philosophy in film

Even when speaking the same language things often get lost in translation.

Near the beginning of the film Charlotte tells Bob she majored in philosophy. I’m intrigued. I wonder: How much of that will find it’s way into the story? Nope, not even a teeny, tiny bit.

Tokyo is also a character in the film. A scene stealer you might call it. On the other hand, if what it depicts of pop culture over there is reasonably accurate it may well be even more vapid than own own.

And then there’s Bill Murrary singing Bryan Ferry’s More Than This at a Karoke bar.

IMDb

“Sofia Coppola wrote the lead role specifically for Bill Murray, and later said that if Murray turned it down, she wouldn’t have done the movie.”

“Scarlett Johansson said that she was reluctant to be filmed in panties until Sofia Coppola modeled the panties herself to show her how they would look.”

“For years, no one other than Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson and Sofia Coppola knew what Bob whispered to Charlotte in the final scene, but on October 28, 2009, a youtube video surfaced containing a slightly enhanced audio of this part of the film with subtitles where more than 20 thousand visitors had a chance to find out that Bob whispered to Charlotte: ‘When John is ready for his next business trip, go up to that man and tell him the truth, okay?’”

And, for what it’s worth:

youtube.com/watch?v=-qoCUcgsJW0

LOST IN TRANSLATION
Written and directed by Sofia Coppola

[b]Charlotte: You’re probably just having a mid-life crisis. Did you buy a Porsche yet?

…

Bob: What kind of restaurant makes you cook your own food?

…

Premium Fantasy woman: Mr. Kazu sent me, premium fantasy. My stockings. “Lip” them. “Lip” my stockings. Yes, please, “lip” them.
Bob: What?
Premium Fantasy woman: “Lip” them. HEY! “Lip” my stocking!
Bob: Hey? Lip them? Lip them? What?!

…

[rolling around on the floor, waving her legs in the air]
Premium Fantasy woman: Oh Mr. Harris! Don’t touch me! Mr. Bob Harris! Just “lip” my stocking!

…

Bob: This is not whiskey. This is iced tea. If you gave me real whiskey–
Naka: I need mysterious face. Can you show mysterious?
Bob: Mysterious. I think I know what you want. You want this, right?
Naka: I need more mysterious and, uh, more mysterious.
Bob: Yeah. I’ll just try to think, “Where the hell’s the whiskey?”

…

Naka: You know double-O-7?
Bob: He drinks martinis, but all right.

…

Kelly: Alright. Listen, I’m under Evelyn Waugh. Shh, okay?
Charlotte: [after Kelly leaves] Evelyn Waugh? Evelyn Waugh was a man.
John: Oh, come on, she’s nice. What? You know, not everybody went to Yale.

…

Bob [on a runaway step machine going faster and faster]: Help!!!

…

Director: [in Japanese] Mr. Bob-san, you are relaxing in your study. On the table is a bottle of Suntory whiskey. Got it? Look slowly, with feeling, at the camera, and say it gently - say it as if you were speaking to an old friend. Just like Bogie in Casablanca, “Here’s looking at you, kid” - Suntory time.
Translator: Umm. He want you to turn, looking at camera. OK?
Bob: That’s all he said?
Translator: Yes. Turn to camera.
Bob: All right. Does he want me to turn from the right, or turn from the left?
Translator: [to director, in Japanese] Uh, umm. He’s ready now. He just wants to know if he’s supposed to turn from the left or turn from the right when the camera rolls. What should I tell him?
Director: [in Japanese] What difference does it make! Makes no difference! Don’t have time for that! Got it, Bob-san? Just psych yourself up, and quick! Look straight at the camera. At the camera. And slowly. With passion. Straight at the camera. And in your eyes there’s… passion. Got it?
Translator: [to Bob] Right side. And with intensity. OK?
Bob: Is that everything? It seemed like he said quite a bit more than that.
Director: [to Bob, in Japanese] Listen, listen. This isn’t just about whiskey. Understand? Imagine you’re talking to an old friend. Gently. The emotions bubble up from the bottom of your heart. And don’t forget, psych yourself up!
Translator: Like an old friend. And, into the camera.
Bob [resigned]: OK.

…

Charlotte: I just graduated last spring.
Bob: What did you study?
Charlotte: Philosophy.
Bob: Yeah, there’s a good buck in that racket.
Charlotte [laughing]: Well, so far it’s been pro bono.

…

Charlotte: So, what are you doing here?
Bob: Uh, a couple of things. Taking a break from my wife, forgetting my son’s birthday. And, uh, getting paid two million dollars to endorse a whiskey when I could be doing a play somewhere.
Charlotte: Oh.
Bob: But the good news is, the whiskey works.

…

Charlotte: Why do they switch the r’s and the l’s here?
Bob: Uh… for yuks. You know? Just to mix it up. They have to amuse themselves, 'cause we’re not making them laugh.

…

Kelly [at a publicity interview explain her working relationship with Keanu Reeves]: And we both have two dogs, and we both live in L.A., so we have all these different things in common.

…

Bob: I was feeling tight in the shoulders and neck, so I called down and had a Shiatsu massage in my room…
Charlotte: Mmh, that’s nice!
Bob: And the tightness has completely disappeared and been replaced by unbelievable pain.

…

Bob: It gets a whole lot more complicated when you have kids.
Charlotte: It’s scary.
Bob: The most terrifying day of your life is the day the first one is born.
Charlotte: Nobody ever tells you that.
Bob: Your life, as you know it… is gone. Never to return. But they learn how to walk, and they learn how to talk… and you want to be with them. And they turn out to be the most delightful people you will ever meet in your life.

…

Charlotte: Well, she is closer to your age. You could talk about things you have in common, like, um, growing up in the 50’s.

…

Bob: I don’t want to leave.
Charlotte: So don’t. Stay here with me. We’ll start a jazz band.[/b]

Over a narrative about man the “mysterious species” is a kaleidoscope of blurry, indistinct men and women intertwined in a bustling street scene. Occasionally some come into sharp foucus and you wonder how they fit into all the rest. This is clearly a world of contingency, chance and change. We bump into each other for any number of reasons and set into motion any number or reactions and relationships.

It’s like trying to imagine a multiverse in which every possible combination of events unfolds. And you think you’ve got a handle on this one. Until you don’t. And then things can quickly spiral out of control.

Just before Lola begins her first “run” the film keeps cutting to a domino toppling contest on TV. Is that what this is really all about instead? The notion that control itself is never anything but an illusion? Then a cut to Lola’s mother babbling on about astrology.

RUN LOLA RUN
Written and directede by Tom Tykwer

[Up on the screen]

[b]“We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” - T.S. Eliot, “Little Gidding”

“After the game is before the game.” - S. Herberger

…

Narrator: Man…probably the most mysterious species on our planet. A mystery of unanswered questions. Who are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going? How do we know what we think we know? Why do we believe anything at all? Countless questions in search of an answer…an answer that will give rise to a new question…and the next answer will give rise to the next question and so on.[/b]

This part I think I get.

Narrator: But, in the end, isn’t it always the same question? And always the same answer? The ball is round. The game last 90 minutes. That’s a fact. Everything else is just pure theory. Off we go!

This part I don’t think I get at all.

[b]Lola: The bag!
Manni: The bag!
Lola: The bag!
Manni: The bag!
Lola: The bag!
Manni: The bag!

…

Father: I’m so tired of being the fool, the one to blame! But Daddy’s dough is good enough, huh? Well, not anymore! Anyway, I’d never have fathered a weirdo like you.
Lola: But you did, you jerk!
Father: No, I didn’t! They guy who fathered you didn’t live to see your birth. [to the guard] Throw her out, please.

…

[Flashback to conversation between Manni and Lola]
Lola: Manni? Do you love me?
Manni: Sure, I do.
Lola: How can you be so sure?
Manni: I don’t know. I just am. You’re the best. The best girl.
Lola: Of all the girls in the world?
Manni: Sure.
Lola: How do you know?
Manni: I just do.
Lola: You think so.
Manni: Okay, I think so.
Lola: You see? You aren’t sure. What if you never met me?
Manni: What do you mean?
Lola: You’d be telling the same thing to someone else.

…

Manni: Lola, what’s wrong? You want to leave me?
Lola: I don’t know. I think I have to make a decision.

…

[flashback to conversation between Lola and Manni]
Manni: I know what you would do if I were dead. You’d forget me.
Lola: No!
Manni: Sure you would. What else could you do? Sure, you’d mourn for a few weeks. Not a bad idea. And everybody’s real compassionate and everything’s so incredibly sad, and everyone feels sorry for you. You can show everyone how strong you are. “What a great woman,” they’ll say. “She really pulls herself together instead of crying all day.” And all at once this really nice guy with green eyes shows up. And he’s super sensitive, listens to you all day. And you can talk his ear off. And you can tell him how tough things are for you… and that you have to look after yourself and don’t know what’s gonna happen… and blah, blah, blah. Then you’d hop onto his lap and cross me off your list. That’s how it goes.
Lola: Manni.
Manni: What?
Lola: You haven’t died yet.
[cuts back to Manni dying on the road after being run over by an ambulance]
Manni: No?

…

Lola: How does this work?
Casino cashier: You buy chips and gamble them away.
Lola: Okay.

…

[last line]
Manni: [to Lola] What’s in the bag?[/b]

What we really need is a film like this set in Washington…exposing how the “deals” get made “behind the curtains” there. The politicians could play themselves. They wouldn’t even need to do any acting. Well, aside from what they had to learn in order to get the job.

And for cameos they could use Wall Street bankers.

Of course, we already knew all this about Hollywood. It’s just that The Player is a particularly clever way in which to make us feel superior to such drek. I know I do.

IMDb

“It is estimated that if all the celebrities who did cameos were to charge their normal asking prices, the budget for the film would be in excess of $100 million on salaries alone.”

THE PLAYER
Directed by Robert Altman

[b]Griffin: What have you got for me?
Buck: Okay, here it is. The Graduate, Part II. Listen, the three principals are still with us. Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, Katharine Ross, years later. And so are the characters, Ben, Elaine and Mrs. Robinson. Ben and Elaine are married, still. They live in a big, spooky house up in northern California somewhere. And Mrs. Robinson lives with them…her aging mother who’s had a stroke so she can’t talk.
Griffin: Will it be funny?
Buck: It’ll be funny. Dark, weird and funny. And with a stroke. Maybe it’s not a stroke. I don’t know what it is. It’s a malady of some sort. She’s up in the bedroom listening to everything that happens. They’ve got a daughter who’s just graduated from college. Twenty-two, twenty-three-year-old, like a Julia Roberts.

…

Woman pitching to Griffin: It’s a TV star who goes on a safari.
Griffin: A TV star in a motion picture?
Woman pitching to Griffin: A TV star played by a movie star. Dolly Parton would be good.
Griffin: I like Goldie.
Woman pitching to Griffin: Great, because we have a relationship. Goldie goes to Africa. She’s found by this tribe. Of small people. She’s found and they worship her.
Griffin: I see, it’s like The Gods Must Be Crazy except the coke bottle is an actress.
Woman pitching to Griffin: Right. It’s Out of Africa meets Pretty Woman. She has to decide whether to stay with the TV show or save the tribe.

…

Griffin: What’s your pitch?
Man pitching a story: Does political scare you?
Griffin: Political doesn’t scare me. Radical political scares me. Political political scares me.
Man pitching a story: This is politely politically radical, but it’s funny.
Griffin: It’s a funny political thing.
Man pitching a story: And it’s a thriller, too, all at once.
Griffin: So, what’s the story?
Man pitching a story: I want Bruce Willis. I can talk to him. It’s a story about a bad-guy senator. He’s traveling around the country on the country’s dime, like Sununu did.
Griffin: I see, so it’s a cynical, political thriller comedy.
Man pitching a story: But it’s got heart in the right spot. Anyway, he has an accident. And he becomes clairvoyant, like a psychic.
Griffin: So it’s a psychic, political, thriller comedy with a heart.
Man pitching a story: With a heart, not unlike Ghost meets Manchurian Candidate. He starts reading people’s minds. And when he gets to the President’s mind it’s completely blank. Completely blank.

…

Griffin: Can we talk about something other than Hollywood for a change? We’re educated people.

…

[after watching The Bicycle Thief]
Griffin: Great movie, huh? So refreshing to see something like this after all these… cop movies and, you know, things we do. Maybe we’ll do a remake of this.
David: You’d probably give it a happy ending.
Griffin: No, we’d keep it pure.
David: Pure, right.

…

David [to Griffin]: You’re in over your head. That’s why you’re losing your job. Then what are you gonna do? Huh? I can write. What can you do?

…

Griffin: OK, give me your pitch.
Walter: 25 words or less? OK, here goes. Movie exec calls writer, writer’s girlfriend tells him he’s at the movies, exec goes to the movies, meets writer, drinks with writer; writer gets conked and dies in four inches of dirty water. Exec is in deep shit. What do you think?
Griffin: That was more than 25 words.

…

Larry: To actually rub shoulders with the great unwashed? We need to give them the kind of pictures they want not the kind writers want to give them.

…

Larry: Let me ask you. When was the last time you bought a ticket to see a movie? You actually paid your own money?
Griffin: Last night. Pasadena. The Bicycle Thief.
Larry: That’s an art movie. It doesn’t count. We’re talking about movie movies.

…

Larry: I’m just saying there’s time and money to be saved if we came up with these stories on our own.
Bonnie: Where are these stories coming from?
Larry: Anywhere. It doesn’t matter. The newspaper. Pick any story.
Bonnie [reading from newspaper]: ‘Immigrants protest budget cuts in literacy program.’
Larry: Human spirit overcoming human adversity. Sounds like Horatio Alger in the barrio. Put Jimmy Smits in it and you’ve got a sexy Stand and Deliver. Next.
Executive [grabs the newspaper]: How about ‘Mud slide kills in slums of Chili’?
Larry: That’s good. Triumph over tragedy. Sounds like a John Boorman picture. Slap a happy ending on it, the script will write itself.
Bonnie [takes the paper]: ‘Further bond losses push Dow down …’ I see Connery as Bond.

…

Griffin: I was just thinking what an interesting concept it is to eliminate the writer from the artistic process. If we could just get rid of these actors and directors, maybe we’ve got something here.

…

Larry [duped by Griffin into pitching Tom’s story to Levison]: She’s receiving the last rites. The D.A. discovers that the husband faked his own death. She’s innocent. He races to the penitentiary, but it’s too late. The pellets have dropped. She’s dead. He helped kill the woman he loved.
Levison: Who are the stars?
Larry: No stars, just talent.
Levison: No stars? And what the fuck kind of ending do you call that? It’s depressing.
Larry: Depressing? Terms of Endearment, Love Story, Steel Magnolias? E.T. grossed millions worldwide and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
Levison: Yeah, but…
Larry: Normally I’d agree with you, but this is an entirely different kind of deal. It is a matter of taking the risk, rolling the dice. But if they come up bingo! It’s Oscar time.
Levison: Do they screw?
Larry: Who?
Levison: The D.A. And the woman. Do they screw? If I’m going to be looking at jail cells and gas chambers, you need some sex.
Larry: Sure, of course. We’ll get it there. No problem.

…

Larry: I’ll be there right after my AA meeting.
Griffin: Oh Larry, I didn’t realise you had a drinking problem.
Larry: Well I don’t really, but that’s where all the deals are being made these days.

