Fritz Liedtke's Photo Journal of India After the Tsunami
From the supremely talented Fritz Liedtke, a photographer in Portland, Oregon...Read more
Regent article on Tarkovsky's "The Sacrifice" and Jesus
Thanks to GreenCine Daily for pointing me to this article from Regent on Tarkovsky's great film The Sacrifice as a signpost pointing to Christ the Redeemer.
Wenders on "the loud and the lurid"
Thanks so much to GreenCine Daily for posting this link to Naked Punch:
The loud and lurid are terribly overrated, and just because everybody seems to have accepted that they rule, some of us grudgingly - we shouldn't exclude the transcendental, the silent or the good as being part of our contemporary existence. Wings of Desire was making that point, and not, I think, by dwelling on the "art" aspects. And the way people all over the world embraced that alternative way of "purification" sort of proved my point, didn't it? That doesn't mean I can't dig the vulgar. Fassbinder's films as well as, let's say, Almodóvar's today have marvelously explored that territory, without glorifying it like for instance Lynch or Tarantino. With these guys I sometimes feel they try to prove their point so much that it becomes redundant. Not that I don't count them as two of the most brilliant stylists and innovators of our times. (I just dread their imitators...) But to come back to your question...
And here's my favorite part...
There are films MADE to exist as box office results first, or as reviews first, or as expression of the author first. My films are meant to come to life in people’s heads. They are incomplete before, actually they are meant to be incomplete. I see them like open systems that need to be pulled together by somebody. That somebody is each and every spectator. In a way I think of films the same way I looked at stories in books, when I was little. I realized very early on that the story was not in the written words, but in the space between the lines. That’s where the real reading took place: In my imagination, and that happened in all the white between the letters and the lines. And when I started to see films, I approached them the same way. In fact those films ALLOWED me to perceive them like that, they were asking me to dream myself into them. The classic American cinema has that same specific quality, and this is also the great tradition of European Cinema. I did not invent that “method”. It is an endangered process, though, these days. More and more films come as “wall to wall” entertainment. What you see (and hear!) is what you get. No more space between the frames, so to speak. No chance to sneak in with your imagination, to dream on and to project your innermost hopes or fears or desires into what you see and thereby pushing it further. You come out of the theatre and feel strangely empty. For two hours you were prevented from participating. You were obliged to “witness” instead. And that is the opposite to what you called my “method” which is in the true sense of the word “interactive”.
What's the verdict on "Fantastic Four"? The critics disagree.
Here's this week's Film Forum, covering Fantastic Four, Dark Water, March of the Penguins, and Rebound, along with several more War of the Worlds reviews... and the return of Michael Leary!
Specials: Steve Martin's Next Good Movie; Mark Helprin; Cowboy Junkies Sing U2; Steyn on Spielberg
Today's specials:
THE REAL STEVE MARTIN ... THE ONE WORTH SEEING... IS BACK
Steve Martin's upcoming romantic comedy Shopgirl wasn't very high on my must-see list. Until now.
BEHIND THE SCENES OF MARK HELPRIN'S STORYTELLING
Harvard Magazine investigates the house of Helprin, my favorite novelist.
"WE'RE JUNKIES, BUT WE'RE NOT THE SAME..."
Cowboy Junkies have a new covers album called Early 21st Century Blues, and it features a rendition of U2's "One." More information and streaming music here.
MORE...
- Peter T. Chattaway loves Murderball... and when I saw the trailer recently, I became convinced that I will as well. And he's noticed that Happy Endings might qualify as an "abortion comedy."
- Mark Steyn has some thoughts on War of the Worlds, and I'm thinking that I agree with him. (Thanks, Chattaway, for the link.)
"Peddlin' Dreams" - Maria McKee
I've just finished listening to Maria McKee's Peddlin' Dreams twice through, and the experience was like being reunited with an old, dear friend you haven't seen in years.
McKee's performances her make her a strong contender for the year's strongest vocal performance (alongside Karin Bergqust of Over the Rhine). Even though it's largely a collaborative effort with husband and producer Jimmy Akin, McKee sounds more comfortable, and the songs sound more lived-in; and, in fact, the opener is something she wrote about twenty years ago. They'll make for a great live show.
She's tried on a lot of styles over the years, but this is the approach that most suits her--a uniquely personal brand of Americana-rock that allows her voice, one in a class with Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams, and Patti Griffin, to soar. Peddlin' Dreams feels more like a Lone Justice album than anything she's released since the unfortunate demise of that legendary band. It's mostly an acoustic affair with occasional and thrilling resurgences of the anarchic electric guitar stylings McKee unleashed in the fiery art-rock of Life is Sweet. A couple of tracks are as simple and elegant as the work on her self-titled solo debut. There are only a few hints of the emotional histrionics and showtune-style bombast of High Dive, and that's a relief. (McKee was clearly venturing into territory that meant something to her on that record, but it was so ambitious and melodramatic that we lost touch with the subtle poetry that has given previous records such heart and soul.) McKee has said in interviews that this record was recorded far more spontaneously than High Dive, and that explains a great deal--every inch of High Dive felt deliberate, where this one feels more authentic and exquisitely rough-edged.
