https://open.spotify.com/episode/4WBRAewr9PGkpHgDB6eeb3?si=5a2c7822d22343a1
Tag Archives: Hitchcock
“Miss Lonelyhearts” [2021)
https://open.spotify.com/track/2H5rAvG46VxsVNKLQOPTDs?si=3ab2cffbafaa46ee
Recommended if you like Mercury Rev
Last Night in Soho [2021)
First off.
I am in love with Thomasin McKenzie.
I think Saoirse Ronan has lost her touch.
Kat Dennings doesn’t even bother with films anymore.
And Thora Birch is too much of a liberal moron.
But then all actors are liberal morons, aren’t they?
Except for a precious few.
Jon Voight.
James Woods.
Rob Schneider.
Kirstie Alley.
Robert Davi.
Jim Caviezel.
Secondly.
This film is a masterpiece.
Edgar Wright is the best filmmaker in the world right now.
Is he better than Jean-Luc Godard?
No.
But Godard is not making films for mass consumption.
Is he better than Wes Anderson?
BY A MILLION FUCKING MILES!!!
Don’t get me wrong.
Wes Anderson made one perfect film.
And that film was The Grand Budapest Hotel.
And that film wouldn’t have been perfect without Saoirse Ronan.
That’s how important her presence in that film was.
Saoirse has made another perfect film.
Hanna.
But her others are mediocre.
Brooklyn.
Meh.
Lady Bird.
Even more meh (not a good thing).
Saoirse has gone astray.
Just as Thora Birch went astray.
Ghost World is a perfect film.
And American Beauty is close to perfect.
For my money, Homeless to Harvard is her other perfect film.
Kat Dennings films kinda suck.
Her masterpiece is actually 2 Broke Girls.
I’m serious.
But that’s not cinema.
Twin Peaks is cinema.
Even though it’s a TV show.
Histoire(s) du cinéma is the best film ever made.
And it was made for TV.
Homeless to Harvard is a Lifetime movie.
Made for TV.
It is not cinema.
Not exactly.
But it may be a perfect film.
Wes Anderson made his perfect film with Saoirse Ronan.
And he made a good film (Tenenbaums).
The rest are shite.
I did not understand Edgar Wright’s film language when I first saw Shaun of the Dead.
I thought it was crap.
How wrong I was!
Here is my contention.
Every Edgar Wright film is perfect.
Shaun of the Dead?
Yes.
Hot Fuzz?
Yes.
The World’s End?
Yes.
Baby Driver?
Yes.
Scott Pilgrim?
Yes.
And this film is perfect too.
But this is not quite the Wright you are used to.
This is a genuinely scary film.
But it stands up with Psycho, Rosemary’s Baby, and The Shining as one of the four best horror films ever made.
Edgar Wright films are all about detail.
But not the twee obsession with detail that Wes Anderson has.
Edgar Wright is overflowing with talent.
Wes Anderson is not.
Anderson needed Saoirse Ronan to make his perfect film.
And there was a bit (just a bit!) of grit in Grand Budapest.
Saoirse is missing from his other films.
And there is no real grit in any of the others.
Tenenbaums is good.
But the Wes Anderson players are tiresome.
Is Bill Murray amazing?
Yes.
But are his performances in Wes Anderson films his best work?
Absolutely not.
No more Jason Schwatzman (for fuck’s sake!).
Is Luke Wilson a great actor?
Yes.
What’s his best film?
Masked and Anonymous.
Maybe it’s Paltrow and Hackman which make Tenenbaums good.
For my money, Luke Wilson is the one who makes that film go.
But it is not on the same level as Grand Budapest.
Last Night in Soho is the Grand Budapest of the ’20s.
We’re in the ’20s now.
Are they roaring?
Like a fucking mouse.
Last Night in Soho is a gazillion times better than No Time to Die.
This film has everything the Bond film didn’t.
Substance.
Competent directing.
A story worth sticking with.
And so it is fitting that Diana Rigg’s last role should absolutely trump the death of James Bond.
The one George Lazenby film was WAY better than No Time to Die.
The death of love is more sad than the death of the hero.
Diana Rigg is the linchpin in the Bond franchise.
Pull that thread, and the sweater unravels.
Léa Seydoux is boring as fuck in the Bond films.
She was great in Blue.
But she was nothing compared to the one who carried that film (Adele Exarchopoulos).
Exarchopoulos made one perfect film.
Blue is the Warmest Color.
None of her other films are even good.
Wright makes what Youth in Revolt might have been.
He is not glib.
This is not a hipster film.
Michael Cera (who has made one perfect film [Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist]) is, mercifully, NOT in Last Night in Soho.
[correction…Kat Dennings DID make one perfect film]
Thomasin McKenzie’s obsession with ’60s London music is real.
It’s not a fucking Austin Powers joke.
Rita Tushingham is wonderful as Gram.
Excellent casting.
[take note, Bond franchise]
Thomasin hooks up with a black dude.
No big deal.
Take note, Bond franchise.
NOT EVERY FUCKING PERSON HAS TO BE BLACK IN ORDER FOR A FILM TO BE VIABLE!!!
Thomasin’s love interest is a black fellow.
I have no problem with that.
He does a good job.
For fuck’s sake…he doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page!
Michael Ajao.
Fine acting!
There can be important black characters WITHOUT A FILM BEING A WOKE FUCKING JOKE (like the recent Bond film).
No big deal.
Don’t make it a big deal.
It has to fit with the story.
The story is the most important thing.
The writers of the Bond film (Purvis and Wade) have allowed their name to be attached to the fucking pathetic shit of No Time to Die.
So you get a kiwi to speak in a Cornish accent.
GREAT ACTRESS!
Thomasin McKenzie.
Say that name with me.
Jacinda Ardern’s father (or mother?) was a horse.
Ugly bitch.
Ugly soul.
Thomasin McKenzie is the best thing to ever come out of New Zealand.
However, there has been one perfect kiwi movie: Eagle vs Shark.
Synnøve Karlsen is so fucking annoying in Soho.
And she was supposed to be.
So, good job (I guess).
Every film needs a villain.
And Jocasta (Karlsen’s character) is the real villain of this film.
Thomasin is different.
Jocasta beats her down.
Mentally.
A stingy spirit.
Can never share in any of her joys.
Do you know anyone like that?
But Thomasin is troubled.
Hallucinations?
Maybe.
Seeing ghosts?
Maybe.
We’re trying to solve a case here.
Cold case.
Maybe a lot of cold cases.
Maybe a serial killer.
To the Belle and Sebastian bedsit.
Salad days are short-lived.
Don’t underestimate Sandie Shaw.
Always something there to remind me.
1964.
Puppet on a string.
Gotta pay your dues.
As a wind-up bird girl.
Brian Epstein.
Giorgio Gomelsky.
Andrew Loog Oldham.
ABKCO.