…

June: I like words and letters, but I’m not crazy about complete sentences.

…

June: I don’t go to movies.
Griffin: Why not?
June: Life is too short.[/b]

Ouch.

[b]Griffin: We should pay for our crimes, shouldn’t we?
June: I think knowing you’ve committed a crime is suffering enough. If you don’t suffer maybe it wasn’t a crime after all. Anyway, what difference does it make? It has nothing to do with how things really are.
Griffin: You don’t really believe that do you?
June: I don’t know what I believe, Mr. Mill. It’s just what I feel.
Griffin: You know what you are, June? A pragmatic anarchist.

…

June: We can’t hurry things any more than we can stop them.

…

Tom: Did Levy understand? No stars.
Griffin: Yes, he was particularly attracted to that notion.
Tom: And no Hollywood ending?
Griffin: No Hollywood ending.
Secretary: They looked happy.
Griffin: They have a completely fucked-up idea that has no second act. If I hadn’t heard it myself, I never would’ve believed it. Larry Levy liked it though because he’s a dickbrain.

…

Detective Avery: Mr. Mill, have you been going to detective school?
Griffin: No, actually, we’re doing a… a movie right now, called Lonely Room, and Scott Glenn plays a detective much like yourself.
Detective Avery: Is he a black woman?

…

June: Tell me about the movies you make.
Griffin: Why?
June: Because I want to know what you do.
Griffin: I listen to stories and decide if they’ll make good movies or not. I get 125 phone calls a day and if I let that slip to 100 I know I’m not doing my job. Everyone who calls wants to know one thing. They want me to say yes to them and make their movie. If I say yes, they think that come New Year’s it will be just them and Jack Nicholson on the slopes of Aspen. That’s what they think. The problem is I can only say yes…my studio can only say yes…12 times a year. And collectively we hear about 50,000 stories a year. So it’s hard. And I guess sometimes I’m not nice and make enemies. That’s what I was to David. Enemy.
June: Was his story one of the 12?
Griffin: No, it wasn’t.
June: Why?
Griffin: It lacked certain elements that we need to market a film successfully.
June: What elements?
Griffin: Suspense, laughter, violence. Hope, heart, nudity, sex. Happy endings. Mainly happy endings.
June: What about reality?

…

Lawyer: Mr. Mill, Gar Girard. I’m here to represent you. Here’s the situation. They’ve got a witness and want you to do a lineup. If you say no, they’ll arrest you. Even if you get identified, I’ll get you off on bail. This witness lives across the street from the parking lot. Even if she makes an identification a positive I.D., it was very late at night. By the time I’m finished with her, we’ll have a new legal standard for blindness.

…

Bonnie: You sold it out! How could you let him sell you out? What about truth? Reality?
Tom: What about the way the old ending tested in Canoga Park? Everybody hated it. We reshot it, now everybody loves it. That’s reality.
Bonnie: But you had an ending which was true. You didn’t even give it a chance.
Andy: Who is this person?
Larry: Bonnie, goddamn it. This is a hit. This is what we’re here for.
Bonnie: It didn’t have to end this way.
Larry: I want you out of here.
Andy: Good thinking, Larry.

…

Writer [on phone]: Hi, Griff. Remember me? I’m the asshole who was in the postcard business.
Griffin: You.
Writer: The king of suspense. You remember.
Griffin: I haven’t heard from you for a while.
Writer: I’ve been busy writing a script. It’s great! It’s a Hollywood story, a real thriller. It’s about a shit-bag producer, studio exec who murders a writer he thinks is harassing him. The problem is, he kills the wrong writer. Now he’s got to deal with blackmail and the cops. But, here’s the switch. The son of a bitch gets away with it.
Griffin: He gets away with it?
Writer: Absolutely. A Hollywood ending. He marries the dead writer’s girl and they live happily ever after.
Griffin: Can you guarantee that ending?
Writer: If the price is right, you got it.
Griffin: Guarantee that ending, you got a deal.
Writer: I guarantee it.
Griffin: What do you call this thing?
Writer: The Player.
Griffin: The Player. I like that.[/b]

First The Player. Then Short Cuts. That’s automatic.

As with Run Lola Run this film reflects on the manner in which we go about the business of living our lives largely oblivious to what we either do or do not set into motion just by being in a particular place at a particular time. And reacting in one manner rather than another. Some things we have a better understanding of [and control over] than others. But rarely do we think it through much below the surface. We know that things happen and that because they do things change. But we can only bring our own undertanding of the past and the present into however we imagine the changes will impact the future.

Just the right mix of comedy, tragedy and farce. The narratives were inspired by 9 Raymond Carver short stories. And one original story from Altman.

There are many great scenes marbled throughout the film [over 3 hours long] but if I had to pick my favorite it would be Stormy ransacking Betty’s house with, among other things, a power saw and a pair of scissors. Tell me that isn’t a classic! Then the salesman comes to the the door: “Your wife won a free vacuuming and carpet shampoo, no strings attached.”

IMDb

“All Jennifer Jason Leigh’s phone-sex conversations are verbatim of the calls she heard when she was researching for the part.”

“The notorious bottom nude scene ultimately played by Julianne Moore deterred a lot of other actresses, including Madeleine Stowe, who switched roles in the film. Ironically, Stowe’s new part required nudity too, though it was topless, rather than bottomless.”

“Annie Ross and Lori Singer’s segment is a Robert Altman invention and has no connection to anything Raymond Carver has written.”

SHORT CUTS
Written and directed by Robert Altman

[b]Stuart: Who’s Alex Trebek?

…

Sherri: The spraying. It’s gonna give him cancer!
Gene: It’s not gonna give him cancer! Don’t you get environmental on me, Sherri.
Sherri: Have you listened to the news lately? It’s dangerous!
Gene: They wouldn’t be doing it if it was dangerous!

…

Sherri: Wanna talk about where you were last night?
Gene: No, I don’t. Not in front of the kids, I don’t. I don’t want them to hear about kids on C-R-A-C-K. You can come in the other room.
Sherri: Whose crack are we talking about, Gene?

…

Earl: How 'bout cops, baby? I bet they love those short skirts. I know fishermen like 'em!

…

Earl: You know, I don’t know who you think would wanna look at your sad, middle aged ass anymore!
Doreen: Don’t talk to me like that and don’t you come back here! I’m not taking you back no more understand? No more I’m not taking you back!
Earl: I’m not COMING back!
Doreen: Slobbering over Honey like that it was so embarrassing…
Earl: I never touched Honey!
Doreen: I didn’t say you touched her I said you slobbered on her!

…

Doreen: Listen, honey today something terrible happened. I hit this little kid with my car.
Earl: Oh…
Doreen: He didn’t get hurt. He was okay. But, Jesus, it scared the hell out of me.
Earl: Were the cops there? Did they get your name?
Doreen: I told you, nobody was there.
Earl: Okay, I just don’t wanna get sued.

…

Doreen: Such a close call. Everything could have changed. Our whole lives could have changed.

…

Gene: All right, now, Suzy, you go run away. We don’t want you anymore.

…

Sherri: Who’s Claire “The Clown” Kane?
Gene: What are you doing looking in my pockets?
Sherri: What are you doing with her driver’s license and telephone number?
Gene: You wanna know? I’ll tell you. Claire Kane, a.k.a. “The Clown” is a bunco artist wanted in three states. I have her phone number because I’m running a sting operation. Now you know. And now, unfortunately I have compromised your safety and the children’s safety. Are you happy now?
[After Gene leaves the room Sherri bursts out laughing]

…

Ralph: You know, scientifically speaking, Marian, there’s no such thing as “beyond natural color.”

…

Gene: Happy birthday.
Betty: What is it? An alarm clock?

…

Vern: You know, I just realized…there’s probably a thousand guys in L.A. who’d be ballin’ her right now.

…

Betty: What you did to your son is unforgivable.
Stormy: What, he didn’t tell you Daddy’s been flying nights, bombin’ the dirty medflies?

…

Claire: Dr. Wyman, it’s Claire. Claire Kane. Remember? From the concert. Um [Chuckles] This is what I do. I’m doing a chil - I’m - I’m a clown. [Chuckles] I’m really looking forward to dinner. Stuart’s bringing the fish. Remember?
Ralph: Oh, right.
[He walks away]
Colleague: Who’s that?
Ralph: I have no idea.

…

Ann: Hello? Howard?
Bitkower: No, this is not Howard.
Ann: Oh, I’m sorry. Who are you calling?
Bitkower: Casey. I want to talk about that little bastard Casey.

…

Sherri: He’s such a liar. Sometimes I ask him stuff just to entertain myself.
Marian: What do you mean?
Sherri: Just to see what kind of cockamamy lie he’s gonna come up with next. I mean, some of the stories are really fantastic.

…

Marian: How’s the sex?
Sherri: Well, he’s real quick.

…

Sherri: Wouldn’t it be a trip if Alex Trebek bought a nude painting of me?

…

[Casey’s Voice] Hi. This is the Finnigan home. We can’t get to the phone right now, so leave a message after the beep. [Beep]
Bitkower: “Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright, the band is playing somewhere and somewhere hearts are light. And somewhere men are laughing and somewhere children shout but there is no joy in Mudville–mighty Casey has struck out.”

…

Lois [who works in the phone sex business]: The bishop in my parents’ church called me. Oh, and he wanted, um, an incest call…with, like, a four-year-old girl.
Honey: Man, that is fucked up. Oh, man. Oh, that could just fuck your life up.
Lois: Okay, look, l- l- I don’t condone it…but it’s a money call.

…

Claire [after Stuart tells her about the dead body]: How long did you say you left her in the water?
Stuart: [Sighs] Claire…she was dead. We didn’t think we should move her. It was dark. We made a decision to leave her there until we could report it! She was already dead!
Claire: And when did you report it?
Stuart: This morning. Today.
Claire: Today?
Stuart: Yeah.
Claire: And when did you find her?
Stuart: [Sighs] I told you.
Claire: Well, when did you catch the fish?
Stuart: Christ! That’s what we went up there for- to fish.
Claire: You fished while she was in the water? You just left her there?!
Stuart: Claire…
Claire: You’re making me sick!

…

Salesman: Well, I can see you’ve had some kind of problem here. That doesn’t affect my work any. I’ve seen about everything there is to see.

…

Howard: Casey didn’t make it, Zoe.

…

Ralph: Why are they always naked? Why does naked make it art?

…

Ralph: Marian, you don’t have any panties on!

…

Ralph: Then what?
Marian: Then he said, “Do you wanna have a go at it?”
Ralph: Jesus, Marian. “Do you wanna have a go at it?” What…“Do you wanna have a go at it?!” What does that mean, Marian? “DO YOU WANNA HAVE A GO AT IT?!!”

…

Marian: Are you cheating Ralph?
Ralph: No, Marian. You cheat. Remember?

…

Ann: My son is dead. He is dead, Mr. Bitkower. He was hit by a car the day I came in here to order the cake. We have been waiting with him until he died. And now he is dead. There are no more birthdays. He is dead! You bastard! You bastard! Goddamn you! Goddamn you! Goddamn you!
Howard: Shame on you.

…

Honey: Remember 7NZ-699
Vern: 604-8364. 604-8364

…

Earl: I’m getting us out of Downey, baby. Don’t worry about it. It’s all temporary.

…

Wally: Wally had a good time.
Betty: How about little Wally?

…

Son: Aubrey Bell? Mommy, who’s Aubrey Bell?[/b]

There are two kinds of people in the world: Those that equate happiness with virtue and those that equate it with everything else. Usually sex.

Even if what it might be [again, usually sex] brings others pain.

How many people are there like this? Sure, I’ve met a few myself but are there really as many as the folks who make films like this want us to believe there are?

One thing seems reasonably certain: when we have evolved into a world with no sex we may have a chance to be happy. Or, for some, even to sustain it.

IMDb

“Premiere voted this movie as one of ‘The 25 Most Dangerous Movies’”.

Wiki

"The film was highly controversial for its heavy sexual themes, particularly its portrayal of pedophilia. The Sundance Film Festival refused to accept the film, alleging it to be too disagreeable.

Happiness received an NC-17 rating from the MPAA, and that caused the film to be limited in distribution; the film also had difficulty in advertising. For that particular reason, Happiness surrendered its NC-17 rating and was instead released unrated."

HAPPINESS [1998]
Written and directed by Todd Solondz

[b]Andy: Is it someone else?
Joy: No. It’s just you.

…

Joy: It almost makes me want to learn how to smoke.

…

Andy: You think I don’t appreciate art? You think I don’t understand fashion? You think I’m not hip? You think I’m pathetic? A nerd? A lard-ass fat-so? You think I’m shit? Well, you’re wrong, 'cause I’m champagne, and you’re shit. Until the day you die, you, not me, will always be shit!

…

Bill: I wake up happy, feeling good…but then I get very depressed, because I’m living in reality.

…

Bill: Trish is good to me.
Shrink: But, still no sex.
Bill: No, but she’s not too interested either so, really, there’s no problem there when you think about it…

…

Helen: Y’know, people are always putting New Jersey down. None of my friends can believe I live here. But that’s because they don’t get it: I’m living in a state of irony.

…

Bill: What Ronald Farber doesn’t know is that it’s not length that matters, it’s width.

…

Bill: Do you want me to measure?

…

Joe: What do you think would happen if I got him a professional…you know…
Bill: A professional?
Joe: Hooker. You know, the kind that can teach things…first-timers, you know…break him in.
Bill: But Joe, he’s 11.
Joe: You’re right, you’re right. It’s too late

…

Diane: When I was a child I always imagined I’d marry the man I fell in love with, have a son and a daughter who loved me as much as I hated my mother, then die…tragically and suddenly.

…

Allen: Pussy…need pussy.

…

Joy: I am not a scab… I am a strikebreaker

…

Detective: Johnny, was there anyone in the last day or two who…“hurt” you?
Johnny: No. I… I… I don’t think so.
Detective: But someone did hurt you… no, Johnny?
Johnny: No. No-one hurt me.
Joe [Johnny’s father]: What do ya mean no? You’ve been FUCKING RAPED!

…

Allen: I bore the people. People look at me and they get bored, people listen to me and they zone out…bored.

…

Kristina: Do you remember Pedro’s penis?
Allen: You mean the one that…that was…cut off?
Kristina: Well, it wasn’t really cut off.

…

Bill [answering the phone]: Hey, Joe. What’s up? How’s Johnny doing?
Joe: You’re a dead man.

…

Bill: Now…you said something about Ronald Farber?
Detective: Excuse me?
Bill: I’m sorry, I mean, I mean, Johnny Grasso?

…

Spray painted across Bill and Trish’s home: SERIAL RAPIST PERVERT[/b]

Here’s the part that, uh, disturbed folks:

[Note: explicit…creepy…language]

[b]Billy [Bill’s young son]: Dad, did you, um…uh…with…Johnny Grasso and Ronald Farber?
Bill [weeping]: Yes.
Billy: What…did you do?
Bill: I touched them.
Billy: What do you mean, exactly, touched?
Bill: I fondled them.
Billy: What for?
Bill: I couldn’t help myself.
Billy: What else? I…I unzipped myself.
Billy: You…you mean, masturbated?
Bill: No.
Billy: Then what?
Bill: I… made love.
Billy: What do you mean?
Bill: I fucked them.
Billy: What was it like?
Bill: It was…it was great.
Billy: Would you do it again?
Bill: Yes.
Billy: Would…would you ever…fuck me?
Bill: No. I’d jerk off instead.
[Billy starts to sob, then cry, uncontrollably]

…

Helen: There’s this guy I’ve met, Joy, that I’d think you’d like. He’s in computers, I think.
Joy: How did you meet him?
Helen: He’s a neighbor of mine. You want to call him, or should I give him your number?
Joy: I’ll call him.
Helen: That’ll be great. I think he’ll really like that.
Trish: What about me?
Helen: I’m looking. I’m looking.
Trish: I like computers.
Helen: Trish, trust me on this one. He’s not for you.

