Coincidence
Jun. 13th, 2002 05:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bcholmesLast weekend, as I frequently do, I watched some movies.
I recently purchased a copy of My Dinner With Andre, which I've never seen before. And I rented Vanilla Sky just because the trailers seemed interesting. I was hugely surprised by Vanilla Sky, which was... quite a bit different than I expected. Not hugely reflective, but there was stuff about dreams that I found interesting. About sleepwalking through life.
In some ways, I was reminded of Waking Life where the idea of dreaming is the key concept in the film. The first lines of Vanilla Sky are, I believe, "Open your eyes."
And then there's My Dinner With Andre, in which Andre talks about us all being robots, and going through life as if we've turned off our capacity to live. And this reminds me so much of the "I don't want to be an ant" sequence from Waking Life it's all a bit surreal.
"I don't want to be an ant, ya know? It's like we go through life bouncing off each other, continuously on ant autopilot with nothing human required of us: 'stop', 'go', 'walk here', 'drive there'. All action basically for survival. All communication simply to keep this ant colony buzzing along in an efficient, polite manner. 'Here's your change.' 'Paper or plastic?' 'Credit or debit?' 'You want ketchup with that?' I don't want a straw. I want real human moments. I want to see you. I want you to see me. I don't want to give that up. I don't want to be an ant y'know?"
Of course, as I usually do, I start seeing A Pattern. All these movies talking about not really being alive. In My Dinner With Andre, Wally says, "You seem constantly to be finding a significance in these things that to me are just facts." And I guess I'm like that a lot, too. It's one of the ways I'm hugely flaky.
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r u callin me a flake!
Date: 2002-06-13 06:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2002-06-13 08:16 pm (UTC)That makes sense, considering that Vanilla Sky is a remake of a Spanish film called Abre Los Ojos (http://us.imdb.com/Title?0125659) - which translates to Open Your Eyes.
My dinner with Andre
Date: 2002-06-14 08:22 am (UTC)I highly recommend Vanya on 42nd Street, which is a film of a workshopped version of Checkov's Uncle Vanya, as scripted by David Mamet, that Shawn and Gregory were working on in New York City. I don't like either Checkov or Mamet overmuch, so I was once again surprised by how much I enjoyed it.
Nuclear Wessels
Date: 2002-06-14 11:05 am (UTC)You don't like Chekhov!?!?! Eeeep!
(I'll look for Vanya on 42nd Street... thanks for the recommendation).
Re: Nuclear Wessels
Date: 2002-06-14 06:02 pm (UTC)OTOH, I found Mamet coarse and over-the-top. Having Mamet interpret Chekhov for the screen eliminated the elements that I found most annoying about each of them. Mamet's coarse edges were smoothed by the stylized nature of Chekov's writing, while Manet's straightforward style lessened some of Chekhov's preciousness.
(no subject)
Date: 2002-06-14 11:53 am (UTC)Don't most movies?
Speaking of which, have you read American Gods?
neil gaiman is a god
Date: 2002-06-14 03:12 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2002-06-14 03:38 pm (UTC)Don't most movies [talk about not really being alive]?
If they do, it's not in a way that's as accessible to me. <shrug>
Speaking of which, have you read American Gods?
Yeah. To date, I think it's my favourite of his novels. (I think I preferred the setting and atmosphere of Neverwhere, but it reads too much like the adaptation of a TV show (which, of course, it was)). For me, there is something... I dunno... vaguely unsatisfying about the book. There were elements of it that lacked the mythic beauty that I usually find in Gaiman's writing.
I am trying to follow the line of thought that got you here, though. (I remember the buffalo man telling Shadow that he must wake up...)
(no subject)
Date: 2002-06-14 04:45 pm (UTC)I am trying to follow the line of thought that got you here, though.
Gee, I don't think I can do cut tags in comments, so it would be a spoiler. I'll email you.
Sandman
Date: 2002-06-15 09:21 pm (UTC)I agree, the writing style is quite different from his usual. But it's my second-favorite work of his (Sandman being my favorite).
I don't think that Sandman counts as only one work. And even though I loved Sandman, I thought it had long boring bits. The "End of the World" (?) storyline was mostly a loss, in my books. And "The Kindly Ones" took way too long, in my opinion. I really liked "The Doll's House" and "A Game of You".
(I'll also throw in my story about how I picked up Sandman off the shelves when it was first released. I knew Gaiman from having taken over Miracleman which was one of my favourite comics).
I think my favourite work of Gaiman's is Violent Cases -- there's a tremendous scene in it in which one of the characters changes appearance. I like the meditation on memory (it's a favourite topic of mine).
I'm also really fond of a short story he wrote (collected in Smoke and Mirrors) about a troll bridge.
Re: Sandman
Date: 2002-06-15 09:26 pm (UTC)One could look at it that way, yeah.
I think I haven't gotten around to Violent Cases yet. Will let you know what I think when I do.
(no subject)
Date: 2002-06-14 06:27 pm (UTC)Neverwhere was the first Gaiman book that I read, and the child in me reveled in the fairy tale quality of it. I'm midway through American Gods right now, and it's so good that I can't stop reading, but every page brings me closer to the end. Whatever shall I do? ;)
Oh, American Gods has been responsible for me missing or coming very close to missing most of my bus and subway stops over the past couple of weeks.
Never say Neverwhere
Date: 2002-06-14 07:06 pm (UTC)Does anyone know if it's possible to get a copy of Neverwhere on VHS or DVD?
How to say this? Apparently, it hasn't been commercially distributed in North America, so there's no legal way to get a copy on VHS. I have it on good authority that people that you know quite well have a bootleg copy, however.
Friend ...
Date: 2002-06-14 11:15 pm (UTC)I'm absorbed in your LJ. I'll be adding you to my friends list just so I can enjoy your writing from time to time -- I'm not a stalker.
I found Vanilla Sky less than stunning.