The influence of Vertigo upon Last Night in Soho cannot be understated.
The red of the Café de Paris.
The blonde of Anya Taylor-Joy’s hair.
And Thomasin’s hair.
[also, don’t underestimate Bergman’s Persona]
The glance to the side.
It’s not Jimmy Stewart.
It’s Thomasin.
Allusions to The Way of the Dragon and The Lady from Shanghai in the mirrors.
Sure, a bit of Pulp Fiction.
But that’s just for the kids.
Edgar Wright’s grasp of cinema history is way deeper than some Tarantino bullshit.
And yet, he likes zombies.
And shitty horror films from the ’80s.
I mean REALLY shitty, camp ones.
Slasher films.
Back to Vertigo.
Kim Novak’s apartment is bathed in green neon.
But Thomasin’s bedsit is a red, white, and blue homage to Godard.
An homage to Une Femme est une femme.
Dancing.
Dancing girls.
Prostitutes.
Vivre sa vie.
Pink dress fembot.
Pew pew.
Thomasin is way sexier than Anya Taylor-Joy.
Thomasin is the girl next door.
The frumpy hair of Homeless to Harvard.
I love it.
It must be this way.
To juxtapose the transition to Swinging Sixties glamour.
Is Trump just culture jamming with his vaccine tack?
Either that, or the hero has become the villain.
Did the D.C. swamp make Trump into a swamp zombie?
Maybe no one comes out clean.
International law was broken.
War crimes.
All these Wright films have zombies.
Or robots.
Faceless automatons.
A bit of Dragon Tattoo.
We all like a good microfiche scene!
Is Terence Stamp her father?
If Sandie is her mother?
Could be.
Otherwise, she would be the daughter of a prick.
But Stamp tried to save Sandie.
Arsenic and old lace.
The ones you never suspect.
Sicario.
“Buried” in the walls.
Decomposing.
Poe.
Gacy.
Wright’s “sympathy for the serial killer”.
What happened to these people that made them monsters?
Don’t underestimate Truffaut’s Fahrenheit 451 (his only English-language film…and a flat-out masterpiece).
In the world of Edgar Wright, it is records.
Vinyl.
Not books.
And sometimes the elderly want to die with their memories.
They are not going anywhere.
They are not fleeing.
It’s been a good life.
Going down with the ship.
Up in flames.
The shitbags want their deaths avenged.
After all, they were just horny, well-to-do dads who needed a little excitement.
Prostitution.
It’s the law, after all.
Murder is murder.
Crimes of passion.
By reason of insanity.
Not guilty.
Not insane.
But traumatized.
But Thomasin has been on the adventure.
She knows what Sandie has been through.
Trump was abused for four years.
That is true.
And he fought like a champ.
Is there no justice?
Is it culture jamming (I ask again)?
Confusion.
Keeping his enemies off balance.
Getting a foot in the door.
Truth Social will censor “hate speech” with a Silicon Valley AI bot.
In order to get on Apple App Store and Google Play.
But the roll out is delayed?
Lie about the vaccines.
“Safe and effective”.
Move in for the kill shot.
Against whom?
Big Pharma and the New World Order.
But we have to call out serial killers for who they are.
If you are saying the COVID vaccines are “safe and effective”, you are spreading misinformation that is endangering the lives of those who hear and trust you.
CDC: 11,879
Open VAERS: 23,149
Neither safe,
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety/adverse-events.html
https://openvaers.com/covid-data/mortality
nor effective.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-covid-deaths-2021-vaccines-b1963790.html
10,000-20,000 vaccine deaths should be read as 100,000-200,000 vaccine deaths because of this:
https://www.bmj.com/rapid-response/2011/11/02/underreporting-vaccine-adverse-events
And correlation does not necessarily equal causation…unless this (peep the myocarditis…you think that’s all JnJ? [nigga please!]):
https://openvaers.com/covid-data
But the election was stolen.
Or was it allowed to be stolen?
When will the other shoe drop?
Or does the other shoe even exist?
This charade is going to go on until 2024?
Maybe Sandie is not her mother.
-PD
Argo [2012)
Q in Joseph Murphy.
MCIA.
Marine Corps Intelligence Activity.
Unclassified files from DARPA.
Now held at Quantico.
Project Veritas.
NCIS.
File name “jag”.
Ron DeSantis.
Navy SEAL.
JAG.
Quantico.
CYBERCOM outed two pedophile producers at CNN.
Drip drip drip.
We have it all.
https://open.spotify.com/album/7IgbjPtUs3iUnf5eWcCb1Z?si=lsb_L_5TRvqAOGNb1FqU0A&nd=1
release_good
https://open.spotify.com/track/2qtyA0aoLHNjChD3aNr2Dd?si=JF6LHX23SgC7uCdXZ7S58Q&nd=1
George Kaplan.
Roger Thornhill.
You can never tell anyone what you do.
Can you keep a secret?
Maybe I stayed home for two months.
Didn’t leave the house.
Or maybe I left the country.
Phone farm.
Replica of house.
Internally consistent.
Who can check?
Two rooms.
Three.
Four.
Four is easy.
One, two, and three are more effort than it’s worth.
Because this possibility never seemed plausible to any analysts.
Ghost Army were decoys.
But their chatter was real.
A ghost army is still an army.
https://nypost.com/2021/05/18/pentagon-reportedly-running-secret-global-army-of-60000/
FISA renewed.
Australia loophole.
McCrystal is butthurt that we highjacked his idea.
Because he used our truth.
Military intelligence is far superior to CIA.
With some caveats.
Old CIA < New CIA.
William Burns good.
Trust operation.
Counter-info op turned into info op.
Counter-info op that hijacked a LARP.
Is it a cover story to protect DTRA and make DARPA look honorable?
Maybe.
Or maybe DoD are less scumbags than CIA are.
War between NSA and CIA.
Hacking capabilities.
Tailored access (Fort Meade).
Vault7.
Frankfurt consulate.
https://wikileaks.org/ciav7p1/
CIA attempt to usurp NSA area of expertise.
DIA pushback against CIA via DCS.
COVID as bat vaccine.
Aerosolized.
To be sprayed in caves.
Escaped Wuhan lab before it was finished.
EcoHealth Alliance (run by Peter Daszak [check out his opera singer brother]) offered GoF project to DARPA.
DARPA declined.
EcoHealth’s proposal was on a top secret drive.
TS/SCI.
TS/SAP.
Documents not classified.
Pushed off site by Major Joseph Murphy (USMC).
Aide to Commandant Berger.
General staff.
MCIA as intel support to Berger.
In his role on the Joint Chiefs of Staff (who have certainly fucked things up before [Operation Northwoods proposal for false-flag terror attacks {real casualties} on American citizens]).
Now led by traitor Mark Milley.
Also populated by subversive Michael Gilday.
Civilian control by Lloyd Austin (traitor for pushing killer vaccines on troops).