…

Helen: I’m not laughing at you, I’m laughing with you.
Joy: But I’m not laughing.[/b]

The science here may be absurd but it’s not if the Big One is coming, but when. And if it comes in our lifetime we shall be the object lesson embedded in the idea that the language of philosophy has profound limitations in describing the world around us. The logic remains the same but the narratives become very, very different.

There are castastophes that come from above; and they are beyond our control. And they are very very few and very very far between. The ones that afflict us more routinely are of a different sort. They are the stuff of friends and families tumbling pell-mell out of orbit; tumbling into new orbits that send them colliding.

Me, I truly do love cynical people. Especially those cynical about things like this.

But don’t get me wrong: It’s not required of you.

Suppose somehow science was able to determine for a fact that we on earth are the only intelligent life form in the universe. How would that change anything?

IMDb

“The advertisement for which Justine is supposed to come up with a tagline is based on an oil painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder entitled The Land of Cockaigne, an unflattering portrayal of excess and spiritual emptiness in a mythical land of plenty.”

“The painting seen in the prologue is Pieter Breughel’s Hunters in the Snow (1565). This painting also prominently features in Andrey Tarkovskiy’s Solaris. Lars von Trier often stated Tarkovskiy greatly inspires him.”

It should be noted there are those who hated this film:

moviereviews.co.uk/features/ … elancholia

But it also includes a link to 10 reasons critics love it.

MELANCHOLIA
Written and directed by Lars von Trier

[b]John: Gaby, I’m sorry to disturb you, but we’re ready to cut the cake.
Gaby: [behind the bathroom door] When Justine took her first crap on the potty, I wasn’t there. When she had her first sexual intercourse, I wasn’t there. So give me a break, please, with all your fucking rituals.

…

John: Those bitches have locked themselves in their bedrooms or are now taking a bath. Is everyone in your family stark raving mad?

…

John: I tried to throw your mother out.
Justine: Yeah, you usually do.

…

Justine: I smile and I smile and I smile.

…

Gaby: You can still waddle, I see. So just waddle the hell out of here.

…

Justine: The problem is how do we effectively hook a group of minors with our sub-standard product, preferably in a habit forming way. And I’ve reached a conclusion with respect to a tagline. I was just thinking what if instead we try to sell you to the public, Jack. Then surprisingly I was right back where I started from: with nothing.
Tim: Nothing is not such a bad tagline Jack.
Jack: Would you please expand on that a little.
Justine: Nothing is too much for you, Jack. I can’t find words to describe it. I hate you and your advertising firm so deeply. You are a despicable, power-hungry little man, Jack.
Jack: Is that a resignation? Because there are not too many jobs out there now, I’ll tell you.

…

Jack: I dropped my plate.

…

Tim: The way I see it, you’re now short of a boss and a husband. Could I in all humility offer you my services?

…

Justine: The earth is evil. We don’t need to grieve for it.
Claire: What?
Justine: Nobody will miss it.
Claire: But where would Leo grow?
Justine: All I know is, life on earth is evil.
Claire: Then maybe life somewhere else.
Justine: But there isn’t.
Claire: How do you know?
Justine: Because I know things.
Claire: Oh yes, you always imagined you did.
Justine: I know we’re alone.
Claire: I don’t think you know that at all.
Justine: 678. The bean lottery. Nobody guessed the amount of beans in the bottle.
Claire: No, that’s right.
Justine: But I know. 678.
Claire: Well, perhaps. But what does that prove?
Justine: That I know things. And when I say we’re alone, we’re alone. Life is only on earth, and not for long.

…

Claire: I want us to be together when it happens. Maybe outside on the terrace. Help me Justine. I want to do this the right way.
Justine: You better do it quickly.
Claire: A glass of wine together. Out on the terrace.
Justine: You want me to have a glass of wine with you on your terrace? How about a song? Beethoven’s Ninth. Something like that? Maybe we could light some candles. You want us to gather on your terrace to sing a song and have a glass of wine. The three of us.
Claire: Yes. That would make me happy.
Justine: Do you know what I think of your plan?
Claire: No. I was hoping that you would like it.
Justine: I think it’s a piece of shit.
Claire: Justine, please. I just want it to be nice.
Justine: Nice? Why don’t we meet on the fucking toilet?
Claire: Then let’s not.
Justine: You’re damn right let’s not.
Claire: Sometimes I hate you so much, Justine.

…

Leo [Claire’s young son]: I’m afraid that the planet will hit us anyway.
Justine: Don’t be. Please.
Leo: Dad says there was nothing to do and nowhere to hide.
Justine: If your Dad said that then he’s forgotten about something. He’s forgotten about the magic cave.

…

Justine: [to Leo and Claire] Hold my hand. Close your eyes.[/b]

As is often the case in these films the “Johns” are hinted to be “big shots”—politicians, bankers, celebrities, pillars of the community. You can’t help but wonder how true this actually is. You know, “in reality”. The darker, slimier underbelly of the stuff the Eliot Spitzers are involved in.

IMDb

“Congenital analgesia, as suffered by Ronald Niedermann, is a condition in which children are born with an insensitivity to pain, the body’s natural response to harmful stimuli, leading to such insults as broken bones, biting off bits of the tongue, and sticking knives through flesh. Current research suggests that the cause may be genetic and directed at the nervous system. It’s this condition that makes Niedermann such a dangerous opponent. He is a very tall, muscular man who doesn’t feel pain when his victims try to fight him off. He just keeps going and going.”

I know any number of folks who would not consider this a “disorder” at all. Me, for example.

THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE
Directed by Daniel Alfredson

[b]Mikael: I know she didn’t do anything. Not this time.

…

Mikael: You bought sex from all three of these women. So I was wondering, which one did you like best?

…

John: Do you realize my life will be destroyed if you publish this.
Mikael [matter of factly]: Yes.

…

Lizbeth: You broke the rules again. Do you want to die?

…

Mikael: What did he look like?
Paolo: Like a blond tank.

…

Paolo: There’s another weird thing about this. I landed about a hundred hard punches right to his face but nothing. It was like he didn’t feel them.

…

Holger: Zalachenko. Alexander Zalachenko
Mikael: Do you know who he is.
Holger [nodding]: He is Lizbeth’s father.

…

Lizbeth: Hello, Papa…

…

Zala [to Lizbeth]: I’ve thought about you over the years. Like everytime I see myself in the mirror.

…

Zala: I hated you. But I’ve forgiven you.
Lizbeth: Bullshit. Bjurman hired you to kill me.
Zala: That’s completely different. That’s business.

…

Zala [to Lizbeth]: Did Bjurman really rape you? Christ, the guy must have had shitty taste.[/b]

And the Lord said, “Get 'em while they’re young.” Just like the Objectivists do.

Seriously, this is about how people feel, not about what they think. Are these people stupid for believing this stuff? Is someone stupid in turn for calling them stupid? God knows. And that’s the point when you can’t turn to anyone down here who does.

This is probably as close as it actually gets to how these things unfold out in the world. People searching for the ultimate rationalizations.

And people falling back on the only thing there is when there’s calamity in their life. It’s God or nothing. Or certainly not something atheists can provide.

For God the movie ends on an ambiguous note.

And of course the snickers from the folks in here who will continue to heap scorn and derision on these “stupid” people.

HIGHER GROUNDS
Directed by Vera Farmiga

[b]Young Wendy: She got saved today.
Mother: Saved from what?

…

Young Wendy: Pastor Bud says Jesus knocks on our heart, but we don’t listen.
Mother: Maybe he should try the doorbell instead.

…

Bill [of young Corrine at baptism]: This is one fish the Lord has been trying to hook for a long time.

…

Church elder: We’ve got a set of tapes. Christ-Like Sex by Dr. Frank Barnes.
[From the tape]
“When it comes to satisfying your wife, brothers, clitoral stimulation is part of God’s plan.”

…

Annika: Satan’s doing a real number on you. I’m gonna bind him. I’m gonna bind him right now. “Satan, you have no power over us”.
Corrine: “No, you don’t.”
Annika: “We are children of God, Satan, and we reject your fiery darts. We reject your lies. We denounce you. You’re a fallen angel doomed to Hell forever and ever.”
Corrine: Amen
Annika: “Get thee behind us Satan, get thee behind us.”
Corrine: “Yeah, get lost Bub, get lost!”
Annika: Bub?
Corrine: Bub, yeah. You know, Satan is Beelzebub. The Lord of the Flies. The book.
Annika: “Get lost Bub”. That’s great!

…

Corrine: As we’re told in Thessalonians, uh, you know, God wants us to come to Him with all our needs and all our desires. If you want the Ganders to have a winning season. If you want it, you know, it’ll take a miracle. But I’ll pray anyway. And then I’ll thank him when they choke in the fourth quarter like they always do. But that’s faith isn’t it?

…

Parishioner [to Corrine]: You came very close to preaching just now. We have to be careful not to appear as though we’re teaching the men.

…

Parishioner: I so don’t mean to pick on you, but scriptures tell older women to teach the younger women.
Corrine: Sure. What’s wrong.
Parishioner [whispering]: Your dress.
Corrine: My dress? What? It’s a maternity dress.
Parishioner: I know. It caught Luke’s attention…You don’t want to make a brother stumble.

…

Corrine: Why don’t we believe in tongues?
Ethan: Because we don’t. Look, it’s…I mean it’s nonsensical. It’s probably voodoo.
Corrine: Annika prayed for me in tongues. She called it a prayer language. I thought it was so beautiful.
Ethan: Does Ned know about that?
Corrine: What difference does it make? She’s worshipping God. It makes her feel closer to Him. There can’t be anything wrong with…
Ethan: Corrine. The deceiver comes deguised as an angel of light.

…

Ethan: I only see you.
Corrine: Really? What do you see when you look at me? The mother of your children? A virtuous woman? Handmaiden of the Lord?
Ethan: I see a new creature in Christ.
Corrine: Yeah, right, that’s me. Popped right out of Zeus’s forehead fully grown.
Ethan: I don’t even know what that means.
Corrine: No shit, you don’t. You don’t understand anything. You don’t understand literature or intelligent conversation or how to make love. You know, I just do it myself these days. It takes me 30 seconds to do what you couldn’t get done listening to step-by-step instructions from Dr. Fuck Barnes.
Ethan [after almost strangling her]: Satan get out of this car. Out. Out! OUT!!

…

Corrine [to church counselor]: Inside with you or outside with the dogs…
Church counselor: Why are you here?
Corrine: I’m here because my husband of 15 years asked me to come.
Church counselor: There’s a fiery lake waiting for you. With whips that’ll cut your flesh and brands that’ll sear your skin.
Corrine: And you get to watch?
Church counselor: This is not a joke, Mrs. Miller. You are crucifying Christ all over again. I can see right into your soul…A year ago I stopped at McDonald’s for an Egg McMuffin. I happened to see a city councilman whose affair with his secretary was common knowledge. As I took my last sip of coffee, God said to me, “Rebuke him. Tell him to repent”. I did not want to rebuke this man but God does not take no for an answer. So I walk over there and laid it out for him. I said “God wants you to repent for your sin or he will deal with you”. And that man looked back at me with eyes cold as any devil’s and told me to go fuck myself. Well, I shrugged. I’d done what God asked me to do. And I walked out. Later that day, the city councilman skidded on a slick road over a cliff, dead. I look at you and I’m eating my Egg McMuffin all over again.

…

Corrine [alone, bursting at the seams with a desparate sincerity]: Lord help me. I can’t feel you. I feel nothing. Draw near to me Lord. Come on. Where are you? Huh? Where are you?

…

Ethan: You’re leaving me aren’t you?

…

Ethan [strumming his guitar and singing while Corrine walks out the door]: “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus name and…fuck you, goddamn it.”

…

Corrine [to the congregation she left]: I told God, I told Him: “You know what? I’m not gonna let go.” I won’t let go until He blesses me. But I’m wrestling something nameless, you know, without form and void. And I just want it to be solid so bad. I need all of this to be real, and I don’t always know how to make it real. I don’t know how to make it real.[/b]

Don’t expect to immediately understand what the hell is going on here.

I suppose it is possible to imagine events like this unfolding. In your dreams, for example. Almodovar called it “a horror story without screams.” It also has that element of revenge I crave as well.

This is something, uh, different for Pedro. Science fiction?

The science here [to the extent it is science] is way over my head. But it is easy enough to imagine the day when the “civilized world” will be wrestling with the bio-ethics of the skin we are in. And all the other organs too. We already do regarding the sex stuff.

This is weird.

IMDb

“Ledgard calls his synthetic skin ‘Gal’ after his first wife. The name Gal is short for Galatea, who in Roman Mythology was a statue made by the gifted sculptor Pygmalion. The statue was so perfect that Pygmalion fell in love with his own creation and Venus granted his wish to bring her to life.”

THE SKIN I LIVE IN
Written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar

[b]Vicente: You are different. I am different as well.
Norma: Are you in therapy, too?

…

Marilia: Their fathers were very different but they were both born insane. That’s my fault.

…

President of the Institute: There is only one way to toughen skin: by mutating it.
Robert: Yes, that’s what I did.
President of the Institute: Transgenesis.
Robert: Yes. I transferred genetic information from a pig’s cell to a human cell.
President of the Institute: A pig’s cell?
Robert: It’s much stronger than ours.
President of the Institute: You’re insane! You know transgenic therapy in humans is totally forbidden!
Robert: Yes, I do, but it seems the ultimate paradox. We intervene in everything around us, meat, clothes, vegetables, fruit, everything! Why not use scientific advances to improve our species? You know how many diseases we could cure with transgenesis? Or the genetic malformations that could be avoided?
President of the Institute: Don’t go on. I know the list by heart and I think of it every day. But even so, I must forbid you from investigating further, or I’ll be forced to report you to the scientific community. Aside from what you or I might think the bioethics are absolutely clear about this.

…

Marilla: Have you thought what to do with her?
Robert: No.
Marilla: You’ll have to kill her or keep her hidden forever.

…

Marilla: After the accident we lived like vampires, in total darkness and with no mirrors.

…

Vera: Do you mind if we leave it for tomorrow? The tiger really messed me up down there.

…

Marilia: The things the love of a mad man can do.

…

Vicente: Why did you shave me?
Robert: That’s a good question.

…

Vicente [after the operation]: What’s happened? What did you do to me?
Robert: A vaginoplasty.
Vicente: No.

…

Robert: Listen carefully to what I am going to say. It’s very important. As you’ve seen the operation was successful, but the tissues of the vagina are very tender and could stick together. But don’t worry, it’s easy to prevent that. You have to keep the new orifice open and manage, bit by bit, to make it deeper.[/b]

Then he brings out the “tools” he’ll need to do this.

