September 10, 2005
Before time got away from me, I had intended to post a lengthy rumination on various critical matters, using 'The Moviegoer,' the wonderful piece on Sontag by David Denby in this week's New Yorker, as a platform. Instead, I'll just link to that article, which is a must-read. It's nothing less than a brief critical history of her entire career - and a celebration of that career, and of Sontag herself. Denby also raises some interesting issues about the transgression of critics upon that which they critique, pointing out in particular Sontag's failure as a narrative filmmaker (her first effort, Duet For Cannibals, is screening on Tuesday in Austin as part of the Cinematexas Festival, but I unfortunately can't make it). This was what set the wheels in my head turning - for naught, it seems, at least for the time being. I've got papers to write, pictures to lock, shoots to plan.
In addition to reading that article, I'd recommend watching Matt's latest film, Writing: An Homage To James And Abbas, which, in my opinion, is his best work yet. As I suggested in an e-mail to him last night, I think it's his first romantic (in the historical sense) bit of filmmaking.
One of the things that I think will unfortunately fall by the wayside over the next few weeks and probably months is the frequency with which I find time to write full length reviews. I did manage to write a piece on Thumbsucker, and I'll surely have something to say about The Corpse Bride after the screening this week (anyone want to join me?), but I think that overall, they'll be more far and few between than they already are. I'd rather not see whatever quality I've managed to muster start to slip; quality over quantity, you know.
The Polyphonic Spree did the score to Thumbsucker, and thus it was that a large number of them were at the press screening the other week, humming along to the music at times. I was tempted to ask if they'd ever actually seen that video of mine...but of course that might have been awkward.
Posted by David Lowery at September 10, 2005 10:03 PM
Comments
Shotgun. (Re: Corpse Bride)
Posted by: jmj at September 11, 2005 2:39 AM
how's pre-production for OUTLAW going???
Posted by: Frank Mosley at September 11, 2005 12:35 PM
It's....well, it's going. Every now and then I add a new word or two to the script, and sometimes take out old ones; and I'm supposed to make a phone call tomorrow. And one of these days soon we'll have an actual schedule to adhere to...
Posted by: Ghostboy at September 11, 2005 11:26 PM