As promised, a huge day of films on Saturday. Five in a row, with minimal breaks in between for drinking, eating, and blogging (in that order.)
SPEEDY (1928): We started bright and early at 10 am with Harold Lloyd's last silent film. This time Harold Lloyd is in New York (nearly all of his films were shot--and set--in southern California.) But the formula is familiar--Harold has trouble holding a job, and that's his big obstacle for getting the girl (Ann Christy.) Her father owns the last horse-drawn rail line in the city, and other intra-city railroad tycoons are trying to buy him out. Or, failing that, force him out. Harold has to romance the girl, save the day, and oh, by the way, get Babe Ruth (really him, in a cameo) to Yankee Stadium on time. Lloyd's comic timing is at it's usual best, and he's clearly having a great time shooting on location in--and all over--New York.
The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra did another typically fantastic job accompanying. (and I realize I forgot to put links to the musicians in my previous posts. I suppose a professional would go back and fix that...)
VISAGES D'ENFANTS (1925): Next up was this Jacques Feyder masterpiece from France, introduced by Serge Bromberg (who did his famous burning nitrate demonstration.) 11 year old Jean is the emotional heart of the film, and Jean Forest does a great job as a child actor. His mother has just passed away, and he is distraught. His little sister Pierette doesn't understand, and plays around before asking where mommy has gone. While Jean is still dealing with his grief, his father remarries, so now he has a new mother and a new sister Arlette. Jean does not like this. He gets into fights with both his stepmom and his stepsister, and the emotional turmoil of a child dealing with the grief of his lost mother is brilliantly depicted. It all comes to a head in back-to-back life and death scenes, and eventually there is a positive resolution. In fact, it all wraps up maybe a little too neatly. But up until that point, it's a startling portrayal of child emotions that still rings true today, and has rarely been put on screen so well.
The amazing Stephen Horne did a great job accompanying.
THE DONOVAN AFFAIR (1929): This was a bit of a departure for the Silent Film Festival--a Frank Capra talkie...kind of. This comic murder mystery was shot entirely as a talkie, with the soundtrack on discs. But all copies of those discs are lost, so it's an "accidental" silent. Problem is that means no intertitles. And it's a very dialogue heavy film--no way you could understand it without the words. No problem, Bruce Goldstein and the Gower Gulch Players stepped in and reconstructed the script via such sources as unreliable censor's transcripts, lip-reading, and guesswork. And then the entire script--including sound effects and music--was performed live. The end result is pretty wacky, mostly because the original material is wacky. Notorious gambler Jack Donovan is killed at a dinner party. Pretty much everyone had a reason--he owed gambling debts to one, he was blackmailing another, he had stolen a mysterious glowing ring from a third...the list goes on. So it's up to Inspector Jack Killian and his numbskull cop Carney to crack the case. Which they eventually do, but not before another guest gets bumped off. If I wasn't told, I wouldn't have guessed this was a Frank Capra movie. This is screwier and more half-baked than most of his work. But it's interesting to see what he created when he first started playing with sound. He got much more sophisticated, of course. But this still has its charm.
FLESH AND THE DEVIL (1926): Then we saw the classic that turned Greta Garbo into a star and kicked off her romance with John Gilbert. And while Garbo is a force of nature (or maybe even supernatural) in this movie, the story is really a love story between two men--friends since childhood Leo and Ulrich (Gilbert and Lars Hanson.) They're in the service together, cover for each other, get punished together, go home on leave together. Ulrich's little sister has the hots for Leo, and hopes they'll get married someday. But his eyes fall on Felicitas (Garbo) and from that moment he's doomed. Oh sure, they have a nice little affair...until her husband comes home. This leads to a duel, which leads to Leo killing the husband, which leads to him having to leave overseas for a few years. Trusting Ulrich, he asks him to take care of Felicitas while he's gone. Well, Ulrich does more than that, he marries her! And then things get really interesting. If there's anything that can break up a long time friendship between two guys, it's a girl. And when that girl isn't just any girl but Greta Garbo at her vampiest best, then there's no hope. After all, if the devil can't get to you through the spirit, he'll get to you through the flesh.