[b]Vicente: Why are you doing this?
Robert: Do you remember Casilda Efraiz’s wedding? In that spectacular house? I’m Norma’s father. She was the child you raped.
Vicente: I don’t think I actually raped her.
Robert: You “don’t think”?
Vicente: I’d taken a lot of pills and I can hardly remember it.
Robert: Well, I didn’t take anything, and I’ll never forget it!

…

Robert: I can’t keep calling you Vicente. From today, your name is Vera.

…

Robert: But you promised.
Vera: I lied.

…

Marilia: I knew it.

…

Vera: I don’t know where to begin, Cristina.
Cristina: Do you know me?[/b]

What do you think, does she?

Dasein embodied historically and culturally. Almost unthinkable here and now, these gender/family relationships were the norm “back then”…and “over there”.

Yet some things never really change at all. See if you can spot them.

Hint: Men are still men and bosses are still bosses. And, well, in some respects, women are still women.

Oh, and contingency, chance and change still prevail.

These things happened only because people belived they must happen. And it’s not really all that different today. We become trapped in these fucking narratives not even realizing that is all they are: stories we tell ourselves about what is true.

a clip from the film:
youtube.com/watch?v=9QNjOkUFK1A

Ju Dou [1990]
Directed by Fengliang Yang and Yimou Zhang

Up on the screen:

[b]A small village somewhere in China in the 1920s

…

Boy: Your uncle bought himself another wife. Her name is Ju Dou. A good-looker…and expensive. You didn’t know that your first two aunts were tortured to death by him. They didn’t give him any children. Listen how your new aunt screams at night.

…

Jinshan: I bought you. Now obey me. When I buy an animal I treat it as I wish.

…

Jinshan: Bear me a son and I will be your slave.

…

Tianqing: Aunt, what happened to your face?

…

Ju Dou: Listen to the pig, screaming for its life![/b]

Then Jinshan is attacked by bandits. He is left paralyzed from the waist down. Everything changes.

[b]Tianqing: Are you pregnant?
Ju Dou: Yes. And that old bastard thinks it’s his! I counted the days. The child is yours!

…

Tianbai: Daddy!
Jinshan: You can say, “Daddy”? Who’s your daddy?
Tianbai: Daddy! Daddy!..Daddy! Daddy!
Jinshan: Tianbai!..My son! Of course I’m your father! My son! I’m your father! I’m your father![/b]

Then later while Ju Dou and Tianqing watch:

[b]Jinshan: Tianbai! Call me!
Tianbai: Daddy!
Jinshan: Again! Louder!
Tianbai: Daddy!!
Jinshan: Tianbai, that is your mother. That is your brother. And I’m your father. My son, you’re a good boy. Remember to call us that way.

…

Ju Dou: Let’s live together openly and never mind what people might say.
Tianqing: What they’d say doesn’t worry me. If they knew, they’d kill us.

…

Tianqing: What’s that?
Ju Dou: Arsenic.

…

Ju Dou: Tianqing! You, too, are beating me? Sure, continue doing it. Revive the old man, and you can both beat me!

…

Tianqing: Do you remember how it all began for us?
Ju Dou: Yes.
Tianqing: Tell me. Tell me, go on.
Ju Dou: No, you tell me. It makes me blush.
Tianqing: Sure, I remember, I watched you through a hole in the wall.
Ju Dou: Yes. I remember. And now we’ve gotten ourselves into this big hole.[/b]

For me, the movie more or less revolves around this:

Candy: Do you ever feel like you’re nothing like anyone else in the world?
David: Only all the time.
Candy: Somewhere there’s one person waiting for me… feeling like me.
David: A lot of people in the world feel like that.

Sound familiar? It seems only “normal” people don’t feel this way.

Take away the deranged psycho-sexual serial killer sub-plot and this film is bursting at the seams with insights on love and human remains. Both gay and straight. Well, in late 20th century Canada anyway.

And it aims to attack cynicism with a vengence. Didn’t put a dent in mine though.

A warning: It does jump the shark from time to time. It can go way over the top. But it’s still worth watching.

LOVE AND HUMAN REMAINS
Directed by Denys Arcand

[b]David: Bern, where did everybody go?
Bernie: Who?
David: Everybody we used to know.
Bernie: I don’t know. Away.
David: It’s funny how people just disappear.
Bernie: Yeah, it’s fucking hilarious.

…

Kane: Do you still do, you know, TV stuff?
David: It’s called acting and no, I don’t.
Kane: Why not?
David: I find being a waiter more artisically satisfying.

…

David [entering his apartment]: Honey, I’m homo.

…

Candy: There’s a spot on my futon.
David [looking at it]: My guess is either pizza or vasoline.

…

David: I worry about you darling. You should get out more.
Candy: With the men in this town? You’re joking.
David: No, no, we have some fine men.
Candy: I need someone who will hang around for my orgasm.
David: Then stop dating straight men.
Candy: I’ve already tried that, remember?
David: I was just a trainee fag at the time.

…

Candy: I want more than just sex.
David: That’s why God invented television.

…

Kane: That was coke wasn’t it?
Benita: Junk.
Kane: Heroin?!
David: It’s alright. I won’t let anything bad happen to you.

…

David [to Benita about Kane]: They follow me home.

…

David [in a crowded supermarket]: You’re having someone over. Who is it the bartender?
Candy: No.
David: It’s the dyke! It is the dyke!! CARPET MUNCHING IN MY OWN HOME!!!

…

Bernie: Why is everything so fucking hard?
David: Not everything, just the important stuff.

…

Bernie: You know what I like best about coming up here?
David: No, what?
Bernie: You can spit on the people walking below you.

…

Sal [at nightspot]: It’s chicken night.
David: Are there any fags here?
Sal: Sure. They just don’t know it yet.

…

David: I can’t picture you as a dyke.
Candy: PLEASE. I’d be a lesbian!

…

David [to Candy]: There’s an extra pair of shoes by the door.

…

Candy: I don’t have much luck with men.
David: Well, that’s not exclusively a female problem.

…

Jerri: Some people have a problem with gays and lesbians.
Candy: Yeah, well some people wear polyester.

…

Bernie: When are you gonna do something with your life?
David: What, like you? Work at a job I hate and fuck women I can’t stand.
Bernie: Fuck you, it’s a life!
David: It’s not the kind I want.

…

Candy: Excuse me. I have to go try on everything I own.

…

Candy: David, the paper boy is here.

…

David: So, Candy tells me you’re a lesbian.
Candy: David!
Jerri: That’s right.
David: I’m queer myself.
Jerri: I know.
[pause]
David: Well, we seem to have exhausted that particular topic.

…

David: Here’s to love…in all of its many forms.
Candy: Do you ever get tired of being a professional faggot.
David: Don’t.
Candy: You have nothing and no one in your life.
David: I have what I need.
Candy: You don’t think past the next beer or the next fuck.
David: At least I’m honest about it.
Candy: Honest? Please, you’ve never been honest. You’ve been lying about your feelings for so long they don’t even exist anymore.
David: Why, because they’re not your feelings.
Candy: At least I’m willing to try.
David: With anyone who comes along.
Candy: That guy might have loved me.
David: You’re pathetic Candy.
Candy: You fuck everything up.
David: When are you going to stop blaming me for everything that’s wrong in your life?
Candy: When are you going to admit you were never a good actor?
David: When you admit you’re in love with a faggot because it’s the only way you feel safe.
Candy: Shut up.
David: I don’t need you. I don’t need anybody.
Candy: And you call me pathetic.[/b]

So, who won?

David: You’re the one.
Bernie: They were hairdressers and secretaries for Christ’s sake.
David: They were people.
Bernie: Like you fucking care about people.

What’s interesting here is how an academic researching sociopathic killers is suddenly eyeball to eyeball with one. As Early points out: “How you gonna write a book about something you know nothing about?”

There are some folks you find both repugnant and fascinating at the same time. You are appalled by what they do but you envy their capacity and their willingness to just take what they want.

This is actually less about class than culture. You grow up in a certain community and chances are the way you look at life gets carved in stone. Here that place just happens to one where reason doesn’t work the way Brian and Carrie would like it to.

And that’s before we get to, “most of them suffer from a severe chemical brain imbalance.”

But everytime Early is on the screen you forget about that stuff. You just keep wondering what the hell he is going to do next. BOOM!

In this case you really do have to keep reminding yourself from time to time, “it’s just a movie”.

But we all know the Earlys are out there. Born and bred in the U.S. of A. Still, what would make this even scarier is an Early a little less obviously psychotic.

IMDb

“Early in the movie, when Carrie and Brian first see Early Grayce and Adele Corners, Carrie is heard complaining to Brian, “They look like a couple Okies.” Brad Pitt was born in Oklahoma and grew up in Springfield, Missouri, which is located in an area of America referred to by its mountain range, the Ozarks. Rural, unsophisticated people from the Ozarks are often referred to as ‘Okies’ rather than ‘hillbillies’”.

KALIFORNIA
Directed by Dominic Sena

[b]Brian [narrating]: I remember once going on a school trip to the top of the Empire State Building. When I looked down at the crowds of people on the street they looked like ants. I pulled out a penny and some of us started talking about what would happen if I dropped it from up there and it landed on someone’s head. Of course I never crossed that line and actually dropped the penny. I don’t think Early Grayce even knew there was a line to cross.

…

Brian: I’m talking about the mind and culpability of a serial killer. Someone who has no ability to distinguish between right and wrong is like a child in the eyes of the law. He should be treated like a child. He should not be imprisoned, let alone executed.
Eric: Oh, here we go again. Let’s just lay it all at the altar of misfiring synapses, amok biochemicals and horrendous childhoods.
Brian: Look, it’s a fact, most of these people suffer from a severe chemical brain imbalance. The answer is research and treatment under hospital supervised conditions. Not the electric chair.
Brian’s friend: Yeah, that’s great Brian. Unless it’s your mother’s head they find in the freezer.
Brian: Yeah, but executing the killer would not bring my mother back now would it?
Carrie: Thank God.

…

Brian [narrating]: I’d always wanted to be a writer, but there’s a big difference between writing a magazine article and writing a book. I know: I wrote a magazine article. Everything I ever wanted to know about serial killers fit nicely on those four pages. The article got me a book deal with a little cash up front, but between the rent and the convertible the advance was gone. I owed a book and I was stuck. What little I knew about seial killers I learned in a university library. The only thing I knew for certain was that people didn’t kill each other in libraries.

…

Brian [narrating]: What the hell did I know about California? For some people it was still a place of hopes and dreams, a chance to start over. The idea was if you could get there everything would be okay, and if it wasn’t okay there, well, it probably wasn’t going to be okay anywhere.

…

Parole Officer: You know, you’re supposed to notify me Early, when you lose your job. I stopped by the mirror factory today… you left quite a mess back there.
Early Grayce: Yeah… well, that wasn’t my fault. Besides, it’s dangerous, and they treat me like shit.
Parole Officer: [with sarcasm] Aw… nobody ever has treated you right, have they Early? Your Daddy was picking on you when he threw you out of the house for stealing the tires off his truck. The police were way out of line when they kept you from beating that bartender half to death. You know Early I bet the Lord’s gonna be picking on you come Judgment Day.

…

Carrie: Oh Brian, you’ve got to be kidding me. Look at them. They look like Okies!
Adele: Oh Jesus, Early, they look kinda weird.

…

Brian [narrating]: Carrie was right. If you looked in the dictionary under poor white trash a picture of Early and Adele would have been there. But I knew if I was gonna be a good writer I’d have to ignore the cliches and look at life through my own eyes.

…

[Discussing Early’s job at the mirror factory]
Adele: Know what, Brian? One night when we was stayin’ up late we was talkin’ ‘bout how much bad luck he must have comin’ from all those mirrors he broke, and I swear we came to 449 years it would take for him to work it all off, and he’d have to - after he died - he’s gonna have to keep comin’ back to earth over and over and over again.
Carrie: Karma.
Adele: What?
Carrie: Karma. You know, when you do something bad to someone and fate pays you back by something bad happening to you.
Adele: [blowing a bubble] Is that French?

…

Brian [narrating]: Early seemed harmless. Primitive, but harmless. Of course the fact of the matter was he had killed his landlord less than an hour before we met him. He was even wearing the guy’s ring. Who knows what he did with the finger?

…

Brian [narrating]: From the moment I began working on the book, I kept asking one question over and over: What’s the difference between a killer and anyone of us? What was it they had or didn’t have that separated them from us?

…

Brian: You know, I didn’t know this about you, I didn’t know you were so prejudiced.
Carrie: Oh please, because I object when someone takes of their shoe and scratches their foot while I’m eating in a restaurant you call me prejudiced?

…

Adele: You know, I used to smoke before I met Early. But he broke me of that.
Carrie: Broke you?
Adele: Oh. Yeah. Cos Early don’t think women should smoke or drink or cuss. So you know what I do? I spell all my cuss words.

…

Carrie: He hits you?
Adele: Oh, only when I deserve it.

…

Adele: My God, Carrie. If Early ever saw me in a picture like that I’d be black-and-blue for a week.
Carrie: You shouldn’t let him do that to you.
Adele: You think Early’s mean to me? Well, he’s not. He may punish me once in a while, but he’s not mean. Um, when I was 13 there was these three boys and they raped me in the back of this truck. They hurt me sob bad that I was in the hospital for, like, four months. And I feel safe with Early cos most of the time he treats me really nice. I know that he’d never. He would never let anything like that ever happen to me again.

…

Brian [narrating]: Early lived in the moment. He did whatever he wanted whenever he wanted. It was that simple. I don’t know if I was more fascinated or frightened by him.

…

Brian: How many people have you killed, Early?
Early: Well, now, how many people have you seen me kill, Bri?
Brian: None.
Early: That’s how many I killed.
Brian: If you say so.
Early: Damn right I do. Shut up! Eat your food. You ain’t never killed no one, have you, Bri?
Brian: No.
Early: No. Ain’t seen nobody killed either, have you?
Brian: No, I haven’t.
Early: No. Tell me something, big time. How you gonna write a book about something you know nothing about?

…

Early: Some day me and Adele be walking down the road and we’ll see your book and we’ll buy it and put it on our coffee table.

…

Brian: You didn’t have to kill the gas station attendent. You wanted to. Why? Help me out, Early, you’re right. I don’t know shit about killing. Why? Did it make you feel good? Powerful? Superior? Who are you angry with, your mother? Your father?
Early: You wanna know about my daddy? I’ll tell you about my daddy…

…

[Early walks over to Brian who is standing over the wounded cop]
Early: Tell me that don’t hurt. Here.
[Hands Brian a gun while pointing another one at his head]
Brian: What?
Early: Gotta put that crippled dog out of his misery. You wanna know about it, you gotta do it, son. Shoot him. Come on, lay it on in there. Come on, mean boy. Come on, mean boy. Do it! Shoot him! Shoot the dog! Time to live, boy. Shoot him. It’s him or you. Come on. Go!
[Brian drops the gun]
Early: You faggot.
Brian: Look at his face! It’s not your father. Look at him!
Early: I know that, you idiot. That’s police in a world of hurting. This here’s a mercy killing.
[He kills the cop]
Carrie: Oh God!
Early: Let’s hit the road

…

Early: You haven’t even said thank you.
Adele: Thank you.
Early: Thank you for what, Adele?
Adele: I don’t know, Early.
Early: Well, Adele, it’s for saving your fucking life back there! Goddamn! You were this close, momma, from spending the night in the county morgue.
Carrie: He wasn’t going to shoot her, you murdering son of a bitch!
Brian: Stop it, Carrie.
Carrie: What are you fucking insane?
Brian: Shut up!
Carrie: He’s a monster!
Brian: Shut up, Carrie!

