Friday, January 12, 2007
SOCIETY SUCKS
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Films was Richard Lester's
I cannot improve on Ebert's essay about this heartless picture.
No one comes off well and 'we' are all in it.
And if we are not in it as stars we are in the periphery. No recent film that I have seen has so much periphery to see and absorb.
There is an off putting time warp about this film. 60's hairdos and clothes are embarrassing now. So is the pretentious 'new age' shit.
I know.
I lived through it. And it changed my life as well as Richard Lester.
I just came out of it with a little less cynicism and a good deal more optimism.
The stars here do the heavy lifting: George C. Scott, Julie Christie, Richard Chamberlain, Shirley Knight, Joseph Cotten in a great small role. The side players do the punctuation. It has Roger Bowen, a comic player, who I used to love to find on television or film. He was Col. Blake in M*A*S*H. He is not funny here.
There is another indirect aspect of this film. Lester 'invented' a lot of the stuff that we take for granted today in 'art' films. The quick thought flashes, the cutup time, the need for reassembly of the disparate parts.
The traditional stuff is also very well done; cinematography, editing, and so on.
I cannot give it a 5 because, while it is a great piece of work, it does not come off as admirable but as mean and petty.
Maybe a 4. Hmmm.
Side comments.
Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company are shown as bar performers. Also The Grateful Dead. They are young and vital and alive. 40 years ago. Jeez.
Also, I love the chance events of the Netflix Queue. We are in alphabetical sequence as well as Netflix' ability to ship. So, we got George C. Scott in two films, back to back.
I know. No big deal but I love that kind of shit.
