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Comments
While Radcliff's The Woman In Black was much more satisfying visually, (I so loved the look of the film and all the props and settings) this one relied more on story I think. Or I paid attention to the story better.
Interesting. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
The schooling comes fast and furious in this movie which is typical spike lee. This time it worked. I liked the story and the history was an integral part of it. Instead of feeling like an after school special, this one was creative in reminding us of man’s inhumanity to man.
I knew very quickly what the simple story was. I knew who, what, when, where and why almost from the get go and I stayed focused on that despite all the bits of odd and disjointed noise that was introduced fast and furious.
Every visual/audio thing layered into the scenes, I was able to relate it to what I thought was the real story.
When I finished the movie, only then did I go look up the book, reviews and interviews and found out that yes, I had this one nailed. There are a handful of visuals that I'm still trying to figure out, but I could explain most of it. And there are visuals that I thought were really important that no one seems to mention or if they do, it's just in passing.
When I read a book or watch a movie, my mind is immediately trying to figure it out -- I'm way ahead in the story trying to ascertain, what is going on here? And sometimes I get it right. But I absolutely love when I get it wrong. It makes me laugh when I get it wrong because the unexpected surprise is so fabulous! In this case, I was quite thrilled I figured all this out so quickly.
Charlie Kaufman is a screenplay writer, director, author whose movie credits are things like Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I have not seen any of his movies so didn't have any preconceived idea of what this one would be -- does he stay within a certain style when telling his tales?
This movie reminded me of Mother!, which hardly anyone I know has seen. It too is very trippy. I found it fascinating for just how odd it was, how strange and challenging the scenes grew to be. Even after watching Mother! and then going and reading about it, I'm still not sure what it all was about. There was symbolism I understood and then there was stuff that was like those old black and white French experimental films that only the cool daddy-o's snapping their fingers and wearing their raspberry berets and bright red dickeys understood. i'm thinking of ending things is this type of weird arthouse thing. But instead of feeling drunk and unbalanced, I was able to block out all the noise and get to the real quiet nature of the story.
Starring Dustin Hoffman and a face I haven't seen in years, Valerie Perrine. Apparently she is struggling with Parkinson's and one Google hit I got was she died yesterday! But, nothing else is corrorborating that. So, I hope she is doing well, it sounds like she is terribly ill. I'm always so fascinated by women whose sexuality and nudity is no big deal to them.
This movie is one of those things that I constantly hear mentioned in books or other movies or TV shows and while I am very aware of Lenny, I had never seen this movie and Dustin is one of my favorite actors.
Lenny Bruce is quite interesting. He actively sought self-destruction, eventually dying of an accidental overdose. There is a suggestion that it was perhaps suicide due to his legal issues. He was a pretty disgusting guy really. And I'm not talking his word choices in his comedy. He really just wasn't that funny IMO and his personal life was a friggin' cesspool. Nope, not my scene.
It amazes me what he kept getting arrested for is pretty standard fare these days. We were a very hypocritical bunch as Lenny loved pointing out. I don't take particular pleasure in the downfall of a puritan hypocrite -- but I do. Me thinks they do protest too much.
Lenny's life was pretty sad. Why are creative people so fragile?
This was a Criterion Channel selection.
I have seen Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and I really enjoyed it. When I read that Charlie Kaufman did I'm Thinking of Ending Things, I felt he would be really well suited for that project. Totally his "thing".
I'd like to see Lenny - I don't know much about him - he appears as a character in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. (I've watched 2 seasons, I'm keeping the 3rd waiting for a bit longer). His shock value comedy seems mundane to me now (but we grew up with Richard Pryor).
I did not watch Mother - my son told me it would trouble me and that's all it took. He said the visuals would bother me. I've read a bit about it, and I think he's right. Though it seems the story is not too unsettling. I think I'd be good at understanding the symbolism in that.
The Ogre is watching Silver Bullet (it's on AMC this morning). Somehow he's never seen it - it's one of my favorites.