…

Early: Look, momma, there’s a pretty house. Maybe they got some beer.

…

Adele: Guess what, Early? Mrs. Mustgrave has this guest house in the back… and it’s real, real beautiful, and it’s empty hon. She said that if you and me wanted to…
Mrs. Musgrave: Hank! Hank!
Early: [putting a golf club over shoulder] Well, you’re a widow now, Peaches.

…

Early: Looks like I need me a new momma.

…

Brian [narrating]: I’ll never know why Early Grayce became a killer. I don’t know why any of them did. When I looked into his eyes I felt nothing, nothing. That day I learned that any one of us is capable of taking another human life. But I also learned there is a difference between us and them: it’s feeling remorse. Dealing with guilt. Confronting a conscience. Early never did.

…

[last lines]
Adele [on one of Brian’s tapes]: Hi… Guess who this is… It’s me, Adele. Um, I know I’m probably not supposed to be talkin’ on the tape recorder, but um, I just wanted to say thank you for taking me and Early with you on your trip, cuz me and Early is havin’ a really good time. And um, I just hope when we get to California, that you guys don’t forget all about us. Cuz friends are important, and well, you’re the only friends we got. Bye. [/b]

A very black and very comedic look into the “coming of age” saga. The American edition.

What makes this comedy all the blacker is that Dawn is really not a sympathetic character at all. In fact, no one is! And while you know these are less characters than caricatures you also know the gap between them and the “real world” is often small. And, perhaps, getting smaller everyday.

Won “Jury Prize Dramatic” at Sundance in 1996. Huh? Dramatic? That’s like Jethro Tull winning the Grammy for “the best heavy metal album” category.

Or maybe it’s me. There is an element of drama here – Ralphie, Brandon – but it doesn’t ring true because all the other characters are practically cartoons. Aren’t they?

WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE
Written and directed by Todd Solondz

[b]Cookie: [walks up with cheeleaders] Hey, Dawn, sorry to bother you, but we were just wondering, are you a lesbian?..Well, are you?
Dawn Weiner: No!
Lolita: Liar. She made a pass at me.
Cookie: [with group] Lesbo! Lesbo! Lesbo!

…

Missy: You know you’re not supposed to drink in the TV room.
Dawn: Drop dead, lesbo.
Missy: Mom, Dawn called me “lesbo”.

…

Mother: Dawn, you are not leaving this table until you tell your sister that you love her!
[Hours later she’s still sitting there]
Mother: Go to bed.

…

Dawn: Um, Ginger? Can I talk to you for a second? It’s about Steve Rodgers. My brother told me you used to go out with Steve. Is it true?
Ginger: We fingerfucked. Once, last spring. That’s it. It’s all over now. [/b]

Later…

[b]Dawn [to Steve]: Do you want to see my fingers?

…

Ralphie: You think you’re hot shit, but you’re really just cold diarrhea.

…

Dawn: I’ve been thinking seriously of building another clubhouse, and I wanted to know…would you be interested in being my first honorary member?
Steve: What? What are you talking about?
Dawn: The Special People Club.
Steve: “Special People”?
Dawn: What’s the matter?
Steve: Do you know what '“special people” means?
Dawn: What?
Steve: “Special people” equals retarded. Your club is for retards.

…

Brandon: Why do you hang out with that faggot?
Dawn Weiner: Just because Ralphie’s a faggot doesn’t mean he’s an asshole.
Brandon: Yeah, maybe.

…

Dawn: Brandon, wait! Where are you going? We still have some Yodels left!

…

Mother: They found her tutu!

…

Dawn: Did he rape her?
Mark: Nah. I think he videotaped her doing some pirouettes, but that’s it.
Dawn: Is she in the hospital?
Mark: No, she’s here. She’s the same. Actually, I think she may have liked being there 'cause she had her own TV and total control over the remote. She also got to have as much candy and McDonald’s as she wanted.

…

Kids in school auditorium: Wienerdog! Wienerdog! Wienerdog! Wienerdog! Wienerdog! Wienerdog!

…

Dawn: Mark, is eighth grade better than seventh?
Mark: Not really.
Dawn: What about ninth?
Mark: All of junior high school sucks. High school’s better. It’s closer to college. They’ll call you names…but not as much to your face.

…

Dawn: I don’t want to go to Disney World.
Mark: Don’t be stupid. If nothing else, it’ll look good on your college resume.[/b]

Yet another frame of mind I cannot really even imagine. What is it like to be swallowed whole by a cult? I think: Isn’t it really a craving to banish dasein? The yearning to make everything in life a ritual. And, in being a ritual, necessary? Or is my own rendition of nihilism just another kind of oblivion?

One thing’s for sure: in or out of a cult each community has its own set of rules. In part, of course, because they have to. But rules and rituals can be very, very different things.

But what happens when you become lost in both worlds? You crawl into one of your own. A different set of delusions altogether. Well, anyway, if you [or those around you] can afford to.

What makes this film exceptional [for me] are all the things we can only guess at. The ending in particular.

IMDb

“There are quite a few similarities between Patrick’s cult or Martha’s story in this movie and the real-life Charles Manson ‘family’ group. Among them: Manson, like Patrick, attracted a group of young and attractive but damaged young men and especially women to a remote, rural compound. Manson often renamed the members of his family–just as Patrick decided that Martha should be named ‘Marcy May,’ Manson dubbed Susan Atkins ‘Sadie Mae Glutz.’ Manson, like Patrick, made sex with all or nearly all of the women a requirement of ‘family’ membership, and both the real Manson and the fictional Patrick encouraged everyone to have multiple sexual partners. Manson murderer Susan Atkins had experienced the early death of her mother and subsequently started having behavioral problems that made her vulnerable to the cult’s allure, as Martha had, and Manson murderer Patricia Krenwinkel fled to a relative’s home after the murders because she was scared the ‘family’ would track her down, as Martha did. Manson, like Patrick, had his more trusted members go out of the compound at night to break into wealthy people’s homes, steal from them, disrupt and terrorize their lives, and ultimately kill some of them.”

MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE
Written and directed by Sean Durkin

[b]Martha [seemingly out of the blue to Lucy]: Is it true married people don’t fuck?

…

Ted [as Martha skinny dips]: That’s an interesting choice of swimwear.

…

Lucy: Martha! What are you doing?
Martha: What?
Lucy: Would you put some clothes on, you can’t swim naked.
Martha: Why?
Lucy: You just can’t. There are kids around and people come by.
Martha: So?

…

Patrick: If you feel safe here, and I think you do, let us in. We just want to help you.
Zoe: Yeah, we think you’re fucking awesome.
Patrick: But if you’re going to live here then you really need to be a part of things.[/b]

Like this:

[b]Katie [after Marcy May/Martha has basically been raped by Patrick]: I know you feel like something bad just happened Marcy May, but you have to trust me, that was not bad, it was truly good. We’ve all been in this situation, and we wouldn’t all still be here if what happened in that room was bad. We all love each other very much, we are all together on this, you have to trust us. Do you believe me?
[Martha nods.]

…

Zoe: You’re so lucky, I’d give anything to have my first time again.
Martha: Really?
Zoe: Yeah, it’s so special.
Martha: I can’t remember anything, I just woke up on the floor and felt this pain
Zoe: That’s the cleansing. It’s good. It means it’s working if you can’t remember things. You’re cleansing yourself of the past and the toxins.
[Martha is distant]
Zoe: You need to share yourself, don’t be so selfish.
Martha: I’m not.
Zoe: So smile then, enjoy this amazing night. It only happens once.[/b]

Like I said, anything can be rationalized. Fortunately, we have real philosophers here who can tell us what is okay and not okay to rationalize.

[b]Lucy: Why would you think it’s okay to come in here like that?
Martha: I don’t know. It’s a big bed. You guys were on the other side.
Lucy: You can’t just come into our room when we’re having sex. That’s not normal. It’s private.
Martha: Sorry.
Lucy: You don’t need to apologize. Just - I need you to understand why it’s not okay.
Martha: Okay.
Lucy: Do you?
Martha: Yeah.
Lucy: Well?
Martha: Because it’s private and not normal.
Lucy: Oh, God.

…

Lucy: I’m her only family, you know. She needs to know that she can depend on me right now. It’s complicated.
Ted: As complicated as it might be, we can’t ignore the fact that her behavior is fucking insane

…

Lucy: Martha, I think the world of you, I’m just wondering if I should have come back and kept you in school and helped you go to college, you had so much potential.
Martha: I don’t need your guidance, I never did. I’m a teacher and a leader, you just never let me be that but now I know I am, I know who I am.
Lucy: Teacher and a leader?

…

Martha: People don’t need careers, people should just exist. [Ted laughs.]
Ted: I have moments when I would love to move to France and just exist but it doesn’t work that way.
Martha: You can do that if you want to.
Ted: It’s not that simple.
Martha: (cautiously): It’s not your fault but you learned that success is measured by money and possessions. It’s just not the right way to live.
Ted: And what do you think the right way to live is? Is it vanishing off the face of the earth, not calling your family for two years or until they are worried sick about you. Is that the right way to live? Or is it, I don’t know, living without possessions until you actually need someone and then showing up on pour doorstep where you know you can get some? You sit there lecturing us about our lives and so far, I have not witnessed one sign that you have any values pf your own. You should remember that you sleeping under my roof and you are eating my food so watch your mouth because you are rude.
Martha: You don’t know anything about it.

…

Patrick: You know that death is the most beautiful part of life, right? Death is beautiful because we all fear death. And fear is the most amazing emotion of all because it creates complete awareness. It brings you to now, and it makes you truly present. And when you’re truly present, that’s nirvana. That’s pure love. So death is pure love.[/b]

Uh, right. How do these people mange to convince themselves of things like that? Or, perhaps, more to the point, why can’t I?

[b]Ted: What’s going on?
Lucy: Who the fuck knows.

…

Martha: [about their robbery victim] Zoe, I can’t stop thinking about that man.
Zoe: Yeah. I know. We’re never really dead or alive; we just exist. So he’s still existing, but it’s in a parallel time. Just don’t think about it.

…

Lucy: What the fuck happened?
Ted: She kicked me down the fucking stairs. Jesus Christ, what’s it going to take, Lucy?
Lucy [to Martha]: You could have killed him.
Martha: I was confused.
Lucy: About what, what are you so confused about?
Martha: I thought he was someone else.
Lucy [her anger building]: You thought he was someone else? What is wrong with you?!
[pause]
Lucy: I’m not doing this anymore, I’m not doing this anymore. I beat myself up over you for all these years and I’m sick of it, I’m sick of chasing you down and worrying about you. I need to move on.
Martha: I’m sorry.
Lucy: You need help Martha.
Martha: I know.
Lucy: What happened to you? [Martha shakes her head with a severe look of fear in her eyes] What happened to you?!
Martha [screaming] I DON’T KNOW!!
Lucy: We’re going to get you proper help.
Martha: Are you going to send me away?
Lucy: I don’t know how to help you anymore.
Martha [pleading]: Please don’t. Please don’t.
Lucy: I can’t help you.
Martha: Please, I can’t be alone, please.
Lucy: We’re trying to have a family and I don’t feel safe with you here.
Martha: Lucy?
Lucy: What?
[louder]
Lucy: What?
Martha: You’re gonna be a terrible mother.[/b]

For some, if there is something in their life they want [maybe desparately] but lack they will readily delude themselves into believing it is within their grasp. They will even create a reality in their head that bares almost no resemblance to the world as it is.

This seems especially true when that which is lacking is love. Or lust. Or both. And if you feel you deserve it…worlds can crumble. You want two things but, in the end, you can only have one. But sometimes the end doesn’t really come until you have neither one.

The only antedote for this is to, first and foremost, always – always – become your own best friend. Some here are particularly lucky. They actually come to thrive on it.

But this is also a movie about class. Still, where one ends and the other begins can get tricky as hell.

NOTES ON A SCANDAL
Directed by Richard Eyre

[b]Barbara [voiceover]: Here come the local pubescent proles. The future plumbers, shop assistants, and doubtless the odd terrorist too. In the old days, we confiscated cigarettes and wank mags. Now it’s knives and crack cocaine. And they call it progress.

…

Headmaster [holding a single sheet of paper]: This is your report on the history department? On its entire workings?
Barbara: You’ll find it’s quite thorough, Headmaster.
Headmaster [reading the report out loud]: “The history department functions much as one would expect for a school of this stature and intake. Examination results have been consistent for 30 years: below the national average but above the level of catastrophe. Recommendation: no change necessary”.
Barbara: Took me most of the summer to write it.

…

Barbara: Why were you fighting? Perfectly simple question.
Steven: [mumbles] Dunno, miss.
Barbara: You don’t know. One minute you’re an inert lump, the next you’re trying to castrate a fellow pupil. Nothing occurred between these two states?

…

Sheba: When you started teaching, didn’t you want to give them a real education to help overcome… the poverty of their backgrounds?
Barbara: Oh yes, of course. But one soon learns that teaching is crowd control. We’re a branch of the social services.
Sue: Console yourself with the gems. That’s when it’s satisfying. Then you can make a real difference.
Barbara: The rest is just cattle-prod and pray.

…

Barbara [voiceover watching Sheba and her brood dance after eating]: After lunch a rather mortifying family tradition. They do things differently in bourgeois bohemia.

…

Barbara [voiceover]: It’s a peculiar trait of the priveleged: immediate, incautious intimacy. But Sheba went well beyonde the tendencies of her class. She was utterly incautious.

…

Sheba: You know, marriage and kids—I mean it’s wonderful. But doesn’t give you meaning. It gives you an imperative but it doesn’t help you…My father always used to say… you know, on the tube…“Mind the gap”. I don’t know…it’s just the distance between life as you dream it, and life as it is.
Barbara: I know exactly what you mean.

…

Barbara [voiceover]: A gold star day!

…

Barabara [voiceover]: S. and I share the ability to see through the quotidian awfulness of things. In a different, better age, we would be ladies of leisure, lunching together, visiting galleries, traveling, putting the world to right. We would be…companions.[/b]

Unless, of course, she’s screwing around with one her students.

[b]Sheba: I hadn’t been pursued like this for years…I knew it was wrong, and immoral, and completely ridiculous, but, I don’t know. I just allowed it to happen.
Barbara: The boy is fifteen!
Sheba: But he’s quite mature for his age!
Barbara: “But” is not a helpful word here.
Sheba: This is going to sound sick, but something in me felt…entitled. You know, I’ve been good all my adult life. I’ve been a decent wife, a dutiful mother coping with Ben. This voice inside me kept saying “why shouldn’t you be bad, why shouldn’t you transgress? I mean, you’ve earned the right.”

…

Barbara: We are bound by the secrets we share

…

Barbara: [voiceover] And then I realised my fury had blinded me. There was a magnificent opportunity here. With stealth, I might secure the prize long-term, forever in my debt. I could gain everything by doing nothing.

…

Steven [giving Sheba a necklace as a Christmas present]: It’s made of real fake gold.

…

Steven: Was that your dad?

…

Sheba: So that’s your vicious father?
Steven: You wanted a sob story, I gave it to you. Made you feel like Bob Geldof.
Sheba: You lied to me!
Steven: Ooooh, sorry, Miss! What, would you prefer it if I lived in a shithole?
Sheba: And your mother?
Steven: I think she’s gonna pull through. What do you want? What’re you doin’ here?

