... you can learn from:
Being John Malkovich (1999)
Craig: There is truth, and there are lies, andart always tells the truth. Even when it's lying.
Happy 25 to one of the many many 1999 masterpieces, and one of Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman's many masterpieces. Doesn't that single line from the film feel like a nice distillation of Charlie Kaufman's ethos? He's always uncovering the deepest truths about humanity through artifice and deception, boxes within boxes, pulling back the telescopic lens on us again and again until he spirals our brains into something like Herzog's ecstatic truth. And this movie is where our journey with that genius began (no The Dana Carvey Show does not count) and I haven't regretted a single second since. Anyway did you see the news that Jonze had apparently been working on a big sci-fi series for Netflix that's just been shelved? Boo, I say -- we need Spike back already! It's been ages and ages. Come back to us! On camera, too -- I like to look at you.
"Queer is a bold act of kindness from one queer to another, excavating an unexpected and impossible love story out from one of our most enigmatic homosexual touchstones. It is a rare gem, haunting and strange, a romance of shivering ache and heartbreak closer to Guadagnino’s Suspiria or Bones and All than the flushed skin and peach fuzz of I Am Love and Call Me By Your Name that Luca-in-lover-mode is known for. It’s dazzling and dirty and sad, like a haunting dream we find ourselves fighting to not wake up from so as to not have to stare at the empty, featureless room that surrounds us."
The trailer kind of splits the difference between the two Lucas and I suppose that's apt -- when I saw him talk about the movie (see some video here) he insisted this was a love story, just for two people out of sync, and that's very true.
Queer is out on November 27th!
"A provocative film blithely exploring desire, domination, and fantasy, I Want Your Sex asks, how far is too far? When fresh-faced Elliot (Hoffman) lands an exciting job for renowned artist, icon and provocateur Erika Tracy (Wilde), his fantasies come true as Erika taps him to become her sexual muse. But Elliot soon finds himself out of his depth as Erika takes him on a journey more profound than he ever could have imagined, into a world of sex, obsession, power, betrayal and murder."
"The Land of Nod is a place mentioned in the Book of Genesis of the Hebrew Bible, located "on the east of Eden", where Cain was exiled by God after Cain had murdered his brother Abel. According to Genesis 4:16:
"And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden."
... Nod is said to be outside of the presence or face of God. Origen defined Nod as the land of trembling and wrote that it symbolized the condition of all who forsake God. Early commentators treated it as the opposite of Eden (worse still than the land of exile for the rest of humanity). In the English tradition Nod was sometimes described as a desert inhabited only by ferocious beasts or monsters. Others interpreted Nod as dark or even underground—away from the face of God. Augustine described unconverted Jews as dwellers in the land of Nod, which he defined as commotion and "carnal disquietude".
A fertile reference, that! I remember the phrase from my childhood spent in Sunday School but a lot of the further inferences go beyond my kiddie-learning. You could go pretty much anywhere from there, but to be honest just some of those descriptions -- the opposite of Eden, a place with its face turned away from God -- give me goosebumps, even though I'm an long-time atheist now. Anyway one imagines this will be very different from Skinamarink -- there's not going to be a need for that film's no-budget aesthetic this time out obviously! But I have a feeling Ball will use what he learned there and maintain some of his voice, even into a bigger production. His voice felt so assured to me already -- I want more! Cannot wait! Also of import (since we're here) -- Ball is a queer filmmaker, which gives Skinamarink an even more interesting underbelly once you know that; can't wait to see how that sorts itself out in his future work.
"I now forgive Calvin Klein for previously hiring Justin Bieber as a model. I literally stopped buying the brand at that. I will reconsider now."--- MNPP commenter Dan approves, as do we all, of CK's use of Aaron Taylor-Johnson as their latest underwear model. Our baby boy is looking good!
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