzelfde voor: je kan redenen genoeg bedenken waarom je het rommel zou kunnen vinden, waarom mens en uit je omgeving het zouden afdoen als a load of crap, en toch, toch werkt het, net zoals Knight Rider vijfentwintig jaar geleden ook de moeite was (nu helaas niet meer, heb ik mogen ondervinden). Lawaaierige, nonsensikale, gewelddadige actie/SF, maar van de goede soort (***1/2).
• Raising Arizona (Joel & Ethan Coen, 1987). Intussen al meer dan twintig jaar oud. Stond in m’n geheugen gegrift als een klassieker van de cinema. Viel daarom wat tegen, maar nog steeds een van de meest originele komedies van de laatste decennia. (****)
• Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead (Sidney Lumet, 2008). Niet meer de oplawaai van toen ik ‘m voor het eerst zag, maar toch: Lumet haalt wel heel erg zwaar uit in z’n oude dagen. (****1/2)
• Funny Games U.S. (Michael Haneke, 2007). Remake van het Duitstalige orgineel. Typisch Haneke is dat hij naar het schijnt alles intact heeft gehouden: verhaal, dialogen, visuele stijl. Enkel de taal en de acteurs zijn anders. Ook daarnaast typisch Haneke: een thriller die (net als Caché) ideeën aanbiedt over de rol en de participatie van regisseur en kijker en die een contemplatie is over geweld en hoe ermee om te gaan. En Naked City in de begingeneriek, da’s ook leuk. (****)
• Grizzly Man (Werner Herzog, 2005). Onvergetelijk portret van Timothy Treadwell, de naieve activist die jaren na elkaar een seizoen doorbracht bij de beren en het uiteindelijk mocht bekopen met zijn leven. Herzog maakte een film van het beeldmateriaal van Treadwell, maar interviewde ook een aantal mensen uit diens omgeving. Het resultaat is een boeiend beeld van een complex figuur, een intelligente, maar kinderachtige kerel die er, zoals Herzog meegeeft, een wel erg vreemd beeld van de verhoudingen in de natuur op nahield en uiteindelijk kreeg waar hij om leek te vragen. Het bevat fantastisch mooie natuurbeelden en gepast weidse, expansieve muziek, maar daarnaast ook enkele memorabel scènes, o.m. van de lijkschouwer die op theatrale wijze zijn versie van de feiten meegeeft. Ook memorabel: Herzog die luistert hoe Treadwell en zijn vriendin worden verscheurd door een beer (zelfs dat wist hij op te nemen). Je krijgt de opname als kijker niet te horen en ziet enkel Herzogs rug, maar toch is de gruwel bijna tastbaar. De DVD bevat ook een bonus met een special over het maken van de soundtrack. Alles draait rond de gitaar van Richard Thompson, die wordt bij gestaan door o.m. Henry Kaiser en Damon Smith. Dat maakt het een klassiek pakket. (*****)
• Heavy Metal In Baghdad (Eddy Moretti & Suroosh Alvi, 2007). Documentaire over Acrassicauda, zowat de enige heavy metalband van Irak. Nu ja, veel metal komt er eigenlijk niet bij kijken: de band speelde maar een handvol concerten in zijn carrière en die werden dan nog eens bijgewoond door slechts een handvol metalheads, die doorgaans met hun eigen leven dienden te spelen om het gebeuren bij te wonen. Meer dan over muziek gaat het natuurlijk over een passie en hoe ermee om te gaan in een maatschappij die op hol geslagen is, waar gevaar om elke hoek loert, waar je huis verpletterd kan worden door een bom en waar je zelf haast gestenigd kan worden als je er iets té Westers uit ziet. De film volgt de leden over een paar jaar, in hun thuisland en later ook in Syrië, waar ze naartoe vluchten in de hoop een nieuw leven te kunnen beginnen. De bandleden konden vrij recent naar de Verenigde Staten en hebben ook een MySpace-pagina. Wat de film betreft: een deprimerend gedoe. (****)
• The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford (Andrew Dominik, 2007). Lange, trage, ingetogen, repetitieve western, die zijn charme vooral haalt uit sfeerschepping en schilderachtig kleurgebruik. Dreigt hier en daar wat in slaap te sukkelen, al is het ook mooi om te zien hoe het genre voor een keer een andere benadering krijgt. (****)
  
• Get Carter (Mike Hodges, 1971). Een beetje de Britse Dirty Harry en alom beschouwd als een klassieker uit de Engelse cinema. Ziet er wat verouderd uit (vooral de geweldscènes zijn vrij klungelig), maar hey, ”t heeft een fijne, sleazy soundtrack en ‘t is Michael Caine als wraakengel. Geen mens die daarover moet klagen. (****)
  
• London To Brighton (Paul Andrew Williams, 2006). Mottig evenwicht tussen grauwe misdaadfilm en schrijnend realisme. Donker, meedogenloos en gewelddadig, met 0% goedkoop effectbejag , 100% impact en memorabel acteerwerk. Onderbuik-KO. (****)
  
• American Movie (Chris Smith, 1999). Sinds vorig jaar een levenslange favoriet Ten Huize Boleuzia. Goed voor tientallen oneliners en talloze momenten van plaatsvervangende schaamte. Een onweerstaanbare, ontroerende, hilarische klassieker. (*****)
  
