philosophy in film

[iambiguous]

There are many different circumstantial contexts that one might find oneself in when someone they love dies. Likewise different people have different ways in which to cope with or express their grief. For some the emotional reaction might be so intensely personal they can behave in ways that baffle others. Or startle them. Or even concern them.

There’s just no getting around the fact that when it comes to a great loss there is no one size fits all rebound. And some won’t ever rebound at all.

It’s hard enough to get inside the heads of others when dealing only with day to day changes. But when you are asked to respond to them in times of emotional upheaval the task can become little more than coping as best you can.

Pietro has just lost his wife. And on the same day that he saved the life of a woman who was drowning in the ocean. And part of his grief revolves around the fact that at the time his daughter saw him as somehow responsible for her mother’s death. Her mother fell and she tried three times to contact him. Why wasn’t he there? Why was he at the beach instead?

And so he is determined to always be there for his daughter. He takes her to school and then waits all day outside the school to take her home. Day after day after day.

His whole frame of mind is in tumult but on the outside he always appears calm. The chaos is all on the inside. Coping with a world in which life and death are always perched precariously over one or another existential abyss. Not to mention all of the turbulence that can reside just in the act of interacting with family and friends and work colleagues otherwise. And this always revolves around options.

And, for most of us, the part about earning a living. Capitalism and grief? Well, maybe another film.

IMDb

Isabella Ferrari nearly drowned in the first scene of the film.

at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiet_Chaos_(film
trailer: youtu.be/WFhvx7eRBQY

QUIET CHAOS [Caos Calmo] 2008
Directed by Antonello Grimaldi

[b]Carlo [to his brother Pietro]: What a bunch of shits! We rescued a couple of bitches on a beach full of shitheads!

…

Claudia [to her father after her mother died]: Papa! Where were you? I called you three times. Why didn’t you come straight back? Mom fell! Where were you?!

…

Pietro [on the phone with his secretary]: Analisa, it’s me. I won’t be in this morning.
Analisa: But you have an appointment at 11 with Anica. And one at midday about the live broadcast of the festival.
Pietro: Cancel them both. I’m in front of my daughter’s school. I told her I’d wait here until she came out. So I’m staying here.
Analisa: The president has asked about you. What shall I tell him?
Pietro: Tell him the truth. Tell him that I’m not coming in today. I’ll see him tomorrow.

…

Claudia: Rats live on no evil star.
Pietro: What’s that? What’s all this about rats.
Claudia: Do you give up?
Pietro: Yes, I give up?
Claudia: It’s a palindrome. “rats live on no evil star”. You can read it back-to-front. It’s reversible. The teacher explained that some things are reversible and others are irreversible.[/b]

Like things that happen in the lives we live.

Pietro [voiceover]: A list of things I didn’t know about Lara: She went to a fortune-teller because she was sick. She had a lot of money in her bank account. She always told everything to her sister. She’d booked an appointment with a plastic surgeon…She exchanged emails with “Gianni dot Orzan” who just happened to be the guy who writes the stories Claudia loves. And now I am about to read what the fuck they wrote…

One click on the mouse…
Instead, he does not read them. He deletes them. Hundreds of emails from his wife to this man…

Pietro: It annoys me that people I don’t even know are talking about me.
Carlo: Yes, but you camp out on a bench like a madman, distraught…
Pietro: I’m not distraught.
Carlo: It’s normal to be upset…
Pietro: I’m not upset. I’m not suffering.
Carlo; Then what are you doing here?
Pietro: I like it here.
Carlo: You like sitting on a bench outside a school all day?!

The inevitable grief counseling group…

[b]Manuela [the psychotherapist]: How did the need to discuss death come about?
Woman in the group: It was spontaneous thing. Because many of us found ourselves discussing death with our children.
Mauuela: When we talk about death, we usually refer to someone’s death. Our own death, our loved ones…the dead soldiers the children see on TV. I would like you to think about a very simple but fundamental fact. We transfer our empotions onto our children. Until a certain age what they feel is a repitition of what we parents feel. Not what we make an effort to show, but what are real feelings are.
Pietro [voiceover]: My brother said it. This woman has just said it. If Claudia is not suffering perhaps it’s because I’m not suffering enough.

…

Pietro [voiceover]: A list of things I’ve been able to look at: The thousands of glasses piled up in Auschwitz. The brushes and combs, again at Auschwitz. Car crashes on the motorway. When they took Claudia’s blood sample. The green vomit in The Exorcist. Lara lying on the ground surrounded by slices of melons.
[suddenly he faints and falls to the floor]

…

Pietro [aloud to himself in the car]: I made a fucking fool of myself! List of places I will never go back to: a “Parents Together” meeting.

…

Elenora: I want to ask you an important question. What exactly happened when you and your brother jumped into the sea?
Pietro: We swam out to you.
Elenora: Yes, but before that. No one said anything? You just jumped in? Your brother said a man tried to stop you.
Pietro: He was an idot, he looked scared. He told us we would never manage it.
[she shows him a photograph]
Elenora: Is this him, the idiot? Just say yes or no.
Pietro: Yes, that’s him.
[She walks away. Then stops. She takes off her wedding band and drops it into the storm drain]

…

Pietro: What is it?
Claudia: A thought.
Pietro: About what?
Claudia: My present. Remember I told you about my teacher on the first day?
Pietro: The first day? I can’t remember.
Claudia: Rats live on no evil star. Reversibility. She told us about it and you started waiting here. I thought the two things were linked. A nice thing happens and it happens again. Because it’s irreversible. You can’t stay here forever, right? I thought you’d tell me you had to go back to the office. I was happy that you never told me. It’s just that…
Pioetro: Just that…
Claudia: My friends have started to make fun of me. You know what kids are like…cruel. Papa, the the present I would like from you…
Pietro: I get it…don’t go on.[/b]

[iambiguous]

He is a doctor. A surgeon. And while he is a Palestinian Arab living in Tel Aviv, he has managed to assimilate himself into a world where the political conflagrations rife in that part of the world are successfully kept at bay.

Instead he is a well liked and well respected member of an esteemed community. In fact, the film opens with him receiving a medical award from his peers.

It’s not that he is oblivious to the politics all around him, only that these conflicts have no real foothold in the world that he inhabits. A world in which he excels. A world in which excellence itself is prized above all else.

And he is a man who does not see the world in terms of religion or ethnicity. Or ideology. But all around him are those that still do. The ever pervasive moral and political objectivists who are only able to understand the world in terms of either/or.

Thus when a suicide bomber kills seventeen people in Tel Aviv, it changes everyting. And not the least because among the dead is his wife. And she is thought to be the chief suspect in the attack. In fact, she is thought to be the suicide bomber.

He is now about to find things out that he had never even imagined were possible. And then he begins to inhabits a world where what counts is not what is true but what he and all of those around him have come to believe is true. A world in which, try as you might, you may never truly understand even those you are closest to. They simply piece the world together in ways that you cannot even fathom. After all, with so many pieces [and so many combinations of pieces], there are so many different ways that this can be done.

IMDb

[b]According to the NY Times as of June 2013 the film has been banned or refused release in every Arab country for the crime of filming in Israel.

Morocco was the only Arab country to present the film. It was during the Marrakech International Film Festival 2012 where the film won the Grand Prize that year.[/b]

at wiki: no wiki entry
trailer: youtu.be/vkRWXhJLH0I

THE ATTACK [2012]
Written in part and directed by Ziad Doueiri

[b]Doctor [at an award ceremony]: I have the honor of having been given the opportunity to present the award not only for his work, but also for his old-fashioned care. On behalf of the Israeli Society of Surgeons…The winner of the Bar Eliezer medical award, Dr. Amin Jaafari.

…

Amin: Thank you very much. It’s a great honor to be selected as this year’s recipient for the Bar Eliezer award and to be part of its wonderful work and to be associated with the great previous winners. I just learned that in the 41 years since its inception, this is the first time an Arab has won this award. Not that it matters, since every Jew is a bit of an Arab and no Arab can deny he’s a bit Jewish. People often ask me how it is to be in this country. I won’t lie to you. There were moments I felt anger and hostility. Then, one day, you receive a letter saying you’ve been granted a scholarship, and you’re offered a position at one of the best medical institutions, a home. And someone you once considered your enemy is now lying on your operating table. Isn’t it the right time to reexamine your own certitudes? So, when I’m asked how it is to live in this country, I say, “I look forward to the next 20 years.” Thank you.

…

Raveed: What’s new?
Amin: A fucked-up case. A Palestinian wanted to pray at the Zuheir Mosque. One of our cops told him if he wanted to go in, he had to smoke a cigarette. The guy refused – Ramadan. They fought. The guy stabbed the cop. Now he’s in jail. This thing will never end.

…

Amin: It doesn’t make any sense.
Adel: Sorry?
Amin: Did you hear about the attack?
Adel: Yes, I did.
Amin: What’s wrong with those people? They brought 17 dead to the hospital, including 11 kids.

…

Amin: I’ll go change.
Raveed: It’s not necessary.
Amin: Why? Has the patient died?
Raveed: There’s no patient, Amin.
Amin: What’s going on?

…

Moshe: Dr. Jaafari. We’re going to your house.
Amin: My house’?
Moshe: Our investigations indicate that your wife’s injuries are typical of those found on suicide bombers.
Amin [startled]: What?
Raveed: It wasn’t a planted bomb, Amin. It was a suicide attack.
Amin: Raveed, what’s this? What is this, Raveed?
Moshe [putting handcuffs on him]: The terrorist that blew herself up in the restaurant was your wife. Let’s go.
Amin: This is insane. Raveed, say something. Raveed![/b]

Now being a Palestinian Arab in Tel Aviv makes all the difference in the world.

[b]Moshe: Are you a practicing Muslim, Doctor?
Amin: No.
Moshe: Did your wife observe Ramadan?
Amin: No.
Moshe: Fake seculars. The perfect facade. You can cover your tracks and work for the cause in hiding.
Amin: My wife is Christian.
Moshe: A true convert! She really had to prove herself, didn’t she?
Amin [disdainfully]: You’re an idiot.

…

Moshe: You know what, Dr. Jaafari? Life is filled with booby traps and dog shit. There’s only one way to deal with it – be ready to face the worst. Your wife didn’t go to that restaurant to have a snack. She went there to have a blast.
Amin: Get out of my house!
Moshe: By the way…
Amin: I said get out of my house!
Moshe: Do you know what those bastards did before they blew up the Twin Towers? They fucked like rabbits.

…

Moshe: Was your wife pregnant? So, what made her belly so big? Did she have gas problems? What did she have under her dress if not the damned bomb that killed 17 people, including a bunch of kids who were celebrating a birthday?
Amin: Wait for the video.
Moshe: I don’t give a shit about your video! Fuck you and your video! Tell me, Dr. Jaafari, how a beautiful, intelligent woman, pampered by her husband and her friends, most of whom are Jews, could get up one day and blow herself up in a restaurant and kill 17 people who still had food in their mouths? Your wife didn’t just commit mass murder, she also destroyed all the trust Israel has placed in its Arab citizens. So, no, I won’t let you go until I find out how and why, even if I have to lock you in for the rest of your life!

…

Newscaster [on radio]: There’s a common belief that people who commit suicide bombings have some form of psychopathologic behavior. But studies show it’s not necessarily the case. For example, Wafa ldriss…
Newscaster: Wafa ldriss was the first woman to commit a suicide attack in 2002.
Newscaster: That’s right. Her husband divorced her because she was sterile. She couldn’t get remarried because in their culture it’s taboo.
Newscaster: That’s true. Another woman got pregnant out of wedlock. A third one had a brother executed because he was an informant. So, for these women, the only way to clean their family’s honor was to die as a martyr. But this is not the case of Siham Jaafari. She came from a wealthy and open-minded background and was married to a prominent surgeon. The question is, why are terrorist organizations deliberately targeting women?
Newscaster: Because female suicide bombers receive more media attention.

…

Kim: They want to strip you of your citizenship.
Amin: I’m not surprised.
Kim: They can’t dissociate you from what Siham did. Right now they are totally paranoid.
Amin: Maybe you should sign it, too, for your own good. They’ll come down on you because of our friendship. Guilty by association. The traitor from within.
Kim: What are you talking about?
Amin: I’m sure everyone knows you’re putting me up.
Kim: Yes, I told them.
Amin: You shouldn’t have.
Kim: Is this what you think of me?
Amin: I don’t know what I think of you. In fact, I don’t know why you’re doing all of this. In the end, we’re all alone. That’s what my father used to say.

…

Amin [after reading his wife’s note]: It was her. It was her that did it.

…

Amin: How could she do this to me? I gave her everything! Everything! Not once – Not once did I fall short of her expectations! She deserved to die.

…

Amin: Tell me, Raveed, you’ve known lots of psychopaths.
Raveed: Many.
Amin: So, how could she strap on a load of explosives and blow herself up in a restaurant?
Raveed: How? What can I tell you, Amin? I don’t think terrorists fully understand what happens to them. Something snaps in their brain, and they are off. It can happen to anyone. It can fall on you like a tile or grow inside of you like a worm. Then you don’t see the world the same way. You’re just waiting for the moment to cross the threshold.

…

Amin: Sheik!
Sheik: You’re not wanted here. Don’t you get it?
Amin: You owe me some answers. About my wife.
Sheik: She’s dead. Her martyrdom doesn’t raise you a bit in our esteem. The bastard isn’t the man who doesn’t know his father, it’s the one who doesn’t know his roots. Now get out of Nablus.

…

Amin [to the priest]: My wife, before she blew herself up, came here to meet her mentor. I can’t get this through my head. What tales did you tell her? How did you make a monster, a fundamentalist, out of a woman who couldn’t hurt a fly?

…

Priest: The fact your wife told you nothing doesn’t mean she betrayed you. She simply had nothing to tell you. I’m asking you to turn the page.
Amin: I don’t need sermons. I want to know why. Why what? That’s her affair.
Amin: I was her husband.
Priest: She knew that. If she hid her secrets from you, she had her reasons.
Amin: Bullshit. She had obligations toward me. I never wronged her in any way. And it wasn’t only her life she blew to smithereens, but my life and the lives of 17 other families, and you tell me it’s her affair? I want to know why! To know everything!
Priest: Know what, exactly?
Amin: The truth, Father.
Priest: Which truth? Hers or yours? The truth of a woman who knew where her duty lay or the truth of an Arab who thinks he’s out of the woods because he’s got an Israeli passport? Or the exemplary integrated Arab who gets invited to fancy parties and gets showered with presents and prizes by people who want to show how tolerant they are? Is that the truth you’re looking for or the one you’re running away from? What planet do you live on? Our land is violated day and night, our towns are buried by tanks, our children can’t remember what the word “school” means. And you, just because you’re nice and warm in Tel Aviv, you think you can come here and lecture us about what’s good and what’s not? Your wife died for your redemption, Doctor.

…

Amin: I don’t understand how a bigot like you who preaches tolerance can send women and children to their death while he hides in his hole. How do you choose your prey, by the way? Do you recruit those who are fragile because they are easier to manipulate?
Priest: I’m stunned by what I just heard, Amin. It breaks my heart. We could debate this for months and years. We’ll never come to the same conclusion. You have your life, we have ours. You have your views, we have ours. We’ll never agree on anything. This is how it is.[/b]

What is this but yet another example of conflicting goods viewed from the conflicting perspectives of daseins? You can disagree with another’s argument but can you makes all of their points go away?

[b]Priest: We’re not lslamists or Christian fanatics. We’re just a ravaged people who are fighting with whatever we can to recover our dignity. Nothing more, nothing less.

…

Amin: When did she go over?
Adel: The day she got to Jenin. Something snapped in her head. The massacre she saw was indescribable. She never saw anything like it. I think that’s what pushed her over the edge.[/b]

Jenin: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Jenin

[b]Kim: What about the terrorists? Did you meet any of them?
Amin: It’s behind me now, Kim.
Kim: What did you find out about them? Was anyone in your family involved? I don’t understand you, Amin.
I really don’t. 17 people were killed, 8 maimed for life. Some of them were on your operating table.
Amin: What are you asking?
Kim: If you know something, you should inform the police. You have a moral obligation to the victims. They deserve to know, too.
Amin: It’s not my job, okay?
Kim: They managed to convince you.
Amin: I won’t go tell on anyone, not to the police, not to anyone else.
Kim: Why not?
Amin: Because I refuse to contribute to more repressive measures. This is bigger than us.
Kim: You’re protecting those people.
Amin: I’m not.
Kim: You were welcomed amongst us. You had a good life here.
Amin: If I got to where I am, it’s because I earned it.
Kim: And because we made it possible. I don’t know, Amin. It seems to me everything you used to say in the past…
Amin: Was false?

…

Kim: Maybe convenient. I don’t think you can live in a place, enjoy the best of what it has to offer, and then refuse to defend it.
Amin: What are you talking about?
Kim: And next time, when you’re in the operating room because someone blew himself up, ask yourself, “Who am I really trying to save?”[/b]

[iambiguous]

Of all the “major illnesses” one can become afflicted with, a stroke is surely one of the most devastating. If for no other reason it can prove to be one of the most problematic.

Consider:

Stroke, also known as cerebrovascular accident, cerebrovascular insult, or brain attack, is when poor blood flow to the brain results in cell death.

So, depending which part of the brain these deaths occur in, your symptoms can be all over the map. Different parts precipitate different symptoms. And these symptoms can even revolve around the manner in which you perceive yourself. Your very identity itself can come to unravel.

Here the victim suffers from a stroke that literally changes his personality. And you can imagine the impact something like that might have on his wife. Or on his children.

Enter Dr. Ted Fielding, a neuro-psychologist. He is now living with the family for two months in order to “study” the impact this stroke has on both the victim and his family. He is an academic down to the bone. And thus the inevitable tension between the wife who has to endure the existential calamity of being married to someone who, for all practical purposes, is a stranger to her, and this man living in her house who treats the whole thing as, for all practical purposes, a scholastic exercise.

That is until they fall in love.

If nothing else it gets you to pondering the manner in which we do perceive ourselves as “I” – and how it can sometimes come down to the biological variables we really have little or no control over. You spend years creating an identity with which to interact with others and then in the blink of an eye the avalanche in your brain sweeps it all away. In some respects you might just as well be a complete stranger. And not only to others, but to yourself.

at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Run_%26_Jump
trailer: youtu.be/xrM5BfJehfE

RUN AND JUMP [2013]
Written in part and directed by Steph Green

[b]Nora: So, Ted, you’re a psychologist.
Ted: Neuropsychologist. Cognitive neuropsychologist.
Noni [daughter]: He’s a brain doctor.
Vanetia: And you’re a Professor.
Ted: Research Professor, yes.
Vanetia: Leading researcher, in California. We looked you up.
Nora: So you’ve done this before.
Ted: I don’t normally do case studies, but Mr. Casey’s recovery was very, very rare.

…

Paddy: So then what exactly are you trying to prove?
Ted: I’m just here to observe and document Conor’s behavior. We don’t really start with a hypothesis.
Tanetia: Thank God for that. I was worried about bringing a hypothesis into my house.

…

Ted [speaking into a microphone]: Week one – Conor Casey, 38. Bilateral anterior cerebral-artery infarction. Stroke has caused rare brain lesions in frontal lobe. Subject was in a coma for one month and in-patient rehab the following four. Rehab was conclusive.
Study will be observation of subject only. Upon return home, subject presents primarily with agitation. There was an initial focus on finding something he thinks he’s lost in his workshop.

…

Noni [who comes in the bathroom while Ted is taking a bath]: Do you have a family?
Ted: No.
Noni: Why?
Ted: I’m a scientist instead.