Since both Garbo and Hanson were Swedish imports, we had our own favorite Swedes, The Matti Bye Ensemble, accompany. And of course they were brilliant.
PAN (1922): And then we ended the night with a Norwegian oddity, more mood poem than narrative, and based on Nobel Prize-winning author Knut Hamsun’s novel of the same name. Ex-soldier Lieutenant Thomas Glahn lives alone in a forest hut with his dog Cora. He narrates the story of his previous dog, Aesop, to her. At least, that's the framing device of the film. But it's really the story of his bewildering romance with Edvarda. When they first meet, there's a strong attraction. But they don't understand each other, and things quickly fall apart. Trying to understand the narrative is nearly pointless. But appreciating the atmosphere, in all its bizarreness, is...also a challenge. But a rewarding one...I think. It's just a very strange film, about as strange as you can get without being purely avante-garde experimental. Also (spoiler alert) with the epilogue it might also be one of the first films told first-person by a living narrator who ends up dead at the end. I'm sure there are other examples, but it's still pretty weird how it was done.
And Guenter Buchwald was our excellent musical guide through the Norwegian (anti-) romantic weirdness--even when it took us all the way to Algeria.
[Update: PAN was easily the most talked about film the next day, and since my little not-very-serious theory had been getting traction, I want to put it out here to take some credit/ridicule. So the perplexing/fascinating thing about the story is that the actions seem almost completely disconnected from motivation. I didn't get into details about that, but things like Glahn stealing Edvarda's shoe and tossing it into the water. Well, you have to remember it's a story that he's telling to his dog. So either he's not elaborating on motivations because a dog just wouldn't get it, or (and this is the theory that intrigues me enough to watch it again to see how well it holds up) the whole story is being filtered through a dog's understanding. I.e., the entire movie (up to the epilogue) is what a dog is trying to understand as his human is telling a story. Enjoy!]
Total Running Time: 490 minutes
My Total Minutes: 397,980
Sunday, May 31, 2015
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Jason goes to Silentfest--Day 2
Well, really evening 2, since I had to work during the day, but I was up for one excellent film and one very weird film
THE LAST LAUGH (1924): Emil Jannings stars in this F. W. Murnau film, and just dropping those two names you know it will be brilliant. And, of course, it is. Jannings plays a doorman at the prestigious Atlantic Hotel. His flashy uniform with his bright buttons is an enormous source of pride, especially when he's around his poor neighbors. So it's a huge blow when he's demoted to washroom attendant, ostensibly on account of his age and frailty. But he refuses to lose face in front of his neighbors, so he steals back his uniform and continues as if nothing happens. Of course, this can't last and he has to suffer tons of humiliation. There is a final reel, forced upon Murnau by the production company UFA, which gives Jannings a grand happy ending. And, well...it's easy to dismiss it and tune out of the film at the down ending if you want. But Murnau did pull it off in grand style, giving Jannings the real last laugh. Murnau had definitely established a visual and directorial style, grandly displaying inner psyches through outward actions, and he and Jannings are masterful at it here.
The Berklee Silent Film Orchestra made its SFSFF debut accompanying this film, and their score--composed, conducted, and played by students--was magnificent (if I wasn't told, I'd never guess they were students.) The only nitpick I have is that having a conductor standing on a podium blocks a significant bit of the bottom of the screen, so I had difficulty leaning from side to side to read the subtitles around them (oh yes, them, there were multiple conductor, as each student had scored one real of film--based on a common theme--and each passed off the baton to the next to conduct their reel.) Something to think about when (not if) they are invited back. Either block off the seats that have a bad view, or play something with English intertitles so I don't have to read subtitles on the bottom of the screen, or--like they did with the next film--have someone read the English translation of the intertitles.
