"Anomalisa" and The Week in Reviews

[I review the new movie "Anomalisa" and DVDs "Blind" and "The New Girlfriend." The Book of the Week is "The Wild Truth," by the sister of Chris McCandless, who was the subject of the book and movie "Into the Wild."  I also bring you up to date on my "1001 Movies I Must See Before I Die Project" with "The Draughtsman's Contract."]





Anomalisa

Michael Stone is a specialist in customer service and is in Cincinnati to give a speech.  While there, he meets Lisa, who seems to be a wonderful anomaly in what is his boring, unsatisfied and mid-life crisis life.
 
As Henry David Thoreau said in "Walden," "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation" and that seems to be the case for Michael Stone.  It's an irony that he is in Cincinnati to give a speech about good customer service, because Michael does not seem to connect with other human beings and is not a happy man. 

In his hotel room alone, he calls his wife and talks to his son and it's clear that none of these people are particularly happy.  Later he calls an old girlfriend and meets up with her but that doesn't go well either.  Then he meets two women, Emily and Lisa, who are customer service reps in Cincinnati to hear his speech.  They are both in awe of Michael and when he invites them downstairs for a drink, they get a bit drunk and Lisa ends up in Michael's room where they have sex. 

Up until he meets Lisa, everyone sounds the same to Michael, literally (all of the voices are provided by one actor - Tom Noonan).  When Michael hears Lisa's voice he is lifted out of his funk, because Lisa's voice is different.  That's because it's Jennifer Jason Leigh's voice.  Michael sees Lisa as an anomaly in a dreary life and dubs her "Anomalisa."  He thinks she can save him.  But we all know how that kind of thing goes, right?

The characters are animated puppets and nothing was done to hide the puppet-like structure of the faces which all looked like the same mask.  And with one person's voice used for all of the characters, except Michael and Lisa, we are thrust into Michael's life where he makes no connections, where everyone looks and sounds the same, living life like a puppet.

There is an irony in Michael's specialty - customer service - where he exhorts people to treat everyone as individuals, to smile and to realize everyone needs love.  He should have added, "even though inside we don't really feel that way."  So much for customer service.

This is a three-hander with David Thewlis providing the voice of Michael, Jennifer Jason Leigh as Lisa and Tom Noonan as everyone else, male, female, young and old.  It's a very effective, though initially startling, effect that illustrates how swept up into the faceless crowd our lives can get.

We are also reminded that animation can do things live actors sometimes can't, though these days almost anything goes in the movies.  But animated characters in full-frontal nudity, indulging in oral sex and doing the deed right in front of us can be unsettling, so don't mistake this for a cartoon and take the kids.

I have always been a big fan of Thewlis, whose quirky looks have starred in many films from "Naked" to "The Big Lebowski" to the "Harry Potter" films.  His lovely English accent provides a nice counterpoint to Noonan's rather monotonous and actually ominous voice playing all of the other characters.  Jennifer Jason Leigh, whose movie career was soaring in the mid-90's and then seemed to sputter out to smaller roles and television, has had a bit of a rebirth in recent years with her Golden Globe and Oscar nominations for "The Hateful Eight" and now a starring role in this, even if it is only her voice.

Written by Charlie Kaufman who also gave us "Being John Malkovich" and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" among others (he also co-directed with Duke Johnson), this is decidedly an adult animated feature film with adult themes.  It's the first R-rated animated film to be nominated for an Oscar in the Best Animated Feature category.

Rosy the Reviewer says...with its effective stop-motion animation and existential message, this unusual film is worthy of its Oscar nomination in the Best Animated Feature category.

 

***Some Movies You Might Have Missed***

(And Some You Will Be Glad You Did)!

Now Out on DVD

The New Girlfriend (2014)

Claire and Laura have been best friends since childhood.  But when Laura dies, Claire discovers her secret.

Claire (Anais Demoustier) and Laura (Isild Le Besco) swore BFF-dom at an early age, even sealing the deal in blood.  They grew up together, got married together, Laura to David (Roman Duris) and Claire to Gilles (a very handsome Raphael Personnaz) and Laura had a little girl, Lucie.  But then Laura dies, leaving David alone to care for the baby and Claire, bereft at losing her best friend and confidante.