…

Vanetia: Conor’s never gone a week without making something. Do you think he might need a bit of privacy?
Ted: Mrs. Casey, I’ve left him alone for hours at a time, and there’s no change. I’m sure that Dr. Sood explained the prognosis. Conor will not return to his old self. There’s been too much damage.
Vanetia: Okay. Well, all I’m saying is he might need a bit more space, you know, without you looking…
Ted: Mrs. Casey…
Vanetia: Just a bit of space, Dr. Fielding.

…

Vanetia [looking up at Ted filming her latest frantic encounter with the “new” Conor]: I want to break that camera, Dr. Fielding. I swear to God.

…

Ted [recording]: Contaminations continue, mostly when Conor is distracted or tired. Obsession with making wooden spheres continues.

…

Vanetia: Ted…I saw the birthday card in your room… “For a special boy.”
Ted: So, you…
Vanetia: Yes, I did.
Ted: A colleague of mine arranged it. It’s completely inappropriate. And this was his idea of a joke – a terrible joke.
Vanetia: So you think it’s a joke. Having drugs sent to this house?
Ted: Not me! A friend…not even a real friend. It was more of a-a colleague.
Vanetia: So you had drugs sent to a house with two kids in it?
Ted: I know.
Vanetia: You had marijuana sent to a house where you should be working in a professional capacity…
Ted: I will completely understand if you feel that…
Vanetia: Ted, you get it out now.
[pause]
Vanetia: And start rolling.
[she bursts out laughing][/b]

A great scene.

[b]Vanetia: He stayed up late last night, actually. He was watching some animal show on the TV. He’s obsessed.
Ted: I thought you didn’t want to know things.
Vanetia: It’s been a month. Guess I should start knowing things.
Ted: Animals demand less of him. He can relate to their…their simpler emotions. No mixed feelings, so no psycho-drama.
Vanetia: There’s nothing but drama from where I’m standing.

…

Vanetia: “Sundowning” means he gets more confused in the evenings, right?
[Ted nods]
Vanetia: I like that one. “Sundowning.”

…

Vanetia: How about, uh… “Conor Casey’s stroke of bad luck: Or a tale of two Conors”? You know, something catchy. I want our chapter to stand out.
Ted: Well, unfortunately, it’ll probably be something a little dryer.
Vanetia: Such as?
Ted: “The impact of extensive medial frontal-lobe damage on theory of the mind.”
Vanetia: What’s theory of the mind?
Ted: You’re right. It’s boring.
Vanetia: No. I really do want to know.
Ted: It’s our capacity to understand our own and others’ mental states, our ability to guess what someone else is feeling or thinking.
Vanetia: I know. “Dr. Do-little”, as in loves animals and does very little.

…

Paddy: They’re your friends, too.
Conor: I have stuff to do.
Paddy: You need to step up, Conor. You know, you can’t keep retreating. You’re the father. You’re the husband. If you don’t, somebody else will step in and play those roles. A stroke doesn’t give you an opportunity just to act…to ignore the needs of your family.

…

Vanetia: Conor, the phone’s off the hook. Did someone call?
Conor: Mom.
Vanetia: Well, I’ll call her back. What did she say?
Conor: Dad’s dead, heart attack.

…

Vanetia: When Con and I looked at something, we saw the same thing. Have you ever had that connection with someone?
Ted: For a short time. A long time ago.
Vanetia: Now it’s all brains all the time.
Ted: Pretty much.
Vanetia: Well, brains demand less of you.[/b]

[iambiguous]

From the writer and director of Herartbeats above, here is yet another exploration into the complexity of human relationships. Only this time the complexity revolves more around one particular individual: Laurence. Laurence is a 34 year old literature professor living in Canada. He is conflicted. And the conflict revolves around gender. His. In short, he is a woman in a man’s body. And he wants to change this.

And this is when the relationships he has with others become all the more problematic. In particular, the one with Frederique. She is his fiancee. And while they share an “intense and mutually loving relationship”, wanting to become a woman may well be something that she is not too keen about.

And then the inevitable: the conflicting reactions from men and women who simply think about these things in different ways. You either will be or will not be successful in explaining your reasons. And there are never any reasons that are necessarily better than any others. But there is no denying the brutality of those who proceed to make his life a living hell. He loses his job, he gets the shit kicked out of him, he loses his mother and father, he losses his fiancee.

There is some truly powerful acting going on here. Especially from Suzanne Clément who plays Frédérique. The scene with the waitress in the cafe will blow you away.

People are strange here. But that’s the way I’ve always liked them.

One of the great love stories.

Fantastic soundtrack.

at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Anyways
trailer: youtu.be/1YjIWEky81M

LAURENCE ANYWAYS [2012]
Written and directed by Xavier Dolan

[b]Interviewer: What are you looking for, Laurence Alia?
Laurence: I’m looking for a person who understands my language and speaks it. A person who, without being a pariah, will question not only the rights and the value of the marginalised, but also those of the people who claim to be normal.

…

Laurence [to his class]: In fact, were it not for his talent, L.F. Celine would not have been spared. Collaborating authors did not come off unscathed after World War II. Writers like Bernard Grasset or Jacques Chardonne were tried by the Writers’ Council and suspended for cooperating with the occupying forces. Whereas others, like Celine, opted for the fresh air of Denmark, just to kick back in kinder climes. Today, his talent has precedence over his true self. Such is life. Can one’s writings, therefore, be great enough to exempt one from the rejection and ostracism that affect people who are different? One who, in another time-space, could be you or me? That’s the topic of your next essay.

…

Laurence [voiceover]: As a child, I spent a lot of time at my uncle’s house. With my cousins. They had a swimming pool…and we’d play hold your breath under water. Bottom line was: In order to win, you simply had to stay under the longest. Easy enough. They all gave up. But I…kept going. Not knowing how long I’d last. Then I’d surface just before my lungs exploded. Death was a breath away. That’s it.

…

Fred [short for Frédérique]: Why the fuck are you so blue? Bad day at school?
Laurence [exploding]: Will you shut your fuckin’ mouth? Just shut your fuckin’ mouth! I didn’t go to work! And I’m not going to New York! I have to tell you something! It’s very important! I have to tell you! I can’t take it anymore! I’m dying! I’ll die if I don’t! Listen!I’m going to die.
Fred: What…?

…

Fred: Why didn’t you tell me you were gay?
Laurence: I’m not gay.
Fred: Why didn’t you tell me? You pictured me as a man?
Laurence: I’m not gay, Fred!
Fred: Stop fucking with me! You’re a fag! You’re gay! It’s not the end of the world.
Laurence: It’s not that I like men. I’m just not made to be one.

…

Laurence: I’ve lived like this for 35 years. And that’s a crime. And I’m the criminal. Stealing someone’s life.
Fred: Whose life, Laurence?
Laurence: The life of the woman I was born to be.

…

Mother [after Laurence tells her he’s a woman in a man’s body]: Am I surprised? Am I surprised we left Europe? Or that the roof is leaking? Do I look surprised to you? I’m not surprised! Never let yourself be surprised. Ever.

…

Laurence: So…will you still love me?
Mother: Are you becoming a woman or an idiot?

…

Mother: When did you start playing dress-up?
Laurence: Today. Maybe we could surprise Dad? I could come home with you.
Mother: Sure. Then what, world peace?

…

Francine: Burn-outs don’t just happen! They are set off by catalytic events.
Laurence: Really? Tell me more.
Francine: She says it has nothing to do with your metamorphosis.
Laurence: Into a unicorn?
Francine: Your change. She’s trying to protect you, but…If Ben came home tonight and said he wanted to have a sex change…
Laurence: Yes, but it’s different for us.
Francine: So…if Fred told you she was becoming a man…

…

School administrator: One of the unhappy parents is a columnist at the Montreal Post-Intelligence.
Laurence: Be frank! It’s just a suburban publication!
School administrator: They sent it to Quebec, the Ministry of Education called me.
Laurence: Mental illness? They’re insane!
School administrator: In the latest edition of the DSM published by the American Psychiatric Association…‘Transsexuality’ is listed as a mental illness.
Laurence: What about justice?
School administrator: What about it? It’s fucked.[/b]

This all unfolds in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

[b]Laurence: I could sue you.
Administrator: On what grounds? For not demanding to be fired as well? Out of sheer solidarity? You’re about to write your first novel. Your first book. You can waste your time and money on litigation…And you may win! After two years of banal lawyering,
publicized hearings and huge bills. Or see this as a golden opportunity to dedicate yourself to your work, to your new career…
Laurence: In short, I should thank you for the gift of unemployment because, silly me, who needs an income when you work in the arts, right?

…

Waitress: Hell, it’s original. I mean, what a look! Is it just for fun or…? The kitchen staff was wondering. We see a lot of them in the street. Some are professionals. Are you guys together? Cute couple. Hard to stay in the shade, huh?
Fred [exploding in anger]: You stupid old bag!
Waitress: Show some manners, miss!
Fred: Who the fuck do you think you are? What’s with the stupid fucking questions?
Waitress: I’m curious! How can I not…Relax! It’s Saturday brunch and we’re packed!
Fred: Who’s in charge here?
Waitress: I am. What can I do for you?
Fred: Here’s what you can do for me. It’s simple as hell. Don’t talk to me. Don’t ask questions. Keep your dumb-ass-bitch opinions to yourself! End of story! Can’t we fucking exist outside PTAs and picket fences? Can we breathe this goddamn air and have goddamn peace in this butt-crack town?!!

…

Laurence: Our love wasn’t ‘safe,’ but it wasn’t dumb. What is it you want, Fred? What is it? A child? A house? I can give you that. I’ll change. This is just an adjustment period, it’s normal. Nothing to do with us. We haven’t had a chance.
Fred: Why are you dressed like this? Why? Why not normal, as a woman?
Laurence: To please you, baby.

…

Mother: Will you come to my loft when you’re in town?
Laurence: What loft?
Mother: Don’t you ever listen to me? I told you I was going to move. I found a loft downtown. You changed your sex. I changed my address.

…

Fred [in a letter to Laurence]: You have crossed the borders of my life, of my town, of my street. All that’s left is my front door. I think you know where to find me.

…

Albert [on the phone]: I met Charlotte yesterday. Charlotte, your ex’s girlfriend. Laurence.
Fred: Laurence Alia?
Albert: Yes. Who’s with you right now.
Fred: I forgot to tell you, he’s part of the shoot.
Albert: Come on, you know I’m smarter than that. Live what you want, do what you like, we’ll talk when you get back.

…

Fred: Who’s Charlotte? Who the fuck is she?
Laurence: She’s… How did you find out?
Fred: That bitch came to my house and stabbed us in the back!
Laurence: She knew we were here? Last time I saw her, I was packing. Who told you? Albert?
Fred: You thought I’d jeopardize my whole life just for a winter safari on an island?
Laurence: What did you tell him about us?
Fred: I told him I was going on a shoot.
Laurence: You lied to him. And to me, too.
Fred: Yes, I lied, you lied, they lied, we all lied!

…

Laurence: Charlotte’s a nice girl. We fucked. She loved me, but I was waiting.
Fred: For what?
Laurence: What do you think, you idiot?
Fred: You want me to give up my life? Ruin my life for you? What a pretentious man you are!
Laurence: ‘Woman!’ ‘Pretentious woman!’ Well, so are you! I thought we could go back to where we were before your side trip into normal life. You think you’re smarter than I am, but you’re not! You think I buy your little sham? How wonderful! We fuck, we dance, thank you. But you’re doing it for me. Like it’s charity! What do you want from me? Do what I do! Enjoy life, enjoy our story, enjoy our love! Nothing, no one can come between us! Except you!!!

…

Laurence: That’s the deal? Choose a boring family life or become a woman and end up alone and a loser?
Fred: Thanks for the pep-talk!
Laurence: Oh, shut up!
Fred: Of course, there’s more! You understand shit! And you do it on purpose! You know I love you! I love you more than my son! I don’t want that!
Laurence: What do you want, then? Come on, say it! What do you want?
Fred: A man!

…

Fred: I’m not made for this. I’m sorry. I can’t see you. I can’t. I just can’t! I won’t fuck up my life so you can find yourself! I shouldn’t have left…
Laurence: Then why did you leave, you stupid fucking cunt?
Fred: 'Cause I was sick of thinking about my child 24/7!
[long pause]
Laurence: What Child? What Child? What child, Fred? What child? Damn it, what child?![/b]

The one she aborted.

Laurence: What I regret… and it dawned on me not so long ago… is that even before I became a woman we were screwed.
Fred: Please elaborate.
Laurence: We were fucked. Your family, my family, your work, my work, our day-to-days, we were fucked. Other people didn’t have that. They envied us. Before I was an outcast, we were outcasts already.
Fred: You mean we wouldn’t have lasted, even if you hadn’t…?
Laurence: I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t want to… I’m not abdicating responsibility. And I can’t be pardoned. All I’m saying, Fred, is that society…
Fred: Stop! Leave fuckin’ ‘Society’ alone! Come back to Earth, please.
Laurence: Come back to Earth? Is that what you said? Do you hear yourself? Well quit the broken record, damn it. Stop talking shit! That’s insulting, to both of us. I don’t want to come back to Earth. I don’t give a fuck! We flew so high…I won’t come down.
Fred: Then stay up there.

[iambiguous]

Starred up: a term used to describe the early transfer of a criminal from a Young Offender Institution to an adult prison.

It’s a term they use in the UK. But every modern nation has its own rendition of it.

You start out in the system as a youthful offender. And then one day, depending on where you are and whatever the particular circumstances happen to be, you get bumped up to adult status. And then, depending on where you are and whatever the particular circumstances happen to be, this is something to truly dread or something to truly be proud of.

You see, in the working class, these things can take on a life all their own. You think about being a criminal [and the consequences of being one] in ways that would never even occur to your “betters” in classes higher up.

Just as, if you are in one of the classes higher up, you may well think about the fate of blokes like this only from within your own set of assumptions. It’s always the same with films like this. If you don’t give a shit what happens to the folks here – to folks born and bred into the belly of the working class beast – you won’t be interested in making any changes in “society”. Instead, you’re only concern will be keeping them away from you. But then the “bleeding hearts” will point out how that is rarely ever entirely possible. If the conditions that create and then sustain mentalities like this are allowed to fester, then, sooner or later the worlds will overlap. Then it’s just a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Another prison film. Just infinitely better than most of the others.

In the opening scene, 19 year old Eric is ordered to strip down naked, squat, cough and go through all of the myriad rituals involved in it being your first day in. And there are all of these strange men around him watching every move he makes. That alone has always been all the incentive I ever needed to stay on this side of the law. Or at least not to get caught on the other side of it.

This one got a 99% fresh rating at RT. And on 101 reviews: rottentomatoes.com/m/starred_up/

IMDb

Based on screenwriter Jonathan Asser’s experiences working as a voluntary therapist at HM Prison Wandsworth.

at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starred_Up
trailer: youtu.be/C4iseCjFnWk

STARRED UP [2013]
Directed by David Mackenzie

[b]Eric [as the guards come to extract him from his cell]: Come on then, piggy. Yeah, come on, you fucking pig!
[the guards rush in]
Guard: Hold his legs. Hold his fucking legs!!
Eric [who has poured baby oil on himself]: Too fucking greasy, the cunt!
Guard: Get hold of him!
Eric [with a shank to a guard’s neck]: Don’t come any closer, mate, I’ll fucking skewer this pig like a fucking hog roast. Now, fuck off. Drop that fucking thing and fuck off now. Sharpish! That’s fucking right.
Chief officer: You don’t want to do that, son.
Eric: Shut up, Clive. Who’s talking to you, cunt? I tell you what I do want, guv, you listening? A helicopter, two packs of burn and some chocolate digestives…please.
[he bursts into a maniacal laugh]

…

Oliver: Everything’s under control, Christine. There’s been an incident involving Mr. Love which has placed him at extremely high degree of risk, which is why I brought it to your immediate attention. I propose that he begins treatment for his violence as soon as possible, in my…in my group.
Chief Officer: He’s assaulted two of my officers shortly after knocking another victim unconscious. You will not be rewarding him with any kind of group.
Oliver: He wants to engage.
Chief officer: He’s a control problem!
Oliver: He can be reached.
Christine [prison governor]: Gentlemen, I think you’d better come with me. So, who is he?
Officer: Eric Love. He’s starred up, ma’am.

…

Christine: I’m prepared to offer you a place back on the wing. And a special kind of therapy with Mr. Baumer, with whom you co-operated upstairs. But one more incident of any kind that comes to my attention, you’ll be straight back down here.
Eric: Just one problem.
Christine: And you’re going to tell me what that is?
Eric: I’m just saying. Say this therapy goes well and it changes my life and I rehabilitate. And then you lay it on for the next geezer and it works for him, and the next. And everything’s sweet, yeah? Crime rates start to come down, police have got less people to nick. Courts got less people to convict. Pretty soon, you’re out of a job.

…

Dennis: Your youngster, what I’ve heard. No offense to family but the kid’s causing unnecessary grief to the good order and discipline of this jail. And lock downs, as you well know, cost me money.
Neville [Eric’s father]: Slap?
Dennis: Stop being a psychopath for a second, please. No. You exercise the gray matter, Neville. You mentor him. You stick him on a path and you dedicate yourself for a period of time. Save me a lot of aggravation. Least of all, having to murder the cunt if sanity do not prevail.

…

Neville: I’m gonna tell you something, all right? This here is not no young offenders turn out, all right? They will fucking dangle you, the kangas. They’ll make it look like suicide. Right? Now, me, I can never leave. Top someone in jail, they do not like it. But you, just do what they want you to do. Play their fucking game and then bounce.
Eric: I ain’t going to no fucking…
Neville: Yes, you fucking are, cunt! Don’t you ever fucking answer back to me again. You will do what you’re fucking told. You’ll do what the man was offering and you will fucking behave!!

…

Eric: Hey, how come you helped?
Prisoner: Said to look out for you, on the wing.
Eric: Who?
Prisoner: Ol.
Eric: Ol? He’s half a kanga. What, you boys back him do you?
Prisoner: Yeah, Ol’s different, man. He works alone. Don’t never press the alarm. Puts his body on the line. And he don’t get paid. How many kangas you know like that? Yo, blood. Make sure you come back to it, yeah. It’s beneficial. You should have seen me before.

…

Oliver: I think maybe you’ve got the wrong idea. Could I just come in and…
Eric: So you can start touching me up and all? No, you fucking wrong one. How many fucking sugars do you take? You fucking nonce cunt.
Oliver: Why should I give a shit about you?
Eric: 'Cause I’m starred up, mate, and very fucking violent and you want to make a name for yourself, don’t you, and your fucking little group.
Oliver: I don’t give a shit if you’re in my group or not.
Eric: Then why you fucking stood there, then?
Oliver: I don’t fucking know.
Eric: Have a think, then, dickhead.
Oliver: I don’t want to think. Right now, I want to fucking hurt you.
Eric: Yeah? Good. Now we’re getting somewhere. Let’s go.

…

Dennis [to Neville]: Leave us, please.
[Neville hesitates]
Dennis: Don’t agitate me.
Neville: Dennis…
Dennis: He’ll be fine.
[he turns to Eric]
Dennis: Sit down then. Am I right about you, Eric? Starred up means you’re a leader. Why you attack people for the principle, instead of losing pride. And no leaders, where would we be? Back to the fucking Stone Age, that’s where. Scratching our recta without no toilet paper. Cunts. So… Issues, Eric. Bring 'em here and we can resolve any matters arising.