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety/adverse-events.html
https://openvaers.com/covid-data/mortality
Why is CDC parsing HHS VAERS data to make it look half as bad as it actually is?
How passive is the surveillance of VAERS (historically)?
Let’s take something serious such as Kawasaki Disease as an example.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4599698/
Underreporting of severe adverse events to VAERS appears to be by a factor of 10.
If CDC admits 10,688 #VaccineDeaths , the actual number may be 106,880.
If OpenVAERS gives the real number in the VAERS system (21,382 vaccine deaths), the actual number may be 213,820 vaccine deaths so far in the USA from this portfolio of COVID vaccines (JnJ, Moderna, and Pfizer).
Pfizer is clearly the most deadly (as the above picture shows).
CDC tries to play the “correlation doesn’t necessarily equal causation” card, but that doesn’t wash.
Consider this:
https://openvaers.com/covid-data
For free, techno fog.
Major Murphy makes it clear why this is.
Thank you, James O’Keefe:
The above document deserves extreme scrutiny.
If it is a cover story, it is a good one.
It may provide some cover for the military.
But I think it is largely true.
There is, unfortunately, a reason the military might need cover.
What the fuck is this (ongoing program)?
https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_HDTRA11710064_9761
The “highlights”:
How could INSCOM not know about this?
DTRA is literally co-located with them at Fort Belvoir.
Do you need the CliffsNotes?
No problem:
Flynn is definitely doing the Lord’s work.
As is Colonel Sellin:
The Canadian Caper.
Of course it’s CIA propaganda.
But Godard said some of the best (because of their passion) movies ever made were propaganda.
Mosaddegh.
Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
SAVAK.
The original Joe Biden (Jimmy Carter).
Inflation (Bidenflation).
Gas price.
Afghanistan and Yemen now substituting for Tehran.
2012.
Obama.
John Kerry.
Pallets of cash (Iran Deal).
Heavily invested in Big Pharma.
It appears Joe Kennedy III took over where the “Climate Envoy” left off:
https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/pfizer-inc/members-invested?id=D000000138
https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/johnson-johnson/members-invested?id=D000000386
I disagree with Major Murphy on Remdesivir.
Causes fluid in lungs.
Completely unsuitable as a treatment for COVID.
https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/gilead-sciences/members-invested?id=D000026221
https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/merck-co/members-invested?id=D000000275
Problem is Moderna IPO in Dec. 2018 and BioNTech IPO about ten days before #Event201 in October 2019.
Open Secrets (Congressional stock holdings) lagging approximately four years right now.
Kerry just as deep in Burisma as Joe and Hunter Biden.
Ukraine blew it.
They could have blown the whistle on Biden.
They caved.
Now Russia will own them.
They dug their own grave.
Corruption has consequences.
RE: BioNTech (and Event 201 foreknowledge).
Gates Foundation invested $55 mil. in BioNTech the month before their NASDAQ IPO.
To reiterate, that IPO then preceded the coronavirus war game (sponsored by Gates Foundation and World Economic Forum with help from Johns Hopkins CHS) by about a week and a half.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-biontech-ipo-idUSKBN1WO29B
https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/event201/
https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/event201/scenario.html
https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/event201/players/haines.html
#AvrilHaines (John Brennan).
Avril Haines now promoted (by Biden) from extremely-suspicious pandemic exercise RIGHT BEFORE THE REAL PANDEMIC BROKE OUT to head the entire U.S. intelligence community (ODNI).
John Brennan and Michael Hayden are, for all intents and purposes, the same traitorous piece of shit.
No reason for either of them to publicly (a huge break in precedent for CIA and NSA) berate Trump for four-straight years on Twitter.
Brennan’s protege at Event 201.
Joint Chiefs of Staff fuckery:
https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/news/20010430/northwoods.pdf
I thought Lyman L. Lemnitzer was the worst CJCS.
That was until Mark Milley came along.
T-R-E-A-S-O-N.
Like Tammy Wynette might have sung:
https://nypost.com/2021/09/17/milley-claims-china-calls-perfectly-within-the-duties-of-his-role/
But Trump is a fucking retard as well.
Latest proof:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-roasts-gutless-desantis-for-keeping-his-booster-status-a-secret
#DeSantis2024 #Rand2024
A history of Trump’s retardation and #CrimesAgainstHumanity .
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/donald-trump-i-got-the-pfizer-125703879.html
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/trump-played-conspiracy-theory-hits-024518810.html
Trump had to nonchalantly mention his booster status in what was basically a church setting.
This is about as close to being Hochul-level-evil as one can get.
https://nypost.com/2021/10/05/gov-kathy-hochul-defends-calling-nyc-churchgoers-my-apostles/
Kinda like how England vaccinated people in cathedrals with organ music playing to calm their nerves (slaughterhouse).
Who’s more objectionable now: Milley (absolutely a traitor) or Trump (absolutely encouraging crimes against humanity [the administration of killer vaccines] when he should know better)?
Milley is a straight-up traitor to the United States of America…and he might be a better person than Donald Trump.
I’ve already demonstrated that the COVID vaccines are dangerous.
Now let me remind you that they don’t work.
[#NeitherSafeNorEffective]
https://www.bmj.com/content/374/bmj.n2306
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-covid-deaths-2021-vaccines-b1963790.html
What would make Trump go from being the best President in modern history (he was!) to a vaccine-worshipping, sell-out cunt?
Some really tortured logisticians postulate that it’s all about “optics”.
Hm. Perhaps.
But to what end?
What is the strategic advantage of Trump alienating his own base?
Does he really think he’s going to win over liberals?
Is he winning them over by sucking the dick of Big Pharma?
I don’t think so.
The heat is now on Fauci.
-PD
41020 [2021)
A silver mt. zion.
Montreal.
Hotel tango.
Sighing synths.
Leonard Cohen.
Getting cold.
Lee Hazlewood.
Arizona into the Rockies.
Wyoming.
Road music.
Music of wide open spaces.
Charles Mingus checks in.
Bob Dylan.
Tumbleweeds.
Was QAnon bullshit?
WFMU seems to think so.
And all their hipster listeners.
Missing the Godspeed You! Black Emperor.
Chris Isaak.
My Bloody Valentine.
R.E.M.
Automatic for the people.
Rightly asking if this guy, Pauly Deathwish, is Borat.
Elvis working at the truck stop.
Nevada.
New Mexico.
Into French philosophy at a Barnes & Noble.
Film criticism.
Cinematic music.
The great philosophers.
Taking on Philip Glass.
Rachmaninoff.
Swedish version.
Poor girl with grey teeth.
Dirty bra.
Addicted to Kardashians.
And meth.
Smoking candy cigarettes.
Brutal, cold world.
No fall back.
Withdrawal back.
Wanna lock me for blood pressure.
It ain’t no cakewalk.
Ripoff.
Tech moves fast.
Write anything.