THE GHOST TRAIN (1927): This odd English/German co-production only exists in French, hence the translation intertitles read by Paul McGann. It's a visually interesting and very funny movie based on a hugely popular play by Arnold Ridley. Six strangers are on a train, making a connection in the not-ominously-named-at-all Hellbridge to continue on to London. There are the newlyweds cooing over each other, the married-for-one-year couple bickering constantly, the uptight woman on her way to a temperance meeting, and a darned fool. Well, the fool goes and loses his hat out the window and pulls the emergency break, causing everyone to miss the connecting train to London and have to spend the night in Hellbridge. And when they're there, the station agent warns them of the haunted ghost train that comes through at midnight. So it's a spooky, goofy night-in-a-haunted house, except the haunted house is a train station. And it's got a sensibility that could've come right out of Scooby-Doo (yes, even down to the twist ending) if it didn't predate it by over 40 years. Pretty awesome. Especially when temperance lady gets drunk and starts dancing.
And speaking of awesome Stephen Horne and Frank Bockius did the musical accompaniment, with an upbeat dash of goofiness that perfectly matched the film.
And that's the start of the big weekend. Looking forward to 5 films tomorrow! (technically, today, as it's a little past midnight. Better go get some sleep.)
Total Running Time: 179 minutes
My Total Minutes: 397,491
THE LAST LAUGH (1924): Emil Jannings stars in this F. W. Murnau film, and just dropping those two names you know it will be brilliant. And, of course, it is. Jannings plays a doorman at the prestigious Atlantic Hotel. His flashy uniform with his bright buttons is an enormous source of pride, especially when he's around his poor neighbors. So it's a huge blow when he's demoted to washroom attendant, ostensibly on account of his age and frailty. But he refuses to lose face in front of his neighbors, so he steals back his uniform and continues as if nothing happens. Of course, this can't last and he has to suffer tons of humiliation. There is a final reel, forced upon Murnau by the production company UFA, which gives Jannings a grand happy ending. And, well...it's easy to dismiss it and tune out of the film at the down ending if you want. But Murnau did pull it off in grand style, giving Jannings the real last laugh. Murnau had definitely established a visual and directorial style, grandly displaying inner psyches through outward actions, and he and Jannings are masterful at it here.
The Berklee Silent Film Orchestra made its SFSFF debut accompanying this film, and their score--composed, conducted, and played by students--was magnificent (if I wasn't told, I'd never guess they were students.) The only nitpick I have is that having a conductor standing on a podium blocks a significant bit of the bottom of the screen, so I had difficulty leaning from side to side to read the subtitles around them (oh yes, them, there were multiple conductor, as each student had scored one real of film--based on a common theme--and each passed off the baton to the next to conduct their reel.) Something to think about when (not if) they are invited back. Either block off the seats that have a bad view, or play something with English intertitles so I don't have to read subtitles on the bottom of the screen, or--like they did with the next film--have someone read the English translation of the intertitles.
THE GHOST TRAIN (1927): This odd English/German co-production only exists in French, hence the translation intertitles read by Paul McGann. It's a visually interesting and very funny movie based on a hugely popular play by Arnold Ridley. Six strangers are on a train, making a connection in the not-ominously-named-at-all Hellbridge to continue on to London. There are the newlyweds cooing over each other, the married-for-one-year couple bickering constantly, the uptight woman on her way to a temperance meeting, and a darned fool. Well, the fool goes and loses his hat out the window and pulls the emergency break, causing everyone to miss the connecting train to London and have to spend the night in Hellbridge. And when they're there, the station agent warns them of the haunted ghost train that comes through at midnight. So it's a spooky, goofy night-in-a-haunted house, except the haunted house is a train station. And it's got a sensibility that could've come right out of Scooby-Doo (yes, even down to the twist ending) if it didn't predate it by over 40 years. Pretty awesome. Especially when temperance lady gets drunk and starts dancing.
And speaking of awesome Stephen Horne and Frank Bockius did the musical accompaniment, with an upbeat dash of goofiness that perfectly matched the film.
And that's the start of the big weekend. Looking forward to 5 films tomorrow! (technically, today, as it's a little past midnight. Better go get some sleep.)
Total Running Time: 179 minutes
My Total Minutes: 397,491
Friday, May 29, 2015
Jason goes to Silentfest--Opening Night
The most intense weekend of film in the bay area film festival calendar kicked off last night, and of course I was there. The SF Silent Film Festival has expanded one more day, ending on Monday instead of Sunday night. I have my day job, so I'll be missing the Friday and Monday matinees, but I'll be glued to front row second row center (have to leave room for the musicians) for the as much as I can.
