The holiness of the multiplication table

...didn't know this film existed! I definitely have to get a copy :)



Inherit the Wind

The Hitler Channel

The Boy in Striped Pijamas (2008)

(...) Loss of urgency, loss of documentary conviction, and loss of recognition, offset by a net gain in jokes about the Hitler Channel: these are the outcomes we may expect as the pace of Holocaust film production continues. These will be the consequences of an end-of-the-year schedule that brings Defiance, Valkyrie, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The Reader, Adam Resurrected, and Good—because only the most determined optimist would expect all these movies to aspire to the condition of Yad Vashem.
(...)

Nextbook: Lest We Remember , by Stuart Klawans

Reading the article above, I couldn't help but wish someone in Spain wrote something about our very own Franco channel. It seems to me that all nations have their own traumas/phobias, and if the American one is the Holocaust/Hitler, the Spanish one is the Civil War/Franco. As the author goes about a moratory on Holocaust pictures, I also wish there was a moratory in Spain about the historical period of 1936-1975. Of course that would do away with half of my country's filmography. IMDB lists 119 titles, and even though some of them are not Spanish, and even though a few Spanish films have not been listed, it gives you an idea of how exasperatingly exhausting the whole thing is.

Los Girasoles Ciegos (2008)

It has nothing to do with serious historical documentation and research (I have absolutely nothing again our Law of Historical Memory,explained here), not even with doing serious documentaries (although there isn't exactly a lack of those, either). I'm not even saying that all these movies aren't worth watching. Some of them are even good. But as Richard Corliss argues in Defiance: Beyond Holo-kitsch (through which I got the link to Lest We Remember), very often these movies don't make us remember these events and think about the consequences of the Holocaust/Spanish Civil War [/insert historical trauma here], but they merely become a suitable background to guilt-trip the audience and the critics, thus distracting them from how much some of these movies...er... actually suck. And I quote(because I love sounding academic)

It has become not just a topic but a genre, one that, at its most reductive, exploits the awful melodrama of that chapter in history to badger viewers, intimidate critics, elicit easy tears, and serve as a back-patting machine for serioso directors.

Defiance: Beyond Holo-kitsch,by Richard Corliss

Defiance (2009)

Ok, so maybe not all these films are even bad, and probably not every director means all this harm consciously, but it sems that that overflow of Holocaust and Spanish Civil War films makes us miss the forest for the trees. They become the artistic equivalent of Godwin's Law, i.e.:

Godwin's Law (also known as Godwin's Rule of Nazi Analogies) is an adage formulated by Mike Godwin in 1990. The law states:

"As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one."

Godwin's Law,by the Almighty Wikipedia.

Similarly, we can probably calculate artistic stagnation by merely looking at how many Trauma movies are opening this weekend. Tragedy should not be yawn-not-another-one-please. Maybe we could restrict ourselves as audiences (we've got the power!) to one Holocaust and one Civil War movie a year?

The future of TV? (pointless ruminating while driving mode)

Well, this is what happens every summer. Too much free time, too much reading (on and offline), too many good TV shows and the next thing you know, I'm driving back from my ex-home thinking about my favorite pastime, what if scenarios. The what if of today was:

- what if people stop watching traditional TV altogether?

Because, I'm not sure about what happens elsewhere, but here in Spain watching traditional TV means not only endless commercials but also *years* of delay with respect to US or UK broadcasts, jumping showtimes and, did I mention endless endless endllllllllesssss commercials. Me, I'm about to give up. Fast forward a few years later, and if media companies don't get cracking or do something close to terror tactics, I'm afraid we're all going to be downloading stuff, legally, alegally or illegally.

So the question is, will that mean no more TV shows, no more films, no more music? I was ruminating on these terms when suddenly it dawned on me -- what if, what if instead of buying the product after it is done, audiences gave a sort of economic vote of confidence to an author, musician or company to produce or record X, Y or Z? If you think about how some products such as Firefly cause such a fan movement to revive a particular show, I wonder if individuals would not be willing to "fund" future shows or musicians or even film companies, the same way that politicians get funding. Particularly if they are faced with an "either this or nothing" scenario. This would also possibly imply more micromanagement and a different source of promotion, but we already have the tools: youtube, myspace...

This is possibly just rambling, but hey, I've been speaking about the prices of houses falling down for years and nobody listened... well, whatever, you can call me Cassandra. But if I'm right, in ten years time I'll proudly wave this post in the air. HA.

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quotable quotes on King Kong

[Remedial class of 11 fourteen-going-on-16-year olds. We're watching King Kong]




Student A. "Oh, teacher, this is like Titanic but with a big monkey"
Student B. "What? are they going to crash into the monkey?"

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It's a bit like 1947's 'Doom"

what a fine example of filmic experimentation gone seriously wrong (well, just like  'Doom' )

Maybe they should use these shots to do the videogame. It really shouldn't be much work...

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gore weekend

Friday:


No Country for Old Men. Just in time to say I saw it before Bardem got the Oscars. Yay for Javi!!


By the way. It seems people who have seen this movie are neatly divided between those who loved it and those who hated it because it was slow or violent or both. Me, I did like it a lot, as it's very character driven and manages to keep a certain sense of hope on humanity in spite of the grim grim story. I really love some touches of the film, e.g. the jacket/shirt story. It's also very neatly organized, which is quite a feat considering how many threads the plot has. Makes me want to read Cormac McCarthy --I'll add it to the to-read list.


Ps. Cruellest part of the film -- Javier Bardem's haircut. Geeze.




Saturday:


Spent half of the day with my friend-of-the-seven-cats, the other half with mum of-the-eternal-home-renovations (my mum's home is right now under siege by masons, painters, plumbers, floor-varnishers and the like). Result: massive dust/cat allergy attack.



Spent the night realizing I have forgotten to dance sevillanas and remembering my ski trip -- by way of various thigh pains. Oh joy.



Sunday:


Sweeny Todd. Never again will I eat meat pie, period. Realized, mid-movie, I've spent the bloodiest weekend since that Kill Bill Marathon. Like Kill Bill, much of the fun was visual --great costumes, great sets. I got a bit tired by so much music at the beginning of the film, mostly because I wasn't expecting it (the Spanish trailer cleverly avoids the subject, as musicals don't sell well here). Then I got used to it.

Cruellest part of the film: ♪Joaaanaaaaaaaa I feel youuuuuuuuuu.... ♪ encores over dinner ;) .

Overall conclusion: vengeance is bad, sleeping with seven cats is worse.