Claire, as Lucie's godmother, vows to help David raise Lucie.  One day when she arrives at David's house to help with the baby, she finds David rocking her... dressed in a wig and one of Laura's dresses.

Thus the secret at the heart of this movie is revealed -  that Laura's husband has the desire to dress as a woman.  At first Claire is shocked, but as David explains, it is not a sexual thing and he is not gay.  When he was married to Laura he was able to suppress the urge, but since her death it had come back. He also tells Claire that he believes Lucie needs the comfort of a feminine presence.

David confides in Claire that when he dressed Laura in her wedding dress for her funeral, his true feelings of wanting to live as a woman came out and that he liked to dress as a woman.  After her initial shock, Claire is at first curious about David and helps David transform into "Virginia," and "she" becomes Claire's new best girlfriend, which reminded me of Gerda, Einar's wife in "The Danish Girl," who instigated her husband to dress as a woman until she realized he wanted to live as a woman.

The two go off on a weekend together and David is dressed as Virginia, his alter ego, and he revels in his new role.  But it becomes clear that Claire has some feelings she did not expect, feelings that she may have harbored for Laura all along.  Likewise, it seems that David wants to become Laura. As David/Virginia becomes more feminine, Claire, who is usually more shy and reticent, dresses and acts in a more masculine manner.

Claire has conflicted feelings about David and pulls away, telling David he is sick and breaks her ties with him.  But she eventually tells David she misses Virginia and they embark on an affair, but you know something has to happen.  A near tragedy intervenes.

Though similar in theme to "The Danish Girl," this film takes on the subject matter with more humor and lightness.  There is a funny scene where Claire waxes David/Virginia and also David's attempts to "hide" Virginia.  A guest unexpectedly arrives when David is Virginia and he quickly removes his make-up, forgetting his lipstick.

The couples live in gorgeous upper-middle class neighborhoods, which curiously, don't look the least bit French, but rather like American suburbs suggesting this certainly is not something that would just happen in France. The film is beautifully photographed by cinematographer Pascal Marti and has the look and feel of a Todd Haynes film where the beautiful images belie the secrets that lie behind their middle class facades.  There is an operatic score throughout that foreshadows the climactic events to come. 

Duris is a fixture in French films.  He has one of those faces that is unforgettable.  He is totally believable here.  Demoustier channels a young Meryl Streep and has a luminous quality that is utterly charming, though her character is maddening..

This is a timely film in light of Caitlyn Jenner, "The Danish Girl" and Todd Haynes' latest film "Carol," the many discussions around transgender issues and sexual identity. It's interesting that when Claire tells her husband about David, she can't bring herself to tell him that he cross-dresses.  She tells him he is homosexual as if it is more shocking to tell her husband that David wants to dress as a woman than that he was homosexual. However, David is not homosexual.  He loves women and so, apparently, does Claire.

Directed by Francois Ozon (who also adapted the screenplay from a Ruth Rendell story) this is a study in the complex issues surrounding sexual identity and avoids the usual stereotypes.  It's never clear whether or not David equates wearing women's clothes as a sexual thing or that he is actually transgender. Likewise, where Claire is sexually remains ambiguous, which makes the film all the more intriguing and real.

Rosy the Reviewer says...I really liked this film and if you liked "The Danish Girl" or you are a fan of Todd Haynes' films, you will too.
(In French with English subtitles)







Blind (2014)

Ingrid (Ellen Dorrit Petersen), a young Norwegian woman in her thirties, is newly blind and confined to her apartment where she has an active imagination - or is it her imagination?

Ingrid's husband, Morten (Henrik Raphaelsen), goes to work and she is alone in their apartment, afraid to leave.  What must that be like to have the whole day ahead all alone and to be blind?  The slow pace of the film reflects that.  Sounds are magnified, doors shutting, muffled voices from outside but the film also reflects the fear one might experience being alone and blind. You might imagine all kinds of thing such as your husband not really being at work but being in the apartment watching you.

Ingrid's voiceover tells us that she has not always been blind but that it is becoming harder and harder for her to remember what things looked like when she could see. Though she is alone during the day, she goes about her day, making coffee and cleaning up.  But she is also writing a book.