Better than nothing.
Bad press.
No press.
You have a printing press.
The Innocence Mission.
Miles.
Porgy and Bess.
A thousand planes.
Two ambient instrumentals to start this album.
Setting an amber tone.
Pensive.
Ex-pensive.
Time is a luxury.
And Miles comes in.
Bending notes.
Sighing again.
Like music from Big Pink.
John Simon.
Leonard Cohen.
Very much of the Deserter’s Songs type.
Song cycle.
Van Dyke.
And Coltrane leaps in.
No bends.
Solid sax.
Honky.
Low mids.
Leaping up.
Transposition.
A little noodling.
And WHAT THE FUCK.
Now we are in Blue Hawaii.
On a jukebox in Nashville.
Sawdust on the floor.
Just spit that tabaccy anywheres.
It really is Elvis.
Loaded.
Lou Reed.
Doo-wop.
We’re in east Texas with George Jones.
Straight country.
Classic country.
Bona fide redneck interpolation.
“Daisies on Your Doorstep”.
Troubled relationship.
Robert Altman.
Nashville.
Hitchcock.
Traut.
Birds.
Grandaddy invades!
Modesto!!
And back to EXPANSIVE verb.
Cathedral.
Serious shit.
Country gothic.
Phil Spector would have loved this.
The plandemic that killed Phil Spector.
Biggest celebrity to buy the farm.
Buy the farm?
Or sell the farm?
During this whole plandemic.
Write copy.
Boilerplate.
You have no publicity.
I block all reposts.
I wanna EARN it.
Organic.
Diminished 7th.
Dissolve into what?
More Mercury Rev homage.
Drums from “Desperado”.
Another lonely bloke ended by “Holes”.
Favorite song ever.
Happy end.
Drunk room.
Tom Waits.
The chord.
Spring.
Le Sacre.
Back to regularly scheduled programming.
Knife in the Water.
Austin.
R.E.M. again.
Big Star.
John Cale droning away on the viola.
No tremolo.
Swing it.
Ragged time.
Texarkana.
Arkansas.
And Texas.
Definite Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci nod.
Nick Drake.
Again The Innocence Mission.
Birds.
Pink Floyd.
Fairport Convention.
Psych barn.
The Byrds.
Gram Parsons.
Neil Young big time.
Stooges meet Beach Boys meet Messiaen.
But the Bowie knife is orange.
Made in Germany.
Kanye West and Wayne Coyne drop in.
An anti-hit.
When you can sing, but you get raped by auto-tune.
Loosen that shit up.
Going all Arabic on me.
Raga.
Spinal Tap.
Clouds of sound on almost every track.
A very ambient album.
Mood set.
Mood retained.
Mature.
Duran Duran.
Peaches DJ Berlin.
Where’s Warhol?
Nigel Godrich.
Jonny Greenwood.
Thom Yorke.
Grinderman.
Roger Waters again.
Microtonal blues.
Straight into Bjork.
Does she umlaut?
Sounds of a Mac.
Swan.
Alarm clock.
Gentle waking.
Paganini.
Rachmaninoff.
Elton John.
Stevie Wonder.
Sly Stone.
James Bond in Rio.
Drax.
Os Mutantes.
Jobim.
Korean frogs.
Shinto.
Spy guitar for reprise.
Tom Verlaine.
Richard Lloyd.
Paul Simon.
Rhythm of the saints.
Graceland.
Beethoven emperor concerto.
Slow.
Beloved.
Tokyo.
Press roll.
Sushi.
Kill bounce.
Phil Selway.
Colin Greenwood?
A masterful track.
“Icelandic Pastiche”.
NOW WE’RE TALKING.
Papa Trump back in the house.
For the apocalypse.
Rocky Balboa.
L.L. Cool J.
Jesus fucking Christ.
Second coming.
To save.
Vengeance is his.
Everyone given a chance.
A fair chance.
NASA.
I hear a single.
“Landslide”.
Wisconsin decertified.
Ramthun came through.
About fucking time.
There’s a riot goin’ on.
Paperclip Nazis.
Eric Carmen.
Smokey Robinson.
Tears of a motherfucking clown.
Oboe.
Michael Stipe.
Gil Evans.
Having the French horns get groovy.
Amelie.
Sketches of Spain.
Sunday morning.
Loveless.
Kevin Shields.
Belinda.
The Soft Bulletin.
Christ coming down from the clouds.
Like a ton of bricks.
Anvil.
Don’t call it a comeback.
Not all the way.
Staple Singers.
Rick Danko.
Rocket pans across stereo field.
Jesus talkin’.
Crucified.
Died.
Buried.
AND ROSE AGAIN, MOTHERFUCKERS.
Jesus more space than NASA.
Really a masterpiece of sample placement.
Crystal-clear mix.
Clouseau.
Peter Sellers.
Bass solo.
Absolute Mingus.
Bloody jaw-dropping.
This is like a fucking lost Roland Kirk album.
This track!
Concerto for Booty and Orchestra.
Montreux.
Can never spell.
System hacked.
No more spelling.
Adieu au langage.
Flute loops.
Cocteau Twins.
Ties together album.
Last track coming on like Faust.
Built to Spill.
Silver Apples.
In memory of a bloke who bit it.
End of Night on Earth.
Real recorder.
Charity.
You will live forever, my friend.
I never knew you.
You aren’t forgotten.
Thought of you put in this track.
Catharsis.
Yerself is steam.
Smashing Pumpkins.
Siamese.
Great album by Pauly Deathwish.
Spotify.
iTunes.
Solid.
-PD
Redoubtable [2017)
Formidable.
Inspiring fear and respect.
Impressive.
Intense.
Capable.
That Swiss-Maoist asshole is my hero.
In many ways.
But which Godard?
If I were to say “late Godard” (and that would be my natural, truthful answer), Monsieur Godard would likely point out the merits of his early films…just to annoy me.
If I spoke lovingly of Vivre sa vie, he would probably proclaim that it is shit.
Jean-Luc Godard is a very complex individual.
And I can wholeheartedly identify with that.
A walking civil war.
This film never makes reference to Cahiers du cinéma.
It doesn’t need to.
This film covers a period of time which Wikipedia classifies as Godard’s “revolutionary period”.
When did Godard stop writing for Cahiers?
He never stopped being a critic.
We know that.
And I see his point.
This is shit.
Because we want to invent new forms.
Breathless was like his “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”.
Or his Bolero.
He couldn’t escape it.
Couldn’t lose it.
Must be nice.
But maybe not.
“Play the hits!”
Did politics ruin Jean-Luc Godard?
Sure.
But it was necessary.
It was his process of growing up.
His process of attaining wisdom.
Trial and error.
Formative years.
But not the last word.
I don’t agree with Godard’s politics.
Perhaps at some point in my youth I did.
But not very much.
Because I never really understood them.
I dabbled.
But I too am a revolutionary.