…

Steven: I really like you. You’re a nice person, and you’ve been cool, and it’s been great, okay? But it’s supposed to be fun. Now it’s a serious thing. Whatever shit you’re working out, you know, with your husband, your kid, you - I don’t know. I can’t help you.

…

Barbara: People languish for years with partners who are clearly from another planet. We want so much to believe that we’ve found our other. It takes courage to recognise the real as opposed to the convenient.

…

Barbara: When I was at school, if one of us had had some bad news or was a bit down, we used to stroke each other. You know, someone would do one arm and someone else the other. It was a wonderful sensation. Did you do that at your school?
Sheba: [embarrassed] No.
[Barbara looks down at Sheba’s cleavage]
Barbara: It’s incredibly relaxing - for the giver and the receiver.
[Barbara takes Sheba’s hands in hers]
Barbara: Close your eyes. It doesn’t work if you don’t.
[Barbara starts to stroke her fingers up and down Sheba’s forearms]
Barbara: That’s a good girl.
[Sheba pulls away, her face showing revulsion]
Sheba: I think that’s enough.
Barbara: No, close your eyes.
Sheba: [firmly] I really think that’s enough, Barbara.

…

Barbara [voiceover]: You say the words and it’s done. Easy. Judas had the grace to hang himself, but only according to Matthew, the most sentimental of the apostles. Is this the last night of her old life.

…

Barbara [voiceover]: People like Sheba think they know what it is to be lonely. But of the drip, drip of the long-haul, no-end-in-sight solitude, they know nothing. What it’s like to construct an entire weekend around a visit to the launderette. Or to be so chronically untouched that the accidental brush of a bus conductor’s hand sends a jolt of longing straight to your groin. Of this, Sheba and her like have no clue.

…

Richard: You’re his teacher!
Sheba: And you were mine! I’m not justifying. I’m not trying to justify it…
Richard: You are so full of shit! It’s totally different. You were twenty!
Sheba: He’s sixteen in May. He’s not some innocent…
Richard: Of course he’s innocent! He’s fucking fifteen! Are you insane? If you meant to destroy us, why not do it with an adult? That’s the convention, it’s worked for centuries!
Sheba: It wasn’t about us…
Richard: W-W-Why?!
Sheba: I j-just wanted him.
Richard [pleading]: Why?
Sheba: I don’t know!
Richard: Well, find out!!

…

Barbara: [voiceover after Sheba has moved in with her] This last month has been the most delicious time of my life. Of course we have had our ups and downs. The pressure is intense when two women share their lives. But, oh, but what marvellous intensity it is! Circumstances are not always ideal. The swinish press, the stringent bail terms, meetings with lawyers and so on. But all things considered, we’re coping admirably. In fact, gold stars abundant. The cuckold permits her to see their children once a week. Thee are usually tears and fits of teenage tantrums, too. In time she’ll recognise she’s just not the mothering kind, and then Barbara will be there to comfort her. Nurse, beloved friend and wise counsel.[/b]

Then Sheba finds the diary…

[b]Sheba: What you say about me, about Richard - you’re not fit to shine his shoes. And Ben, and Polly, that I’d be happier without them. Why did you do it?
[slaps Barbara]
Sheba: Because I didn’t help you collect your cat?!
[slaps Barbara again]
Sheba: You’ve cost me my family!

…

Sheba: You think I wanted to be here with you?
Barbara: You need me, I’m your friend!
Sheba: You put me in prison, I could get TWO years!
Barbara: They’ll fly by! I’ll visit you every week! We’ve so much life to live together!
Sheba: You think this is a love affair? A relationship? What, sticky gold stars, and - and a strand of my hair? A sticker from Pizza Express? It’s a flat in the Archway Road and you think you’re Virginia frigging Woolf! And where did you get my hair? Did you pluck it from the bath with some special fucking tweezers?

…

Barbara: You know it’s rude to read a person’s diary, it’s private!
Sheba: We’re not companions! We’re not friends! You don’t even like me!
Barbara: That’s not true, I only have tender feelings for you, only love!
Sheba: You’re barking, fucking mad. You don’t know how to love. You have never, your whole life. Me, Jennifer Dodd. You’re nothing but waste and disappointment! You bitter old virgin. You’re lonely for a reason. They loathed you at school, all of them. I was the idiot who bothered, but only because no one told me you’re a fucking vampire! So what is it, Bar? You want to roll around the floor like lovers? You want to fuck me, Barbara?

…

Sheba [out on the street confronting the reporters]: Here I am! HERE I AM!!

…

Barbara: I’m Barbara.
Annabel: Annabel
Barbara: I wonder, Annabel, do you like music?
Annabel: Oh, yes.
Barbara: Uh, it’s just that I’ve got tickets for Handel’s Water Music at the Albert Hall.
Annabel: Oh.
Barbara: On Saturday night. You could bring a friend if there’s, uh, someone.
Annabe: Oh, no. Oh, no. There isn’t.
Barbara: Well, there we are.[/b]

It must get exhausting being someone others think you are instead who you think you are yourself. And being in show biz – does that make it harder or easier?

But where’s the Marilyn Monroe some insist is bursting at the seams with intelligence and depth and complexity. Just how far below the surface was it? But then what do I know about her?

And what must it have been like to fall in love with her? Did Colin get any closer to the person Marilyn thought she was herself?

Unfortunately, there seems to have been no one around back then able to properly introduce her to dasein. As dasein you expect to be both broken into pieces and misunderstood. You don’t even really understand the pieces yourself.

IMDb

“Scarlett Johansson was approached for the part of Marilyn Monroe but turned it down.”

Hmm…

“Colin Clark went on to have a successful career in film and television making. After retiring from filmmaking in the 1980s he became an author whose books included ‘My Week with Marilyn’ and ‘The Prince, the Showgirl and Me,’ both of which form the basis for this film. He died in 2002 at the age of 70.”

Here’s the thing though: The stuff in these books [and this film] could be mostly bullshit. Marilyn was dead so who can say what really happened when the two of them were together alone back then?

MY WEEK WITH MARILYN
Directed by Simon Curtis

[b][first lines]
Title Card: In 1956, at the height of her career, Marilyn Monroe went to England to make a film with Sir Laurence Olivier. While there she met a young man named Colin Clark, who wrote a diary about the making of the film. This is their true story.

…

Colin: I’m off now, Mama.
Mother: Off?
Colin: My job interview, remember…?
Mother: Can’t you stay for dinner? There’s nothing to eat but I’m sure the conversation will be charming.

…

Sir Laurence: You in the union?
Colin: No.
Sir Laurence: Then you can’t have a job on the film.
Colin: Well, how do I get into the union?
Sir Laurence: By getting a job on the film.

…

Sir Laurence: Third’s job is to do whatever the fuck I tell him.

…

Sir Laurence: She should be on time like everyone else.
Milton: She’s a star.
Sir Laurence: I’m a fucking star.
Arthur: She’s the greatest piece of ass on earth. With tits like that, you make allowances.

…

Sir Laurence: Marilyn, my darling, you are an angel and I kiss the hem of your garment but why can’t you get here on time for the love of FUCK?
Marilyn: Oh, you have that word in England too?

…

Sir Laurence: Marilyn, will you just try to be sexy. Isn’t that what you do?

…

Sir Laurence: Trying to teach Marilyn how to act is like teaching Urdu to a badger!

…

Sir Laurence: Christ! Pills to sleep. Pills to wake up. Pills to calm her down. Pills to give her energy. No wonder she’s permanently ten feet underwater!

…

Colin: Maybe she’s scared.
Sir Laurence: We’re all scared! I’ve spent half my professional life in abject bloody terror! It’s what actors do!

…

Milton: She’s not feeling the part.
Sir Laurence: It’s a light comedy. How much feeling can it possibly require?

…

Sir Laurence: Remember boy, when it comes to women, you’re never too old for humiliation.

…

Sir Laurence: What is Marilyn doing on the phone with my third fucking assistant?

…

Colin: It’s agony for him because he’s a great actor who wants to be a great film star, and it’s agony for you because you’re a great film star who wants to be a great actress. And this film won’t help either one of you.

…

Marilyn: Do you know I’ve been married three times already? How did that happen?
Colin: You were just looking for the right man.
Marilyn: They always look right at the start.

…

Milton [to Colin]: Listen kid, I’ve known Marilyn for seven years. I fell in love with her just as you’ve done. We had ten days together, and that was it. She picked me up, she put me down, that’s what she does. She breaks hearts. She will break yours.

…

Marilyn: All people ever see is Marilyn Monroe. As soon as they realize I’m not her, they run.

…

Lucy: Did she break your heart?
Colin: A little.
Lucy: Good, it needed breaking.

…

Sir Laurence: She’s quite wonderful. No training, no craft to speak of. No guile, just pure instinct. She’s astonishing.
Colin: You should tell her that.
Sir Laurence: Oh, I will, but she probably won’t believe me. It’s probably what makes her great. It’s almost certainly what makes her profoundly unhappy…I tried my best to change her, but she remains brilliant, despite me.

…

Sir Laurence: I think directing a movie is the best job ever created, but Marilyn has cured me of ever wanting to do it again.

…

Marilyn: Don’t forget me.
Colin: As if I could.

…

[last lines]
Colin: Here’s what I remember most: her embrace. Her belief in me. And the joy she gave. That was her gift. When I think of her now, I think of that time when a dream came true. And my only talent was not to close my eyes.[/b]

This is the kind of movie that, when you are younger, it makes you think, “yeah, this is the way the world should be.”

And then, as you get older, you watch it again and again just to remember what it was like to think and to feel that way.

In the end though the name of the game is power. Back then. Here today. Who can enforce the way they think things ought to be. This can be done politically through the laws of a legislature, religiously through the laws of Scripture or personally through the laws of the jungle. But you rarely escape for long the brute facticity of political economy.

IMDb

“In the funeral scene, the dog consistently refused to look into the grave. Finally, director George Stevens had the dog’s trainer lie down in the bottom of the grave, and the dog played his part ably. The coffin (loaded with rocks for appropriate effect) was then lowered into the grave, but when the harmonica player began to play ‘Taps’ spontaneously, the crew was so moved by the scene that they began shoveling dirt into the grave before remembering the dog’s trainer was still there.”

“According to the commentary on the DVD, during the scene where Shane and Joe are fighting in the corral, the tied horses were supposed to panic. To instill hysteria in the horses, the director had two men dressed in a bear’s costume to scare them.”

“In the scene where Alan Ladd practices shooting in front of Brandon De Wilde, it took 119 takes to complete.”

SHANE [1953]
Directed by George Stevens

[b]Joey: Somebody’s comin’, Pa!
Joe Starrett: Well, let him come.

…

Shane: You were watchin’ me down the trail for quite a spell, weren’t you?
Joey: Yes, I was.
Shane: You know, I like a man who watches things go on around him. It means he’ll make his mark someday.

…

Joe: Looks like your friends are a little late. What are the Ryker boys up to this time?
Shane: Rykers?
Joe: That’s what I said.
Shane: I wouldn’t know a Ryker from your Jersey cow.
Joe: Don’t forget to close the gate on your way out.
Shane: Do you mind putting down that gun? Then I’ll leave.
Joe: What difference does it make, you’re leaving anyway?
Shane: I’d like it to be my idea.

…

Ryker: I don’t want no trouble, Starrett. I came to inform you. I got that reservation beef contract…I’m gonna need all my range.
Joe: Now you’ve warned me, get off my place.
Ryker: Your place? You’ll have to get out before the snow.
Joe: Supposin’ I don’t?
Ryker: You and the other squatters.
Joe: Homesteaders, you mean.
Ryker: I could blast you outta here right now.
Joe: Listen to me. The time for gun-blastin’ a man off his place is passed. They’re building a penitentiary right to take care of…
Marian: Joe, that’s enough.

…

Ryker brother: Who are you stranger?
Shane: I’m a friend of Starret’s.

…

Joe [to Shane]: In case you wanted to know, that’s Ryker’s spread all over there. He thinks the whole world belongs to him.

…

Shane: That was an elegant dinner, Mrs Starrett.

…

Shane: Good morning, Joey.
Joey: How did you know it was me?
Shane: Well, I figured the cow couldn’t work that latch.

…

Shane: How much do I owe you?
Grafton: Now, let’s see…Pants, a dollar. Two shirts, 60 cents. Belt…Young man, you owe me two dollars and two bits.
Fred: What’s the matter, son? You look kinda pale.
Shane: Been a long time since I got store-bought clothes.
Fred: Money don’t go very far these days.

…

Ernie: I’m wore down and out. Tired of being insulted by them fellas. Called a pig-farmer. Who knows what comes next?
Joe: Well, don’t throw your tail up. Tell you what, we’ll all get together here tonight and figure out something.
Ernie: I don’t know about me.
Joe: I’ll get the word around. You tell Shipstead and Torrey.
Ernie: All right, but if we’re having a meeting, it’d better be more than pokin’ holes in the air with your finger.

…

Marian [in Grafton’s holding a jar used to preserve fruit]: My, my what will they think up next.

…

Shane: Joey…you let me take it in.

…

Joey: Shane, come on!
Shane: Joey, get out of here.
Joey: But, Shane, there’s too many.
Shane: You wouldn’t want me to run away, would you?
Joey: But there’s too many, Shane.
Shane: Go on, son, please.

…

Joey: When that chair came down on you, Shane, I thought you were a goner.
Shane: It was an easy chair, Joey.

…

Marian: This turpentine’ll hurt.
Joey: He wouldn’t say nothing. No matter how much it hurt. Would you, Shane?
Shane: I’m afraid I would, Joey, if it hurt bad enough.

…

Marian: Joey.
Joey: Yes?
Marian: Don’t get to liking Shane too much.
Joey: Why not?
Marian: I don’t want you to.
Joey: Is there anything wrong with him?
Marian: No.
Joey: Then what, Mother?
Marian: He’ll be moving on one day, Joey. You’ll be upset, if you get to liking him too much.

…

Joey: You wanna know something, Mother?
Marioan: What is it, Joey?
Joey [motioning to his mother to come to him]: Mother, I just love Shane.
Marian: Do you?
Joey: I love him almost as much as I love Pa. That’s all right, isn’t it?
Marian: He’s a fine man.
Joey: He’s so good. Don’t you like him, Mother?
Marian: Yes, I like him, too, Joey.

…

Joe: What’s the matter, honey?
Marian: Joe…Hold me. Don’t say anything. Just hold me tight.

…

Joey: They cut Mr Wright’s fence and Mr Shipstead’s, too.
Shane: They did?
Joey: Shane, what would you do if you caught them cutting our fence?
Shane: I’d ask them to please go around by the gate.
Joey: Aw, Shane!

…

Joey: Gosh! Is that what real gunfighters do?
Shane: No, Joey. Most of them have tricks of their own. One, for instance, likes a shoulder holster. Another one puts it in the belt of his pants. And some like two guns. But one’s all you need if you can use it…

…

Shane: A gun is a tool, Marian; no better or no worse than any other tool: an axe, a shovel or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it. Remember that.

…

Grafton: I want you to know I like Joe Starrett.
Ryker: Fool oughta listen to reason.
Grafton: Your reason?

