December 25, 2008

I need to post this picture...

DSC09747

... because I don't like seeing the "Harold Pinter's dead" post at the top anymore... though I'd be happy to keep talking about the movie "Synecdoche, New York," which I thought was pretty good. It was loaded with ideas and images -- for example, buying a house that is on fire and that stays on fire while you live in for years, until you die.* Much more could have been done with all of this. It could have been sharpened up and made more visually vivid, but it had only a $12 million budget, so it's actually astounding that they got as much out of it as they did.

I'd like to make a list of movies about theater, which would include this movie and my all-time favorite movie, "My Dinner With Andre." There's also "Vanya on 42d Street." I don't want all the movies about the life of actors, like "There's No Business Like Show Business" and "Stage Door" and "All About Eve." (Put them on a separate list.) I want movies in which playwrights or theater directors delve into the meaning of theater. I'd add the Woody Allen movie "Melinda and Melinda," which we watched a few days ago. 2 playwrights -- one comic, one dramatic -- take the same story and spin out their scenarios.
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* [SPOILER ALERT] ... of smoke inhalation.
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I think that was the third footnote in the nearly 5 year history of this blog. I have been avoiding footnotes like mad. But why? And why, if my abstention has been so important, did I deviate here?

19 comments:

George M. Spencer said...

He came to believe that work, show business, love, his whole life, even himself and all that jazz was bullshit...

rhhardin said...

I want movies in which playwrights or theater directors delve into the meaning of theater.

Don't date actresses, is my motto. Also models.

Chip Ahoy said...

I do not know why you would avoid footnotes, and I cannot tell why you would change now. These questions are a puzzlement to me and confound my analysis.

But I am making a pie, a lemon pie, and that does not confound me.

Jim Hu said...

Another death of note: Eartha Kitt died today. The obit in the times recounts an amazing life.

George M. Spencer said...

Fancy a game?

AmPowerBlog said...

"And why, if my abstention has been so important, did I deviate here?"

Because you're trying to keep it real and lively, Ann.

Just got home from "Valkyrie." That's some real meaning there. Not quite theater, of course, but let me disabuse folks of the Tom Cruise criticism, if they've heard any of it. It's a great flick.

Cardboard FLOTUS said...

The texture in that photograph is spectacular. It looks like a residential version of Ansel Adams.

XWL said...

As far as movies about theatre, Waiting for Guffman does a good job of capturing something real.

Also, Hamlet 2 (which came out on DVD this week and is worth seeing if only for Coogan's performance and Elisabeth Shue as Elisabeth Shue) has some fun stuff in it.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

"though I'd be happy to keep talking about the movie "Synecdoche, New York," which I thought was pretty good"

Professor can talk about whatever she bloggdam please.

Anybody have a problem with that?

I called mother to talk today and she gets the idea that I'm rushing her..

she let me have it.. why do I come her and I no problem speeding the night?

When was the last time professor actually enjoyed something?

So shape up or ship out!

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Spelling...

Why do I come here and I have no problem spending the night,, and then I'm rushing my own mother?

Chuckles said...

Ann - Could you stop taking b/w pictures and so some color work for a change?

Ann Althouse said...

"Could you stop taking b/w pictures and so some color work for a change?"

Could nature please give me some color?

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

We had a ladndfill that burned a slow quiet burn for years in Jersey City.

Anybody thinks it's impossible they should check their own efing EPA!

We were hired to try and figure out how to put the shit out!

Chuckles said...

"Could nature please give me some color?" - All in good time, I suppose. Looks like Friday and Saturday will be above freezing. As for me, I'm headed to Florida Saturday...

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

All About Eve

Margo Channing.

I would marry you even if it turned out you had no blood at all!

Jeff with one 'f' said...

Mike Leigh's Topsy-Turvy is the best film about the creative process (in theatre or elsewhere) that I can think of.

dbp said...

There is some color in the picture, though not provided by nature. The red tail-light lens can clearly be seen.

Not sure why, but the two people in the picture look like they are from the turn of the century. Not the one that was 8 years ago.

I'm Full of Soup said...

In the picture, is that the skinny guy from Laurel & Hardy?

Mr. Forward said...

'The Dresser" 1983 Albert Finney