In these days.
After the 2020 election.
You may call me a reactionary.
I don’t care what you call me.
I think George Washington is cool.
I think the United States of America is worth saving.
And the American Revolution has recommenced.
Same goals as the founders had.
Love it or leave it.
Godard did not show up in 2010 to receive his honorary Academy Award.
Good for him.
Fuck Hollywood!
Give me the old stuff.
Hitchcock.
Howard Hawks.
Not this new crap.
Tripe.
Perhaps you see where me and Godard overlap?
Too rashes like a Venn diagram…with a particularly-irritated common ground.
The skin is red and peeling.
Weeping.
Scratching.
Itching.
I scratch my arms.
I’m running out of real estate on my body for these nicotine patches.
Yes.
You thought it was something more interesting?
More taboo?
No.
Where does the former President of Peru come in?
Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.
Godard’s first cousin.
I too had cousins.
Who are as far off as Peru.
But always close in my heart.
Kuczynski is 82.
Godard will be 90 in one week.
I will be 44 when the Electoral College meets.
Anna Karina died on my birthday last year.
She was 79.
But this film doesn’t deal with the wonderful Ms. Karina.
No, this film deals with another stunning beauty: Anne Wiazemsky.
Wiazemsky died three years ago.
The same year Redoubtable came out.
In the English-speaking world, we know it (ironically) as Godard Mon Amour.
Sounds more sophisticated to have the subtitled film with a more commercial FRENCH product label.
Redoubtable is too vague.
Godard Mon Amour sells itself.
[that’s what the advertising guys must have said]
Godard and Wiazemsky were married for 12 years.
Godard and Karina married for a mere 4.
I’ve never read Mauriac.
I have nothing against Catholics.
I adore Olivier Messiaen’s music.
So it bears mentioning that one of the smartest, most unique artists in the history of the world was a French Catholic [Messiaen].
Which is to say, believing in God does not make you boring.
I believe in God.
The same God.
The Christian God.
God who gave us Jesus.
God who gave us synesthesia.
Combat didn’t like La Chinoise.
De Gaulle withdrew from NATO.
Will Trump win?
De Gaulle supported sovereignty.
The European Union is the antithesis of what de Gaulle wanted.
De Gaulle criticized America’s war in Vietnam.
But that wasn’t enough for revolutionaries like Godard.
Too lukewarm.
De Gaulle wanted Québec to be free from Canada.
If you’ve ever been to Québec, you might see why.
It is unlike the rest of Canada.
Except for New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
But not really.
Île de Chêne?
1755-1764.
Conservatism.
De Gaulle.
Biography.
Mauriac.
Wiazemsky.
Mauriac’s granddaughter.
Starring in a Maoist film directed by Jean-Luc Godard.
La Chinoise.
And then they married.
Godard was correct.
Au Hasard Balthazar is the antithesis of the Central Intelligence Agency.
But Godard never said that.
I did.
So Anne Wiazemsky wrote a book called Un An Après which was published in 2015.
She died two years later.
The same year her book was adapted for film as Redoubtable.
She died of breast cancer.
Less than a month after Redoubtable was released in France.
This film proves that Michel Hazanavicius is a very talented filmmaker.
It proves that he knows his Godard.
But it is flawed.
Aren’t all masterpieces?
Maybe not.
Is Redoubtable a masterpiece?
In some ways, yes.
In some ways, no.
It is probably most similar to Sacha Gervasi’s Hitchcock.
Both of them are films of “exorbitant privilege”.
Which is to say, a little out of touch with their subject matter.
Was Pablo Picasso ever called an asshole?
Not if we take Jonathan Richman at his word.
Art contains deeper layers of meaning.
Usually.
Unless you’re Warhol.
In which case, the meaning MAY be found closer to the surface.
Stravinsky liked this too.
Music has no meaning.
It is just tones.
Timbres.
Rhythms.
Harmonies.
Little dots on a page.
So we are told.
By Igor.
Jean-Luc Godard and Igor Stravinsky both embraced MANY different approaches to their craft over their long careers.
Because they loved their crafts.
They were addicted.
It was a compulsion.
And, for Godard, it remains so.
Godard married the girl who rejected Robert Bresson.
Do not underestimate the thrill of this.
The thrill of it all.
Bresson was a genius too.
But she was only 18 when Bresson made his advances.
Girls want to live.
Bresson was 65.
Bold.
Numbers can lie.
Godard and Wiazemsky were only together as man and wife for three years.
Though they were married for 12.
Three years was enough, apparently.
The divorce appears to have been more a formality.
Anna.
Anne.
Anne-Marie.
I spoke to Anne-Marie on the phone once.
In exceedingly-broken French.
She was saintly in her patience.
All I wished to convey, as I called Rolle (Switzerland) on my flip phone, was that Godard was my intellectual hero. [it is true] And that his LATE films mattered. That they mattered THE MOST. That he had created beauty. That he had plumbed the depths. I owed it to my master to deliver this message before I (or he) died (God forbid).
I was compelled.
Jean-Luc Godard is my favorite creator this side of heaven.
Even though I don’t agree with his politics.
Bob Dylan is neck-and-neck for this honor.
Dylan is, no doubt, my favorite musician to have ever lived.
Neck-and-neck with Roland Kirk (perhaps).
My favorite jazz artist.
My favorite instrumentalist.
It is never noted that Wiazemsky was in Les Gauloises bleues.
And Godard could be an asshole.
So can I.
So can Trump.
Trump is my ideological hero.
My political hero.
I DO agree with his political philosophy.
Wholeheartedly.
And yet, my favorite film director (auteur) remains Godard.
No one is even neck-and-neck with JLG for me.
Brakhage is a distant second.
Welles is formidable.
But they do not hit the mark like Jean-Luc.
Il seme dell’uomo.
Nothing suggestive there.
Global plague.
Marco Ferreri.
Marco Margine?
Shot-reverse shot.
And then I gave Jacques Demy’s grandson piano lessons.
Or Agnès Varda’s grandson.
Same difference.
More like organ lessons.
Booker T.
You should use Belmondo again.
Funny films.
We see Coutard’s hair early.
Politics entered soon.
Le Petit soldat.
Shadow war.
The perfection of Vivre sa vie.
The jaunty, carefree, playful anarchy of Breathless.
And a sadness tied to beauty.
Politics again with Les Carabiniers.
An attempt at commercialism with Contempt.
Equivalent to Nirvana’s In Utero album.
Big-budget negation.
Nihilism.
A thorough disdain for the Hollywood system.
And the “tradition of quality” in France.
But something deeper…and more bitter.
Bande à part more like Breathless.
A little like Vivre sa vie.
Dancing.
Pinball.
Billiards.
Cafe culture.
Down and out in Paris.
Life at the margin of society.
YOUTH!
Hazanavicius first really gets going with Une Femme mariée.
Stacy Martin in the nude.
Stunning.