…

Neville: You have to help him, you know. You have to teach him the answers, the things he’s supposed to say, you know, like the “Think Right” program. You know, help him get out. You know, like the, fucking, "What would you do if you were in a bar "and a fella comes up and starts talking to your bird? "What you gonna do? Oh, I’m gonna tell him politely "that I’m with her, you know, rather than glass the cunt. " You know what I mean?
Oliver: That’s not what my group is about. Your son and I are on a journey together and we will…
Neville: No, he needs to behave.
Oliver: Okay, he’s suffered enormous emotional trauma and abuse.
Neville: Oh, I never touched him.
Oliver: Well, you weren’t there.
Neville: I didn’t… Okay, that’s enough, all right. Fucking finish. 'Cause in case you haven’t fucking fully appreciated, I am his fucking parent and I am fucking here now. You think you can fucking fix him up, huh? What, you got a fucking couple of fucking nice little letters after your name. Well I’ve got fucking numbers. So’s he.

…

Prisoner: Okay, so, what’s the topic?
Prisoner: Jail.
Prisoner: Okay. Yeah, like what effects it has on you and how it fucks with your head.
Oliver: Good topic.
Prisoner: You want jail, yeah, go fucking Morocco. Ain’t got peeps, money, you’re fucked.
Prisoner: American jails, worse. Don’t care.
Prisoner: Why’s that?
Prisoner: They shag each other over there, ain’t it?

…

Chief officer [to Oliver]: Sorry about Love. Of course, we did everything we could to accommodate him in your group. But with someone like that, well… However hard we try, sometimes there’s just no hope, is there? Warehouse him . Protect the public that way, make sure he stays inside for the rest of his life…
[cut to Oliver’s hands around his throat]

…

Neville: Hey, you gave me the opportunity. Fair play. But… I’m… I’m not wired up right in the, um, the father role, you know, I can see that now. But I do need to know he’s safe. I need to know that, Dennis. Because there’s one thing I will not allow, under any circumstances, and that is for anyone…To fucking top my kid. Okay?
Dennis: You know I could never harm your flesh and blood, Neville. The whole point is safeguarding him. Get you on your toes to teach him how, because it’s not always possible for you to be there to protect him from himself.

…

Dennis: Haynes wanted it. Not me. I had to go along. Get down there quick. You can save him.
Nevelle [shoving in the knife]: It’s all right, Dennis, you won’t feel a thing.[/b]

[iambiguous]

This is what they call a “mumblecore” film: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumblecore

I’ve explored a few of them here. What the enthusiasts call “a little is a lot” film.

The key word being independent. But, as with independent music, just because it is out of the mainstream, doesn’t mean it is going to be good. That will still always be rooted in the [at times] ever frustrating quagmire that is subjectivity. So, if you read the reviews, some will hate it and some will love it. But the part about the frustrating quagmire of subjectivity comes into play in that they love it or hate it for the very same reasons!

Among the critics at RT, it got a 76% fresh rating on 59 reviews.

The bottom line then [for many] will be the characters. And their evolving relationships over the course of the film. Since the pace is slow, meandering and involves exchanges that don’t seem to have much to do with what the film is “about”, if you are not able to connect in any substantial way with the characters, the chances are slim that you will stay with it until the end.

Here’s the plot: Doug studied forensic science in college. But he drops out, moves back to Portland and finds himself in the middle of investigating the disppearance of his ex-girlfriend.

So: What happened to Rachel?

See if you can spot the difference between CSI and Sherlock Holmes.

Bottom line: You watch the first hour of this film and never in a million years do you suspect it to morph into a thriller.

at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_Weather_(film
trailer: youtu.be/2EJEEIYHfYk

COLD WEATHER [2010]
Written in part and directed by Aaron Katz

Doug: Hey, you want to go to the coast?
Gail: What? I have, like…No.
Doug: It’s whale watching week.
Gail: Doug, I’ve got, like… I have a job. I can’t just leave and go whale watching with you.
Doug: Yeah, but it’s a special occasion. Can’t you just do this stuff tomorrow?
Gail: Not… I mean, no, I can’t. People just can’t, like, just leave work.

Of course she does. After all, it’s not like either one of them have children to raise.

[b]Ice factory owner [looking at Doug’s job application]: Forensic science, criminal justice. That’s a pretty interesting field. What, are you just taking a break? Planning on going back to it?
Doug: Er, yeah. Maybe eventually. Eventually.
Owner: That’s pretty neat stuff. If it’s anything like on the movies, it’s pretty darn neat.

…

Gail: Let’s see. Ice factory. I thought you might get a job, like in something crime-related, like in a lab, or something.
Doug: No. I don’t think you can get those jobs if you don’t finish school.
Gail: Are you sure you’re going to be OK in an ice factory?
Doug: Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?
Gail: I don’t know…I didn’t even know they had ice factories.
Doug: Yeah. Where do you think they get those bags of ice you buy? I don’t know, I never thought about it.[/b]

Here’s the thing about Doug: he’s not exactly a slacker, but he’s not exactly ambitious either.

[b]Carlos: They raise pay pretty good here. You’ll get a raise soon. If you don’t quit first.
Doug: Why would I quit?
Carlos: I don’t know, man. You seem like the kind that ends up quitting. I mean, no offence, it’s just that, well, people only work here for like a month or something. A lot of people want bigger things. I don’t mind it, though. I mean, I can think and move ice at the same time, you know.

…

Carlos: What did you do before?
Doug: I used to study forensic science.
Carlos: Really? What, do you want to be a detective or some shit?
Doug: Yeah, exactly. I am going to be a detective one day.
Carlos: What, like CSI and shit?
Doug: I don’t really want to be like a CSI-type detective. I want to be more like Sherlock Holmes.

…

Carlos: Hey, Mike. Our friend Douglas wants to be Sherlock Holmes! Sherlock fucking Holmes! “Elementary, my dear Watson.” All that shit.
Doug: No, dude. He doesn’t say that.
Carlo: He doesn’t?
Doug: No, he doesn’t say that, he doesn’t smoke a stupid pipe. He doesn’t wear that stupid hat.

…

Carlos: It’s just weird, man! I went over to her motel room and all the lights were on in her room, but when I knocked, no answer.
Doug: She’s probably asleep.
Carlos: Why were all the lights on, then?
Doug: I don’t know, Carlos. The lights are on in here and I was asleep.
Carlos: Well, how come she didn’t answer her phone?
Doug: How the hell should I know?!
Carlos: Just… It just doesn’t make sense, man.
Doug: Goddamn, dude, how much Sherlock Holmes have you been reading?!

…

Doug [in Rachael’s motel room]: Don’t react to anything I’m about to tell you. Just stay still.
Carlos: OK.
Doug: There’s a guy in a pick-up truck in the parking lot.
Carlos: What?
Doug: There’s a guy in a pick-up truck parked in the parking lot. And he’s watching us…

…

Doug: Would you mind if I smoked a pipe in here?
Gail: You have a pipe?
Doug: No, but I’m going to go buy one, I think.
Gail: You’re going to buy a pipe?
Doug: Yeah. Sherlock Holmes smokes a pipe to help him think. Not a ridiculous, stupid, enormous one like Basil Rathbone, but he does have one.

…

Rachel: What the fuck are you doing, Doug?
Doug: What the fuck am I doing? What the fuck are you doing? Why are you checked in with a fake name? You said you were training for a law office job!
Rachel: What are you doing snooping around?
Doug: You lied to me. Tell me what the fuck is going on. I already figured out most of it anyway. Amanda Brooke, Sunday, 3pm, Southeast Brooklyn. I did some investigating, and I’ve concluded that you’re involved in some fucked-up shit! Don’t walk away and try to blow me off. I’m trying to help you. Let me help you.
Rachel: Fine…

…

Doug: Do you know a Jim? Somebody named Jim ate Chinese food in the room next to yours.
Rachel: Jim Warden.
Doug: Who’s Jim Warden?
Rachel: He’s the one who set this whole thing up in the first place.[/b]

Apparently, Jim’s the one who stole the briefcase. The one filled with money.

Carlos: I feel like we should have pistachios or something. Isn’t that what people do on stakeouts?
Doug: I don’t know.
Carlos: Yeah, we should have pistachios.

[iambiguous]

Pity John le Carre. There was once a time when the most wanted men in his novels became entangled in the epic historical struggle rooted in political economy itself: Capitalism versus Communism. The entire world was drawn into it in one capacity or another. And both sides had a mighty military, the use of which might easily have resulted in the destruction of civilzation itself.

But then the walls came down and the Evil Empire lay in tatters. So, a new “boogeyman” was needed to sustain the military industrial complex. The terrorist was born.

And then came 9/11.

Of course, terrorism here brings the element of religion more fully into play. And God is always a considerably more problematic element if only because some are considerably less willing to render unto Caeser than others. The terrorists here are linked to jihad. And as far as these fanatics are concerned the most wanted man is always a religious zealot down to the bone.

Still, the politics of terrorism is never, ever far below the surface is it? And here the focus is less on the jihadists themselves and more on those who funnel the money to them.

And then there are the spy vs. spy entanglements. At times just short of Mad Magazine. Only the consequences are considerably more dire. At least for some.

Basically the film revolves around conflicting strategies for dealing with radical jihadists. Do you wipe them off the face of the earth? Employ rendtion? Or [perhaps] do you finagle them into coperating with you — using them as the minnows to capture the barricudas to capture the sharks.

It’s a very, very murky world. But, in the end, the hard guys prevail.

IMDb

This is the last completed movie of Philip Seymour Hoffman. He died a week after the premiere of the film at the Sundance Film Festival.

at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Most_Wanted_Man_(film
trailer: youtu.be/cYORzJ3e-Og

A MOST WANTED MAN [2014]
Directed by Anton Corbijn

[b]Title card: In 2001 Mohammad Atta conceived and planned the 9/11 attacks from the port city of Hamburg, Germany. Intelligence failures and interdepartmental rivalries allowed him and his team to prepare for the attacks without discovery or interfernece. Today Hamburg remains a city on high alert, the focus of both German and International intelligence services, determined never to repeat the mistakes of 2001.

…

Abdullah: Are you afraid, my friends? Of us? Of Islam? People are suffering throughout the Muslim world. In Palestine, Afghanistan, Baghdad. But do I believe terrorism is the justifiable consequence of this suffering? No. Violence against the innocent is not the way of Allah.

…

Gunther: Issa Karpov. A Muslim first name and a Russian last name. What does that tell us?
Irna: That the boy is confused.
Gunther: And no patronymic. Is he the son of nobody?
Irna: Issa… Jesus no less.
Gunther: Maybe he’s the son of God and he’s come to save us.

…

Martha: Gunther Bachmann? Martha Sullivan. US Embassy, Berlin. I know you by reputation, of course.
Gunther: That can’t be good.
Martha: Men with good reputations usually aren’t much use to me.

…

Mohr: After 24 hours of questioning, Karpov confessed to taking part in attacks on gas pipelines, transport, infrastructure, police stations.
Irna: After 24 hours of Russian questioning, any one of us would admit to anything.

…

Gunther: We’re not policemen. We’re spies. Issa Karpov may be of value to us. All I’m asking for is more time.

…

Annabel: Hello, Issa. My name is Annabel Richter. I am a lawyer. I work with an organization called Sanctuary North. Are you seeking asylum in Germany? There has to be a reason. Either you cannot return to your country of origin because your life would be in danger or you have been tortured.
Issa: Yes.
Annabel: Yes what?
Issa: I have been tortured.
Annabel: Forgive me, but this is my job. I want to believe you, but people make this claim all the time.
[he turns around and lifts up his shirt…his back is covered with scars]

…

Gunther: Hamburg is one of the great ports of the world, Tommy. For centuries it opened its arms to every foreigner who washed up on its shores. Now, since 9/11, in the eyes of every dark-skinned man we see someone who wants to kill us. Problem is some of them do, but the question is whether Issa Karpov is one of them.

…

Brue: As far as I am aware, Miss Richter represents a client with a legitimate financial interest with my bank.
Gunther: Your bank does business with the Russians, right?
Brue: It did. In my father’s time.
Gunther: Mafia?
Brue: Military mainly.

…

Brue: I bring your attention to the matter of the instrument.
[Issa hands him a key]
Brtue: May I ask how you came to be in possession of this?
Issa: It was given to me by my father’s lawyer.
Brue: So it seems I am being asked to fulfill one father’s promise to another.
Issa: It’s true. Karpov was my father.
Brue: You weren’t close?
Issa: My father was a murderer. He has Chechen blood on his hands.
Brue: And yet you seem willing enough to take his money?

…

Martha: Dr. Faisal Abdullah is everything we want him to be and a little bit more. He’s tolerant, enlightened, engaged with the West. But every good man has a little bit of bad, doesn’t he? And in Abdullah’s case, that little bit just might kill you.
Gunther: You know all that, how come he’s still walking the streets of Hamburg and not rotting in some cell in Guantnamo?
Martha: Because we think, we don’t know. The money leaves and we don’t know where it goes. Anyways, on German soil he’s got the protection of German law.
Gunther: That hasn’t stopped you before.
Martha: We don’t do that anymore.
Gunther: You want us to do it, then.
Martha: I’m more interested in knowing why you haven’t done it already?

…

Annabel: I spoke with Mr. Brue earlier tonight. Issa, he says the bank will honor your claim.
Issa: I do not want the money.
Annabel: What?
Issa: Father’s money is bad money.
Annabel: But without it you have nothing.
Issa: I have God.

…

Gunther: Abdullah’s not the bad guy. He’s our way to the bad guy.
Martha: A man supplies money that buys weapons that kills Americans and you’re telling me he’s a pal?
Gunther: So maybe he’s not waving the flag of freedom and democracy as enthusiastically as you’d like. But he sees his people…
Martha: Spare me the lecture.
Gunther: He sees his people being fucked over from here to eternity.
Martha: I’ve heard that before, so…
Gunther: Maybe a little bit of him wants to return the favor, but it’s that little bit that makes him so valuable. Don’t you see?
Martha: Okay. I understand. But that’s not what my people would say.
Gunther: What would your people say? Take him out? Kill him? And then what have you got? A great big fucking hole, and who’s going to fill it? Nobody knows. You least of all.

…

Annabel: You can’t do this. I’m a lawyer. This is criminal.
Gunther [shoving her into a chair]: Sit the fuck down. Lawyer? You’re a fucking social worker for terrorists. We know about you. Left-wing lawyer. Wealthy family. Father’s a judge. Everything you do says “fuck you” to him.
Annabel: Is that the best you can do? Can I go now?
Gunther: Go where? Go where? Back to your self-righteous friends at Sanctuary North? But no one’s going to saw off their heads, are they? Nobody’s going to blow up their kids because you’re on a beach in Bali or riding a train to school in Madrid or London.
Annabel: How fucking dare you?!
Gunther: How fucking dare me? Tell me I’ve broken every rule in the book? That I’ve trampled on the essence of the constitution? You want to spout that crap? Yes? Do you know where you are? No, you don’t. This is the real world, Annabel. We are fighting against the radical off cuts of a nation called Islam. You’ve crossed the line. You’re on their side now.

…

Gunther: The clock is ticking, Annabel. You know they’ll find him, and when they do, he’ll be on the first plane back to Russia, unless the Americans want him and then we won’t know where he is and nor will he.

…

Günther [putting a pen in Brue’s pocket]: It’s just an ordinary pen. Looks like a pen, writes like a pen, and listens like a pen. [/b]

[iambiguous]

Talk about the law of unintended consequences!

Especially when the sins of the father come back to haunt you.

Dwight is a beach bum. He lives in his car. He breaks into people’s homes in order to take a bath. He goes dumpster diving for food. He won’t strike many as all that sympathetic. But beach bums can have parents too. And when the man he thinks killed them is released from prison, he might be inclined toward a little revenge. And he gets it. Only it turns out that he is not the most competent of assassins. In fact, you won’t believe what unfolds after he kills him.

And the man he killed has a family as well. And they start to think the very same thing: pay back. Only they pretty much bungle that too.

But things are not really all that they seem. And then things start to get complicated. For Dwight. And for his sister.

And for the Clelands.

This one is all about the way that events can unfold in the most surreal of circumstances. We think this so we do that. And all that matters is the manner in which we connect the dots in our heads. We connect them one way, they connect them another.

And then the next thing you know the bodies start to pile up.

IMDb

[b]At one time Benny mentions “El Duce” who got hit by a train. This is a reference to “El Duce”, lead-singer of punk-Hardcore band “the Mentors”, who claimed Courtney Love offered him $50,000 to kill Kurt Cobain. He appeared in Nick Broomfield’s “Kurt and Courtney” documentary. He died under misterious circumstances after he made these claims.

Blue Ruin is the colour of Kate Winslets characters hair in ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’. She mentions it soon after they first meet on the train. [/b]

at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Ruin
trailer: youtu.be/U_1mgieaGvY

BLUE RUIN [2013]
Written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier

[b]Policewoman: It’s Officer Eddy. I’d like you to come into the station.
Dwight: Oh, is it about the house, 'cause I could…
Policewoman: Dwight, sweetheart, I’ll explain. Okay? Just come with me. I apologize for the mystery. I don’t mean to scare you. You’re not in any trouble. Everything’s fine. You’ll be fine. But, honey, someone brought this by our stoop, and I just thought you should be somewhere safe when you found out…He’s going to be released.

…

Boy: Did you hurt Wade?
Dwight: Yeah. Wade hurt my parents.
Boy: I don’t think he did.

…

Sam [Dwight’s sister]: I know he’s out, if that’s why you’re here. The DOC sends a notification…and a restraining order.

…

Sam: So why now? Wade Cleland gets released. Well…
Dwight: I thought there’d be something on the news, but…there’s nothing.
[she looks puzzled]
Dwight: I killed him. Wade Cleland, I killed him.
Sam [startled]: What? Bullshit. When?
Dwight: I think yesterday.
Sam: Oh, God, Dwight.
Dwight: I thought he’d kill me first.
Sam: I’m glad he didn’t. And I’m glad he’s dead and I hope he suffered.

…

Dwight: Where are your children?
Sam: Home with the sitter.
Dwight: Let’s get back in your car.
Sam: What?
Dwight: They never called the police.

…

Dwight: I’ll turn myself in here, if that’s what you want, but I can’t do it until I know that you’re safe, that the kids are safe, so…
Sam: The Clelands need to be arrested.
Dwight: All of them? For what? Look, I…Just go. You can call the police from Pittsburgh if that’s what you want. Just so long as you’re not here.
Sam: It’s my house, Dwight.
Dwight: They know that. The car is registered here, and it’s not worth…Is there a gun in the house?

…

Sam [to Dwight]: I’d forgive you if you were crazy, but you’re not. You’re weak.

…

Teddy [one of the Cleland clan who tried to kill Sam]: Let me out! I’m dying! Let me out! Let me out, you son of a bitch. Help! Let me out of here!
Dwight: Not until I have a gun.
Teddy: Shit, I can get you a gun.

…

Dwight: Stay in the trunk.
Teddy: That’s easy. My leg’s broke.
Dwight: Were you coming for me or for her?
Teddy: Who?
Dwight: You came to my sister’s house. Were you coming for me or for her?
Teddy: Look, man. You.
Dwight: Why didn’t you just call the police, send me to jail?
Teddy: Same as you. Just keeping it in-house.

…

Dwight: Who’s the boy in the limousine?
Teddy: He’s just a boy. Not a concern.
Dwight: He said something about Wade. He said he didn’t think he’d hurt anyone.
Teddy: Couple dead niggers might disagree. He just meant Wade didn’t kill your parents.
Dwight: That’s not true.
Teddy: Well, that settles it, then. That’s how this works, man. The one with the gun gets to tell the truth.

…

Teddy: I didn’t do it. Wade didn’t do it. Our father, Big Wade, shot your dad. You don’t fuck with a man’s wife, his family.
Dwight: Whatever my dad did, he did with your mom. Together… it was a mistake.
Teddy: Well, shit’s not a mistake.
Dwight: Both of my parents are dead.
Teddy: Your mother being in the car, that was a fuck-up. I’ll give you that.
Dwight: If what you’re saying about Wade is true, then…
Teddy: Big Wade had cancer. Couldn’t let him die in prison. I’d have done the time, but I had two strikes. Little Wade, he could take the plea.

