If they follow you, don't look back like Dylan in the movies
So....Toronto was great--hectic, but great. I got to see my godfather and my aunt and my grandparents (who, surprisingly, were pleasant and didn't ask why I'm not yet married) and every movie I saw was better than the one before it. I crammed in two movies a day (starting at nine a.m.!! Dude, I was getting up earlier to wait in line for movies than I do to go to work!) as well seeing all of our friends and family and Jon (who happened to be up north on a shoot--and THANK GOD for him, I hadn't seen someone under 50 in like 4 days!). So a brief movie recap:
1)First I saw "Sarah Silverman: Jesus in Magic," which was fucking hilarious. She was there and seemed genuinely touched that her raunchy, funny little movie sold out some huge theater at nine am. (because, she said, "comedy works so well in the morning!") The only thing funnier than this actual movie was when my mother drunkenly repeated one of the jokes ("I was licking jelly off my boyfriend's penis the other day and I thought--omigod, I'm becoming my mother!") to my grandma at dinner and I was so shocked that tea came out of my nose.
2) Then I went to the world premier of "Thank You for Smoking," which is a satire of the lobbying and tobacco industries. It was quite funny and a well done first feature from Ivan Reitman's (of "Ghostbusters" fame) son. The whole cast was there (Aaron Echhart, William H. Macy, etc) including Adam Brody, who basically just has a cameo in the film. But my favorite part of seeing this movie was that after I saw Seth Cohen walk the red carpet and enthusiastically pointed him out to my dad, Irv came back from the washroom and goes, "Is that guy you like the dark haired kid in a red striped sweater?" I told him he was. "He peed next to me at the urinal. I was standing there and he walked up to me and peed next to me." I told Irv that though it isn't proper mensroom ettiquette that he shoulda peeked. That was definitely the funniest celeb sighting we had all week.
3) The next morning I saw "Mrs. Henderson Presents." It is one of those charming British movies that stars Judi Dench and is set during WWII and is full of hillarious Brit wit. It's about a rich widow who decides to buy a theater for a vaudeville show, which starts displaying naked girls in tableau in the shows.
4)Then "Capote" was in the afternoon. If Phillip Seymour Hoffman doesn't win an Oscar for this film, there is no justice at the Academy. This might be the best movie I saw. The filmmakes did a smart thing for a biopic: they picked one small six year segment of Truman's life (instead of trying to tell his whole story). It was the story of "In Cold Blood" and it made me think about the responsibilities and priviliges and difficulties of journalism. This one was also a world premier so I got to see PSH up close and personal, as well as Catherine Keener, who gave real grounding to her portrayl of Harper Lee.
5) The next morning I was up at the crack of dawn to see "Shopgirl," based on the Steve Martin novella, which might just be my favorite movie from the festival. Having just finished the novella, I can honestly say that, for the first time ever, I prefered the movie to the book. The casting was spot on (Jason Schwartzman as Jeremy was a stroke of casting genuis). All of the grownups that I saw this with weren't as enthusiastic as I was (which I chalk up to their either being bitterly divorced or married since they were zygotes), but that is because they can't recognize what a feat of moviemaking it is to see REAL relationships portrayed onscreen. I mean this wasn't about cutesy rom-com couplings. I actually recognized moments from my life in Claire Danes' two flawed relationships. After it ended my dad looked at me incredulously and goes, "Are you crying?" Yes, tears were streaming down my cheeks, but how could they not? It is sad when you can look at relationships from the outside and see how people are hurting each other or unable to give of themselves to each other. It is real. So real in fact, that the director told us during the Q&A, that Steve Martin would get teary as he watched him set up shots because the movie and book are so autobiographical.
6) That night's film was "Stoned," the story of Brian Jones from the Rolling Stones by first time director Stephen Wooley (who is Neil Jordan's producing partner). I quite liked this film, especially the retro-filming tecniques that really made it seem like 1967. The Q&A with the director filled me with rage as people asked retarded questions and spoke just to hear themselves speak. And then one person made a comment comparing Brian Jones to Kurt Cobain and I thought I was going to vomit. Especially because the audience of mostly middle aged people were all shocked to note that Kurt and Brian and Morrisson and Janis and Jimi all died at 27 and this started another rediculous conversation about how weird that was. "Dude!" I wanted to yell, "have none of you ever been in a cheezy head shop and seen those TOO YOUNG TO DIE t-shirts and posters!?" Ugh, the film geek crowd is even worse than the music geek crowd. (PS: not that I got to spend any time with "my people" at CMJ this year because, once I got back from Toronto, I worked until after midnight every night during the festival. BOO!! There were some shows I really wanted to see--like Excepter and Blood on the Wall.)
7) The last movie I saw was the new adaptation of "Pride and Prejudice," which was everything you would think: Romantic, pretty to look at, funny, girly.... And Keira Knightly made quite a good Lizzy. There wasn't anything surprising about the picture, but it was great nonetheless.There is just something about Jane Austin for me (I've been going through a phase). Her female protaganists are always independent or cynical or feel like they will never get married and they always find their perfect mate. It's hopeful in a way that modern lovestories rarely are.
I think that's it. I'm not sure I feel kinda brainwashed by the week I spent away in conjunction with the horror week of work that I returned to. The best part of last week was that JEN WAS IN TOWN!!! And, though I'm loathe to admit that we will never be able to lure her back to New York now that she has a great job and an amazing house and a pop star as a roommate, it was at least nice to see her and visit the old haunts (Motor City, MisShapes). Shaya has the drunken pictures on her blog to prove it.