Cinematography.
Grabbing the bedsheets.
Clutch.
Brace brace brace.
The resemblance to Charlotte Gainsbourg is striking.
A little Alphaville.
Someone who nibbles Godard’s neck.
The Samuel Fuller scene from Pierrot le fou turned into a fistfight.
Politics.
Don’t insult me!
A bit of Macha Méril in the hair.
And a bit more of Chantal Goya.
Getting shouted down by a situationist during the May ’68 occupation of the Sorbonne. Lumped in with Coca-Cola.
Things go dark with insults.
Swiss-Maoist jerk.
On the blink.
“Ruby’s Arms”.
It hurts.
Made in U.S.A.
Two or Three Things I Know About Her.
Urbanism.
“You ruined my shot!”
Ciné-tracts.
Eating Chinese food.
A rather unfortunate outburst directed at a war hero.
And his wife.
These are the things we do.
When we’re young.
And stupid.
And fiery.
What is striking is the humor in Redoubtable.
The broken eyeglasses.
The slipping shoes.
And their replacement.
I must give credit to Louis Garrel.
He really does convey the mania and eccentricity of Godard.
While Stacy Martin is very good here, it is a shame that Hazanavicius chose to lovingly evoke every detail of Godard’s life…except Wiazemsky’s red hair.
-PD
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo [2011)
Elections have consequences.
Thyssen.
Krupp.
IG Farben.
Klangfarbenmelodie.
Serial killers
Schönberg.
4th Reich.
In disguise as what?
Wolves in sheep’s clothing?
Liberalism.
Degenerate art.
Hasselblad.
Von Braun.
Badminton.
Les Fleurs du mal.
A hunch.
Proof.
Bobby Fischer.
Kurt Vonnegut.
Sous rature.
Frozen ink
François Villon.
JFK.
Epstein.
Ruby.
Rebecca.
Hitchcock.
The soul of a policeman.
Michael Ruppert.
Cui bono?
Reee!!!
Henry Cowell.
The banshee.
Charles Ives
Bucolic.
Kids in cages.
But which kids?
Which cages?
U.S. news media only wants to talk about pictures of illegal-immigrant children “in cages” (separated from their families [or those who trafficked them, posing as their respective families]) at the border–photos which positively date to the Obama era.
U.S. news media is passionate to suppress and preemptively debunk children in cages that come up in relation to pizzagate, QAnon, etc..
Why is that?
Is it the wind, or the wail of children?
George Crumb.
Ancient voices of children.
Kindertotenlieder.
Lux aeterna lucent eis, Domine,
cum santis tuis in aeternum,
quia pius es.
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Happy meal.
Weiner.
Hunter.
This is about revenge.
9/11.
5:5?
φ.
Regular Pentagon.
Call me Satie.
Wishing to be Debussy.
FDR.
Middle.
My biggest blessing in life was not being hired by the CIA.
A sign of divine synchronicity.
Nice to meet you.
Beethoven had no attachments.
9 incoming.
I got the message.
Check your inbox.
What did he know?
Toys.
There are no accidents, James Bond.
I found a better employer.
I receive no money.
They don’t even know I work for them.
Most of them.
But they got to me first.
They knew.
[Dorsey].
Checking up.
Group assignment.
Mother Jones.
The flowers of evil.
How many times have I been rejected?
This is a divine matrix.
To unravel Satan.
Aquino checks up.
Set theory.
01234689.
Quartermaster.
Ampico.
Don’t run like James Bond.
It’s so fucking sexy that you want to take down the New World Order.
Because they are not elected.
Yet they wield more power than elected governments.
One by one.
Own each agent.
Special.
Own each reporter.
Silenced.
Own each vote.
Legislative.
It’s a pleasure.
You’ve never heard of my agency.
It has no Wikipedia.
No structural chart.
Isaiah 53.
Stieg Larsson was killed.
It goes higher than Sweden.
The network.
Franz Kline.
Strindberg’s paintings.
You thought you could destroy her spirit.
Purell.
The pandemic was planned.
Coronariots.
A science of a 1000 details.
What’s the least-creepy song we can destroy?
Enya.
Orinoco Flow.
Musical warfare shall yet have its day.
It is a science requiring an immense knowledge of clever mechanics.
And each harmonical has a point of its own.
Timbres.
Up-to-and-including acoustical physics.
Not the blunt force of Skinny Puppy.
But a more insidious control of mind and emotions.
Which is as primal as Rorschach Crayolas.
Ghost rider.
Rocket USA.
Frankie Teardrop.
Johnsburg, Illinois.
Never interrupt your enemies…
Victor Sjöström.
-PD
Män som hatar kvinnor [2009)
Research will be the star.
QAnon.
You must know the history of Scandinavian film to understand this movie.
Wild Strawberries.
Nordisk Film A/S [later].
Sjöström = Taube.
But also Nyqvist.
Flashbacks to idyllic female visions.
WarGames.
B2 = Bill Barr.
Stealth.
No leaks.
No deals.
Durham.
Twin Peaks.
Laura Palmer = Harriet Vanger.
Photograph.
Speaking from beyond the grave.
The gaze.
Always return to the photo.
Motif.
Vertigo.
Hire the investigator.
So close.
Who will it be?
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days.
The bathroom tile.
A sickening act.
Whore bath.
Survival.
JFK.
Retracing steps.
Book depository.
George H.W. Bush.
Of the CIA.
In Texas.
In front of depository?
Study the photo.
Study the angles.
Jim Garrison.
Blowup.
Resolution.
Strangers on a Train.
Robert Walker is uninterested in the tennis match.
What is he so (dis)interested in?
Hard Candy.
Consequences.
Cryptography.
Codebreaking.
Kryptos.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kryptos
Key (book).
National Treasure.
Research will win the day.
Serial killer.
Black Dahlia.
Elaborate dissection.
Exquisite corpse.
Lost Highway.
The hunter has become the hunted.
Vengeance (is mine).
Revenge.
Vigilante.
BTK.
“factor X”.
Refer to the possession of Ray Wise.
Justice.
Silence of the Lambs.
Ted Bundy’s photographs.
Symbolism will be their downfall.
Ordet.
Rising from the dead.
Visionary + nerd.
Cage.
Riley.
2011 Norway attacks.
Youth summer camp.
In a cage while they had dinner.
Podesta basement.
For “film installations”.
Ayoola Ajayi inquiring about soundproof basement.
Hell is hot.
Vredens dag.
The things that make people crazy.
And yet the survivors press on.
Requiem for a Dream.
Niels Arden Oplev directed a magnificent film here.
Noomi Rapace is marvelous.
Michael Nyqvist is perfect.
-PD
UHF [1989)
Here’s a masterpiece of a movie.
I didn’t think so the first time I watched it.
I was a little preoccupied.
But this time I had a reason to be more emotionally invested.
Mops!
That’s right, mops.