…

Ben: Just the one?
Dwight: Yes!
Ben: Sorry. I had to wait for him to aim before I could shoot. It had to be legal, at least on my part.

…

Dwight: What about the rest of his head?
Ben: Coyotes will get that. Long as there’s no teeth.
Dwight: They’re not gonna let this end…Not now.
Ben: Yeah. Well, I’m switching you to buckshot.

…

Ben [to Dwight]: I know this is personal and that’s how you’ll fail. No speeches. You point the gun, you shoot the gun.

…

[the Clelands listen to Dwight’s phone message]
Dwight: Hello. It’s me. Um, Dwight Evans. Wade is dead. And… Teddy is dead, too. He told me everything. I didn’t kill him. I mean, I… I guess I did. But it doesn’t matter. By my count, that’s two of yours and two of mine. I don’t know how this ends, but I’d like it to…Um…or it can keep going.

…

Dwight: You know what’s awful? Just 'cause my dad loved your mom…we all end up dead.

…

Dwight: The keys are in the car. The keys are in the car. The keys are in the car. The keys are in the car.[/b]

[iambiguous]

From the writer and director of Cinema Paradiso above.

This is a film that revolves around art. But art is always created by human beings. And human beings [well, a few of them] are in possession of some truly complex emotional and psychological reactions to the world around them. And not only to art but to others of their kind. Then things can easily become entangled in the gaps between what we see, what they want us to see and what is really going on instead.

And not just in regard to the art itself.

And here art is also entangled in commerse. And once money is involved the sky is the limit. The permutations then become practically boundless. For example, the element of scams creep in.

And then there’s the mysterious “mechanism”. Could it be a Vaucanson automaton?

And then last but not least there is the phenomenal number woman.

If, as someone once suggested, art is the least untrue lie, it is up to each of us to put our own particular spin on what we see here.

Still, this is one of those films that, as you watch it, you’re never quite sure if it is about the relationships themselves or if that is what you are being misdirected to focus on instead. In other words, nothing may seem to be at all what it actually is. Or, as Billy puts it: “Everything can be faked, Virgil…joy, pain, hate, illness, recovery…even love.”

A lesson Vigril is about to learn in the most brutal way imaginable. Talk about the long con! On the other hand, isn’t he really far better off in the end?

at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Best_Offer
trailer: youtu.be/_hK-gQb9pUk

THE BEST OFFER [La Migliore Offerta] 2013
Written and directed by Giuseppe Tornatore

[b]Claire [on phone]: I’m not in the habit of speaking to people much.
Virgil: That’s a considerable stroke of good fortune. Talking to people is perilous.

…

Billy: Have we ever talked about money, you and me?
Virgil: Honestly, no.
Billy: It’s been good enough for you. It’s been good enough for me. What matters is that you’re satisfied. My only regret is never being able to persuade you that my paintings are evidence of a great artistic talent.
Virgil: A love of art and knowing how to hold a brush doesn’t make an artist. You need an inner mystery. A knack you’ve never possessed.

…

Servant: lt’s the lbbetson woman on the phone.
Virgil: Tell her to go to hell.
Servant: She’s crying.
Virgil: Serves her right.
Servant: She was hit by a car on her way to meet you.
Virgil: So much the worse for her. It’s no concern of mine.
Servant: She was left unconscious. She was lying in a pool of blood when the ambulance arrived.
Virgil: Alright. Put her through.

…

Virgil [Inspecting a painting]: It’s a fake.
Woman: How is that possible? It’s beautiful!
Virgil: I didn’t say it was ugly, I said it wasn’t authentic.
Woman: From an analysis of the pigments and wood, we thought it was pre-17th century.
Virgil: Even older.
Woman: Then it must be worth something.
Virgil: It is a work by Valiante, the female forger of the 16th century. She copied masterpieces, but couldn’t sign them as she was a woman, so she marked them with a personal code hidden in the folds of the drapery or in this case, in the gaze of the subject. The beam of light on the iris is nothing if not a V. That is Valiante. It is worth something, but nothing compared to the original.

…

Virgil: I honestly don’t get it. In the time I’ve known you, I’ve never seen you beaten. I’ve watched you produce all manner of gadgets from most unremarkable ironwork. Optical, arithmetical devices, water clocks… Even that hairdryer that probably dried the locks of Jules Verne’s wife. But you’ve nothing to say about this curious contraption?
Robewrt: I’m surprised that an art connoisseur like yourself can get so carried away by a banal piece of ironwork.
Virgil: It’s not the object that arouses my curiosity, but it’s contradiction.

…

Virgil: And Miss Claire. How old is she?
Fred: About 27.
Virgil: What else can you tell me about her?
Fred: Nothing really. I’ve never had much to do with her. I don’t really know her.
Virgil: And yet you’ve been in the service of the lbbetsons for about 10 years.
Fred: Well, 11 years to be exact. I don’t have much to do with her. I’ve talked to her a thousand times at all hours but…
Virgil: But?
Fred: I’ve never seen her.
Virgil: How could that be?
Fred: It’s the truth. Not once.
Virgil: Why?
Fred: Because Miss Claire suffers from a very strange illness.

…

Virgil: Why do you systematically avoid meeting me? Why would you want to do business with a person who arouses such aversion in you that you can’t even look him in the face?
Claire: It’s hard to explain. You won’t believe me anyway.
Virgil: If I didn’t believe you, I wouldn’t be here playing hide and seek.
Claire: I don’t meet many people. It’s been a long time now.
Virgil: I see nothing serious in that. Everyone has moments when they prefer solitude to the multitudes.
Claire: I haven’t left this house since I was 15.
Virgil: I don’t think I understand.
Claire: You understand perfectly. This is my room. If there’s somebody in the house or in the villa, I lock myself up in here. I’ve always done that, even when my parents were here. I hardly ever saw them. I don’t see anybody.
Virgil: But why?
Claire: Why do you go around with your hands covered by gloves?
Virgil: lt’s a simple question of hygiene. I don’t see the connection.
Claire: You’re afraid to touch others. To touch their possessions disgusts you. I’m afraid of going to places where others live. These seem to me very similar personal choices.

…

Robert: How much would the automaton be worth if we manage to make it work?
Virgil: Think of a really, really high figure. Do you have one in mind?
Robert: Yes.
Virgil: You’ve probably pitched it too low.
Robert: You’re very good at talking without saying anything.
Virgil: I’ll take that as a compliment.

…

Robert: Why did you never marry, never have kids?
Virgil: The regard I have for women is equal to the fear I’ve always had of them. And to my failure to understand them.

…

Virgil: I took the liberty of remembering it’s your birthday. Happy birthday, Claire.
Claire [as though hearing none of that]: I read the valuation documents.
Virgil: Did you manage to understand some of it?
Claire: Of course. Ridiculous sums of money. Even a backwards child would know she’s being cheated.
Virgil: They need interpretation. They’re starting bids. There’ll be higher bids later.
Claire: Suppose there aren’t!
Virgil: Unlikely, but in that case, we’ll even things out. We’ll raise the margins on other more important pieces.
Claire: A gamble? Where I’m the only one that can lose? You’re trying to cheat me. It’s all to your advantage. You’re a fucking thief!
Virgil: I’m willing to resign the commission forthwith. I’ll have them replace all your mediocre bric-a-brac immediately. And do me the favour of disappearing completely from the face of the earth!

…

Virgil: Claire: It’s me. I’m here. What’s happened?
Claire [frantically]: There’s somebody in the house! Please get them out!
Virgil: Calm down. There’s nobody here.
Claire: There’s someone in the house!!!
Virgil: Calm down. It was me before, Claire. It was me. It was me. I hid in the room so I could see you.
Claire: You were spying on me? You were spying on me?! Get out!!! I want nothing more to do with you! Get out!!!
[he turns to leave]
Claire: Please, Virgil. Don’t go.
Virgil: Believe me, I don’t normally behave like this…
Claire: Neither do I.

…

Virgil [to Robert]: You should’ve seen her. Pale, like a Durer etching. She had the look of some creature terrified of the universe. And I could read my own terror in her eyes.

…

Virgil: What’s it like living with a woman?
Lambert: Like taking part in an auction sale. You never know if yours will be the best offer.

…

Claire: In an old article of yours I found on the internet, you said: There’s something authentic in every forgery. What did you mean?
Virgil: When simulating another’s work the forger can’t resist the temptation to put in something of himself. Often it’s just a trifle, a detail of no interest. One unsuspected stroke, by which the forger inevitably ends up betraying himself, and revealing his own utterly authentic sensibilities.

…

Virgil: You haven’t said anything about Claire.
Robert: If I didn’t know about her problems, I’d say she was normal. And she’s much more beautiful than you described. Really. I liked her.
Virgil: You’re going to make me jealous?
Robert: lf you want my advice, you pray that girl never gets better.

…

Virgil [of Robert]: Is there anything I can do? Do you want me to talk to him?
Sarah: For a while now he’s been talking about someone called Claire.
Virgil: Claire? I don’t understand.
Sarah: With him everybody’s got to be on their guard, all the time. That goes for you, too.

…

Robert [to Virgil]: If you were forced to choose between Claire and the automaton, which would you take?

…

Billy: Don’t go overboard, Virgil. She could have had her own reasons for disappearing.
Virgil: I can’t imagine what reasons. Recently, she’s been experiencing emotions and feelings that are incompatible with flight.
Billy: I wouldn’t be so sure if I were you. Emotions are like works of art. They can be forged they seem just like the original but they are forgery.
Virgil: Forgery?
Billy: Everything can be faked Virgil: joy, pain, hate, illness, recovery… even love.

…

Robert [his voice through the robot]: There is always something authentic concealed in every forgery. I couldn’t agree more. That’s why I’ll miss you, Mr. Oldman. There is always something authentic concealed in every forgery. I couldn’t agree more. That’s why I’ll miss you, Mr. Oldman. There is always something authentic concealed in every forgery. I couldn’t agree more. That’s why I’ll miss you, Mr. Oldman. There is always something authentic concealed in every forgery. I couldn’t agree more. That’s why I’ll miss you, Mr. Oldman. There is always something authentic concealed in every forgery. I couldn’t agree more. That’s why I’ll miss you, Mr. Oldman.

…

Virgil: I was here a while ago. Do you remember?
Little woman: Nine.
Virgil: What do you mean?
Little woman: You’ve been here nine times. Today makes 10.
Virgil: I was wondering if you saw a woman leave the villa.
Little woman: Medium height, light hair, a bit pale?
Virgil: Yes.
Little woman: That time was 231.
Virgil: Are you sure?
Little woman: Then another six. In a year and a half, I saw her go out 237 times.
Barman: What did I say? She’s a phenomenon, remembers everything.
Virgil: It’s not possible.
Little woman: You were at the villa 63 times. 36 during the day and 27 during the night, excluding the night of the accident.

…

Waiter: Are you on your own, sir?
Virgil: No. I’m waiting for someone.[/b]

[iambiguous]

Consider:

According to writer/director Steven Knight, the name Locke is partly a tribute to philosopher John Locke.

Why? How? You decide. From my perspective Locke seems more reflective [considerably more reflective] of Kant. Deontologically as it were. Bottom line: Doing “the right thing” can be really, really hard.

Or, consider this: the “John Fowles phone metaphor”.

Life, he suggested, is analogous to sitting at a desk awash with phones. Each phone represents a potential calamity or crisis in your life: death, health, money, work, family, love etc. We sit at the desk day after day after day waitng for the next phone to ring. It’s always never nothing.

Only here there is no desk. After all, in this day and age phones can be damn near anywhere. Anywhere that we are, in other words. Here they’re in the car. But it’s not the new technologies that make them ring, right?

Now, some will obviously put themselves in situations in which it is much more likely that the phones will ring. But that is also what makes their life all the more worth living. So it really comes down to striking the best possible balance somehow.

But then there is this: the times when the phones ring and they pull us in conflicting directions. Really conflicting directions.

Me? Well, let’s just say this guy gets more phone calls in one night than I get in an entire year. I designed it that way. Of course, that doesn’t make the calamities and crises go away.

IMDb

[b]The movie had an unconventional shooting schedule. Tom Hardy filmed his part in 6 days, shooting the movie twice per night as it was filmed in a single take. The other actors were in a hotel room, speaking on the phone with Hardy, who was on location.

Locke is a dialog-driven chamber play consisting of one continuous scene. With the exception of Ivan getting into his car at the beginning, a short overhead shot of the motorway midway and a brief pan-out at the end, the entire movie takes place inside Ivan’s car.

During Ivan’s drive to London there were 36 phone calls. 13 outgoing, 21 incoming, 1 ignored call and 1 went to voice mail. At least half the calls ended with Ivan being hung up on or Ivan hanging up on the caller.[/b]

at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locke_(film
trailer: youtu.be/qex1AFCbEho

LOCKE [2013]
Written and directed by Steven Knight

[b]Bethan [on the phone]: Have you even told your wife that someone’s having your baby?
Ivan: I’m about to do that. I have…I have a list of things that I have to do tonight while driving.
Bethan: So, am I on a list?

…

Katrina [on the phone]: So, go on, tell me. What is it?
Ivan: Last year, this job… You know, the job in Croydon. Do you remember? I was up and down there for three months. Remember? I stayed in the guesthouse. They gave me an assistant. She worked with me on the block construction. She was a secretary, quite old. We… We worked together. She’s quite old and she lives on her own. She’s 43 or something. She’s…
Katrina: Why are you telling me about some woman?
Ivan: This is the only time I ever did this, Katrina. The only time. Look, after the block was settled in, there were some drinks to celebrate. Now, the block going in is a big thing because it’s the base of a whole building. And she came back to the guesthouse. She isn’t what you would call an oil painting, but it was wet and cold, and she talked about being lonely and I talked about being happy. But I’m lonely sometimes, you know, when I was away, and…And there was this wine and… This was the only time I did this
in all our 15 years. And now tonight she’s giving birth. Tonight she’s giving birth and it’s mine.
[click. Katrina hangs up]

…

Gareth [on the phone]: I just spoke to Donal. This had better be more than good! Speak to me only about tomorrow morning, Ivan.
Ivan: Right, well…I won’t be on site for the pump tomorrow.
Gareth [exploding]: Sweet monkey Jesus! This is not happening!!
Ivan: The truth is, tonight I’m going to become a father. And she’s in London, so I have to be there.
Garteth: Okay, Okay. Jesus! I’m just gonna read you something, Ivan. “Good luck tomorrow with the pour. We just had it confirmed by CGO that this will be the biggest single concrete pour ever made in Europe outside of nuclear military projects. I know the day is in the safest of hands. Best wishes, Mitchell.” That is Mitchell Dean himself, the president of the whole fucking company!!

…

Gareth [on the phone]: You’re gonna abandon the biggest fucking concrete pour in Europe to hold someone’s fucking hand because she’s fragile?
Ivan: And because the baby was caused by me. That is my decision I have made. I have not behaved in the right way with this woman at all. I have behaved in a way that isn’t like me. But now I am going to do the right thing.
Gareth: What, and Chicago can go to fucking hell?
Ivan: It is a decision that I have made. I’m not gonna turn back.
Gareth: Do you know how many millions of pounds are riding on tomorrow? If any one of those pumps fucks up, Ivan, we are facing 10 million pounds worth of losses in 15 minutes. So if we get that 15 minutes for the whole morning, a total shutdown, $100 million.

…

Ivan [on the phone]: Well, you have the phone numbers of the plants, don’t you?
Donal: Yeah.
Ivan: Call them now, Donal. Call every one of those bastards, get them to repeat the order. C6 on the nose or we send those trucks back. Seriously, those fuckers will fuck you up with the water in the gullies if it rains tomorrow.
Donal: Well, it’s not gonna rain tomorrow. It’s gonna be dry. I’ve got a direct line to God up in heaven, you know.
Ivan: Donal, don’t trust God when it comes to concrete.

…

Donal: I just got off the phone with the plant in Stafford, and they said they know that it’s a C6 mix, but how far towards C5 can it go? In other words, if one truck had some C5, how bad would that be taken?
Ivan: Donal, what does it say on the whiteboard?
Donal: On the… It says C6.
Ivan: What does it say on every piece of paperwork and on every sign-off sheet?
Donal: It says C6.
Ivan: It says C6. And you know why? Because, eventually, when my building is complete, it will be 55 floors high. It will weigh 2,223,000 metric tons. Okay? My building will alter the water table and squeeze granite. It will be visible from 20 miles away. At sunset, it will cast a shadow probably a mile long. Now, if the concrete at the base of my building is not right, if it slips half an inch, cracks appear. Right? If cracks appear, then they will grow and grow, won’t they? And the whole thing will collapse.
Donal: Ivan, look…
Ivan: You make one mistake, Donal, one little fucking mistake, and the whole world comes crashing down around you. Do you understand? So you tell Stafford, C6.

…

Katrina [on the phone]: Of all the things in the world, I never thought of you doing this! You fucked some girl. You fucked her and then me. I looked at my diary and I checked. I remember when you got home from Croydon that weekend, and you had a big stupid
grin on your face.
Ivan: The block was in. I was happy with it.
Katrina: And I sit in the dark.
Ivan: It was once.
Katrina: Once! The difference between once and never is the whole world! The difference between never and once is the difference between good and bad!

…

Bethan [on the phone]: When will you get here?
Ivan: About 45 minutes.
Bethan: It’s like waiting for God, or… Waiting for Godot. Sorry, you’re not a theater man. And not a reader of books and not a talker. A builder. Funny, isn’t it? It’s funny it was someone like you, someone so opposite to me. All the things I love mean absolutely zero to you.

…

Bethan: I’ll let them do it because I love you.
Ivan: Okay then.
Bethan: Can’t you say it back just once?
Ivan: No, I can’t. I can’t. But I can be there as fast as traffic will allow.

…

Katrina: Ivan, I just found Sean looking through your pockets. He said you asked him for a phone number.
Ivan: Yes.
Katrina: Now, at this moment, you need a phone number?
Ivan: I know how it looks, but I need to…I need to confirm a stop and go. Tomorrow there’s a pour. It’s a big… It is historical. It is the biggest pour in Europe.
Katrina: Can you hear yourself, Ivan? I’m falling apart at home and you’re closing roads?
Ivan: It’s not a closure, it’s a stop and go.
Katrina: The woman is giving birth and you’re closing roads![/b]

And he has already been fired! It’s not even his job now to do this!!

[b]Ivan [on the phone]: Katrina, I love you. Okay? I made one mistake. I don’t feel anything for this woman, and I’m trying to do the right thing tonight, because she is on her own and the baby is my fault. And I know how it feels to be coming out into the world like this. There is someone being brought into the world and it’s my fault. So I have to fix it, somehow.

…

Katrina [on the phone]: Ivan, let me ask you a question. Do you still want me to give you the phone number so you can close the road?
[pause]
Ivan: Yes.
Katrina: Right, well, goodbye, Ivan.
[she hangs up]

…

Katrina [on the phone]: Ivan? I’ve decided.
Ivan: Kat, you know what? We can work this out. I know we can.
Katrina: No, no, no. I’ve spoken to my sister and my half-sister. And the difference between once and never is everything. So, that’s it. And it never is once anyway. I don’t want you to come back, Ivan. This is not your home anymore and I want you to stay away.
Ivan: Katrina, please, listen.
Katrina: We will make arrangements for seeing the boys. But, look, I… I don’t want you coming here. You were always more in love with your buildings anyway. Why don’t you go and live in one of them? I mean, right at the top where you like to look out and feel so pleased with yourself. Hey, I’m gonna wash everything here, wash it all out 10 times to get the dust of you out of it. I won’t have to deal with your footprints turning to stone on the kitchen floor anymore. It’s finished. This isn’t your home anymore.

