Monday, January 17, 2005

Biographies of crazy people: The Aviator and In the Realms of the Unreal

A few brief notes: I have to go to more movies, in particular more bad movies, with my brother, because I love the "conversation with Matt" format. Aside from it being easy, since I basically have to transcribe it after he does half the talking, it's distinctive and often funny. I think The Matrix Revolutions is still my favorite review.

For what it's worth, that which you see in the header below is about all we said; I go on to hammer at the movie on my own for a while at HBS. But I'd like to do more, so, Matt, as soon as you've got a spare moment with your play being finished and such, let's rent Catwoman or something.

As to the other movie, In the Realms of the Unreal is downright fascinating. Ivy made a comment about Darger's rich internal life compared to his almost non-existant external life reminding her of some of the Brattle's patrons. I don't think she was looking at me when she said it, but hey... Got me thinking about my relationship with the protagonist of my other, fictional blog, Transplanted Life. If you haven't read it, take some time to surf on over later. The chronological "backstory" links are current until July '04 (honest, I intend to update the rest soon).

Anyway, the protagonist of that blog is a guy who, for reasons initially unknown to him, wakes up in a woman's body and living her life. It's a daily blog, with a lot of sci-fi and soap opera elements and occasionally "journal" entries thrown in, with my opinions on pop culture and politics coming in pretty much unfiltered. It does speak to the seductiveness of this kind of internal world, though - I can create a group of friends, girlfriends/boyfriends, excitement... But I also kind of feel it intruding onto my real life. I'll do stuff and think about what Marti's take on it is just as fast as my own. Part of the reason why I cut down to roughly every other day rather than every day. Gotta reclaim some of my own life.

The Aviator

* * (out of four)
Seen 15 January 2005 at AMC Fenway #9 (first-run)

Brief snippet of conversation my brother Matt and I had as "A Martin Scorcese Film" appeared on the screen:

"Well, he was one crazy m-f-er."

"Howard Hughes or Martin Scorcese?"

"Yes."

Read the rest at HBS.

In the Realms of the Unreal

* * * ½ (out of four)
Seen 16 January 2005 at the Brattle Theater (Sunday Eye-Opener)

Art has many sources, and many kinds of sources. There are the other artists who serve as influences, there are the events in one's life that change his world view, and there are the intrinsic, often inborn, qualities of one's personality. Jessica Yu's documentary on Henry Darger shows this in an intelligent, elegant manner.

Read the rest at HBS

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