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1930): We started with this Academy Award winner--well, the talkie version, shot concurrently, won the Academy Award. And now I'd really like to see both of them back to back (I just bought the blu-ray that contains both) Because the silent version is magnificent. Staying pretty close to Erich Maria Remarque's book (yay, I can pretend to be literary because I had to read it in high school!) it tells the story of German schoolboys becoming soldiers and going off to fight in WWI. Tomfoolery and antics gives way to military discipline, which gives way to absolute terror in the trenches. The war scenes are impressive in their unflinching depiction of graphic violence (including disembodied hands of a dead soldier still gripping a line of barbed wire--a scene I remember vividly from the book.) And are equally impressive in their realism, including hundreds of extras in the fighting scenes. It's a pretty bleak story, of course, but very well told. And as important as the bleak, depressing, realistic depictions of war are the very funny scenes of camaraderie that develops among the soldiers (at least, the ones who survive.) The film also features Raymond Griffith in his final role (as a French soldier who dies in a foxhole with the German protagonist Paul (Lew Ayres) watching over him and freaking out over the horrors of war. Griffith was a huge silent star (almost entirely in comedies,) but a casualty of the talkie era because a childhood illness left him unable to speak above a whisper. So a dying soldier unable to speak was a perfect cameo role for him.
The Mont Alto Orchestra accompanied and was brilliant, of course. And it also featured live Foley at times, particularly in the war scenes. In fact, some of the most effective scenes were when the music stopped and the sound effects took over. All in all, magnificent!
Running Time: 130 minutes
My Total Minutes: 397,312
My Total Minutes: 397,312
Thursday, May 28, 2015
Jason watches AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON
More like Age of Ultra-Awesome, amiright?
Or wait, is the Internet not too impressed? In that case, more like Age of Ultra-Lame, amiright?
Whatever. It was entertainment. I enjoyed it. But at this point I'm mostly just watching them so I won't be confused by the next one. Hey CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR sounds like it will be awesome, right?
Running Time: 141 minutes
My Total Minutes: 397,182
Or wait, is the Internet not too impressed? In that case, more like Age of Ultra-Lame, amiright?
Whatever. It was entertainment. I enjoyed it. But at this point I'm mostly just watching them so I won't be confused by the next one. Hey CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR sounds like it will be awesome, right?
Running Time: 141 minutes
My Total Minutes: 397,182
Jason Watches MAD MAX: FURY ROAD in 3D
And it's freakin' awesome, despite the frequent abuses of Jason's Rule of 3-D*
We open with Max, his iconic hair, and his iconic car. He steps on a lizard and eats it. He's gone even more mad than the last time we saw him (30 years ago!) He's a wild animal. Within minutes his car is destroyed, he's captured, and his iconic mane is cut off (and, of course, he is now Tom Hardy instead of Mel Gibson.) Within a few more minutes, Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) has stolen/rescued the "wives" (a.k.a sex slaves) of Immortan Joe, the despotic ruler of the Citadel, and the only source of water in the apocalyptic wasteland (don't worry, and don't even try to keep up.) Max is strapped to the front of the lead chase car to supply blood for the driver, a bred-and-trained fighter. And then it's a two hour long batshit crazy chase. A bleak descent into sanity in an insane world. It's literally so frantic that the first time the soundtrack turns to peaceful music is when the chase has entered a fucking electrical dust storm that kills anyone who is outside and not covered up (of course, Max is on the outside of the car and not covered up, but still chained to his driver.) And it gets crazier from there. Just fucking watch it, it's an action film masterpiece. A MASTERPIECE I tell you!
Now for the elephant in the room, the butt-hurt from Men's Rights Activists over how sissified Max is because there are strong human females in this film. First of all, being a rabid animal is not sissified. Max is still bad-ass, and while the women are on the road for their freedom, Max is on the road for his sanity. He is, in some ways, playing second-fiddle in his own movie. But that's fine, it works for the story. As for any feminist agenda, George Miller insists the film doesn't have one, it just happens to have women who are treated as humans. And their journey from sex slaves to freedom doesn't work if they're stolen from one man by another man--that would just be creepy (which I suspect would be fine by the MRAs.) They have their journey, Max has his, and there are parallels. But if you want to read a feminist message into it, a repeated question/rallying cry is "Who killed the world?" And if you want to read between the lines, the answer could be "Men did. (and women will fix it.)" But you can just as easily read "Greed did. (and freedom will fix it.)" Or any of a number of similar readings.