…

Gareth [on the phone]: You know, I actually threw up earlier.
Ivan: Yeah?
Gareth: Fucking yeah.
Ivan: Well hear this, Gareth. When I left the site just over two hours ago, I had a job, a wife, a home. And now I have none of those things. I have none of those things left. I just have myself and the car that I’m in. And I’m just driving and that’s it.
Gareth: Ivan, you fucked up your life, that’s your business, but Chicago is going insane.
Ivan: Two words I learned tonight. Fuck Chicago. [/b]

[iambiguous]

Films like this come along from time to time. A hardened, battered man [usually an ex-con] who is just around the corner from throwing in the towel happens upon a young boy who has himself been battered by life and then some. Something in boy brings out something in the man that neither one of them ever expected to see.

Then it’s only a matter of how to end it. In the tradition of Hollywood or in the tradition of the real world. Or, as here, in the tradition of both.

Men. They are everywhere here. The kind of men that either will or will not rub you the wrong way. But the point I always raise is this: Look around them. What in the world would you expect of them given the manner in which the circumstances we see shaped their lives. They live out on the “margins of society”. Not quite working class and not quite lumpin. And when you are “just a kid” out there you’re not really a kid at all.

These are basically a slew of sub-mental folks that more or less live one day at a time. Needless to say from paycheck to paycheck. But at least they’re living. If you know what I mean. And some of them are clearly more decent than others.

File this one under “dark and slow”.

And look out for the undertow. Nihilism some will call it. But those who have never been caught up in it [most of you I suspect] don’t really have a clue how things like this unfold when you are born and bred to it.

IMDb

Gary Poulter, who plays the part of Wade the father a.k.a. G-Daawg, was a homeless man given the role by director David Gordon Green, who often casts locals in his movies. Poulter died on the streets of Austin on Feb. 19, 2013, 2 months after filming was finished.

at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_(2013_film
trailer: youtu.be/3WPLVEUx5AU

JOE [2013]
Directed by David Gordon Green

[b]Gary: Hey, you old man, you look at me. I got som’in’ to say to you. Every time we land someplace new, you say it’s gonna be different, but it ain’t. You mess up… a lot… then you leave a mess for me and Momma and Dorothy to clean up, and that ain’t right. That’s all I’m sayin’. Hell, I do what I gotta do. You do whatever the hell you want - whatever you can get away with. You’re just a… selfish old drunk. Yeah, that’s what you is. Yeah, this place is gonna be after us. Hell, they’ll be on you, and they’re gonna beat your ass. And I hate to see you go down. You know you’re my daddy. You know what you are, ain’t you? I’m talking at chu.
[Wade gives a long silent stare]
Gary: What’chu done this time? They’ll beat your ass, shit. That’s what they’re gonna do. You can count on it.
[Wade suddenly slaps Gary hard then walks away]

…

Gary: Let me see that snake.
Joe: Ain’t he a nice one? See those fangs? You get bit by those, you’re gonna die. Or you’re gonna wanna die.

…

Gary: What y’all doing? Y’all cutting these trees?
Joe: We’re killing trees.
Gary: What for?
Joe: Neidermeyer land. The owner hires us to get rid of what’s on it so they can come in and put strong pines on it. Nobody wants these trees. These trees are weak. They’re not good for anything.[/b]

There’s a lesson in there somewhere.

[b]Gary: Is killing trees against the law?
John: Well, the lumber company can’t cut 'em down unless they dead, and so the lumber company hire us to come in and poison the trees so we can kill 'em and they’ll come in and die theyself. Yeah, I’ve been doing this for a little minute now. Welcome to the program.

…

[repeated line]
Willie-Russell: I went through a windshield at 4 o’clock one morning and I don’t give a fuck.

…

Sammy: Who these white folks you got working?
Joe: Yeah, I’m not sure. They need work and I need help. Young, old, black, white, red, yellow. I really don’t give a shit, Sammy.

…

Mother: He loves us. Just…He just goes through a hard time.
Gary: Well, I ain’t gonna watch him sit there and hit you like he hits me, you hear me? Okay, Mama? Ain’t supposed to do that to no one.
Mother: You stay with your family. That’s what you need to do. You need to stay with your family. Your family’s all you got.

…

Joe: Hey, there you go. You look like a million bucks. You feel better now?
Gary [wearing some of Joe’s clothes]: I fell like a hundred bucks.

…

Connie: What are you thinking, Joe?
Joe: Nothing. There’s nothing I can do and I hate it.
Connie: That’s not true.
Joe: Yeah, it is. You look at me like I can make a move. What are you thinking when you look at me like that? Don’t you care? I don’t know who I am, but I know what keeps me alive is restraint. Keeps me out of jail. Keeps me from hurting people. A mark of some fucked-up faith that there’s a reason. A reason for all of this. A reason in most moments I shouldn’t do what I wanna do. I do as I’m told. These men who bust their asses work like dogs - and I believe in them - but every day they hurt. They get old, they peel back… There’s no frontier anymore. And I watch that boy, and I see someone who’s… nothing like me, but… he’s a child folks left behind. And he’s on a fence, balanced right there.
Connie: What do you want? What is it you want?
Joe: Nothing.
Connie: Just tell me what I can do. I like you.
Joe: I like you, too, but what’s the point in any of it? Fuck to this day. I mean, fuck to this day. It’s all just gonna boil up and wash us away. Maybe you’ll still be here. Maybe you won’t.

…

Joe [with a busted beer bottle to Willie-Russel’s face]: Christy, call the cops 'fore somebody gets killed. Would you do that for me, honey?

…

Joe [to Gary as they pass cops on the highway]: Don’t look at them. Don’t wave to them, 'cause they think you’re guilty of something when you wave. A cop can mess you up if he wants to.

…

Joe: My dog is about 100 pounds, brown and white, looks like a cow.
Town Woman: Looks like a cow?
Joe: Right.
Town Woman: You have a dog that looks like a cow?
Joe: Well, it’s not that big a deal. A lot of dogs look like cows.

…

Joe: Ah, the dog likes you.
Gary: She has a lot of scars.
Joe: Yeah, but all the others…all the others is dead.

…

Joe: Gary, why do you stick around like this? You’re old enough, smart enough to do your own thing.
Gary: What’s most important right now is me taking care of Dorothy and Mama, 'cause… we kind of got a family problem right now.
[his sister Dorothy stares out the window vacantly at them]
Joe: Hey there. Hey now. Don’t talk much, does she?
Gary: She don’t talk at all.
Joe: What do you mean?
Gary: I don’t know. Nobody knows. She just stopped one day.[/b]

We can guess why.

[b]Earl: Let me ask you a question, Joe, ‘cause I really wanna know. Why you wanna go back? Why you wanna go back to the damn penitentiary, man? ‘Cause you can’t keep going to folks’ houses, killin’ their dogs, no matter what else is goin’ on. And you can’t keep fist-fightin’ the law. Judge won’t put up with it. He don’t have to put up with it. That’s why they built prisons.

…

Earl: I haven’t mistreated you, Joe. Have I? Tell the truth.
Joe: No, Earl. You stuck up for me when you could.
Earl: And I used to be as bad as you.
Joe: At one time, you were worse.

…

Joe [looking at Gary’s beaten up face]: Oh, shit. What happened?
Gary: I need to borrow the truck.
Joe: What happened to you?
Gary: I’m gonna kill him. I’m gonna kill that old son of a bitch. You think I won’t, but I will. And I’ma get mine back. I just need to borrow that truck.

…

Joe: I should have given you a boxing lesson.
Gary: I don’t need no goddamn boxing lesson. I know what to do. I’ll pop him right in the eye. He whupped my ass and threw me out of the truck 'cause he knew that I were gonna kill him! I can kill his ass. I can kill him just as good as you could.
Joe: I know you could, I know you could. I know it. But you don’t have to do that. Okay, son? Just stay here with me. You’ll be safe here. Bring your mama and your sister.
Gary: He gots Dorothy. He done run off with her. He met up with some bad men. I heard him talking about it. That man with the scarred-up face…the one that I beat down by the bridge? He been looking for me for what I done did to him. She don’t hurt nobody, Joe. Should have been me.
Joe: Do you know where they took her? Gary…tell me.

…

Willie-Russell [to Dorothy]: Hi. Hi. How you doing? You okay? Huh? Tell me something. You like funny faces?

…

Farmer: Then, if everything goes good on that acreage, I’ll have you help me supervise the Manea project next summer. Old bastards can be hard to work for sometimes, but, hell, if you worked for Joe, I think you’ll do just fine. You got any questions?
Gary: No, sir. When can I start?
Farmer: Right now, if you’re ready.
Gary: Yes, sir.
[extends his hand to shake]
Gary: So, you knew Joe?
Farmer: Yeah, sure did. Joe’s a good man. Good man to me, anyways.
Gary: He was a good man to me, too. [/b]

[iambiguous]

Imagine this: You are going about the business of living your grim, humdrum life [you’re a history professor] when out of the blue you spot yourself playing a bit part in a movie. Your doppelgänger. And, even if only in your head, you’ve got to find him. You do. But then things start to become, well, chaotic.

So, is there perhaps a method to the madness here? One that has simply not yet been discovered? And yet what can we really control when there are so many possible permutations “out in the world” – given all of the vast and varied ways in which our lives can come together. And/or fall apart. And that’s just in regard to the conscious mind. Once the subconscious mind becomes a part of it, all bets are truly off.

But then how much of this is meant to be taken literally? It may well just be a surreal, allegorical romp that prompts you to think about 1] who you are and 2] how you came to be that way.

Which, basically, is what I do.

And it clearly seems intent on conveying insights [however recondite] into the roles that men and women embody in the ever turbulent quagmire that are “relationships”.

As for the ending [related of course to “what’s it all mean”?], here’s one take on it:
slate.com/blogs/browbeat/201 … denis.html

IMDb

[b]The cast signed a confidentiality agreement that doesn’t allow them to speak and/or explain to the press the meaning of spiders in the movie.

While no explanation was given for the presence of spiders, it has been analyzed by many people that they represent as Adam/Anthony’s weakness to women, making him less dominant. [/b]

at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enemy_(2013_film
trailer: youtu.be/FJuaAWrgoUY

ENEMY [2013]
Directed by Denis Villeneuve

[b]Title Card: Chaos is order yet undeciphered.

…

Adam [to the class]: Control, it’s all about control. Every dictatorship has one obsession and that’s it. In ancient Rome they gave the people bread and circuses. They kept population busy with entertainment but other dictatorships used other strategies to control ideas, the knowledge… how do they do that? Lower education, they limit culture, censor information, they censor any means of individual expression and is important to remember this, that this is a pattern, that repeats itself throughout history.[/b]

And we are certainly no exception, are we?

Mary: Wanna go to bed?
Adam: Hmm?
Mary: Want to go to bed?
Adam: No, I’m gonna finish up grading these papers, and then I’ll come join you, okay?

Talk about living in a world of words…

Adam [to the class]: Last class we talked about dictatorships, so today we’ll start with Hegel. It was Hegel who said all the great world events happen twice. And then Karl Marx added… the first time it was a tragedy, the second time a farce.
It’s strange to think a lot of the world thinkers are worried that this century will be a repetition of the last one.

So: How is all of this “academic” stuff relevant here? If it is relevant at all.

[b]Anthony: Hello? Hello, this is Anthony…
Adam: This is Anthony Claire isn’t it?!
Anthony: Who’s calling?
Adam: Um, I called before. I talked with your wife. It’s crazy.
Anthony: You’re the one! If you call here again, I will call the police.
Adam: No, no, wait, listen to me… Can you say something…keep talking!
Anthony: Who is this?
Adam: That’s crazy. That’s amazing. Your voice is just like mine…do you hear my voice? Your voice is just like mine.
[Anthony hangs up]

…

Anthony [on phone]: Listen…
Adam: Please, please just listen to me for a second! Just listen, just hear me out. I know this sounds crazy… I’m sorry I got excited before and I acted a little strange. Just hear me out for a second. I’ve seen three of your movies…and you’re great in them. You looked exactly alike. I called your wife earlier today and she said that she thought I was you. I’m just…I’m confused…and I know that this call is is just as confusing to you as it is for me. My name is Adam Bell, I’m a history teacher… and I just think that we should meet.
Anthony: Okay, okay, listen to me. Never call here again.

…

Helen: You’re messing with me. Right? Anthony! Who was on the phone?
Anthony: Helen, the same guy who called before. The same guy. That’s who was on the phone. I told you that. Why would I sell you any differently?
Helen: Are you lying to me? You’re lying to me.
Anthony: You’re acting crazy.
Helen: I’m not crazy! Who was on the phone!?
Anthony: I told you that it was a man who was on the phone.
Helen: Are you seeing her?
Anthony: Helen, I don’t wanna get into this.
Helen: Are you seeing her again?!

…

Helen: I went to see that guy.
Anthony: Who? What are you talking about?
Helen: That guy on the phone. I went to his work.
Anthony: Why did you do that? That’s dangerous, honey.
Helen: I wanted to know. He had the same voice. He looks exactly like you.
Anthony: What do you mean exactly like me?
Helen: What’s happening?
Anthony [after a long pause]: I really don’t know what you’re talking about.
Helen: I think you know. I think you know.

…

Anthony: Show me your hands, man.
Adam: Why?
Anthony: C’mon, show me your hands!
[Adam show him his hands]
Anthony: Maybe we’re brothers.
Adam: We’re not brothers.
Anthony: How do you know? Do you have a…do you have a scar on…on your chest? Like this one? You do, don’t you!

…

Mother: There must be some difference.
Adam: There isn’t.
Mother: You cannot be exactly the same.
Adam: Well we are.
Mother: Did you take your clothes off in front of him?
Adam: No.
Mother: Okay then. The last thing you need is meeting strange men in hotel rooms. You already have enough trouble sticking with one woman, don’t you?

…

Mother [to Adam]: You are my only son. I am your only mother. You have a respectable job. You have a nice apartment. And since we’re being frank here…I think you should quit that fantasy of being a third rate movie actor.

…

Anthony: Can I ask you something just man to man? Did you sleep with my wife?
Adam: I don’t know what you’re talking about.
Anthony: Did you fuck my wife?
Adam: This is crazy.
Anthony: Answer the question, man. Answer my fucking question and then I will leave.
Adam: You’re fucking crazy!
Anthony: Alright. I’m fucking crazy? I’m fucking crazy? I AM FUCKING CRAZY!! Now, you brought my wife into this man. So I’m gonna bring your girlfriend into the picture as well. You want me out of your life? This is what’s gonna happen first. Your gonna give me your clothes and your car… I’m gonna take your girlfriend on a little romantic getaway. I’m gonna bring her back home tomorrow…and then I’m gonna come back here and I’m gonna bring back your stuff… and then I’m gonna disappear from
your life…forever. Then we will be even.[/b]

Then it all more or less collapses into your guess is as good as mine.

Adam/Anthony: Helen, did you plan on doing something tonight? Because I think I have to go out. Helen? Helen?

[iambiguous]

I’ve always enjoyed films centered around the confidence game.

The best ones generally revolve around con men conning other con men. This one doesn’t quite go there, but the bastard they do scam is such a slimeball you are particularly pleased watching them rub his nose in it. Or I sure as shit was.

In other words, these are grifters you can love. They basically only take those who deserve to be taken. Or the greedy bastards that end up being hoisted by their own petards. Besides, in their own way, these types are on the grift too. Only sometimes what they do is perfectly legal.

Plus it’s always fun trying to figure out just how many different scams are actually going on [the scams within the scams], who is involved in which ones and who you’re convinced are not involved in any of them. Only it turns out that they are. Who can you trust? In this world you’re never far removed from asking yourself that.

And almost all grifters are true “characters”. They live off the beaten path, playing [more or less] by their own rules. You either wish you could be them or considerably more like them.

Look for the mother of all jinxes.

IMDb

The plot to this movie shares a number of similarities to perhaps the most famous heist movie of all time, The Sting.

at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confidence_(2003_film
trailer: youtu.be/6-AeSFk_wPY

CONFIDENCE [2003]
Directed by James Foley

[b]Big Al: Hey, Jake, when do I get to play the inside?
Jake: Gordo plays the inside. You are the shill, you know that.
Big Al: Yeah, but come on, all I do is cry and get insulted here.
Jake: What are you talking about? You should get a fucking Academy Award for the shill work you do.

…

Jake [to the camera]: It doesn’t matter what the con is. Insider trading, a line we got at a bookie club, insurance scam, whatever. You’ve seen the money and you want it. More of it. So who cares if you have to bend the rules a little bit? As long as nobody gets hurt. But then somebody does.

…

Jake [to the camera]: Tommy Suits always said, “A confidence game is like putting on a play, where everyone knows their part. The inside man, the roper, the shills, everyone, that is, except for the mark.”

…

Jake [to the camera]: So now you’re an accomplice in a homicide. Everything you thought you were in control of, just flew out the window, or is dripping down your leg. You should be running out the door, desperate to forget that this ever happened, and ready to repent your greedy ways. What about the money? Then there it is again, that itch. There’s a guy standing in front of you with a smoking gun, another guy on the floor bleeding all over the place, and all you can do is think about the money. You’re a sick twisted fuck. So we gotta make sure we give you the blow off. We have to make sure that you never ever come looking for us again. We have to get you off of our backs, forever. That’s why we give you the fix.

…

Jake voiceover]: Money. It can make you think you’re on top of the world. And if you believe that money can do all that for you, you are the perfect mark.

…

Jake [voiceover]: Wasn’t it Jack Kerouac who said, “If you own a rug, you own too much.” I don’t necessarily like Kerouac, and driving cross-country isn’t my idea of a good time, but the guy’s got a point. If you’ve got nothing, you’ve got nothing to lose. But when it comes to money, whether it’s finding it or losing it, you just have to remember how much of it is just luck. Just dumb fucking luck.

…

King [describing how he got shot in a white suit]: We’re checking our fingers and toes and we discover I got shot. I was the only one who got shot. You know why? White suit. I was the first one they saw, I was the first one they shot at, I was the first one they hit. You know what I learned that day?
Jake: Not to wear white after Labor Day?
King: No. Sometimes, Jake, style can get you killed.

…

King: You’re a good grifter, man. It’s hard to tell when you’re lying.

…

Jake: This is Lily. She’s the new shill I was telling you about.
Gordo: Whoa. Gordo: Whoa, whoa, whoa… Hold the fucking phone, what is this? Are we playing a con, or are we doing a rendition of “Our Town”?
Jake: Gordo, trust me. We need the help on this one.

…

Jake: What do you fucking suggest, Miles? You wanna run?
Miles: We never had a problem with that, before.
Jake: We never had a fucking problem like this before.
Miles: Yes, we have, okay? And we would have been beautiful about it. We would have had a bucket of fried chicken, delivered to the King with a nice Kiss My Ass card attached to it, and we would have moved on until the next local putz caught on.
Jake: We’re getting too old to run, Miles.
Miles: Yeah well, we’re still a little too young for San Quentin. Look, I’m… I mean, are you pissed off about Al? Look at me. Trust me, I’m pissed too. But I’m not 25-to-life pissed.

…

Jake [of Leon Ashby]: What you’re looking for in a mark is someone who has nothing to lose. No friends. No family. No life. You’re looking for a guy who doesn’t own a rug.

…

Lily: I get the feeling you could’ve bullshitted your way into anything. Why this?
Jake: I’m good at it. Lying, cheating, manipulating. It all came very naturally to me.
Lily: No, it’s more than that.
Jake: The thrill of it? I mean, didn’t you find it exciting tonight? The way you were working that guy Ashby… flirting, giving him your sweet little smile, brushing up against him, occasionally touching him, I have a feeling you were getting off on that tonight.
Lily: All I did was smile and shake my ass.
Jake: Yeah, but you did it very well.