…

Joe: You’ve made things hard for us, and we being in the right.
Ryker: Right? You in the right? When I came to this country, you weren’t much older than your boy. We had rough times. Me and other men that are mostly dead now. I got a bad shoulder yet from a Cheyenne arrowhead. We made this country, we found it and we made it, with blood and empty bellies. Cattle we brought in were hazed off by Indians and rustlers. They don’t bother you much any more because we handled 'em. We made a safe range out of this. Some of us died doing it, but we made it. Then people move in who never had to raw-hide it through the old days. They fence off my range and fence me off from water. Some of them plough ditches, take out irrigation water. So the creek runs dry sometimes and I gotta move my stock because of it. And you say we have no right to the range. The men that did the work and ran the risks have no rights? I take you for a fair man, Starrett.
Joe: I’m not belittling what you did, but you didn’t find this country. There were trappers here and Indian traders before you. They tamed this country more than you did.
Ryker: They weren’t ranchers.
Joe: You talk about rights.You think you got the right to say nobody else has got any.[/b]

How absurd would it seem to either one of them to raise the issue of rights for the Indians they stole the land from.

[b]Joe [looking at Wilson]: What do you make of him?
Shane: He’s no cow puncher.

…

Ryker: I like Starrett, too, but I’ll kill him if I have to. I’ll kill him if I have to.
Wilson: You mean I’ll kill him if you have to.

…

Joe: Torrey was a pretty brave man. We’d be doing wrong if we wasn’t the same.
Fred: Last time you argued that, Torrey was alive. You want us to stay for more of this?
Joe: We can have a regular settlement. We can have a town, and churches and a school…
Fred: Graveyards?
Joe: I don’t know. You’ve just got to, that’s all.
Shane: He wants you to stay for something that means more than anything. Your families. Your wives and kids. Like you, Lewis, your girls, and Shipstead with his boys. They’ve got a right to stay here and grow up and be happy. It’s up to you people to have nerve enough to not give it up.
Joe: That’s right. We can’t give up this valley and we ain’t gonna do it. This is farming country, a place for people to bring up their families. Who’s Ryker to run us away from our own homes? He only wants to grow beef, and we want to grow families, to grow them good and strong, the way they were meant to be grown. God didn’t make all this country just for one man like Ryker.
Fred: He’s got it though, and that’s what counts.

…

Chris: Shane.
Shane: Who is it?
Chris: Calloway. Chris Calloway.
Shane: Stay where you are. I can drill you.
Chris: Hold it, I got something to tell you.
Shane: What do you want?
Chris: Starrett’s up against a stacked deck.
Shane: Why are you telling me?
Chris: I reckon something’s come over me.
Shane: I don’t figure.
Chris: I’m quitting Ryker. So long.
Shane: Chris.Thanks.[/b]

I always loved this scene.

[b]Joey: Pa! Shane’s got his gun on. He’s coming!

…

Joe: What’s the idea?
Shane: This is my kind of game.
Joe: But it ain’t yours.
Shane: Maybe you’re a match for Ryker, maybe not, but you’re no match for Wilson.

…

Marian: You’re both out of your senses. This isn’t worth a life. Are you fighting for this shack, this ground and nothing but work? I’m sick of it, I’m sick of trouble. Let’s move, let’s go on, please!
Joe: Marian, don’t say that! That ain’t the truth. You love this place more than me.
Marian: Not any more.
Joe: Even if it’s true, it changes nothing.

…

Joey: Shane! You hit him with your gun! I hate you!
Shane [to Marian]: Walk him around when he comes to. Here, Marian [holding Joe’s gun] hide this. He’ll be all right. No one can blame him for not keeping that date.
Marian: Shane. Wait! You were through with gunfighting.
Shane: I changed my mind.
Marian: Are you doing this just for me?
Shane: For you, Marian…and Joe and little Joe.
Marian: Then we’ll never see you again?
Shane: Never is a long time, Marian. Tell him…Tell him I was sorry.

…

Shane: I came to get your offer, Ryker.
Ryker: I’m not dealing with you. Where’s Starrett?
Shane: You’re dealing with me, Ryker.
Ryker: I got no quarrel with you, Shane. You can walk out now and no hard feeling.
Shane: What’s your offer, Ryker?
Ryker: To you, not a thing.
Shane: That’s too bad.
Ryker: Too bad?
Shane: You’ve lived too long. Your kind of days are over.
Ryker: My days? What about yours, gunfighter?
Shane: The difference is I know it.
Ryker: So, all right. We’ll all turn in our six-guns to the bartender, and start hoeing spuds, is that it?
Shane: Not quite yet. We haven’t heard from your friend here.

…

Joey: Was that him? Was that Wilson?
Shane: That was him. That was Wilson, all right, he was fast, fast on the draw.

…

Shane: I gotta be going on.
Joey: Why, Shane?
Shane: A man has to be what he is, Joey. Can’t break the mould. I tried it and it didn’t work for me.
Joey: We want you, Shane.
Shane: Joey, there’s no living with…with a killing. There’s no going back from one. Right or wrong, it’s a brand. A brand sticks. There’s no going back. Now you run on home to your mother, and tell her…tell her everything’s all right. And there aren’t any more guns in the valley.
Joey: Shane…
[Joey notices that Shane is wounded]
Joey: It’s bloody! You’re hurt!
Shane: [Shane starts to stroke Joey’s hair ] I’m all right, Joey. You go home to your mother and father and grow up to be strong and straight. And, Joey… take care of them, both of them.
Joey: Yes, Shane

…

Joey: Pa’s got things for you to do. And Mother wants you. I know she does! Shane! Shane! Come back![/b]

What happens when ostensibly civilized adults sit down to rationally discuss a fight their children were involved in? Well, the main point is this: Anything can happen.

Thinking gets entangled in emotional and psychological states that become entangled all the more when you try to fit your own into all the others. Then there’s self-deception. Then you get bombarded with extraneous stuff that aggrevates you all the more. Here it was only a matter of time before the discussion becomes less about the fight their sons had and more about the things they are coming at from a distance themselves. Between the spouses especially.

And then there’s the problem of Zachary. The maniac. Oh, and the poor little hamster! And that goddanm cell phone!!

The stuff, in other words, the funniest of black comedies are made of.

Warning: THIS FILM IS BURSTING AT THE SEAMS WITH CYNICISM.

Hell, I could have written the screenplay myself.

IMDb

“The film was shot in real time, without breaks and, with the exception of the park scenes, in a single location.”

CARNAGE [2011]
Directed by Roman Polanski

[b]Penelope: The issue is, do they wanna talk about this? Do they want to work this out?
Michael: Ethan does.
Penelope: Does Zachary?
Nanvy: We won’t give him a choice.
Penelope: But it has to come from him.
Nancy: Zachary acts like a thug. We’re not gonna wait around for him to see the light.
Penelope: Well, if Zachary sees Ethan in a punitive context because he’s forced to, I really don’t see anything positive coming out of that.
Alan: Mrs. Longstreet, our son is a maniac. If you hope he’ll suddenly and spontaneuously get all apologetic, you’re dreaming.

…

Penelope: I’m sure your son is not a maniac.
Nancy: No, Zachary is not a manic.
Alan: Yes, he is.
Nancy: Alan, don’t be an idiot. Why are you saying that.
Alan: Because he is a maniac.

…

Penelope: Are you planning on sanctioning Zachary in any way? You two can have your plumbing discussion some other time.
Nancy: If we decide to reprimand our child, we’ll do it in our own way and on our own terms.
Michael: Absolutely.
Penelope: Why absolutely?
Michael: It’s their kid. They’re free to do as they see fit.
Penelope: Well, I don’t agree.
Michael: You don’t agree about what, Penny?
Penelope: They’re not free.
Alan: Oh, is that right?

…

Penelope: It couldn’t be the cobbler, that much I do know.

…

Alan: A little warm coke and “bang”.

…

Michael: I was right on the edge with that toilet-flushing shit.
Penelope: You were incredible.
Michael: I held my own, right?
Incredible. Jamaica, Queens. Now that was genius.

…

Michael [to Nancy]: You’ve certainly perked up since you tossed your cookies.

…

Michael: Now that I know you two, I’m not surprised Zachary may have some behavioral issues.
Nancy [storming toward him]: When you killed that hamster…
Michael: Killed?!
Nancy: Killed.
Michael: I killed the hamster?!
Nancy: Yes. You do everything you can to make us feel guilty. You stake out the high ground as your own, but you yourself, are a murderer.
Michael: I definitely did not kill that hamster.
Alan: Worse.
Nancy: Worse. You left it out there trembling with fear in a hostile environment. That poor critter was probably eaten by a dog or a rat.
Penelope: She’s right about that.
Michael: What do you mean, “she’s right”?!
Penelope: I mean, come on, Michael. It must have been horrible what happened to that poor animal…

…

Michael: Their son beats the shit out of Ethan, and you’re in my face over a hamster?
Penelope: What you did to that hamster was wrong. You can’t deny that.
Michael: I DON’T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THE HAMSTER!!
Penelope: You’re gonna give a shit when your daughter gets home!
Michael: Bring her on. I’m not going to be told how to act by some 9 year old snot-nosed brat.

…

Micahel: We were nice to you. We bought tulips!

…

Michael: We’re born alone and we die alone. Who wants a little scotch?

…

Penelope: Who said not to touch the cobbler this morning? Who said we should leave some for the Cowans? Who said that?

…

Mother [on the phone]: Mikey, it’s me again. I forgot to ask how Ethan is.
Michael: He’s fine. He got his teeth knocked out but he’s fine.

…

Penelope: Why can’t things be easier, you know? Why…Why does everything have to be so exhausting?
Alan: You think too much. Women think too much.
Nancy: Well, there’s an original response.
Penelope: I don’t know what it means to think too much. You know, I don’t know how you can just go on living with absolutely no moral sense of the world.
Michael: Look at me, I’m living.
Penelope: Oh, Michael, shut up.
Michael: What happened to your sense of humor?
Penelope: I don’t have a sense of humor and I don’t want one!

…

Michael: If you ask me, the couple is the worst ordeal God has ever inflicted on us. The couple and the family.

…

Alan: Penelope, I believe in the god of carnage, the god whose rule’s been unchallenged since time immemorial. See, I just got back from the Congo. They got kids there trained to kill at the age of 8. In the course of their childhood, they might kill hundreds of people. They kill with a machete, a shotgun, Kalash, a thumper. So, obviously, when my kid busts some other kid’s tooth, even two teeth with a bamboo switch by the sandbox, I’m not quite as shocked and indignant as you are.
Penelope: Well, you should be.
Michael: Thumper?
Alan: What they call a grenade launcher.

…

Penelope: Don’t you tell me about about Africa. I know all about suffering in Africa.
Alan: I don’t doubt it.
Penelope: That’s all I’ve been thinking about for months.
Michael: Don’t get her started on this, please.

…

Alan: Morally you’re supposed to overcome your impulses, but there are times you don’t want to overcome them.

…

Michael: Give it a fucking rest, Penelope. Enough with this politically correct bullshit!
Penelope: Which I believe in.
Michael: That you believe. You believe. This crush you got on these Sudan sambos is spilling over into everything now!
Penelope: I’m horrified. How could you be so openly despicable?
Michael: Because I feel like it. I feel like being openly despicable.
Penelope: One day you will understand the sheer horror of what’s happening in that part of the world and you will be ashamed…ashamed of your contemptibly nihilsitic attitude.[/b]

By this time you are starting to feel a bit uneasy. It’s just a comedy, however black. But laughter somehow doesn’t seem all that… appropriate?

[b]Nancy: We come over here to work things out with them and they insult us, they browbeat us, they lecture us about being good citizens of the planet. I am glad our son kicked the shit out of your son and I wipe my ass with your human rights!

…

Alan: [to Penelope] I saw your friend Jane Fonda on TV the other day. Made me want to run out and buy a Ku Klux Klan poster.

…

Nancy: At least our kid isn’t a little wimpy-ass faggot!
Penelope: Yours is a FUCKING SNITCH![/b]

You’re laughing your ass off at folks you know really aren’t that far off from reality in some parts of the country. Well, in some parts of my own country anyway.

How in the hell do the Coens think these things up?

And, on top of that, come up with the perfect soundtrack.

IMDb

“Fifteen babies played the Arizona quintuplets in the film. One of the babies was fired during production when he learned to walk.”

“Kevin Costner turned down the lead role.”

In that case, maybe there is a God.

RAISING ARIZONA
Written and directed by the Coen Brothers

[b]Hi.: I tried to stand up and fly straight, but it wasn’t easy with that sumbitch Reagan in the White House. I dunno. They say he’s a decent man, so maybe his advisors are confused.

…

Hi: Ed rejoiced that my IawIess years were behind me and that our chiId-rearing years Iay ahead. And then the roof caved in.
Ed: Hi…l’m barren!

…

Hi [voiceover]: We tried an adoption agency.
Ed: It’s true that Hi has had a checkered past.
Hi: But Ed here is an officer of the law twice decorated, so we figure it kinda evens out.
[Clerk looks through the long string of Hi’s convictions]
Hi: But bioIogy and the prejudices of others conspired to keep us chiIdIess.

…

Hi [voiceover]: I even found myself driving past convenience stores…that weren’t on the way home.

…

Ed: Which one you get?
Hi: l don’t know. Nathan Junior, l think.
Ed: Gimme here.
Hi [dropping a copy of the Dr. Spock baby care book on the car seat]: Here’s the instructions.

…

Cellmate: …and when there was no meat, we ate fowl and when there was no fowl, we ate crawdad and when there was no crawdad to be found, we ate sand.
Hi.: You ate what?
Cellmate: We ate sand.
[pause]
Hi.: You ate SAND?
Cellmate: That’s right!

…

Ed: You mean you busted out of jail.
Evelle: No, ma’am. We released ourselves on our own recognizance.
Gale: What Evelle here is trying to say is that we felt that the institution no longer had anything to offer us.

…

Hi.: Prison life is structured - more’n some people care for.

…

Detective: Sir, were you born Nathan Huffhines?
Nathan Sr.: Yeah, l changed my name. What of it?
Detective: Can you tell us why?
Nathan Sr.: Yeah. Would you buy furniture at ‘‘Unpainted Huffhines’’?

…

Detective: Was the child wearing anything?
Nathan Sr.: Nobody sleeps naked in this house!

…

Dot: I’m sure you have the life insurance squared away?
Ed: Have we done that honey? We gotta do that honey!
Dot: You gotta do that Hi! Ed’s got her hands full with this little angel.
Hi: Yes, ma’am.
Dot: What would Ed and little angel do if a truck came along and splattered your brains all over the interstate?
Ed: Yeah honey! What if you get run over?
Dot: Or carried off by a twister.

…

Glen: How many Polacks it take to screw up a lightbulb?
Hi: I don’t know, Glen. One?
Glen: Nope, it takes three.
[Glen laughs. Hi doesn’t]
Glen: Wait a minute, I told it wrong. Here, I’m startin’ over: How come it takes three Polacks to screw up a lightbulb?
Hi: I don’t know, Glen.
Glen: 'Cause they’re so darn stupid!
[Glen laughs again. Hi doesn’t]
Glen: Shit, man, loosen up! Don’t ya get it?
Hi: No, Glen, I sure don’t.
Glen: Shit, man, think about it! I guess it’s what they call a “way homer.”
Hi: Why’s that?
Glen: 'Cause you only get it on the way home.
Hi: I’m already home, Glen

…

Glen: Say that reminds me, how’d you get that kid so darn fast? Me and Dot went in to adopt on account a’ somethin’ went wrong with my semen, and they said we had to wait five years for a healthy white baby. I said, “Healthy white baby? Five years? What else you got?” Said they got two Koreans and a negra born with his heart on the outside. It’s a crazy world.
Hi: Someone oughta sell tickets.
Glen: Sure, I’d buy one.

