Image

If you recognize the image, then you can guess what my next Foreign Region DVD Report will be; if not, well, Tuesday's only a couple of days away anyhow. I find in this frame a nice distillation of the wit of this particular, often misunderstood filmmaker.

In other news, as the Oscars approach, I see that Jeff Wells has used the imminence of the awards ceremony as an excuse to hit the laudanum early. I now really and truly hope that The Hurt Locker wins Best Picture, so that on Tuesday morning I can get the paper and read the headline "Film Blogger" Arrested In Trendy Bistro Fracas or some such. Funsy!

As I'm here, I'll remind you that my own liveblogging of the Academy Awards will start here, God willing, at about 7:30 p.m. Eastern time. I will be unassisted by any mind-altering substances. 

Comments

[Craig Kennedy]

Ladies and gentlemen, Jeff Wells: Oscar Hero!

[Mike Mazurki]

Looks like Sally Potter's LONDON STORY to me!

[Brian]

Can't wait to find out what the screen grab above is from-- any shot that seems to be referencing BAND OF OUTSIDERS is a friend of mine.

Most of that Wells piece is silly and melodramatic (or a parody of melodrama-- it's sometimes hard to tell with his stuff). But I do think there's some truth in his opening comment about how the real fun of the Oscars is the way it opens up to a dialogue about what we want from films and filmmakers. I remember, a couple of years ago, the fascinating discussions at this blog about the Coens and PT Anderson, and similar blog posts at other great sites, that really did engage fun questions about taste, authorship, film history, pastiche, style, and so on (and a contentious back-and-forth at Dave Kehr's blog when he dared to suggest NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN was not the height of cinematic excellence). Of course, the best bloggers don't *need* the Oscars to start those discussions, but if they can be started by the awards, that's all to the good.

[Ben Sachs]

Semantic question: When did "mind-altering" trump "mind-expanding" to describe certain substances? And is there a way to retrun the latter term to proper dominance?

[Glenn Kenny]

@ Ben Sachs: I'm not the expert on the usage, so I can only speak for myself and call "mind-altering" a big-umbrella term. In other words, LSD, peyote, and crack are all mind-altering substances, but only two of those three, I think, should be considered even potentially mind-expanding. And in any event, I won't be on any of them this evening.

@ Mike Mazurki: "London Story" it is—that's the great musician Lol Coxhill on left—part of the extras package on BFI's wonderful release of Potter's ravishing debut feature "The Gold Diggers."

[Paul]

Lol Coxhill? I thought it was Sir Ralph Richardson!

[jennybee]

I've never heard of London Story, but it definitely looks like my cuppa tea.

[TheJeff]

That HE post is pretty hilarious. I can't imagine how he doesn't see that the only reaction of those girls is going to be "some crazy old fucker showed up at the restaurant and tried to 'interview' us about not knowing about some movie he likes -- then insisted we give him a fork for the cake in his pocket."

Speaking of which, don't mention Wells' age. He's either 61 or 62, and doesn't want anybody to know that. Every time I've made even a passing reference to his age in a post there, it has been deleted, and now I can't post there at all. He also deleted the online reference where I figured out his age. He's convinced that if he buys enough ridiculous shoes at Urban Outfitters, we'll all believe he's the über-hip, sophisticated, fortysomething, urban socialite that he clearly wants to be.

[bill]

Jeff -

"some crazy old fucker showed up at the restaurant and tried to 'interview' us about not knowing about some movie he likes -- then insisted we give him a fork for the cake in his pocket."

Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!

[Goodvibe61]

What's this screen grab from Glenn? i'm really curious...