…

Jake [voiceover]: They say a good chess player can see up to 20 moves deep. That means in some games you’ve calculated every move in your head. The game’s over, even before it’s really started. Like a game of chess, same with a con. You have to see that deep.

…

Jake [voiceover]: We called them the green Twinkies.

…

Jake [voiceover]: So I’m dead. But can I really blame Lily? Should I just have trusted her? Who knows? Sooner or later, someone’s gonna start asking the right questions. The Feds would want to know why were they sent in to just bust a couple of crooked cops. Manzano and Whitworth would ask how the drugs got into that duffel bag. The King and Price would ask, where their money really went. And everyone would ask, what agency was it that Special Agent Gunther Bhutan really worked for?[/b]

Take a wild guess.

[iambiguous]

Water wars. In particular, this one: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_Cochabamba_protests

Some say it’s the future. And not just in California. Though the continuing drought there generally gets all the press here in America. Instead, these conflicts will sprout up more increasingly across the globe. Some link it to global warming. Others link it to climate change in general.

And some link it to…imperialism.

The perils of imperialism. And the profits. And here it goes all the way back to Christopher Columbus. So basically we get to observe just how imperialism is able to link the present with the past; and how in attempting to shed light on it you can find yourself smack dab in the middle of its [still] brutal legacy.

Yes, there actually are people who think of “imperialism” as something that happened way back then. Way back in history sometime. When of course the rich and the powerful still sustain it in any number of ways today. You don’t have to enslave people to be imperialists.

Here though one might be idealistic about all of this [Sebastin] or one might be cynical [Costa]. Along the way however they tend to shift back and forth. It just depends on what is actually at stake.

Or [sure] one might just leave it all in the hands of God.

Look for crony capitalism in its most blatant and flagrant form. Only rarely does it go that far in the more “civilized” nations today. It doesn’t have to. In part because the citizens are themselves just plain cowed.

This film was dedicated to the memory of Howard Zinn, who had much to say about the legacy of imperialism. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Zinn

IMDb

The scene where the little girl sees herself on screen was kind of a self homage by director/actress Icíar Bollaín. She wanted to transmit her first impression when she saw herself on screen being a teenager.

at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Even_the_Rain
trailer: youtu.be/3JKs8aSb7eo

EVEN THE RAIN [También la Iluvia] 2010
Directed by Icíar Bollaín

[b]Costa: We’ll just see the ones here. The rest can leave.
Sebastin: No, Costa, wait, we can’t do that.
Costa: Shit, we can’t see them all, Sebastin. If you prefer, pick the ones you like and get rid of the rest. But do it now! Come on. Come on. Come on. Choose the ones you like.

…

Costa [after the people in line refuse to leave]: What’s wrong?
Daniel [holding up a flyer]: “Everyone gets a chance.” That’s what it says. And my girl wants to act.
Costa: Yeah, her and 200 others…but we can’t see them all, understand?
Daniel: You don’t understand, white face. We’ve been waiting for hours. Some have come from very far on foot. Now you tell us to leave. You have to see all of us. We’re not leaving until you see us all. We’re not moving from here![/b]

And all to get $2 a day.

[b]Maria: Sebastin, tell me something. We’re in Bolivia. It doesn’t make much sense. Because we’re 7,500 feet above sea level, surrounded by mountains, and thousands of miles from the Caribbean.
Sebastin: Well, Costa thinks Columbus landed by parachute.
Costa: No, Costa knows this place is full of starving natives, and that means thousands of extras.

…

Sebastin: No, Costa, no. This could be a mess, really. Have you seen their faces? Please, they’re Quechua.
Costa: So?
Sebastin: What do you mean, “so?” They’re from the Andes! What’s Columbus doing with natives from the Andes?
Costa: From the Andes or wherever, they’re natives. They’re all the same.
Sebastin: No.
Costa: You can negotiate things here – hotels, transport, catering, whatever.
Maria: So, it’s about money.
Costa: Yes, yes! It’s always money, always, always. Well, in this case, very little money, right?

…

Anton [playing Christopher Columbus]: I, Christopher Columbus, humble servant of King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile, in the name of Jesus Christ, Son of the one true God, take possession of these lands and seas and all they contain. And with this act I proclaim sovereignty over these lands and seas on behalf of their most gracious Majesties.

…

Anton [playing Columbus to a member of his crew]: Mingle with them. The first man to find gold will be rewarded. Captain…treat them well. We need their food. And find out what arms they have.

…

Admiral [in the film]: I spoke personally with their Majesties, who instructed me to treat you with respect and cordiality. We ask that you recognize the Church and the Pope as rulers of the universe. And also that you accept the King and the Queen of Spain as rulers of these lands. In exchange, you will receive our love and our charity.
Native: And if we do not?
Admiral: Captain…
Captain: If not we will enslave you and dispose of you as we wish. We will seize your possessions and we will do you as much harm as we can.
Native: What do you want from us?
Captain: Taxes.[/b]

Gold, in other words.

[b]Maria: Alberto, can you tell us about your character?
Alberto: Well, my character is Bartolome de las Casas. He came to the lndies when he was 18 to take charge of a plantation and the Indian slaves who worked there. But later, traumatized by the massacres he witnessed, he devoted his life to the Indians. He became a Dominican. He was nearly murdered twice. On his deathbed – and I’m quoting verbatim. Don’t laugh, listen. He said, “I condemn the blindness of those who ignore the genocide and give orders to the world”. This guy was the father of international law, and I’m only in eight scenes!

…

Anton: He never, Beto. Christopher Columbus never questioned Spanish authority over the New World or royal authority. In other words, he was a conservative.
Beto: He was a radical! A radical! He demanded that Indians be treated equally as Spaniards!
Anton: Under the Crown!
Beto: But with the Indians’ consent. He was ahead of his time.
Costa: How the fuck did Disney pass on this?

…

Village woman [to the company cops]: What are you doing to the well? We dug this well with our own hands so our children could drink. You’ve got no right to close the well! How can we live with dirty water? You take our lands, you take our wells. Are you going to take the air, too?

…

Priest [acting in the film]: The Pharisees sent someone to ask John the Baptist who he was. And he replied, “I am a voice crying in the wilderness.” The Indians mine the gold which builds our cities and even our churches. Gold finances our conquests in far distant parts and so the great wheel of commerce turns. Not one of us is untouched by Indian sweat, least of all His Majesty and his bishops!

…

Priest [in film]: The truth has many enemies. The lie has many friends.

…

Daniel [at a political rally against the privatization of the nation’s water supply]: They sell our rivers against our will. They sell our wells, our lakes and even the rain that falls on our heads! By law! Friends, it’s incredible! They don’t allow us to collect the water that falls from the rain, by law! And who takes even the rain? A company whose owners are in London and California. Friends, what are they going to steal next? The vapor from our breath? The sweat from our brow? All they get from me is piss!!

…

Maria: Costa, they say that they want to mobilize thousands.
Costa: So?
Maria: From the countryside…from the city, the unions. People are furious. Imagine a documentary about this. Costa, let me do it.
Costa: No, I’m not spending another penny.
Maria: Costa, they’re going to raise hell. And if we don’t tell the story, we’re going to let a great chance escape.
Costa: I said no! I’m not a fucking NGO! This story has nothing to do with me.

…

Costa: Daniel, we’re going to make a fantastic film, you’ll see. No, really. Sebastin is preparing some amazing scenes – hundreds of guys in the ravine panning for gold.
Daniel [parroting back Costas on the phone in English]: “Fucking epic, and you’re there! You’re there, man! What? Two fucking dollars, right? And they’re happy.”

…

Sebestin [explaining the scene to the native actors]: It’s a horrific choice…heartbreaking. You can’t bear the idea that the dogs will eat the babies. We’ll see you talking to Hatuey and how you understand that there’s no other solution, that you have to make this decision and you have to make it together to give each other courage. So you’ll take the babies…slowly, wade into the river, put them in the water, and drown them.
Daniel: They won’t do it.
Sebastin: Look, I know it’s difficult, but we have to get them to do it. We need it for the film…
Daniel: Sebastin, they can’t even imagine the idea of doing it.
Sebastin: I’m not making this up. It’s what happened. We have to show it. It’s important for the film. Please.
Daniel: Sebastin, some things are more important than your film.

…

Man [to government official]: They’re burning the water bills.
Government official: Excuse me, a little domestic row. Nothing for you to worry about. Don’t worry.
Man: “Let them eat cake,” as Marie Antoinette said. It’s only an excuse for some fanatics to stir up the desperate and gain a name for themselves.
Sebastin: Forgive me for saying so, but I think their demands are reasonable.
Government official: Perhaps if you were better informed…We’re a country with few resources. It’s hard to maintain a water supply without major foreign investment. These people think that government money grows on trees. Very good. Given their long history
of exploitation, Indians’ distrust is embedded in their genes. It’s very difficult to reason with them, especially when they’re illiterate. But that’s how it is. We have objective reports from Harvard professors, the IMF…
Man: I’d love to see those bastards feed their families on 40 fucking dollars a month!
Government official: Anyway, in this globalized world…

…

Costa [after Daniel has been beaten up at the demonstration]: Can no one else do this water stuff? Are you listening? Ah… playing the silent, dignified Indian? Fucking great.
[pause]
Costa: If we catch you at another demonstration, you won’t get a fucking penny. Is that clear?
[Daniel says nothing…just stares at him]
Costas: I’ll tell you what. We’ll give you an extra $5,000 if you stay away from demonstration until we’re finished. Okay? What? Forgive me, it’s beneath you? Or not enough? Eh, Daniel? Not enough? $8,000? $10,000? $10,000, Daniel, $10,000. $10,000.
Half now, half when we finish! You’ve never seen so much money in your life! It’s your only fucking chance to get out of this shithole where you live, and you’re smart enough to see that! Or not?[/b]

He takes the money. But that’s all he does.

[b]Sebastin: What if he’s beaten up when he comes back? If he’s tortured, killed, or disappeared? These bastards can do anything. I don’t want that on my conscience.
Costa: But he’s in jail already! We didn’t put him there. And the bastard tricked us. Without the scene, there’s no film. You fucking know that.
Sebastin: Okay, but we tip him off.

…

Costa: Daniel? You promised me. We made a deal. You broke your word.
Daniel: Water is life. You don’t understand.

…

Priest [in film]: I beg you, Commander. This will turn the Indians against us for generations. The Crown will prosecute you!
Commander: I doubt it, Father.
Priest: This isn’t Christian!
Commander: Choose 13, and the rest go free. One for each disciple and one for Christ Himself! Want to choose them, Father?
Priest: This is a sacrilege.
Commander: No, Father. It’s an example.

…

Costa: I’m taking Belen to the hospital.
Sebastin: No, no, you’re crazy! No, Costa, listen to me! This confrontation is going to end, and it’ll be forgotten. But our film is going to last forever. Please, come with us. If anything happens to you, we’re all fucked!
Costa: Listen to me for once in your life! If anything happens to that child, I’ll never forgive myself.
Sebastin: The army is on its way! They’ll crush everyone! You too!
Costa: I can’t leave the child there! I can’t leave her there. Help me out, man, please.
Sebastin: Fuck!!
Costa: Help me, Sebastin, please! You go with the crew. I just can’t leave that child. I can’t.

…

TV reporter: The army is firing with live ammo! I’ve seen a dozen drop, but the demonstrators still charge. Rocks against bullets!

…

Costsa [showing Daniel a news story]: You’re in the news everywhere. “Multinational pulls out of Bolivia after water war.” That’s you.
Daniel: It always costs us dear. It’s never easy. I wish there was another way. But there’s not. And the toughest bit is still to come.[/b]

[iambiguous]

A boy named Sue? Hell, what if everyone you knew called you 1900?

If nothing else this film shows us just how far a “sense of identity” can be stretched given a particularly unique set of circumcstances. Simply imagine yourself having been brought into the world and raised as he was. What would be the odds that you would construe “reality” in the manner in which you do now?

1900. His momma just abandoned him. Put him in a cradle and left it sitting on top of a ship’s piano. The year was 1900. And he is raised in the ship’s engine room smack dab in the belly of the working class beast. Talk about a truly unique point of view.

One can almost [but not quite] imagine this as a true story. But the film works best as an attempt to capture the manner in which any one of us might find ourself in a situation so extraordinary that we ourselves grow up to be extraordinary in turn. Only [let’s be honest] that almost never really happens at all. But at least it allows us to imagine how it might. And yet even when it does one era gives way to the next and it becomes increasingly more difficult for the translations to be made.

What must it be like though to live in your own little world? To be able to?

And then the part about “the philosophy of the ocean” and “the philosophy of the land”. How in opposition they can be. Either literally or metaphorically. I’ve never lived on the water myself so a lot of that simply escapes me.

Look for the dude from The Mod Squad. Oh, and the power of music. And [as some folks might insist] the racism.

IMDb

[b]Tim Roth cannot, in fact, play the piano. He trained for six months to be able to “fake it” for the film.

Exterior shots of the ship are the inspired blueprints of the SS Lusitania and her sister ship the SS Mauritania. The ballroom in which 1900 plays his piano in had a dome similar to the dome the SS Mauritania had in her ballroom during the transatlantic period. [/b]

at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_1900
trailer: youtu.be/LA8v9MamhJE

THE LEGEND OF 1900 [La Leggenda del Pianista Sull’Oceano] 1998
Written in part and directed by Giuseppe Tornatore

[b]Max [voiceover]: I still ask myself if I did the right thing when I abandoned his floating city. And I don’t mean only for the work. The fact is, a friend like that, a real friend - you won’t meet one again. If you just decide to hang up your sea legs, if you just want to feel something more solid beneath your feet - and it’s then you no longer hear the music of the gods around you. But, like he used to say, you’re never really done for, as long as you got a good story, and someone to tell it to. Trouble is, nobody’d believe a single word of my story.

…

Max [on the deck of the ship]: It happened every time. Someone would look up, and see her. It’s difficult to understand. There’d be more than a thousand of us on that ship, traveling rich folks, immigrants, and strange people, and us; yet there was always one, one guy alone, who would see her first. Maybe he was just sitting there eating, or walking on the deck, maybe he was just fixing his pants. He’d look up for a second, a quick glance out to sea, and he’d see her. Then he’d just stand there, rooted to the spot, his heart racing. And every time, every damn time I swear, he’d turn to us, towards the ship, towards everybody, and scream.
Passenger: [pointing] America! [/b]

Lady Liberty? You bet.
Let’s just call this the idealized rendition of the American immigrant.

[b]Danny: If my sons grow up to be a lawyer, I swear I’ll kill him myself.

…

Danny [to the engine room crew]: I found him the first month of the first year of this frigging new century. So I calls him, Ninteen Hundred.

…

Max [to Pops the music shop proprietor]: The problem was, as far as the world was concerned, he didn’t even exist…He was eight years old, but officially, he had never even been born.

…

Ship captain [as 1900 plays the piano]: 1900, all of this is quite against the regulations.
1900 [at 8]: Fuck the regulations.

…

Max: What the hell do you think about when you’re playing? Where does your mind go when you hit the keys?
1900: Last night I was in a beautiful country. Women had perfume in their hair, everything glowed. It was full of tides.
Max [voiceover]: He traveled. And each time he ended up some place different. In the heart of London, on a train in the middle of the country, on the edge of a giant volcano, in the biggest church in the world, countin’ the columns and staring up at the crucifixes. He traveled.

…

1900 [to Max who wonders why he never leaves the ship]: I think land people waste a lot of time wondering why. Winter comes and can’t wait for summer, summer comes and you never can wait for winter. That’s why you never tire of traveling or chasing some place far away, where it’s always summer. Doesn’t sound like a good bet to me.

…

Italian Immigrant [to 1900]: The voice of the sea, it is like a shout, a shout big and strong, screaming and screaming. And the thing it was screaming was, yoooou… with shit instead of brains… life is immense… can you understand that? Immense.

…

[Repeated line]
Band musician: End of the line!

…

Jelly Roll Morton [enters the hall for the duel, meeting 1900 for the first time]: I believe you’re sitting in my seat.
1900 [stands, good-naturedly]: You’re the one that invented jazz, right?
Jelly Roll Morton: That’s what they say. And you’re the one who can’t play without the ocean under his ass, right?
1900: That’s what they say.
[moves to shake hands, but gets snubbed]

…

Jelly Roll Morton [to 1900]: Your turn…sailor.

…

Jelly Roll Morton [before starting his last piece in the duel–to 1900]: You can stick this up your ass.
1900 [before starting his last piece of the duel-to Jelly Roll Morton]: You asked for it, asshole.

…

1900: Hey, Max, gimme a cigarette, will you?
Max [bitterly]: You’re not handling this well.
1900 [calmly]: Just gimme a cigarette.
Max: You don’t smoke. What is the matter with you? You could lick this guy with one hand, come on!
1900 [getting agitated]: You gonna gimme a cigarette?
Max [emphatically]: We’re gonna be chucking coal a couple a hundred years and all you can say is…
1900: Give me a fucking cigarette, will you?!

…

1900 [watching Jelly Roll Morton leave the ship]: And fuck jazz, too.

…

1900: It’s like a big scream, telling you that life is immense. Once you’ve finally heard it, then you really know what you have to do to go on living. I can’t stay here forever. The ocean would never tell me a thing. But if I get off, live on land for a couple of years, then I’ll be normal, just like the others. And then maybe one day, I’ll make it to the coast, look up, see the ocean, and hear it’s scream.

…

Max [voiceover]: I often thought about him during the war; if only 1900 were here, who knows what he’d do, what he’d say. ‘Fuck war’ he’d say. But somehow, coming from me, it wasn’t the same thing.

…

1900 [explaining to Max why he didn’t leave the ship and never will]: All that city… You just couldn’t see an end to it. The end! Please, could you show me where it ends? It was all very fine on that gangway and I was grand, too, in my overcoat. I cut quite a figure and I had no doubts about getting off. Guaranteed. That wasn’t a problem. It wasn’t what I saw that stopped me, Max. It was what I didn’t see. Can you understand that? What I didn’t see. In all that sprawling city, there was everything except an end. There was everything. But there wasn’t an end. What I couldn’t see was where all that came to an end. The end of the world. Take a piano. The keys begin, the keys end. You know there are 88 of them and no-one can tell you differently. They are not infinite, you are infinite. And on those 88 keys the music that you can make is infinite. I like that. That I can live by. But you get me up on that gangway and roll out a keyboard with millions of keys, and that’s the truth, there’s no end to them, that keyboard is infinite. But if that keyboard is infinite there’s no music you can play. You’re sitting on the wrong bench. That’s God’s piano. Christ, did you see the streets? There were thousands of them! How do you choose just one? One woman, one house, one piece of land to call your own, one landscape to look at, one way to die. All that world weighing down on you without you knowing where it ends. Aren’t you scared of just breaking apart just thinking about it, the enormity of living in it? I was born on this ship. The world passed me by, but two thousand people at a time. And there were wishes here, but never more than could fit on a ship, between prow and stern. You played out your happiness on a piano that was not infinite. I learned to live that way. Land is a ship too big for me. It’s a woman too beautiful. It’s a voyage too long. Perfume too strong. It’s music I don’t know how to make. I can’t get off this ship. At best, I can step off my life. After all, it’s as though I never existed. You’re the exception, Max. You’re the only one who knows that I’m here. You’re a minority. You’d better get used to it. Forgive me, my friend. But I’m not getting off.

…

Max: Oh, you can get off the ship alright, but the ocean?