…

Glen: Say, did you hear about the person of the Polish persuasion who walked into a bar with a big 'ol pile of shit in his hands and he says, “Look what I almost stepped in”?

…

Hi: What are you talkin’ about, Glen?
Glen: What am I talkin’ about? I’m talkin’ about sex, boy, what the hell you talkin’ about? I’m talkin’ about l’amour! I’m talkin’ that me and Dot are swingers, as in “to swing.” I’m talkin’ about wife swappin’. I’m talkin’ about what they call nowadays open marriage. I’m talk…
Hi: [Knocks Glen to the ground with a punch] Keep your goddamn hands off my wife!

…

Hi: Wake up, Son.
[aims gun at the clerk]
Hi: I’ll be taking these Huggies and whatever cash ya got.
Ed: [sees Hi from the car] That son’ bitch. That son of a bitch! You son of a bitch!
Hi: Better hurry it up, I’m in dutch with the wife.

…

Hayseed truck driver: Son, you got a panty on your head.

…

Gale: l wouldn’t be surprised if the source of the marital friction weren’t financial.
Hi: As a matter of fact, l did lose my job today.
Evelle: Hi, you’re young and you got your health. What you want with a job?

…

Evelle: We come to invite you in on a little score.
Gale: A bank, Hi.
Hi: Come on now!
Gale: l know you’re partial to convenience stores, but dammit, Hi, the sun don’t rise and set on the corner grocery.

…

Leonard: Name’s Smalls. Leonard Smalls. My friends call me Lenny…only I ain’t got no friends.

…

Nathan Sr.: I got the cops and the Federal BI out there lookin’ for my boy…
Leonard: Cops won’t find your boy. A cop couldn’t find his butt if it had a bell on it. You wanna find an outlaw, you call an outlaw. You wanna find a Dunkin’ Donuts, you call a cop.

…

Evelle [buying diapers]: You know how to put these things on?
Grocer: Well, around the butt and up over the groin area.
Evelle: I know WHERE they go, old timer. I just want to know if I need pins or fasteners.
Grocer: Well, no, they got them tape-ettes already on there. It’s self-contained and fairly explanatory.

…

Evelle: Hey, do these balloons blow up into funny shapes and all?
Grocer: Well no…unless round is funny.

…

Gale: Say…where’s Junior?
Evelle: What do you mean? Didn’t you put him in?
Gale: No, l thought…Where’d we leave him?
[They both look up at the roof of the car’]
AAH! AAH! AAH! AAH! AAH! AAH! AAH! AAH! AAH! AAH! AAH! AAH!

…

Grocer: [still counting backwards after Evelle has robbed him] Seven hunnred an’ ninety two Mississippi, seven hunnerd an’ ninety-one Mississippi…Aw, bullshit!

…

Gale: All right, ya hayseeds, it’s a stick-up. Everybody freeze. Everybody down on the ground.
Feisty Hayseed: Well, which is it, young feller? You want I should freeze or get down on the ground? Mean to say, if’n I freeze, I can’t rightly drop. And if’n I drop, I’m a-gonna be in motion. You see…
Gale: Shut up!

…

Ed: We don’t want no reward. We didn’t bring him back for money.
Nathan Sr.: We could work it that way too.

Hi: This whoIe dream. Was it wishfuI thinkin’? Was I just fleein’ reaIity, Iike I know I’m IiabIe to do? But me and Ed, we can be good too. And it seemed reaI. It seemed Iike us. And it seemed Iike, well…our home. lf not Arizona, then a Iand not too far away, where all parents are strong and wise and capabIe and all the chiIdren are happy and beIoved. I don’t know. Maybe it was Utah.[/b]

How hard is it to believe this is all based on…actual events?

The individual – sometimes even the mightiest – can get swept up in human history like a grain of sand in a windstorm. Begetting still the arrogance of those trying to ascertain [or even establish] what it all means. But then, as Bob Dylan once reminded us, “I guess that’s better left unsaid”.

And yet another narrative from Mr. Dylan leaps to mind: “He’s only a pawn in their game”.

In the course of human events, there are narratives so overwhelming that, once you are caught up in them [at a young enough age], acting them out becomes like breathing. Especially with no one around to suggest an alternative. Then R.J. Johnston arrives with his own rendition of the aristocrat. The English gentleman. But there will be many more to come. Both foreign and domestic.

Again, only narratives and those with the capacity to enforce one over the others prevail.

IMDb

“The first feature film granted permission by the Chinese government to be filmed in the Forbidden City. This was the first western film made in and about the country to be produced with full Chinese government cooperation since 1949.”

“The Buddhist lamas who appear in the film could not be touched by women, so extra male wardrobe helpers were hired to dress them.”

“Two thousand soldiers had the front of their heads shaved in order to play Qing banner men. They were persuaded to do so by their officers who convinced them that it showed friendship to the Italians and British. They were given a bonus of $3.50.”

“1,100 schoolchildren were brought in to play Red Guards who composed the Cultural Revolution march (1967). Bernardo Bertolucci had problems instilling the right amount of anger in them, as none of them knew of the attitudes of the Cultural Revolution.”

“Bernardo Bertolucci talked at length with Sean Connery, regarding the role of Reginald Johnston. Connery ended up convincing the director not to cast him.”

Wiki

“In Japan, the Shochiku Fuji Company edited out a thirty-second sequence from The Last Emperor depicting the Rape of Nanjing before distributing it to Japanese theatres, without Bertolucci’s consent. The Rape of Nanjing — in which hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians were massacred by the Imperial Japanese Army — is an event disputed by the Japanese government, and a diplomatic stumbling block with China. Bertolucci was furious at Shochiku Fuji’s interference with his film, calling it ‘revolting’. The company quickly restored the scene, blaming ‘confusion and misunderstanding’ for the edit while opining that the Rape sequence was ‘too sensational’ for Japanese audiences.”

THE LAST EMPEROR:
Written and directed by Bernardo Bertolucci

[b]The Governor: [setting a recurring theme of imprisonment throughout the film] Open the door! Open the door! Open the door!..Open the door!

…

Birth Mother: Ar Mo, I am giving you my Son. My son is your son.

…

Attendent:You are the Lord of Ten Thousand Years.
Puyi: I am the Son of Heaven! I am the Son of Heaven![/b]

Well, sort of.

[b]Brother: Is it true that you can do whatever you want?
Puyi: Of course I can. If I am naughty someone else is punished. One of them.

…

Puyi: Why are you wearing that? You are not allowed to wear yellow. Only the Emperor can wear that yellow. Take it off.
Brother: No.
Puyi: Take it off!
Brother: No, and you’re not the Emperor any more. There is a new Emperor now. He has cut off his queue. And instead of a camel he has got a car.
Puyi: What did you say?
Brother: You’re not the Emperor. You’re not the Emperor any more.
Puyi: How dare you. [to his attendent] Am I the Emperor or not?
Attendent: Your Majesty will always be the Emperor
Puyi: You see.
Brother: Prove it.
Puyi [to attendent]: Drink it. Go on, drink the green ink.

…

Puyi: Why is this wall here, Lord Chamberlain?
Lord Chamberlain: It is just a wall, Your Majesty. Nothing has changed here.
Puyi: You are lying. High Tutor, am I still the Emporor?
High Tutor: You will always be the Emperor inside the Forbidden City. But not outside.

…

Puyi: You are all liars!!

…

Governnor: This is the detention centre of the Fushun Bureau of Public Security and I am the Governer. During the war this was a Japanese prison. Many of you may remember it because you worked with the Japanese. You were responsible for building it and you filled it with innocent people How could this happen? Why did you betray your country? What turned you into war criminals? We believe that men are born good. We believe that the only way to change is to discover the truth and look at it in the face. That is why you are here. You will begin by writing the story of your lives and by confessing your crimes. Your salvation will lie entirely in the attitude you take. I advise you to be frank and sincere. Otherwise things can still go very badly for you.[/b]

Sound familiar?

Johnston: Words are important.
Puyi, at 15: Why are words important?
Johnston: If you cannot say what you mean, your majesty, you will never mean what you say and a gentleman should always mean what he says.

Oh boy…

[b]Puyi: Are you a gentleman?
Johnston: I would like to be a gentleman, Your Majesty. I try to be.
Puyi: I am not a gentleman. I’m not allowed to say what I mean. They are always telling me what to say.

…

Puyi [looking at a magazine cover]: Who is this George Washington?
Johnston: A famous American, Your Majesty. A revolutionary General, the first American President.
Puyi: Ah, like Mr Lenin in Russia?
Johnston: Not quiet.

…

Puyi: Is it true, Mr. Johnston, that many people out there have had their heads cut off?
Johnston: It is true, your majesty. Many heads have been chopped off. It does stop them thinking

…

Communist official: The toothpaste prisoner needs to be squeezed every now and then or else he forgets to keep confessing. The water tap prisoner needs just one good hard twist before he starts…but then everything comes out. Now you’re an intelligent person. I’m sure you understand me?

…

Communist official: Why do you think you’re in here?
Puyi: I am accused of being a traitor, a collaborator and a counter revolutionary.
Communist official [furious] IT IS NOT AN ACCUSATION! YOU ARE A TRAITOR! YOU ARE A COLLABORATOR! YOU ARE A COUNTER REVOLUTIONARY!

…

Puyi: What do you want me to confess?
Official: You know what you did and what others did. So why don’t you volunteer the information?
Puyi: I do not understand.
Official: We don’t tell people what to confess. We already know everything about you.
Puyi: I…I wanted reforms.
Official: What did you want to…reform?
Puyi: Everything.

…

The High Tutor: There has been Eunuchs in the Forbidden City for eight hundred years. There are still more than a thousand of them.
Puyi: I decided to expel them all. I had to ask for Republican troops to help me.
Wife: What are they carrying?
High Tutor: Their organs. Whatever their crimes they cannot be deprived of the right to be buried as whole men.

…

The Governor: How did your friendship with the Japanese begin? Who introduced you? When?
Puyi: I think it was…it was 1924. Parliament had been dissolved again. The President had fled. At first I thought it was just another coup d’etat by just another warlord. Only this time it was different. This time it was my turn.

…

Puyi: What are you all looking at? What are you standing there for? You always wanted to leave the Forbidden City. Now you have got an hour to pack. So go!

…

Puyi: I always thought I hated it here. But now I am afraid to leave.

…

Communist official: But you didn’t go to the British Embassy, did you? You ended up at the Japanese Embassy.
Puyi: The Japanese were the only people prepared to help me.
Official: Help you for nothing?
Puyi: Japan has an Emperor. We are almost the same age. I thought it was kindness. The same time I realized that for many Chinese I was an alien. Simply because I am Manchurian.

…

The Governor: While you were in Tientsin most of China came under the control of General Chiang Kai Shek the so-called Nationalists…the Kuomintang. What were your relations with them?
Puyi: None. I felt useless in Tientsin. I was twenty-one. I dreamt of going to the West. I became a playboy.

…

Yoshiko: You smoke opium? Be wicked. It’s the best in Shanghai. Why are you going to Europe? The place to go is Japan. It’s more fun than anywhere. It’s modern.
Wanrong: How do you know we are going to Europe? It is a secret.
Yoshiko: Oh, I know everything. I know Chiang Kai Shek has got false teeth. I even know his nickname, “Cash-my-check”. I’m a spy. And I don’t care who knows it.

…

High Tutor: The Japanese invasion of Manchuria will be condemned by the League of Nations and by every civilised country on Earth.
Puyi: The Chinese Republic has broken every promise it ever made to me. Chinese troops desecrated the tombs of my ancestors. And Chinese troops did not defend Manchuria from the Japanese.
High Tutor: But Manchuria is still China.
Puyi: China has turned its back on me![/b]

This is how it plays out. There is the personal. There is the political. And then they become hopelessly intertwined in dasein.

[b]Wanrong [bursting at the seams with irony]: Ten thousand years to His Majesty the Emperor!

…

Japanese official [hammering in the final nail]: The Japanese are the only divine race on our earth. We will take China, Hong Kong, Indo-China, Siam, Malaya. Singapore and India. Asia belongs to us!

…

The Governor: There have been complaints from your cell mates. You must learn how to urinate at night without waking them all up. The way to do it is to urinate against the side of the bucket not into the middle.
Puyi: Yes, comrade.

…

Puyi: You are all pretending. You are just pretending you have changed.
Fellow prisoner: The party teaches us to be new men. We are working for a new China.
Puyi: You are still the same people. People do not change.

…

Newsreel announcer: The attack on Shanghai was one of the first civilian bombing raids in history. It left thousands homeless. Thousands dead. Three months later Japanese armies were besieging the provisional capital at Nanking and when the city fell the atrocities began. Trying to terrorise the rest of China into surrender the Japanese high command ordered a massacre. More than two hundred thousand civilians were systematically executed. The world watched in horror but no help was given…Manchukuo the Japanese bustion in North China was still ruled by the puppet Emperor Puyi. But behind the facade of triumph was a country enslaved. A country where Japanese experiments in biological warfare were carried out on live human beings. A country where opium production became the easiest way to finance the war/ Millions of people were deliberately turned into drug addicts.

…

The Governor: [Confronting Puyi in the prison gardens, where Puyi works alone] Perhaps you think we’re here to teach men to lie in a new way?
The Governor: [Puyi continues working as if trying to ignore the Governor] Why did you sign every accusation made against you? I didn’t stop you from killing yourself to see you like this! Someone who will sign anything to please his enemies…to please me!
The Governor: [Puyi continues working] You knew about a lot of things in Manchukuo…even the secret agreements. But you couldn’t possibly have known about the Japanese biological warfare experiments in Harbin! Could you? So why did you sign these papers?
Puyi: I was responsible for everything.
The Governor: You are responsible for what you do! All your life you thought you were better than everyone else. Now you think you’re the worst of all!
Puyi: [sighs] Why can you not leave me alone? You saved my life to make me a puppet in your own play. You saved me because I am useful to you.
The Governor: Is that so terrible? To be useful?

…

The Governor: By order of the Supreme People’s Court the War Criminal Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi, male, fifty-three years old of the Manchu nationality and from Peking, has now served 10 years detention. As a result of remoulding through labour and ideological education during his captivity he has shown that he has genuinely reformed. In accordance with Clause One of the Special Pardon Order he is therefore to be released.

…

Puyi [watching a student march during the Cultural Revolution]: Pu Chieh, look. It is the Governor of our prison. Comrade. This must be a mistake, I know this man. He is a good man. Protest leader: Who are you?
Puyi: I am a gardener.
Protest leader: Join us comrade, or fuck off.
Puyi: But what has he done?
Protest leader: He’s been accused.
Puyi: Accused of what?
Protest leader: Emperor’s lackey. Revisionist element. Rotten rightest [to the Governor] Confess your crimes.
Governor: I have nothing to confess.
Protest leader: Kowtow to Chairman Mao. Confess your crimes.
Governor: I have nothing to confess. I have nothing to confess.
Puyi: Wait. He is a teacher. He is a good teacher. You cannot do this to him.[/b]

If it wasn’t all so serious it could come straight out of the theatre of the absurd.