Running Time: 120 minutes
My Total Minutes: 397,041
*Depth into the screen is good. Throwing stuff out of the screen to make the audience jump is gimmicky bullcrap.
We open with Max, his iconic hair, and his iconic car. He steps on a lizard and eats it. He's gone even more mad than the last time we saw him (30 years ago!) He's a wild animal. Within minutes his car is destroyed, he's captured, and his iconic mane is cut off (and, of course, he is now Tom Hardy instead of Mel Gibson.) Within a few more minutes, Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) has stolen/rescued the "wives" (a.k.a sex slaves) of Immortan Joe, the despotic ruler of the Citadel, and the only source of water in the apocalyptic wasteland (don't worry, and don't even try to keep up.) Max is strapped to the front of the lead chase car to supply blood for the driver, a bred-and-trained fighter. And then it's a two hour long batshit crazy chase. A bleak descent into sanity in an insane world. It's literally so frantic that the first time the soundtrack turns to peaceful music is when the chase has entered a fucking electrical dust storm that kills anyone who is outside and not covered up (of course, Max is on the outside of the car and not covered up, but still chained to his driver.) And it gets crazier from there. Just fucking watch it, it's an action film masterpiece. A MASTERPIECE I tell you!
Now for the elephant in the room, the butt-hurt from Men's Rights Activists over how sissified Max is because there are strong human females in this film. First of all, being a rabid animal is not sissified. Max is still bad-ass, and while the women are on the road for their freedom, Max is on the road for his sanity. He is, in some ways, playing second-fiddle in his own movie. But that's fine, it works for the story. As for any feminist agenda, George Miller insists the film doesn't have one, it just happens to have women who are treated as humans. And their journey from sex slaves to freedom doesn't work if they're stolen from one man by another man--that would just be creepy (which I suspect would be fine by the MRAs.) They have their journey, Max has his, and there are parallels. But if you want to read a feminist message into it, a repeated question/rallying cry is "Who killed the world?" And if you want to read between the lines, the answer could be "Men did. (and women will fix it.)" But you can just as easily read "Greed did. (and freedom will fix it.)" Or any of a number of similar readings.
Running Time: 120 minutes
My Total Minutes: 397,041
*Depth into the screen is good. Throwing stuff out of the screen to make the audience jump is gimmicky bullcrap.
Jason Watches EX MACHINA
This is an excellent, intimate sci-fi thriller. Caleb, a programmer, wins a competition to work with the big boss on super-secret project in his remote mountain home/fortress. There he finds everything controlled by computers, and his boss Nathan is a hard-drinking "bro-grammer" with an intense, controlling personality. He quickly reveals that the project is A.I., and Caleb is there to administer the Turing Test to his latest creation, an android named Ava. Their pleasant, even playful conversations take on a dark edge when Ava warns Caleb not to trust Nathan (which seems kind of obvious from the get-go, he's definitely got his secrets and his ulterior motives.) So a cat and mouse game unfolds...no, wait, there's three people involved, so a cat, mouse, and other cat? Cat, mouse, and other mouse? I don't know. Since his job is evaluating whether Ava is really intelligent or just fooling him, Caleb's conversations with Nathan tend to run towards the mechanics of manipulation (e.g., Ava's femininity could be a deliberate distraction, much like the magician's hot assistant) which of course mirrors what's going on in the film, just not in the way you might expect. As far as special effects...Ava is the special effect, and incredibly well done, with a see-through lower torso revealing her inner workings. But it really isn't a special-effects driven movie. It's a smart, story-and-character-based sci-fi thriller. Pretty awesome.
Also, minor spoiler (and probably unwarranted social commentary): the movie could work as a metaphor for the current state of the tech industry, where it's ruled by an aggressive, bro-grammer douchebag, there's one nice-but-powerless guy, and all the women are literally objects.