The camera uses close-ups on everything: hair, hands, eyes, all in a cruel irony underlining the fact that Ingrid is blind and not only can no longer see details but sees nothing.  The film is beautiful to look at, again an irony in a film about blindness.

Then in counterpoint to Ingrid, Einar (Marius Kolbenstvetd) appears.  Einar is a perv. He is addicted to Internet porn and peeping on the woman whose apartment window is across from his. There is a bit of "Rear Window" here.  We realize that he is watching Elin (Vera Vitali), a divorced woman from Sweden who is alone on the weekends when her son is with his Dad.

Einar starts stalking Elin.  Einer also runs into Ingrid's husband.  They are old school mates but it becomes clear that Einar was not popular but the two reconnect over movies. And then to add to the complications, Ingrid's husband, Morten, uses the computer to chat with women and one of those women is Elin.

Einar is watching Elin who is talking to Morten who is married to Ingrid.

Then Elin goes spontaneously blind...and you say, WHAAAT??

This is one of those films with seemingly unrelated characters whose lives collide but then you wonder -- hey, what's going on here? Is all of this in Ingrid's imagination?  Is this the book she is writing?

Eventually we realize that Ingrid is writing a novel and not everything we see is to be believed. Elin and Einar are figments of Ingrid's imagination (which is what happens when you are left alone for long periods of time).  Not sure about Ingrid's husband, but I think she was also making stuff about him too. What I thought at first were continuity issues were part of the story as backdrops to the action shift unexpectedly.  These characters, whether real or only in Ingrid's mind, are all at the mercy of her imagination and so are we.

Petersen is a lovely but cold presence, as pale and cool as a Norwegian winter, and her colors when she is on screen are all white and gray.

This is the film debut of director Eskil Vogt, who heretofore has been a screenwriter for Joachim Trier's films. 

Rosy the Reviewer says...a strange but compelling study of loneliness and isolation.
(In Norwegian with English subtitles)

***My 1001 Movies I Must See Before I Die Project***

 

262 to go!

Have YOU seen this classic film?





The Draughtsman's Contract (1982)

Mr. Neville, a philandering 17th century artist, is hired by Mrs. Herbert to make a series of 12 drawings of her husband's estate, but the contract also includes sexual favors.

Neville (Anthony Higgins) is a draughtsman, but he is also a womanizer.  Mrs. Herbert (Janet Suzman) wants Neville to do the drawings of the estate for her husband in order to save her marriage.  She offers eight pounds per drawing and room and board, but Neville also requires that she comply with his request for certain "pleasures."

The film soon becomes a murder mystery as Mr. Herbert's body is discovered on the estate and Mr. Neville is accused.  It all goes downhill from there.

This followed Janet Suzman's triumph in "Nicholas and Alexandria" by 10 years. And its cheeky style seems to have inspired "Amadeus," which followed two years later.  "Amadeus" had the same cynical satiric feel as this one.  It's a satire on the wigs, the clothes, the fops, the silliness of the 17th century wealthy class.

Why it's a Must See: "...the narrative confounds rather than clarifies.  But there is a sparkling wit and pleasing theatrical playfulness to the film, which made it an unexpected British hit. The grand country estate is exquisitely captured by Curtis Clark's cinematography, while Michael Nyman's music, which uses motifs from Purcell, is a joy.  One of the most striking directorial debuts of recent British cinema, [this film] remains Greenaway's most accessible film."
---"1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die"

Written and directed by Peter Greenaway, if you saw his "The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover," you know you are going to see something that pushes the envelope, and yes, this film might be more accessible than that one or some of his others.  But even "1001 Movies..." says it "confounds."  And it does.  So I didn't get this comedy's inclusion in the "1001 Movies" I must see before I die, when other comedies, such as early Peter Seller's films like "I Love You Alice B. Toklas" and The Pink Panther films, are not.  I don't get it.

Rosy the Reviewer says...I will be brief.  I didn't like it.

***Book of the Week***

The Wild Truth by Carine McCandless (2015)

Chris McCandliss and his death alone in the wilderness of Alaska was made famous in Jon Krakauer's book "Into the Wild."  Here Chris's sister shares her story and what she believes happened to Chris.