Mops play a big role in this movie.
Spatulas also make a sort of cameo.
But mops predominate.
In particular, there is a special mop which is almost like a character in this film.
It doesn’t talk.
It doesn’t have a name.
But it is more than a MacGuffin.
Stanley Spadowski (the true star of this movie) received the mop in question for his 8th birthday.
And, apparently, he used that mop well into adulthood.
He decorated it with various bits of colored electrical tape.
And it was with this mop that he dutifully fulfilled his role as janitor at a major local TV news station: Channel 8.
But one day, Spadowski (played brilliantly by Michael Richards) found himself to be, in the tradition of Hitchcock, “the wrong man”.
Spadowski did nothing wrong.
He was not careless.
Even though he didn’t possess a notable intellect per se, he gave his all to his janitorial profession.
…and he actually enjoyed it.
Mopping.
Scrubbing.
Stanley Spadowski took pride in his work at Channel 8.
But, as “the wrong man”, he suddenly found himself blamed and scapegoated.
Though his unscrupulous employer made no effort to prove Spadowski’s guilt, Spadowski could not PROVE his innocence.
It was a quick exchange…
Q: Did you do this?
A: No.
Q: I don’t believe you. You’re fired.
Something like that.
Very capricious.
And, thus, Spadowski was crushed.
But the most crushing blow for Stanley was when the station owner’s son (also an employee [l’il bit ‘o nepotism]) confiscated Stanley’s mop as “station property”.
It was not.
But Stanley was helpless.
Thunderstruck.
Aghast.
Stanley had no one to stand up for him.
Yet, though he didn’t get what the wanted (to retain his job at Channel 8), he got what he needed: a new job as janitor of the UHF station 62.
And all of this because one man observed the pitiable scene of Stanley being deprived of his tool of the trade (which he had used since childhood).
That man was “Weird Al” Yankovic.
As in the movie (where “Weird Al” is the station manager of “U62”), Yankovic was also the brains behind this movie itself.
He wrote it.
With someone named Jay Levey.
Mr. Levey directed this “cult classic”.
If it tells you anything, Levey still does not have a Wikipedia page in English…41 years after this movie came out.
So I am going to assume that Levey did not go on to bigger and brighter things in the film industry.
That being said, it appears this film actually realized a 20% profit (box office – budget = x [x/budget = profit as a %]).
But let’s get back into Stanley Spadowski (a character “Weird Al” or Levey must have invented).
I’d bet money that Yankovic came up with this character.
But this character could not have come to life without the talents of Michael Richards.
No one, and I mean NO ONE, could have pulled it off.
Michael Richards is a very underrated actor.
If you look on iTunes, you are apt to see a mere two films in which Richards plays anything approximating a significant role.
One is this: UHF.
The other is another sort of “diamond in the rough”: Transylvania 6-5000.
The latter would be a mostly-unwatchable, tedious comedy were it not for Richards’ breakout performance.
Richards distinguished himself as Fejos in that film four years prior to UHF.
Indeed, just a fortnight before UHF was released in 1989, Seinfeld premiered as The Seinfeld Chronicles.
Richards played the role of Kessler.
As The Seinfeld Chronicles became Seinfeld, Kessler became Kramer.
The world, in general, knows Michael Richards as [Cosmo] Kramer.
The show ran for nine years.
But let’s adjust our tack a bit here.
Who is Stanley Spadowski?
I would argue that he is the “cousin” (so to speak) of Carl Spackler: the groundskeeper in 1980’s Caddyshack.
Where Spackler is laconic, Spadowski is prone to frenzy.
And yet, these two characters are cut from a similar cloth.
Spackler (Bill Murray) always has his impermeable camouflage bucket hat.
And usually a dirt-and-sweat-stained T-shirt.
Baggy cargo shorts.
And combat boots.
Appearing in 1980, Carl Spackler would have probably been seen as a nutty Vietnam vet.
Indeed, Spackler is tasked by his boss (the HEAD groundskeeper) to take care of the golf course’s gopher problem.
In hilarious fashion, Spackler goes after the gophers…even employing plastic explosives.
Spadowski is also a T-shirt guy.
With suspenders.
Always suspenders.
And whether they are real or fake (I think fake), Spadowski has noticeable (and endearing) bucked teeth.
He can hardly keep them in his mouth.
He is awkward.
He usually speaks slowly.
But when he gets excited, he is like a fire hydrant that’s just been opened.
What’s important about Spadowski and Spackler is that they are everymen.
They are most certainly underdogs.
And UHF, at its heart, is an underdog story.
U62, the channel, is an underdog.
It is not a network affiliate.
UHF (as opposed to VHF) was the television equivalent of AM radio (as opposed to FM).
Local stations.
Questionable programming.
Shoestring budgets.
You could find ANYTHING on UHF television or AM radio.
Anything was possible.
There was less control.
Today, in my town, my favorite radio station is run by a Methodist church.
Their format (vaguely) is “oldies”.
But their programming swings a bit wildly…and usually I love them for it.
They play songs I’ve never heard.
Occasionally a similar station will pop up in the same range of the dial using this “none of the hits–all of the time” approach (only to disappear back into the ocean of static which separates one clear-signal island from another).
U61 is this sort of beast.
Which makes sense.
Because it is run by a dreamer: George Newman (“Weird Al”).
George starts off this film flipping burgers.
This may be a reference to the 1982 film Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
“Weird Al” gets fired.
The tone of the scene is very similar to Fast Times…
Which brings up an important point.
UHF is a pastiche.
It is stream-of-consciousness.
The narrative shifts wildly with non sequitur episodes interpolated here and there.
UHF makes continuous reference to the pop culture of its day: the 1980s.
And this makes sense because the creator of this film was “Weird Al”: best known as a musician specializing in parodies (usually of contemporary hits).
I hate to get all artsy-fartsy here, but I would dare say there is a modicum of post-modernism in “Weird Al”‘s filmic approach.
And, perhaps more importantly, a noticeable measure of Thelonious Monk (autism?) in Stanley Spadowski.
Idiot-savant.
And so UHF is a work of art which captures awkwardness in some of the same ways that Napoleon Dynamite and Poto and Cabengo do (respectively).
The message is: be yourself.
You have value.
There is a person out there for you.
There is a job that is right for you.
There are no guarantees.
But you won’t be happy anyway if you’re not being yourself.
-PD
Histoire(s) du cinéma {Chapter 2(a): Seul le cinéma} [1989]
So here we go again.
They told Beethoven it was a horrible way to begin his 5th Symphony.
With a rest.
It’s unheard.
Of.
Unheard.
Only the players see it.
Only the conductor pays it much mind.
So the first “note” (beat) is silent.
The conductor must give it.
But there are at least two schools of thought on how this is to be done.
First, a conductor might do as they always do and swiftly move their baton downwards to indicate visually that the first (silent) beat is occurring.