Running Time: 108 minutes
My Total Minutes: 396,921
Also, minor spoiler (and probably unwarranted social commentary): the movie could work as a metaphor for the current state of the tech industry, where it's ruled by an aggressive, bro-grammer douchebag, there's one nice-but-powerless guy, and all the women are literally objects.
Running Time: 108 minutes
My Total Minutes: 396,921
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Jason goes to a Midnites for Maniacs tribute to Penelope Spheeris
As soon as I was done with SFIFF, the very next night I was back at the Castro for a triple-feature, because I'm a movie masochist!
Penelope Spheeris--along with her daughter--was in the house for a Midnites for Maniacs very special evening. I had first seen her way back in 2002 when her Ozzfest documentary WE SOLD OUR SOULS FOR ROCK 'N ROLL played at Indiefest. That was, believe it or not, my first time at a film festival. So in a way my film-watching career has been connected to Spheeris from the get go. So it was a treat to see her and hear the discussion. Particularly moving when Jesse Ficks credited Spheeris with saving his life through her movies (although we didn't get into personal details of why.) And equally moving when Penelope credited her daughter with saving her life, because she gave up drugs when she found out she was pregnant (after passing out on set and waking up to Richard Pryor saying, "This bitch is pregnant!" She's had an interesting life.)
Anyway, on to the films!
DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION (1981): Opening with a montage of performers at the microphone reading her release statement, mocking it, and tearing it up, the audience is immediately thrown into the 1980 L.A. punk scene. With bands like Alice Bag Band, Black Flag, Catholic Discipline, Circle Jerks, Fear, Germs, and X (some of those I heard of before, I swear.) We get the feel of the performances, the danger in the venues, the boozing and hard-living life of everybody involved. Remember back when movies could actually spark riots? Well, I'm not sure if you can blame the film itself or just the fact that screening it in L.A. got so many punks together that fights were bound to break out. But the riot at the L.A. premiere forced the chief of police to swear it would never be played in L.A. again. It recently got a 30th anniversary gala screening there. Stick to your artistic vision, kids.
WAYNE'S WORLD (1992): Still the best SNL movie ever. And the movie that transformed Spheeris from a struggling independent director (with some friends like Lorne Michaels) into a millionaire. And it's still fuckin' hilarious. And I don't think that's just because I was at the right age when it came out and I'm now watching it ironically. It still fucking works. Perhaps some of the meta-humor has aged, but the jokes about movie cliches and the plot about corrupting influences in the entertainment business are still perfectly relevant. Maybe even more so.
DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION PART 2: THE METAL YEARS (1988): Here's a little trivia for you, Penelope Spheeris turned down an opportunity to direct THIS IS SPINAL TAP to make this movie. She's a rock 'n roll gal, and rock music has been an important part of her life forever. So rather than make a movie mocking heavy metal music, she made one celebrating it. And in retrospect...it kinda looks like it's mocking it anyway. She starts in the same way, with people reading and trashing the release papers, and then we get to the acts--KISS, Alice Cooper, Poison, Ozzy Osbourne, Megadeath...and Odin? Okay, a lot of those were the soundtrack to my youth, so I was much more interested than in part 1. But also...these acts were a lot sillier. With part 1, you felt there was something real in the anger in the music. With part 2, it's about sex, drugs (alcohol is a drug, right?) and rock 'n roll...in that order. Okay, put showmanship on top, because that's what this time in music was about--big, garish, outlandish stuff that you can look back at 27 years later and point and laugh. But also remember how important it was back at the time...and how we kids took it a lot more seriously than a lot of the artists. Damn, that was fun.
Total Running Time: 287 minutes
My Total Minutes: 396,812
P.S. Back in 2002, Penelope also had the greatest Q and A exchange I've ever seen, but I didn't want to clutter the start of this post. WE SOLD OUR SOULS FOR ROCK 'N ROLL featured a sideshow act called The Reverend B. Dangerous, who is (or was) an Oakland-based performance artist who would do stuff like stick skewers though his cheeks. He was there for the Q and A as well. So a woman got up in the audience afterwards and praised Penelope and the film, and then said, "As a mother I have to ask--how do you avoid infection?" The thing is, nobody in the theater could tell she was addressing the Reverend B. Dangerous, everyone though she was addressing Penelope. So she answered, "How do I avoid infection? I don't sleep with the roadies!" Wise words from an incredible woman!