Krakauer interviewed Carine when he was writing "Into the Wild."  She showed him some letters Chris had written to her and shared stories about her family but asked Krakauer not to use the information in his book.  But now Carine wants the truth to be told and to shed light on why Chris went into the Alaskan wilderness.

This book is mostly Carine's memoir about growing up with Chris in an abusive, drunken and dysfunctional family and how that ultimately affected her and her relationships.  She shares many stories of their parents' outrageous behavior and her father's "other family," much of what was glossed over in Krakauer's book.  Carine believes that the abuse and lack of connection to his parents were the reasons Chris went into the wilderness.

"I believe Chris went into the wilderness in search of what was lacking in his childhood: peace, purity, honesty.  And he understood there was nowhere better for him to find that than in nature."

My main criticism here is what I have felt reading some books about excessive child abuse and really, really dysfunctional families. The more I get hit over the head with incident after incident, the more it feels unreal.  Of course, that's just my feeling and probably has more to do with the writing style here than the veracity of the information.

All in all, though, this book doesn't really answer the question of why Chris went into the Alaskan wilderness and starved to death.  We will never know. 

Rosy the Reviewer says...This could be a good accompaniment to "Into the Wild," but does not in any way replace that remarkable book.

 

 

That's it for this week!

 

Thanks for Reading!

 

 

See you Tuesday for

 

"Interview with a Librarian"

 

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"Everest" and The Week in Reviews

[I review the new movie "Everest" and DVDs "I'll See You in My Dreams" and "The Wrecking Crew." The Book of the Week is "Judy & Liza & Robert & Freddie & David & Sue & Me," a memoir of Judy Garland's last years.  I also bring you up to date on "My 1001 Movies I Must See Before I Die Project" with the blacklisted film "Salt of the Earth."]


Everest

Movie version of the 1996 Mount Everest Disaster.

In 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa Tenzing Norgay were the first climbers to ever scale the summit of Mt. Everest.  Since then, other experienced climbers have attempted this feat, some made it, some did not.  But over the years, taking climbers up Mt. Everest has become a business and Everest has become a mountain version of a traffic jam despite the huge (upwards of $65,000) price tag clients must pay to go up to the top.

Rob Hall, an experienced New Zealander climber who had scaled Mt. Everest four times (this expedition would be his 5th), was one of the first and most successful to start one of these guided climbs businesses. He and his partner, Gary Ball had completed The Seven Summits which meant they had climbed the highest mountains of each of the seven continents. Summiting all of them is regarded as THE mountaineering challenge and they had done all seven in seven months. Hall and Ball started Adventure Consultants in 1991 and had mounted many successful climbs and by 1996 Rob Hall had led 39 clients to the top of Mount Everest.

In 1996, Hall and two other guides took eight clients up the mountain.  Among those in the party was author Jon Krakauer, who at that time was working for "Outside Magazine," and was going to do a piece about the growing interest in commercial expeditions to Everest, and in turn, "Outside Magazine" would publicize Hall's business. Little did Krakauer know that he would be a key player in one of the greatest mountain climbing tragedies up until that time.

Though Hall had guided several successful treks up the mountain, this particular attempt encountered many delays, especially due to some 33 other climbers all wanting to summit at the same time and on the same day - by 2pm on May 10.  A literal traffic jam occurred at the Hillary Step, thus causing more dangerous delays which would keep climbers from going back down by 2pm, the last safe time to summit that would still allow them all to get back to camp by nightfall.  Then they were hit with a monster storm and some of them would not come down the mountain alive...or ever.

Jon Krakauer brilliantly wrote about what happened in his book "Into Thin Air."  However, the film is not based on his book and Krakauer has distanced himself from the film, saying how he was depicted was fictional.  Most probably because in the film there is a scene when some of their party are stranded on the mountain and he and some others have made it back to camp.  When Boukreev asks them to go back with him to try to save the others, Krakauer is depicted as saying that he can't go back to help the other climbers because he has snow blindness. That was not particularly flattering considering some of those climbers died.

