Ten Years of Film Interpretation

In Metaphilm, and in these books . . .

Tuesday, October 19, 2004

Team America World Police

Great piece from A.O. Scott at the NY Times on Team America. “Not that the movie is partisan, exactly. . . . Of course Mr. Parker and Mr. Stone are joking — what else is new? — but like most good jokers, they also mean exactly what they say. Clever comedians that they are, they have also rigged Team America with an ingenious anti-critic device, which I find myself unable to defuse. Much as it may pretend otherwise, the movie has an argument, but if you try to argue back, the joke’s on you.” (registration required) Propagandists of the world: take note. See—you can make movies that people who may not agree with you will still appreciate. 

Monday, October 18, 2004

Shards for The Birds

Quite beautiful to look at—Alfred Hitchcock movies immortalized in mosaic at the Leytonstone Tube Station. I’ve just run across this link—a really interesting way of “making permanent” the ephemeral experience of cinema, as well as avoiding the actual degradation-over-time of 35mm petroleum-based prints. Will archaeologists from the future, in the absence of the films, have any clue what these signify? 

Thursday, October 07, 2004

I Heart Huckabees

OK. Color me impressed with this piece, a very good interview with Huckabees director David O. Russell by Jeff Overstreet for Christianity Today. It’s not what you’re expecting. Features a phone-in segment with Mark Wahlberg. Says Russell: “People are used to seeing these ideas taken seriously in movies that are dramatic like The Matrix or The Passion of The Christ. Or they’re satirized by independent cinema. I’m doing something different—I’m taking the ideas seriously in a comedy, even though I’m being off-handed and joking about it as well. I think the most daring thing about this film is its sincerity and its optimism. As a Zen monk once said to me, ‘If you’re not laughing, you’re not getting it.’” And apparently he even attempted (with dubious success) to avoid caricature of religious believers. Let’s hope he starts a trend. 

Tuesday, October 05, 2004

Gangstar Wars

In the spirit of Gangsta Haiku, further proof that any cultural form can be absorbed by rap. Or, as Ned Vizzini says, “You have to be more chill.”