Penelope Spheeris--along with her daughter--was in the house for a Midnites for Maniacs very special evening. I had first seen her way back in 2002 when her Ozzfest documentary WE SOLD OUR SOULS FOR ROCK 'N ROLL played at Indiefest. That was, believe it or not, my first time at a film festival. So in a way my film-watching career has been connected to Spheeris from the get go. So it was a treat to see her and hear the discussion. Particularly moving when Jesse Ficks credited Spheeris with saving his life through her movies (although we didn't get into personal details of why.) And equally moving when Penelope credited her daughter with saving her life, because she gave up drugs when she found out she was pregnant (after passing out on set and waking up to Richard Pryor saying, "This bitch is pregnant!" She's had an interesting life.)
Anyway, on to the films!
DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION (1981): Opening with a montage of performers at the microphone reading her release statement, mocking it, and tearing it up, the audience is immediately thrown into the 1980 L.A. punk scene. With bands like Alice Bag Band, Black Flag, Catholic Discipline, Circle Jerks, Fear, Germs, and X (some of those I heard of before, I swear.) We get the feel of the performances, the danger in the venues, the boozing and hard-living life of everybody involved. Remember back when movies could actually spark riots? Well, I'm not sure if you can blame the film itself or just the fact that screening it in L.A. got so many punks together that fights were bound to break out. But the riot at the L.A. premiere forced the chief of police to swear it would never be played in L.A. again. It recently got a 30th anniversary gala screening there. Stick to your artistic vision, kids.
WAYNE'S WORLD (1992): Still the best SNL movie ever. And the movie that transformed Spheeris from a struggling independent director (with some friends like Lorne Michaels) into a millionaire. And it's still fuckin' hilarious. And I don't think that's just because I was at the right age when it came out and I'm now watching it ironically. It still fucking works. Perhaps some of the meta-humor has aged, but the jokes about movie cliches and the plot about corrupting influences in the entertainment business are still perfectly relevant. Maybe even more so.
DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION PART 2: THE METAL YEARS (1988): Here's a little trivia for you, Penelope Spheeris turned down an opportunity to direct THIS IS SPINAL TAP to make this movie. She's a rock 'n roll gal, and rock music has been an important part of her life forever. So rather than make a movie mocking heavy metal music, she made one celebrating it. And in retrospect...it kinda looks like it's mocking it anyway. She starts in the same way, with people reading and trashing the release papers, and then we get to the acts--KISS, Alice Cooper, Poison, Ozzy Osbourne, Megadeath...and Odin? Okay, a lot of those were the soundtrack to my youth, so I was much more interested than in part 1. But also...these acts were a lot sillier. With part 1, you felt there was something real in the anger in the music. With part 2, it's about sex, drugs (alcohol is a drug, right?) and rock 'n roll...in that order. Okay, put showmanship on top, because that's what this time in music was about--big, garish, outlandish stuff that you can look back at 27 years later and point and laugh. But also remember how important it was back at the time...and how we kids took it a lot more seriously than a lot of the artists. Damn, that was fun.
Total Running Time: 287 minutes
My Total Minutes: 396,812
P.S. Back in 2002, Penelope also had the greatest Q and A exchange I've ever seen, but I didn't want to clutter the start of this post. WE SOLD OUR SOULS FOR ROCK 'N ROLL featured a sideshow act called The Reverend B. Dangerous, who is (or was) an Oakland-based performance artist who would do stuff like stick skewers though his cheeks. He was there for the Q and A as well. So a woman got up in the audience afterwards and praised Penelope and the film, and then said, "As a mother I have to ask--how do you avoid infection?" The thing is, nobody in the theater could tell she was addressing the Reverend B. Dangerous, everyone though she was addressing Penelope. So she answered, "How do I avoid infection? I don't sleep with the roadies!" Wise words from an incredible woman!
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