However, Krakauer's own version of events came under attack by Anatoli Boukreev (played by Ingvar Eggert Sigurosson in the film), who was also there, and who gave his version in his book "The Climb." The filmmakers state that the screenplay by William Nicholson and Simon Beaufoy, was an original one based on original research and not Krakauer's book.

It doesn't really matter which version you believe or which facts are true.  What happened, happened and, this film stands on its own as a mesmerizing, heartbreaking experience. 

Director Baltasar Kormakur oversaw gorgeous cinematography (Salvatore Totino), crisp editing by Mick Audsley, actual Everest locations and the wonderful acting, which all worked together to provide a brilliant film that makes you feel you are right there with the climbers.  This film will stay with you for a long time.

Jason Clarke, who until now was probably best known for "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" was a revelation here as Hall.  His performance should be rewarded with an Oscar nod.  He portrayed Hall as tender and loving to his wife, strong, caring and rational with his clients and tough and brave to the end. But Josh Brolin as Beck Weathers, a doctor from Texas; Jake Gyllenhaall, the Seattle-based tour guide, Scott Fischer, from rival tour company Mountain Madness; Emily Watson as Adventure Consultants' base camp manager; Sam Worthington as Rob's colleague Guy Cotter; Michael Kelly as Krakauer; John Hawkes as Doug Hansen, whose attempt last year was aborted and who desperately wanted to summit this time; Keira Knightly as Rob's wife, Jan; an almost unrecognizable Robin Wright as Beck's wife, Peach; and the other actors, all played a role in making this a moving, realistic experience.

In his book, Krakauer talks about the idea that it's not just getting up the mountain that is so hard.  It's getting up the mountain and then getting back down again.  Hall says something similar, feeling very responsible for getting everyone back down safely, which is why it was so important that they keep to their time table and head back down by 2pm.  In the film, there is one dramatic moment of sentimental and bad judgment that would prove fateful.

Why anyone would want to do something like this, climb the tallest mountain, is beyond me. When they say in the film that they will be climbing heights that 747's fly at, I shuddered.  When asked that "why question," renowned mountaineer George Mallory uttered the famous words, "Because it's there."  Unfortunately, Mallory's quest to scale Mt. Everest ended with his death there.  In the film, Krakauer asks the climbers that same question - Why? - and they humorously echo Mallory's words, but then go on to give some insights into why people would attempt such a dangerous and, as they admit, painful excursion. Some had very personal reasons. Weathers did it to alleviate his depression; Hanson as a role model for some school children. But for many it just boiled down to bragging rights...to be one of the few to do something few have done.  I still shake my head at the dangerous things people do willingly, no matter what the reason.

You can't help but get from this film the inherent dangers associated with the commercialization of climbing Mount Everest, which has led to people attempting the climb who probably shouldn't be up there and experienced tour guides making fatal decisions to make their paying customers happy. But that still doesn't detract from how heartbreaking this film is.

When you compare this film to "The Martian," which I reviewed last week, we have another film about trying to overcome nature in an unforgiving landscape, in that case Mars.  But when comparing these two films, one can't help but think that mountain climbing seems more scary, dramatic and exciting then space exploration.  Where "The Martian" lacked drama, this film was exciting from the first frame to the end credits.  And the homage at the end of the film paid to the real life people who perished on the mountain was particularly poignant.  I cried.

Though not a requisite for enjoying the film, see it in 3-D if you can. It just adds to the awesome cinematography.

Rosy the Reviewer says...Ring, ring.  It's the Academy calling.  Oscar wants you to know you have been nominated for Best Picture and Jason, you too.

 

 

 

Some Movies You Might Have Missed

(And Some You Will Be Glad You Did)!

 

***Now Out on DVD***

 

 

 

I'll See You In My Dreams (2015)

 

 

Finding love is possible at any age.

 

Carol (Blythe Danner) is a widow of a certain age, retired and living alone.  She is lonely.  We know this because there are numerous shots of her doing solitary activities. Then her dog dies. 

(What is it with getting old and the dog dying?  It happened in "Five Flights Up" and in Erica Jong's recent novel "Fear of Dying."  That seems to be a recurrent theme in movies and books about getting old.  All us old folks have left in the end is our dog.  And then he dies too!).