…

Pops [returning Max’s pawned trumpet]: A good story’s worth more than an old trumpet.
Max: Okay, Pops. [/b]

[iambiguous]

Poker. You can play the game every now and then for no particular reason. Or you can live and breathe it. You can pursue it literally as a full time job. A professionial poker player that makes the rounds. And then he makes the rounds again. And again and again.

In fact I watched a documentary on the game a couple of weeks ago. This one: youtu.be/56gax2hNHtA

The movie Rounders features prominantly. This movie in other words.

I have played a lot of poker in my life. Especially in the Army. And in college. But never once did I ever imagine pursuing it beyond the pleasant distraction that it was. These guys are on a whole other level altogether. And then there are those who go far beyond the game itself. Intead it is the part about gambling they become addicted to. Poker just happens to be their game of choice.

What makes poker so fascinating for some is the way in which it intertwines skill with luck. You have to have the cards. Only sometimes you don’t. And that’s why it’s often the same people that end up at the final tables in most of the big tournaments.

Of course the part about gambling means the part about those who do things under the table. And it may or may not be connected to mobsters. And then there’s this: to cheat or not to cheat.

One thing you can bet on here is the ending. Only from the very beginning I was actually betting against it.

Look for the parts that are anything but, say, glamorous. And that part about the juice.

IMDb

[b]Matt Damon and Edward Norton played the $10,000 buy-in Texas Hold 'Em championship event at the 1998 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. During the first of four days, Matt Damon had pocket Kings and was knocked out by former world champion and poker legend Doyle Brunson who held pocket Aces.

According to a Howard Stern Interview, the film is partially based on comedian/actor Norm MacDonald.

Despite the rise in No Limit Texas Hold’em interest in conjunction with this film’s release, the characters play a wide variety of poker variants: No Limit Hold’em is played with Teddy KGB at the beginning and end of the film, the Judge’s game is a 7 card Stud game, the College Boys are playing Stud variants (notably Chicago), when Worm and Mike go the Chesterfield the first time the game is Forced Rotation (alternating hands of Hold’em, Omaha, Razz, Stud usually), Worm plays 7 card Stud later at the Chesterfield, the Taj Mahal game is Limit Hold’em, the Union game is a Draw or Stud game, Mike plays Draw or Stud (it appears in the short scene)with the Greeks, the Cigar Club game is 7 card Stud Hi-Lo, the Golf pro game is a Pot Limit Omaha/Stud game, and the State police game is 7 card Stud. By the way all the games played are part of the World Series of Poker competition (though the main event is No Limit Texas Hold’em) [/b]

IMDb FAQ: imdb.com/title/tt0128442/faq?ref_=tt_faq_sm
at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rounders_(film
trailer: youtu.be/-Qv4K-4-FZM

ROUNDERS [1998]
Directed by John Dahl

[b]Mike [voiceover]: Listen, here’s the thing. If you can’t spot the sucker in your first half hour at the table, then you are the sucker.

…

Mike [voiceover]: Guys around here’ll tell ya…you play for a living. It’s like any other job. You don’t gamble. You grind it out. Your goal is to win one big bet an hour, that’s it. Get your money in when you have the best of it, and protect it when you don’t. Don’t give anything away. That’s how I’ve paid my way through half of law school. A true grinder. See, I learned how to win a little at a time. But finally, I’ve learned this… If you’re too careful, your whole life can become a fuckin’ grind.

…

Mike [voiceover]: This is Teddy KGB’s place. You won’t find it in the Yellow Pages.

…

Mike [voiceover]: The game in question is No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em. Minimum buy-in $25,000. A game like this doesn’t come together often outside the casinos. The stakes attract rich flounders, and they in turn attract the sharks. No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em is the Cadillac of poker. Each player is dealt two cards face down. Five cards are then dealt face up across the middle. These are community cards everyone can use to make the best five card hand. The key to the game is playing the man, not the cards. There’s no other game in which fortunes can change so much from hand to hand. A brilliant player can get a strong hand cracked, go on tilt…and lose his mind along with every single chip in front of him. This is why the World Series of Poker is decided over a No-Limit Hold 'Em table. Some people, pros even, won’t play No-Limit. They can’t handle the swings. But there are others, like Doyle Brunson, who consider No-Limit the only pure game left. Like Papa Wallenda said…“Life is on the wire. The rest is just waiting.”[/b]

How complicated can it be?

Mike [voiceover]: Here’s the beauty of this game. I just got top two pair on the flop, and I want to keep him in the hand. Against your average guy, I’d set a bear trap, hardly bet at all. Let him walk into it. But KGB’s too smart for that. So, what I’ve got to do is over-bet the pot, make it look like I’m trying to buy it.

And on and on…until he loses thirty thousand dollars.

[b]Mike [voiceover]: You don’t hear much about guys who take their shot and miss, but I’ll tell you what happens to ‘em. They end up humping crappy jobs on graveyard shifts, trying to figure out how they came up short. See, I had this picture in my head. Me sitting at the big table, Doyle to my left, Amarillo Slim to my right, playing in the World Series of Poker. And I let that vision blind me at the table against KGB. Now, the closest I get to Vegas is west New York, driving this lousy route handed down from Knish… to rounders who forget the cardinal fuckin’ rule…Always leave yourself outs.

…

Store Clerk: Hey, lemme ask you a question. In the legal sense, can fuckin’ Steinbrenner move the Yankees? Does he have the fuckin’ right to just move them?
Mike: How should I know that?
Store Clerk: You didn’t learn that yet?
Mike: No, we get to Steinbrenner in third year law school.
Store Clerk: Oh…

…

Mike [after Jo tells him they don’t have vtime for sex]: I’ll be really quick. You won’t feel a thing.

…

Jo: What kind of a job is that going to be, Mike um, writing an opinion on high stakes poker?
Mike: Hon, you’re the one that told me I should use my poker skills in the court room.

…

Jo [to Mike]: Worm. I just can’t believe you still know someone called “Worm.”

…

Mike [voiceover]: In “Confessions of a Winning Poker Player,” Jack King said, “Few players recall big pots they have won, strange as it seems, but every player can remember with remarkable accuracy the outstanding tough beats of his career.” It seems true to me, cause walking in here, I can hardly remember how I built my bankroll, but I can’t stop thinking of how I lost it.

…

Mike [voiceover]: Worm and I fall into our old rhythm like Clyde Frazier and Pearl Monroe. We bring out all the old school tricks, stuff that would never play in the city… signalling, chip placing, trapping. We even run the old best hand play. I can probably crack the game just as quickly straight up, but there’s no risk in this room. Now, some people might look down on Worm’s mechanics, call it immoral. But as Canada Bill Jones said, “It’s immoral to let a sucker keep his money.”

…

Mike [voiceover]: Worm really has become an artist, too. Discard culls, pickup culls, overhand run ups, the Double Duke…His technique is flawless. But his judgment is a little off. A few times, I have to fold the case on him, just so it won’t be obvious. Still, he plays the part of the loser to perfection.

…

Worm [of Jo]: She’s really got him by the balls.
Petra: That’s not so bad, is it?
Worm: It depends on the grip.

…

Mike [voiceover]: Amarillo Slim, the greatest proposition gambler of all time, held to his father’s maxim…“You can shear a sheep many times, but skin him only once.” This is a lesson Worm’s never bothered to learn.

…

Mike [to Worm]: I’m not gonna preach to you, but those two guys in there, they’re not rabbits. Roman and Maurice? They’re Russian outfit guys. Not as bad as KGB, but you don’t want to be fuckin’ with those guys.

…

Jo: I watched you, I stood by you while you lost everything before. I don’t think I can go through that with you again.
Mike: Jo, I wasn’t gonna lose! Why does this still seem like gambling to you? Why do you think the same five guys make it to the final table of the World Series of Poker EVERY YEAR?!! What, are they the luckiest guys in Las Vegas? It’s a skill game, Jo. Jo: Great. So why’d you have to lie to me?
Mike: Because I knew you wouldn’t understand. Last night, I sat down at this card table. I felt alive for the first time since I got busted at KGB’s joint, okay?
Jo: You just told me you felt alive for the first time at a fucking card table.

…

Mike [analyzing the Professor’s poker game]: All right, here’s the thing. You only play premium hands. You only start with jacks or better split, nines or better wired, three high cards to a flush. If it’s good enough to call, you gotta be in there raising, all right? I mean, tight, but aggressive. And I do mean aggressive. That’s your style, Professor. I mean, you gotta… you gotta think of it as a war.

…

Professor: For generations, the men of my family have been rabbis. It was to be my calling. I was quite a prodigy. The elders said I had a 70-year-old’s understanding of the midrahs by the time I was 14. But by the time I was finished with my studies I knew I could never be a rabbi.
Mike: Why not?
Professor: Because for all I understood of the Talmud, I never saw God there.

…

Worm [after Jo walks out on Mike]: I guess the sayings’ true. In the poker game of life, women are the rake man. They are the fuckin’ rake.
Mike: What the fuck are you talkin’ about. What saying?
Worm: I…I don’t know. There ought to be one though.

…

Mike [after two fish join the poker game]: These two have no idea what they’re about to walk into. Down here to have a good time, they figure why not give poker a try? After all, how different can it be from the home games they’ve played their whole lives? All the luck in the world isn’t gonna change things for these guys. They’re simply overmatched. We’re not playing together, but then again, we’re not playing against each other either. It’s like the Nature Channel. You don’t see piranhas eating each other, do you?

…

Worm: Hey, I’m not gonna let a garbage can fall on my head.
Mike: No, you’re gonna jump out of the way and let it land on me.

…

Knish: You had to put it all on the line for some Vegas pipe dream.
Mike: Yeah, I took a risk. I took a risk.
Knish: You see all the angles.
Mike: You never have the stones to play one.
Knish: “Stones”? You little punk. I’m not playing for the thrill of fucking victory here. I owe rent, alimony, child support. I play for money. My kids eat. I got stones enough not to chase cards, action or fucking pipe dreams of winning the World Series on ESPN.

…

Mike [voiceover]: I’ve often seen these people, these squares at the table, short stack and long odds against them. All their outs gone. One last card in the deck that can help them. I used to wonder how they could let themselves get into such bad shape, and how the hell they thought they could turn it around.

…

Mike [voiceover playing against KGB]: Doyle Brunson says, “The key to No-Limit… is to put a man to a decision for all his chips.” Teddy’s just done it. He’s representing aces, the only hand better than my cowboys. I can’t call and give him a chance to catch. I can only fold, if I believe him. Or…

…

Mike [voiceover]: In a heads-up match, the size of your stack is almost as important as the quality of your cards. I chopped one of his legs out in the first hand. - Now all I have to do is lean on him until he falls over

…

Mike [voiceover]: I told Worm that you can’t lose what you don’t put in the middle.
[pause]
Mike: But you can’t win much either.

…

Mike [voicover]: The rule is this: You spot a man’s tell, you don’t say a fucking word. I finally spotted KGB’s. And usually I would’ve let him go on chewing those Oreos till he was dead broke. But I don’t have that kind of time. I’ve only got till morning. Not even Teddy KGB’s immune to getting a little rattled.

…

Mike: You’re right, Teddy. The ace didn’t help me. I flopped a nut straight.

…

Mike [voiceover]: Turned my ten grand into just over. Paid to Grama, six went back to the Chesterfield. As for Worm, well, I figure we’re even. And after the ten going back to the professor, I’m back where I started, with three stacks of high society.

…

Mike: People insist on calling it luck. First prize at the World Series of Poker is a million bucks. Does it have my name on it? I don’t know. But, I’m gonna find out. [/b]

[iambiguous]

The true story of this guy: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Salvador

Prison.

If you have ever watched episodes from the MSNBC doc series Lockup, you’ll be familiar with how characters like Bronson can come into existence. At least in environments like this. Everything in prison revolves around creating a world in which you are always expected to behave in a particular manner in order to be judged in a particular manner. The convict code. And since so much of your life in prison is beyond your control you become particularly obsessed with ordering about the part that you do. Bronson just takes it all to a whole other level.

And then all of this becomes entangled in the quest for fame and fortune. In the “modern world”. So: What part is “real” here and what part is “theatre”?

And then [of course] how does one go about “explaining” what it all “means”?

[b]Roger Ebert:

I suppose, after all, Nicolas Winding Refn, the director and co-writer of Bronson was wise to leave out any sort of an explanation. Can you imagine how you’d cringe if the film ended in a flashback of little Mickey undergoing childhood trauma? There is some human behavior beyond our ability to comprehend. I was reading a theory the other day that a few people just happen to be pure evil. I’m afraid I believe it. They lack any conscience, any sense of pity or empathy for their victims. But Bronson is his own victim. How do you figure that?[/b]

Let’s just say that Charlie Bronson had a high tolerance for pain. Either inflicting it or receiving it.

This is a world so far removed from the “tools of philosophy” that it might not even be possible for the more serious philosophers among us to come to terms with what that means.

See if you can connect the dots between what you see on the screen and what you are hear on the soundtrack.

IMDb

[b]Nicolas Winding Refn was not allowed to meet Charles Bronson in person since he is not from Britain, but was allowed to have two phone calls with him. Tom Hardy met with Bronson several times and the two became good friends. Bronson was impressed with how Hardy managed to get just as muscular as he was and how well he could mimic his own personality and voice. Bronson has stated he believes Hardy was the only person who could play him.

Charles Bronson was not allowed to see the film, but said that if his mother liked it, that would be enough for him. According to Refn, his mother loved it. In 2011 Bronson was finally allowed to see the film and called it “theatrical, creative and brilliant”.

Tom Hardy put on 42 pounds to play Charlie Bronson, doing 2500 press-ups a day for five weeks. [/b]

at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronson_(film
trailer: youtu.be/GMJ1c3qxOWc

BRONSON [2008]
Written in part and directed by Nicolas Winding Refn

[b]Charles Bronson [the real Charles Bronson]: How would you feel, waking up in the morning without a window? My window is a steel grid, I 'ave to put my lips against that steel grid and suck in air, that’s my morning… 'cause I got no air in my cell. I have to eat, sleep and crap in that room twenty-three hours of a twenty-four hour day. You tell me, what human being deserves that? Apart from the stinking paedophile or a child killer. I don’t deserve that, I done nothing on this planet to deserve that. My bed is four inches off the floor, it’s a concrete bed, my toilet hasn’t even got a seat on it or a lid, and I 'ave to live like this month after month after month, and the way it’s looking it’s year after year after year. Now is that’s right then so be, but let somebody else 'ave a fucking go at it, 'cause I’ve had twenty-six years of this bollocks and it’s time to come out, and I want the jury at my trail to come and see how I’m living. But I’m not living, I’m existing.

…

Bronson [to the camera]: My name is Charles Bronson. All my life I wanted to be famous. Want to know what I would have done better if I had a vocation? Only I did not know which one. Not yet. I could not play. A sort of force of nature. The film is based on real facts. How could I explain it? I was raised normally. My parents were decent. They were honest citizens. Complied by society. I went to school. I tried not to disappoint them. But some kids liked problems.

…

Bronson [to the camera]: So … this is the post office where I went…this is is what I got…And that’s what they gave me …
Judge: Seven years.
Mother: Do not worry, son … you will not do seven years … You’ll be out in four years.

…

Bronson [voiceover]: Don’t get me wrong. For the majority of people prison is very hard. A monotonous, nightmare for 24 hours a day. Seven days a week. 365 days a year. Nothing but a living breathing Hell. But for me prison was finally a place where I could sharpen my skills. It’s like a battleground, isn’t it?

…

Bronson [to the camera]: You don’t want to be trapped inside with me sunshine. Inside, I’m somebody nobody wants to fuck with do you understand? I am Charlie Bronson, I am Britain’s most violent prisoner.

…

Bronson [voiceover]: Parkhurst. God bless that place. Accomodations was more than worthy of my royal self. Your own bed, toilet, sink. The food was of exceptional quality. Yes, Parkhurst was corker…the oldest in the world, what can I say? Meals at the exact time. Room visits … the staff always present to make you more comfortable.
[interspersed with shots of the brutal reality instead][/b]

They send him to an insane asylum.

Mental institution orderly: Okay, Peterson now that you are calm, these are the rules of Rampton. First rule: You do what we say.
Bronson: And the second rule?
Orderly: This is not a prison. There is no limit here to how long you’ll stay.

And then they stick needles in his ass. Think Cuckoos Nest.

[Bronson desperately trying to escape from the insane asylum. He meets a patient named John White who reveals that he is a child rapist. Disgusted by pedophiles and wanting to go back to prison, he unsuccessfully tries to kill White by strangulation before carried off by guards]
[cut to Bronson walking onto a theater stage set in his sub-conscious mind]
Bronson: I would now like to reenact what I call, “When Murder Goes Wrong”.
[Bronson as himself, facing audience]
Bronson: When do I go back?
Bronson (as nurse): Now now, Mr. Peterson, we aren’t going to start up all that silliness again, are we?
Bronson [whips back around to Bronson, now aggravated]: Listen, Nursey, I just wanna know when my trial is and when I head back to the slammer… 'right?
Bronson (as nurse): WRONG, Mr. Peterson! Now let’s not play sillybuggers, eh? I’ll just have to pop you in the botty with one of my special potions, mmm?
Bronson: WHEN’S MY TRIAL?!!
Bronson (as nurse): Ah-ah-ah-tsk-tsk-tsk-tsk-tsk, no. Mr. White recovered, dear. There’s no trial!
[claps gleefully]
Bronson (as nurse): Isn’t that wonderful? However, you are being moved.
Bronson: Where?
Bronson (as nurse giggling and clapping ecstatically]: To Ardmore Asylum for the criminally insane!
Bronson: I deserve to go back to prison for what I did. I want my hotel room back!
Charles (as nurse): Well, I’m sure you’ll find yourself some solitary…
[Bronson turns back to audience and bows]

But then he spends the next 26 years in solitary confinement.

[b]Bronson: Twenty six years. Twenty six years in solitary…and I ain’t killed no one!! I’m not joking…not a soul!

…

Paul: All you need is a name.
Bronson: What’s wrong with Mickey Peterson.
Paul: You need a fighting name, like a movie star.
Bronson: Charlton Heston.
Paul: Look, love. No one gives a toss about Charlton Heston. The man’s a cunt. You’re more of the Charles Bronson type. Death Wish. It fits you down to a tee. Perfect. Charlie fucking Bronson.

…

Bronson [after getting paid for his first fight]: 20 quid? You’re having a fucking laugh, ain’t cha?
Paul: Oh spare me the Oliver Twist routine, Charlie love. You need to build your audience.
Bronson: I gave you fucking magic in there!
Paul: Magic? You just pissed on a gypsy in the middle of fucking nowhere. It’s hardly the hottest ticket in town, darling.
Bronson: Right. When’s the next one.

…

Warden: Sixty-nine days. So tell me Charles Bronson, what did you do with those sixty-nine days?
Bronson: I was building an empire.
Warden: You’re ridiculous.

…

Bronson [to the prison officer he’s ordering to rub vaseline on his naked body]: On my arse.
[officer starts rubbing it on]
Bronson: Not in my arse, you fuckin’ homo!

…

Warden [after the guards have severely beaten him]: What would you like us to do, Charlie Bronson?
Bronson [through a leather gag]: Fuuucckk off.
Warden: You’re pitiful. You know that? And I can promise you this. You go further in this mindless behavior, in this nihilistic and godless fashion, I can promise you that you will die inside.

…

Bronson [of Phil the prison art teacher]: Right! That’s enough! He’s had enough, come on, get him out of here! Go on and get him the fuck out of here, he’s had enough! Come on! You fucking cunts! No class next week. Right! [/b]

[iambiguous]

Remember David Byrne’s “big suit” from Stop Making Sense? What the hell is that all about, you were wondering. Well, imagine instead that he wore a huge paper mache [cartoon character] head on the stage.