• Jumper (Doug Liman, 2008). Pfff. Heroes, maar nog onnozeler.(*)
  
• Redacted (Brian DePalma, 2007). Controversiële Irakfilm van een regisseur die in geen tijden nog een klassieker maakte. Ook dit is er geen, al biedt het wel stof tot nadenken, een vernuftige mix van verschillende media en toch een paar geweldige scènes (zoals die dialoogvrije stukken aan het begin van de film waar de geluiden van knarsende legerboots en plastieken flesjes even domineren). Nada subtiliteit, zoals gewoonlijk, maar evenwichtiger dan The Black Dahlia. (***1/2)
  
• Vera Drake (Mike Leigh, 2004). Van de koning van de miseriecinema (zie Naked en Secrets & Lies). Deze keer staat de abortusproblematiek in het naoorlogse Engeland centraal. Ronduit fenomenaal acteerwerk van Imelda Staunton, al moet ze in het laatste deel van de film niet meer doen dan huilen (wat ze erg goed kan) en in de eerste verzuchten dat een mens wel een kop thee zou kunnen gebruiken (en er wordt wat thee afgezopen). Dat geflirt met het karikaturale berooft de film wat van zijn potentiële impact, maar het blijft de moeite. (***1/2)
  
• Persepolis (Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud, 2007). Gebaseerd op Satrapi’s bejubelde graphic novel. Ik las het boek niet, maar de film is alleszins de moeite: een biografie van een vrouw die opgroeit in een progressief gezin in Irak en worstelt met seksualiteit, venten, familie, roots, nationaliteit en culturele verschillen. Boeiend verhaal, maar vooral stilistisch blijft de film bij, met een vrij eenvoudige zwart/wit-aanpak, schaduweffecten en goed gevonden visuele prachtstukjes. (****)
  
• Gran Torino (Clint Eastwood, 2008). Het zou vrij eenvoudig zijn om deze film met de grond gelijk te maken. Het vehikel weet immers niet of het de richting van de zelfparodie moet kiezen (eerste helft) of die van de prekerige, moralistische koers (tweede), maar hey, het is Clint Eastwood, die duidelijk een loopje neemt met zijn imago, zich amuseert als ouwe brompot en toch wel zorgt voor enkele hilarische dialogen en gemompelde beledigingen aan het adres van Aziaten, latino’s en allerhande negroïde manspersonen. (***)
  
• Pride And Glory (Gavin O’Connor, 2007). Met Edward Norton, Jon Voigt en Colin Farrell. Veel potentieel, maar het komt er niet uit. Good cop/bad cop-verhaal dat de mosterd haalt bij Copland en We Own The Night, die beide beter zijn. (**1/2)
  
• Pollock (Ed Harris, 2000). Vreemde film: Ed ‘50% voorhoofd’ Harris doet er echt alles aan om zijn intensiteit in zijn vertolking te steken, de film is nergens aanstellerig of goedkoop en toch heb je na een tijd het gevoel dat het geen meter vooruit gaat, dat je naar een weekendfilm zit te kijken. Pollock was alleszins een onuitstaanbare zeiker (kunstenaars kunnen zich steeds net iets meer permitteren dan andere stervelingen), en de scènes waarin hij aan het werk is in zijn studio, kledderend en spetterend, maken veel goed. (***)
  
• The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974). Zie eerder ergens. Een filmbijbel. (*****)
  
• The Collector (William Wyler, 1965). Een van de laatste van Wyler, met een jonge Terence Stamp in een van zijn eerste rollen. Gebaseerd op de debuutroman van John Fowles en z’n tijd vooruit, maar het voelt de hele tijd wat stram en theatraal aan, waardoor het een ongewild komische ondertoon krijgt. Leuk einde wel. (***1/2)
  
• The Panic In Needle Park (Jerry Schatzberg, 1971). Grootstadsellende met Pacino in zijn doorbraakrol. Rauwe, realistische prent die aanvoelt als een documentaire. Naturalistisch en deprimerend. Pacino, kauwend, ratelend, intens als altijd, krijgt verrassend weerwerk van de intussen vergeten Kitty Winn, die sterk gestalte geeft aan het door schaamte en schuldgevoelens verteerde hoertje Helen. (****)
  
• Wallace and Gromit: A Grand Day Out (Ncik Park, 1994). Minst indrukwekkende van de reeks (de favoriet is hier vermoedelijk The Wrong Trousers), maar desalniettemin goed voor een half uurtje ongein. (***1/2)
• Series: het zevende seizoen van The Shield laat de reeks eindigen in schoonheid, i.e. met een laatste adrenalineshot (****1/2). Generation Kill beantwoordt nergens aan wat je van een oorlogsserie verwacht en blijft net daarom bij. Afstandelijk, chaotisch en met een geweldig einde (****1/2). CSI Season 7 kent, net als andere seizoenen van de serie, z’n ups and downs, maar het is het meest consistente seizoen tot nog toe en de miniature killer case is uitermate spannend (***1/2). Ook nog eens gekeken naar het leuke Stephen Fry in America een prima alternatief voor The Rough Guides en Lonely Planets. (****). Intussen begonnen aan het tweede seizoen van Mad Men. Het zet de stijl en kwaliteit van het eerste seizoen meteen verder.

NP: Richard & Linda Thompson – Pour Down Like Silver