The only problem with this is that the symphony players must then abruptly jump onto the very next beat (which is an “upbeat”).
They happen in very quick succession.
Nothing/Everything.
The whole orchestra.
Tutti.
And they get one shot.
To come in together.
Like an attack.
[rest] da da da daaaaaaaaaa
[rest] da da da daaaaaaaaaa
The second school of thought is more practical.
It advises that, in this particular situation, a conductor giving a downbeat is not particularly helpful to the orchestra (because no sounds occur on that downbeat).
Therefore, the conductor motions the orchestra that the UPBEAT is happening.
When the baton (or hand(s)) come down, that is the precise time to make noise.
It is not hard to see why this might lead to a more successful outcome.
For the goal is to have the orchestra stick together.
An orchestra of individuals who are a mere microsecond off from one another creates a sound which is generally not highly-valued in Western music (at least not in the performance of Beethoven).
But this STILL leaves a problem.
The conductor of this second school, whose job it is to try and lead his orchestra to a faithful rendition of this masterwork, is thereby IGNORING what Beethoven wrote (or, more precisely, HOW Beethoven wrote it).
The beginning.
Godard comes back more fit and trim in this episode of his greatest work.
1a is probably the nuke.
1b is a psychological warfare manual (perhaps)
2a returns us to kinetic warfare.
More or less.
With some lulls.
But there is genuine artistry within these 26 minutes.
Like a symphony by Beethoven or Bruckner.
The beginning is weighted heavily.
1a = 51 mins. (the longest of all eight parts)
1b = 42 mins. (the second longest “movement” of the bunch)
The entire first section is, therefore (carry the zero), 1 hour and 33 minutes.
That’s the first quarter of this “ring cycle”.
And it is truly operatic.
So now we are into a bit of a scherzo.
26 minutes.
Now you can see the influence of television.
The “producers” of this film.
Canal+ (French TV channel)
CNC (part of the French Ministry of Culture [and Godard is Swiss!])
France 3 (a French TV channel)
Gaumont (a French film studio)
La Sept (a defunct French TV channel)
Télévision Suisse Romande (a defunct, French-language Swiss TV network)
Vega Films (Godard’s production company at the time)
26 minutes.
Enough time for eight 30-second commercials.
Arriving precisely at a sum total of 30 minutes’ programming.
It’s generous (no doubt owing to the fact that this was educational programming).
If you look at the true running time of an American half-hour sitcom these days, it is roughly 21 minutes of what you want to see.
The other 9 minutes are reserved for at least 18 30-second commercials.
In the tradition of James Joyce.
The pun.
Which Hitchcock so admired.
…and the Oscar goes to.
Oscar Wilde.
Irishmen in France.
The recurring scene from Salò…
Julius Kelp.
Literary history vs. cinematic history.
Godard has a curious frame which reads, “Your breasts are the only shells I love.”
It is a line from the poet Apollinaire.
[tes seins sont les seuls obus que j’aime]
But I must say, the exciting parts here are the “booms”!
The fighter jet exploding in midair.
Bernard Herrmann’s music from Psycho juxtaposed with scenes from Disney’s Snow White…(1937).
The agitation of Stravinsky.
Cluster chords on the piano.
Godard’s voice fed through an Echoplex.
And, just as in 1a, world-class editing!
Let me be clear.
EDITING is what makes Histoire(s) du cinéma the greatest film ever made.
It’s what makes F for Fake the second-greatest film ever made.
And what makes Dog Star Man the third-greatest film ever made.
It is more pronounced in Histoire(s) and Dog Star Man.
Orson Welles’ “editing” (montage) in F for Fake is done more at the story level.
It is a juxtaposition of content.
The Kuleshov effect with ideas rather than images.
[more or less]
Godard’s camera-pen makes some of its boldest strokes in this episode.
It rivals the 1a excerpt involving Irving Thalberg.
Which brings us to a very important point.
Godard CHOSE to use the concept of “double exposure” (two images–one on top of the other–but both seen to a greater or lesser extent) to ILLUSTRATE the subject and title of his greatest film.
Though it runs 266 minutes, that amount of time STILL wasn’t enough in which to lay out the history of cinema.
So images needed to be doubled up.
Tripled up.
Simultaneous to that, words needed to be spoken.
And furthermore, DIFFERENT words than those being spoken NEEDED TO BE WRITTEN ON THE SCREEN.
If you are not a native French speaker, you will probably need to have the subtitles on when viewing this film.
Which gives you A-N-O-T-H-E-R visual stimulus which must be taken into account.
Yes.
This film should be mandatory viewing for fighter pilots.
Practice your OODA loop here.
Observe.
Orient.
Decide.
Act.
Constantly looping.
If you want to survive in this jungle of meaning.
Night of the hunter…
Klimt.
Fred Astaire.
James Dean.
Burt Lancaster.
It’s all true.
That weary look.
From Hollywood.
It’s all true.
Which brings us to value (that thing which capitalism so gloriously creates…far more efficiently and in much greater abundance than with any other economic system).
“What is the value of knowing how to read this film,” you ask?
Just this.
It allows you to know how to read the complexity of the world.
It is a brain teaser.
With an infinite layering of meaning.
Like Finnegans Wake.
Joyce’s masterpiece should be the only required reading for a codebreaker.
Or a codemaker.
Take heed, National Security Agency.
Your curriculum needs adjusting.
Assign only Finnegan.
And reap your gains.
And what of Histoire(s)?
Its most direct application would be for analysts.
Whether they be Federal Bureau of Investigation, Central Intelligence Agency, or INSCOM.
Know how to read the image.
Know how to analyze the video.
You must think outside the box.
Sudoku the fuck out of your employees.
And thereby fight crime and keep hostile actors in check.
Which is where we musicians come in.
To analyze the phone call.
To make sense of the audio…from the video.
It cannot be taught in a bootcamp.
It has to be loved.
Nurtured.
If you had one analyst like Godard, you would have a super-soldier equal to an entire special forces unit.
The trial of Joan of Arc.
Not to be confused with her passion.
Laurel and Hardy.
Gustave Courbet.
Marcel Duchamp.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Which brings us to a very delicate situation.
What is the President planning this weekend?
And with whom is he planning it?
If Ronald Reagan was an actor (and he was), then how much more talented is Donald Trump in getting a reaction with his lines…and his gestures?
HIS lines.
HIS gestures.
Accordion music.
Munch’s vampire.
A President who has been attacked from ALL sides UNRELENTINGLY for nearly four years.
And now finds himself in the midst of the hottest biological/psychological/economic war in recorded history.
Where complexity reigns.
As globalization magnifies each twitch of activity.
And this same President STILL finds himself under attack from the same “bad actors” who have unremittingly assailed him.
As in peacetime, so in war.
These enemies of the state.
Masquerading as journalists.
And their masters above them.
Straight from the latest conclave.
“…two if by sea.”
-PD
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