Some of the songs, like the soulful, introspective opener "Season of the Fair," the anthemic Neil-Young-rock of "Sullen Soul," and the poignant poetry of "People in the Way" unfold effortlessly, as if the songs are covers of classics, reminding us that McKee is still one of the best American songwriters around. "Turn Away" is a plaintive plea to a lover to stay, as heartfelt as Over the Rhine's "Suitcase." Her interpretation of Neil Young's "Barstool Blues" fits in so perfectly that many are likely to assume she wrote it. "My One True Love" is one of those lovelorn ballads that could be hundreds of years old, the kind of thing that Linda Thompson could sing with a trace of menace, but in McKee's voice, it's whiskey sour. The most startling departure is an exquisitely soulful, fleeting joy called "(You Don't Know) How Glad I Am" that plays the same part on this record that "Hush Now (Stella's Tarantella" plays on Over the Rhine's Drunkard's Prayer. In fact, I'd love to hear Karin Bergquist take this sexy little number for a spin.
It's an album full of the jagged shards of broken hearts, the tatters of lost innocence, the ache of nostalgia for a day before dreams were ruined. There's not a lot of hope threading through these songs, and she admits, "... I just don't know what I believe in now / What is love but ties, lies and broken vows." In "Drowned and Died," she laments the let-downs of human redeemers and lovers: "All of my days, I pray for a savior to find / Taking you down to swim in the river / Holding my hand, praying you won't let me go." The days when she could sing of gospel comfort, as she did on Lone Justice's Shelter, would seem like the songs of a completely different person in a time long past, if it wasn't for the fact that the voice is the same bold, brilliant beacon burning in the dark. Where she once was the lighthouse calling weary ships home to safety, now she's a lantern on a wandering, battle-scarred ship, singing tales of loss and sadness. A more compelling work of longing you're not likely to hear again anytime soon.
Lyrics like those in the title track also make it clear that the singer's still wrestling with the elusive nature of fame, the distance she's fallen from the popular glory of Lone Justice (hard to believe she was ever accessible enough to rock the stage on Saturday Night Live), and the frustration of the artist who feels betrayed by the industry. But she can hold her head high knowing that she has never betrayed herself in her recordings; she has followed where her vision led, even when her biggest fans (and I include myself in that lot) didn't understand where she was going. In the long run, that will have proven the best decision as she remains a unique artist, that rare combination of vocal talent, integrity, and songwriting vision that burns too brightly to be tied down to a band.
Here's the All-Music review by Thom Jurek.
Is "Illinois" the best "Christian album" of the year?
Sufjan Stevens' new album Illinois is very, very strange. And very, very good.
And, judging by the critical response it's getting, it looks like the most highly praised album recorded by a Christian singer/songwriter in many years. (Am I forgetting any similarly celebrated titles?)
Check it out. The song called "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." is so heartbreakingly beautiful, it's worth the price of the record.Read more
"The Exorcism of Emily Rose" - Demon Movie of the Month?
Just as it is very easy for rock musicians to communicate anger, and very difficult for them to inspire joy, so it's difficult for filmmakers to avoid exploiting the power of darkness. It's easy to jolt us, to scare us, to gross us out. It's easy for evil to command our attention. Redemption, on the other hand, is a profoundly un-cool subject for the big screen.
In discussions about Christian artists currently working in Hollywood, the name Scott Derrickson keeps coming up. I look forward to interviewing him someday; he's written some intriguing projects, working with Wim Wenders, Jerry Bruckheimer, Martin Scorsese, and others. Now he's got a movie of his own: The Exorcism of Emily Rose. (Here's the trailer.)
Will this be just another movie about demons? I doubt it. First of all, it's based on a true story. Secondly, a story about demon possession written by someone who really believes in spiritual warfare would... you'd think... emphasize different things and explore different aspects of that conflict. It may be that Emily Rose stands out from the pack of recent horror films as a movie with something profoundly substantial to offer.
The last few years have seen a steady increase in the regularity of big screen horror films. More and more, it seems, audiences have an appetite for the darker side of spiritual matters. From the Exorcist prequels to Constantine to the Zombie Movie of the Month and the surge of Japanese horror-flick re-makes... we've got the demonic on our minds.
How does an artist depict a story of spiritual warfare without exploiting the intrigue-factor of the dark side? Let's face it: As well-made as The Exorcist is, most people don't go to it for spiritual insight. They go for the scare factor. We don't hear movie buffs waxing nostalgic about the film's questions of redemption. We hear them talking about the poor little girl's head spinning around and the projectile vomiting.
Nevertheless, spiritual warfare is real. Demons cannot be explained away by modern psychology as mere imbalances. Why shouldn't it be the subject of serious art?
It seems to me that the horror genre is capable of so much more than merely troubling us. If people are dazzled by darkness, than that does, in a way, glorify the darkness, making us more focused on our fears and less focused on sources of hope. Or it sends us away taking matters of the spirit less seriously, treating actual threats as just fantasy-world thrills. Art can, on the other hand, expose evil in a way that awakens the conscienc, and persuades us that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in contemporary philosophy.
Many, Many Thanks to Sarah B. and Adam M.!!
Two Looking Closer readers stepped up and showed some especially generous support for the site this month, so I'm sending this little message out to them...Read more