On a totally separate note....I'd like to make a plea for the Four Tet remix of Sia's "Breathe Me" (a/k/a the song that made me convulse with tears during the Six Feet Under finale). It removes the cheezy Lilith Fair vibe of the song and adds a funky, almost-Latin bassline. It's truly great!
1)First I saw "Sarah Silverman: Jesus in Magic," which was fucking hilarious. She was there and seemed genuinely touched that her raunchy, funny little movie sold out some huge theater at nine am. (because, she said, "comedy works so well in the morning!") The only thing funnier than this actual movie was when my mother drunkenly repeated one of the jokes ("I was licking jelly off my boyfriend's penis the other day and I thought--omigod, I'm becoming my mother!") to my grandma at dinner and I was so shocked that tea came out of my nose.
2) Then I went to the world premier of "Thank You for Smoking," which is a satire of the lobbying and tobacco industries. It was quite funny and a well done first feature from Ivan Reitman's (of "Ghostbusters" fame) son. The whole cast was there (Aaron Echhart, William H. Macy, etc) including Adam Brody, who basically just has a cameo in the film. But my favorite part of seeing this movie was that after I saw Seth Cohen walk the red carpet and enthusiastically pointed him out to my dad, Irv came back from the washroom and goes, "Is that guy you like the dark haired kid in a red striped sweater?" I told him he was. "He peed next to me at the urinal. I was standing there and he walked up to me and peed next to me." I told Irv that though it isn't proper mensroom ettiquette that he shoulda peeked. That was definitely the funniest celeb sighting we had all week.
3) The next morning I saw "Mrs. Henderson Presents." It is one of those charming British movies that stars Judi Dench and is set during WWII and is full of hillarious Brit wit. It's about a rich widow who decides to buy a theater for a vaudeville show, which starts displaying naked girls in tableau in the shows.
4)Then "Capote" was in the afternoon. If Phillip Seymour Hoffman doesn't win an Oscar for this film, there is no justice at the Academy. This might be the best movie I saw. The filmmakes did a smart thing for a biopic: they picked one small six year segment of Truman's life (instead of trying to tell his whole story). It was the story of "In Cold Blood" and it made me think about the responsibilities and priviliges and difficulties of journalism. This one was also a world premier so I got to see PSH up close and personal, as well as Catherine Keener, who gave real grounding to her portrayl of Harper Lee.
5) The next morning I was up at the crack of dawn to see "Shopgirl," based on the Steve Martin novella, which might just be my favorite movie from the festival. Having just finished the novella, I can honestly say that, for the first time ever, I prefered the movie to the book. The casting was spot on (Jason Schwartzman as Jeremy was a stroke of casting genuis). All of the grownups that I saw this with weren't as enthusiastic as I was (which I chalk up to their either being bitterly divorced or married since they were zygotes), but that is because they can't recognize what a feat of moviemaking it is to see REAL relationships portrayed onscreen. I mean this wasn't about cutesy rom-com couplings. I actually recognized moments from my life in Claire Danes' two flawed relationships. After it ended my dad looked at me incredulously and goes, "Are you crying?" Yes, tears were streaming down my cheeks, but how could they not? It is sad when you can look at relationships from the outside and see how people are hurting each other or unable to give of themselves to each other. It is real. So real in fact, that the director told us during the Q&A, that Steve Martin would get teary as he watched him set up shots because the movie and book are so autobiographical.
6) That night's film was "Stoned," the story of Brian Jones from the Rolling Stones by first time director Stephen Wooley (who is Neil Jordan's producing partner). I quite liked this film, especially the retro-filming tecniques that really made it seem like 1967. The Q&A with the director filled me with rage as people asked retarded questions and spoke just to hear themselves speak. And then one person made a comment comparing Brian Jones to Kurt Cobain and I thought I was going to vomit. Especially because the audience of mostly middle aged people were all shocked to note that Kurt and Brian and Morrisson and Janis and Jimi all died at 27 and this started another rediculous conversation about how weird that was. "Dude!" I wanted to yell, "have none of you ever been in a cheezy head shop and seen those TOO YOUNG TO DIE t-shirts and posters!?" Ugh, the film geek crowd is even worse than the music geek crowd. (PS: not that I got to spend any time with "my people" at CMJ this year because, once I got back from Toronto, I worked until after midnight every night during the festival. BOO!! There were some shows I really wanted to see--like Excepter and Blood on the Wall.)
7) The last movie I saw was the new adaptation of "Pride and Prejudice," which was everything you would think: Romantic, pretty to look at, funny, girly.... And Keira Knightly made quite a good Lizzy. There wasn't anything surprising about the picture, but it was great nonetheless.There is just something about Jane Austin for me (I've been going through a phase). Her female protaganists are always independent or cynical or feel like they will never get married and they always find their perfect mate. It's hopeful in a way that modern lovestories rarely are.
I think that's it. I'm not sure I feel kinda brainwashed by the week I spent away in conjunction with the horror week of work that I returned to. The best part of last week was that JEN WAS IN TOWN!!! And, though I'm loathe to admit that we will never be able to lure her back to New York now that she has a great job and an amazing house and a pop star as a roommate, it was at least nice to see her and visit the old haunts (Motor City, MisShapes). Shaya has the drunken pictures on her blog to prove it.
On a totally separate note....I'd like to make a plea for the Four Tet remix of Sia's "Breathe Me" (a/k/a the song that made me convulse with tears during the Six Feet Under finale). It removes the cheezy Lilith Fair vibe of the song and adds a funky, almost-Latin bassline. It's truly great!
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