Is it just a gimmick? Is it supposed to mean something? Is it symbolic of one or another cliche being exposed?

Or, instead, is it more a manifestation of mental illness. Is the guy a genius or a fruitcake? And if he is just “sick in the head”…does that ruin everything?

Jon, in seems, is stuck in suburbia. He’s looking for a way out. So, how about hooking up with an “experimental band”? An experimental band playing really experimental music: the kind some call noise. At least until they get to the vocals.

You decide: youtu.be/0zA1Ld2ZnwE

This one explores all the usual dots that get connected [and then disconcected] between the artist and the art, between the band and the audience, between the music and the money.

In other words, if more and more people like the music can it really be deemed experiemtnal music at all? To be successful is [almost by definition] to sell out. Instead, to become a “great band” seems to revolve around just how relatively obscure you remain.

To be or not to be [size=150]BIG[/size].

It’s only a matter of time though before you begin to wonder if the whole thing isn’t really just…tongue in cheek?

IMDb

[b]Frank is based on late British comedian Chris Sievey’s iconic comedy character Frank Sidebottom.

All of the music performed by the band is played live by the actors on screen.

Troubled musician Daniel Johnston was one of the influences on the film. [/b]

at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_(film
trailer: youtu.be/Wk-hWzq67w4

FRANK [2014]
Directed by Lenny Abrahamson

[b]Don: You play C, F and G?
Jon: Yeah.
Don: You’re in.

…

Don [on the phone]: Hello? So Lucas has been sectioned and we need a new keyboard player. And Frank said, you know, “remember that grateful-looking boy who jumped on the stage last week uninvited?”
Jon: I wasn’t uninvited.
Don: So Frank said that he thought you brought something cherishable that night. But he can sound really muffled under the head so…I thought he said that you brought something perishable. You know, like food that decays easily - like fish or fruit. So I said, “come on, man, anybody can do that.” So anyways, we’re doing this really major thing over in Ireland Are you in?
Jon: Yes.

…

Jon: The head. It smells like sausages.
Don: He never takes it off.
Jon: Never?
Don: No, never.
Jon: He sleeps in it?
Don: Yep.
Jon: What about eating?
Don: He sucks liquid food through a straw that he funnels up under the neckline. Occasionally solids, but it’s not encouraged.
Jon: How does he clean his teeth?
Don: Look, Jon, you’re just gonna have to go with this.

…

Don: But let me tell you something…Frank, with all his issues, is without a doubt the most 100% sanest cat I’ve ever met. Me, on the other hand…
Jon: Well, you seem pretty sane to me.
Don: Yeah! But, no no, I spent a lot of time in a psychiatric hospital. I was labeled as severely mentally ill. I used to fuck mannequins.
Jon: Right.
Don: It’s a condition.

…

Jon [voiceover]: At the heart of it all is Frank. How to describe Frank? Mostly he seems friendly, though sometimes a little intense.
[cut to Frank chasing Jon through a field wielding a shovel]
Jon [to Frank]: Stop! It will be worth it!
Jon: He can hide himself away for days at a time. What goes on inside that head…inside that head?

…

Jon [voiceover]: Frank says he must push us to our furthest corners…
Frank: Lay an egg with me!
Jon: …and unlock the great music that hides there.
Frank: Get down there. Squat! Go on, lay an egg. Get that egg out. Squeeze that egg out!!
Jon: It can feel a little overwhelming at times.
Frank: It has no business being in there!!
Jon: But all in all, I am happy to be a part of this.

…

Clara: You should go home.
Jon: Frank picked me, okay? So it’s not up to you.
Clara: Excuse me?
Jon: He said I was cherishable, and he picked me to join the band.
Clara: You are fingers being told which keys to push.

…

Jon [voiceover]: Today we begin work on the album in earnest. Frank wants us to start everything from scratch. Note the color-coding. He’s created an entirely new musical notation system. We’ve designed our own instruments. He has initiated a strict regime
of physical exercise.
[cut to Frank punching a band member in the face]
Jon: Fortunately, we have a safe word for when things get too intense. It’s “chinchilla”.

…

Jon: Have you ever seen him without the head?
Don: God, no!
Jon: Maybe he’s facially disfigured, forced to wear a mask like the elephant man.

…

Jon [after Don hung himself]: Don used to be the keyboard player?
Clara: First it was Don, then it was Lucas. Now it’s you.

…

Clara [to Jon]: If you fuck everything up in America, I’ll stab you.

…

Jon [to the band in the van]: It’s just like Paris Texas, isn’t it?

…

SXSW woman: Actually, I gotta tell you guys. I mean, we know who you are. Simone and me, we found you, but the audience won’t have heard of you yet.
Jon: But more than 23,700 people watched us on YouTube.
Woman: Oh, 23,000 hits on YouTube is nothing.
Simone: Yeah, with those kind of views, maybe one or two people in the room will know you. Maybe nobody. Half a million hits, now that’s when you’re onto something big.

…

Clara: So you want us to change our sound?
Jon: Look, we’ve always demanded that the audience stretch their corners all the way out to meet ours. But what if…what if we pull our corners back a little bit? Just a tiny tiny bit and then everyone’s corners can meet in a place that’s still a really long way off. But it’s just a bit less…You know? And a bit more likeable. But not in a bad way.
Clara: I’m not playing the fucking ukulele.
Frank: I’m writing my most likeable song ever. I’ve always dreamed that one day I’d have a band member who shared my vision of creating extremely likeable music. So thank you, Jon. You gave me the little push I needed.[/b]

Frank plays his most likeable song. Let’s just say that Clara loves it, but Jon is less than impressed.

[b]Jon [voiceover]: Clara Wagner, our very own Syd Barrett, was arrested today and charged with assault after stabbing me in the leg. We will all miss Clara and sincerely hope our own crazy diamond will also shine on.

…

Jon [after tracking Frank down in Bluff, Kansas]: I’ve been very worried about you. I just wanted to find you to…Make sure you’re okay. How are things without the head?

…

Jon: What happened to Frank? Something must have happened to him to make him like that.
Father: Nothing happened to him. He’s got a mental illness.
Jon: The torment he went through to make the great music.
Mother: The torment didn’t make the music. He was always musical. If anything, it slowed him down.[/b]

[iambiguous]

Here’s how Bob puts it:

There are places in my neighborhood no one ever thinks about. And you see them every day and every day you forget about them. These are the places where all the things happen that people are not allowed to see.

And in the world today there are not too many places left where one or another rendition of this isn’t a daily occurence. That’s just what happens when you live a world where having or not having money is now more or less the center of the universe. And a world where how you get it is more often than not incidental.

And the deeper down you go into the working class the more the part about money can take you into any number of disconcerting [even dangerous] places. Especially when your life gets all tangled up with gangsters and thugs. And with Russian mobsters. And with cops and the robbers. These folks will get you embedded in all manner of ambiguous relationships. You never quite know who you can trust.

And Bob is just the bartender. Or, rather, Bob would like to be just the bartender. But here that’s a big difference. On the other hand, Bob is not always as dumb as he seems.

Look for Bronson.

IMDb

Last film appearance of James Gandolfini, he died one month after shooting had wrapped.

at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Drop_(film
trailer: youtu.be/7lCiDIcqMe0

THE DROP [2014]
Directed by Michaël R. Roskam

[b]Bob [voiceover]: There are places in my neighborhood no one ever thinks about. And you see them every day and every day you forget about them. These are the places where all the things happen that people are not allowed to see. You see, in Brooklyn, money changes hands all night long. It’s just not the kind you can deposit in a bank. But all that money needs to end up somewhere. They call it a drop bar.

…

Bob [about looking after a puppy]: I mean, it’s a huge responsibility, right?
Marv: Well, it’s a dog. It’s not like some long lost retarded relative shows up at your door in a wheelchair and a colostomy bag hanging out of his ass. Says “I’m yours now. Take care of me.” It’s not that. It’s a dog.

…

Marv: “Find my money.” If we knew where their money was, it would mean we knew who robbed us. Which would mean we were in on it, which means they’d shoot us in the face. These fucking Chechnyans.
Bob: Chechens, Marv.
Marv: What?
Bob: They’re Chechens. They’re from Chechnya, but you call them Chechens.
Marv: Yeah, they’re from Chechnya.
Bob: Yeah, I said that. You don’t call people from Ireland Irelandians, do you?
Marv: What the fuck are you talking about?!!

…

Detective: So what up, Evandro?
Torres: You remember Marvin Stipler? Cousin Marv? He got pushed off his own book, nine, ten years ago, by the Chechens. His bar got held up. The bar’s owned by one of Papa Umarov’s shell companies.
Detective: What kind of dumb-ass holds up one of his bars?
Torres: You got me. Major Crimes up on the Umarovs?
Detective: We barely survived the last budget cuts. We’re not sticking our heads up to go after some Russian that John Q Public barely knows exists.

…

Bob: You need to see this, Marv.
Marv: No, I don’t. I don’t need to do anything. I’m just going to stand right here. I’m going to stand right the fuck here.
Bob: No. You really should take a look at this.
Marv: I don’t need to see Europe. I don’t need to see Dottie. And I don’t need to see what’s in that bag.

…

Eric: Hey, Bob. How you doing? Nice to see you. Say hi to Nadia. Don’t forget to stitch her up when she stabs herself, all right?

…

Nadia: He’s not just going to go away.
Bob: Eric? No. He doesn’t strike me as the type that wants to do that.
Nadia: He’s not. He killed a kid named Glory Days.
Bob: Yeah. Yeah. I heard that. I heard that. Richie Whelan.
Nadia: Yeah.
Bob: Why?
Nadia: I don’t know. He’s not a big fan of “why”, Eric.

…

Bob: Marv thought he was a tough guy. We had a crew once. Back in the day, when we was young, we made a little money but it was never, you know… So a mean crew rolls into town, and, you know…we flinched. That’s it. End of the crew.
Nadia: But you’re still in the life.
Bob: Me?
Nadia: Yeah.
Bob: No. No. No, no, no. No, I just tend the bar.

…

Bob: Marv, you can’t redo it. All right? They pressed, you blinked. It’s done. It’s over. It’s been over for a while now.
Marv: Well, I’m not the guy who wasted his entire life waiting for it to start.
Bob: I did that?
Marv: At least I had something once. I was respected. I was feared. When I walked into a place, people sat up. They sat up straight. They noticed. What’d you ever have? And the fucking bar stool you put that old biddy at. You bought her free drinks and don’t think
I don’t know that you did it on purpose? That was my stool and nobody sat on that stool because it was Cousin Marv’s stool. And that meant something. That meant something!
Bob: But it didn’t. Ever. It was just a stool.

…

Bob: Listen here pal, you can’t come walking into people’s lives and…
Eric: Listen to me. That is life. That’s what it is. People like me coming along when you’re not looking.

…

Bob: You see where this is going?
Eric: Yeah, kid had to be ripped off.
Bob: No. The kid had to be killed. So nobody’d know he’d paid Marv back off. So that’s what we did.
Eric: So you…
Bob: Yeah…killed him. Yeah, I did. I shot him in the face, twice. Then I wrapped his head in a towel, and I stabbed him in the chest in his heart, so he would bleed out, and I put him in my bathtub and watched him drain. Then I put him in an oil tank with laundry detergent and lye, and I sealed it back up. Want to know what his name was?
Eric: It’s 2:00, Bob. It’s 2:00.
Bob: His name.
Eric: I would not know, Bob.
Bob: Yes, you do. This is something you know.
Eric: I wouldn’t know that, Bob.
Bob: Guess.
Eric: Yeah?
Bob: Yeah.
Eric: I know it’s 2:00, and you got to open the safe!!!
Bob: Listen to me. His name…his name was Richie Whelan.

…

Bob [to Nadia]: Go out for a dinner still dressed like you’re in your living room. You wear those big, you wear those big hippity hoppity clown shoes and you speak to women terribly. You treat them despicably. You hurt harmless dogs that can’t even defend themselves. I’m tired of you man. I’m tired of you, you embarrass me. You know we would’ve kept coming back. That’s what he would’ve done. People like this they take something from you, and you let them, they just act like they can keep coming back and you still owe them something and they never, never change. You can never change their mind.

…

Nadia: You just… I mean, you just fucking shot him.
Bob: Yes, I did. Absolutely. He was gonna hurt our dog.

…

Chovka: So what do you think? Take down his name, put up yours. “Bob’s Bar.” Has a nice ring to it, huh? “Bob’s Bar.” “Bob’s Big Bad Bar.” I’m kidding, my friend. Lighten up.
Bob: Sure.
Chovka [to Andre]: Did he fit?
Andre: Yeah. Had to break his legs, but he fit fine.
Chovka [to Bob]: Smile. Don’t worry, everything’s gonna be okay. Go home. Get some rest.

…

Bob [voiceover]: There are some sins that you commit that you can’t come back from, you know, no matter how hard you try. You just can’t. It’s like the devil is waiting for your body to quit. Because he knows, he knows that he already owns your soul. And then I think maybe there’s no devil. You die…and God, he says, Nah, nah you can’t come in. You have to leave now. You have to leave and go away and you have to be alone. You have to be alone forever. [/b]

Sounds good to me.

[b]Torres: Are you going to the church closing tomorrow?
Bob: Yeah, of course I am.
Torres: They sold it. To Milligan Development. What’d I tell you? It’s gonna be condos with stained glass windows.

…

Torres: No one ever sees you coming, do they, Bob?

…

Bob: When you left the bar I know that meant stay away. I know that meant stay away, but you didn’t say it. So if you say it, then I will just go. Believe me, Nadia, I will leave right now. But you have to say it.
[long pause]
Nadia: Let me go get my jacket.
Bob: Yeah? Sure, great. Great.[/b]

[iambiguous]

As bleak dystopias go this one’s right up there with the rest of them. And it’s unique in that it is set in the near future in [of all places] Australia. Imagine you are struggling to stay alive in a dystopian Outback. Grim is where you start out. And then it is more or less every man for himself.

Of course some might argue that in the Outback the future here is pretty much the same as it’s always been.

And, apparently, the calamity happens not as a result of a nuclear exchange or some virulent pathogen spreading across the globe, but from the economic collapse of Western Civilization as we know it. It seems crony capitalism has finally fucked us all for good. Though it’s hard to imagine any of these folks having a clue about that.

It’s the sort of world one imagines the ubermen dream about. Dog eat dog right down to the bone. Except for the parts that aren’t.

And in focusing on just a handful of people intent on subsisting from day to day, it is much more effective in allowing you to imagine what it might be like to actually endure what most of us can barely imagine a “dystopia” to be. A rather intimate reflection on the end of the world.

And then the final scene. We find out why the rover is obsessed with finding his car. I sure didn’t see that coming.

IMDb

The scene which involves Rey (Robert Pattinson) listening to the song “Pretty Girl Rock” by Keri Hilson is a joke by the director to remind the audience of how pretty Pattinson use to look in the Twilight films.

at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rover_(2014_film
trailer: youtu.be/ChM2icbWo9w

THE ROVER [2014]
Directed by David Michôd

[b]Eric: I want my car back.
Archie: Yeah, I can see that. You ain’t gettin’ it back.
Eric: I want my car back. If you don’t give it to me now, I’m gonna get back in that truck
and I’m gonna stay on you till you do.
Archie: What makes you think I won’t kill you right here? Huh?
Eric: Nothing makes me think that.

…

Eric: I’m looking for my car. It’s got three men in it. Did it come through here?
Grandma: What’s your name?
Eric: Have you seen it?
Grandma: What’s your name?
Eric: Have you seen it?
Grandma: Do you want something? Do you want to sleep with a boy? I’ve got a boy here you can sleep with. He’s smooth like the inside of your arm.

…

Eric [back with a gun]: I’m looking for my car. Have you seen it?
Grandma: Tell me your name. I want to know your name.
Eric: Answer my question.
Grandma: Answer mine.
Eric [cocking the gun]: Answer my question. I’m not gonna say it again.
Grandma: Okay. I’ll call you “my baby.” My baby. There was a car and it had three men in it and it did what most cars do. It came in one direction and left in the other. That’s all I can tell you about it. The only detail I can tell you is the detail that pertains to this place. I can tell you what they drank. I can tell you what they smelled like. I can tell you what they said, if they said anything and if I heard what it was that they said.
Eric: What did they say?
Grandma: They didn’t say anything. They didn’t stop here.

…

Grandma: You must really love that car, darling. What a thing to get worked up about in this day and age. What is it about the car that you love so much? Can you tell me? What’s your name, sweetheart?
[Eric steps towars her and aims the gun…she brushes it away]
Grandma: Oh, don’t be silly. Now you’re just being rude.

…

Eric: Where are we going?
Rey: I can’t tell you nothing more than I already told you.
Eric [gripping him by the throat]: I don’t give a shit what you think you’ve already told me. Start fucking talking to me! Do you even know where we are?
Rey: What?
Eric: Where are we?
Rey: Where are we? I don’t know.
Eric: You don’t fucking know? So, how are you gonna get to where you’re going if you don’t even know where the fuck you are?!

…

Rey: 'Cause I believe in God and I know Henry believes in God. There’s no harm Henry would want to see me come to. I believe in that.
Eric: Look at the harm you’ve come to and where is Henry?
Rey: He’s waiting for me.
Eric: He’s not waiting for you.
Rey: Yes, he is.
Eric: No, he’s not. I’ll tell you what God’s given you. He’s put a bullet in you and he’s abandoned you out here to me. He feels nothing for you. He couldn’t give a fuck if you died tomorrow. God gave you a brother who’s not waiting for you. He gave you a brother who’s not even thinking about you right now. Just 'cause you and him came out of the same woman’s hole… The only thing that means anything right now is that I’m here and he’s not. Your brother left you to die. That’s what people do. You don’t learn to fight, your death’s going to come real soon. [/b]

On the other hand, what does he know? Still, he’s got Rey convinced. And later on that has consequences.

[b]Eric [after hearing a story from Rey’s past]: Why are you telling me this?
Rey: I just remembered it. It interested me. Not everything has to be about something.

…

Rey: I’m tryin’ to stop thinking about that little girl who died, but I can’t.
Eric: You shouldn’t.
Rey: But I can’t.
Eric: You should never stop thinking about a life you’ve taken. That’s the price you pay for taking it.

…

Soldier: When are you gonna say something, cunt? It’s over. It’s over for you.
Eric: I know that.
Soldier: That’s good that you know that.
Eric: Do you know it, too?
Soldier: Oh, I know it, champ. I told you it.
Eric: Do you know it’s over for you, too? Whatever you think’s over for me was over a long time ago. I’m asking about you.
Soldier: Are you threatening me?
Eric: No. A threat means there’s still something left to happen.

…

Eric [to the soldier]: I murdered my wife. I followed her to a man’s house and I watched him put his fingers inside her and I killed 'em both. No one ever came after me. Ten years ago. I never had to explain myself. I never had to lie to anyone. I never had to run and hide. I just buried 'em in a hole and I went home. No one ever came after me. And that hurt me more than getting my heart broken. Knowing it didn’t matter. Knowing you can do something like that and no one comes after you. You do a thing like I did, that should really mean something. But it just doesn’t matter anymore.

…

Eric: What feeling do you have when you wake up in the morning? When your feet touch the floor? Or before that, when you’re lying there thinking about your feet hitting the floor. What’s that feel like for you? Do you know what I’m talking about?
Soldier: No, mate. I don’t. No, mate. I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.

…

Rey [to Eric after shooting the soldier]: Is that it? Phew! That was easy. Do I shoot him again just to be sure?
Eric: No.

…

Rey: I’m gonna kill him. I’m going to kill Henry.
Eric: Go to sleep.
Rey: There’s money up there too, we can take it if we want.
Eric: Go to sleep.[/b]