 

After Carol puts her dog down, she returns home alone and has a big glass of wine.  That's my girl!  But then a huge rat runs across the floor. Not a good day for Carol.

 

As she is napping by her pool, the pool boy arrives and thinks she is dead.  "What, you thought I was dead because I am old?"  When it is clear she is indeed not dead, Carol offers the pool boy, Lloyd (Martin Starr) a glass of wine.  He accepts and they spend some time together drinking wine and discovering that they both love music.  In fact, they both used to sing in a band.  Lloyd invites Carol to go sing karaoke with him sometime.

 

OK, Danner looks great for her age. I am not a fan of women letting their hair go gray, but I have to say it looks good on Danner. In fact, she looks damn good in general, not just for a 72-year-old.  She either has really good genes or her plastic surgeon did a fantastic job. But when young Lloyd asked her out, they lost me.  Even if I had a pool, which I don't, not only would I not offer the pool boy a glass of wine, but I am sure he wouldn't ask me out either. 'Course I don't look as good as Danner, so who knows?

 

But then when Carol calls Lloyd about the karaoke, he has forgotten all about it and doesn't seem that keen.  Carol may have looked better to him with a couple of glasses of wine under his belt.  However, they make a date and Carol wows everyone with her great voice (Danner can really sing).  Lloyd is impressed.  Carol invites Lloyd in for coffee and they talk about life.  Lloyd is a bit of a loser.  He doesn't have any plans for his life and lives with his mother.  He spends the night (No, not like that - they would have really lost me if that had happened). He falls asleep on the couch.  Naturally the next morning one of her girlfriends comes over early and when she sees Lloyd there, she thinks all kinds of things.

 

Speaking of girlfriends, Carol meets regularly with her girlfriends to play cards (Rhea Perlman, Mary Kay Place who looks eerily like Hillary Clinton here, and June Squibb).  The girls are all living in a retirement complex and are trying to get Carol to pack up and move there too. Carol is not quite ready for that, but she agrees to go speed dating with them in a scene that fluctuates between humorous and cringe worthy.  So that doesn't really cut it for Carol, but then she meets Bill (Sam Elliott). They meet cute - yes, old folks can meet cute too.  She is shopping for vitamins and he comes up to her and says, "You don't need that.  You're all right the way you are."  See?  That's meeting cute.  And it doesn't hurt that Sam Elliott is still damn cute too.  And that voice of his.  He's the steak guy ("Beef.  It's what's for dinner").  You hear that voice of his all over TV in voice overs.

 

This is an enjoyable romantic comedy featuring mature adults.

 

But I could have down without the requisite sex talk among the old gals.  I have to ask: Why is it considered funny when senior citizens talk about sex?  Someone must think it is, because every time there is a film featuring senior citizens, the old folks do nothing but talk about sex or have it, the joke being, "Oh look, old wrinkly people in a retirement home still want to have sex."  Ew." I find that unfunny. Likewise, it seems we like to see senior citizens getting stoned, which Carol and her girlfriends do. They haul out the medical marijuana and then get the munchies and go buy out the store. And on the way home get pulled over by the cutest cop I have ever seen (Reid Scott, so now that I think of it, maybe I didn't mind that scene so much after all).  But add Carol's rat infestation which is a running gag here, and we've got old folks smoking marijuana, dreaming of sex but living alone with the rats?  And that's supposed to be funny?

 

But that was just a small part of the film and that aside, the script avoids most of the clichés about growing older. Danner's Carol is treated with respect as she maneuvers life alone, and Danner and Elliott are an appealing couple.  They are acting pros and create a world that we want to share with them.  I was drawn in.

 

Directed by Brett Haley, who also wrote the script with Marc Basch, the film examines what the present is might be like for senior women and what the future might look like, especially as we women outlive our husbands.  We can look back on what we did but what is our present? The ending is poignant and unexpected and it's refreshing to see a movie where things are not wrapped up neatly.

 

Possible spoiler alert.  In the end, it's all about dogs.

 

Rosy the Reviewer says...I absolutely loved this movie.  It's a charming gem that mature viewers will really enjoy.  We need more movies like this!

 

 

 

 

 

The Wrecking Crew (2008)

 

 

 

 

A documentary that celebrates the talented session players called "The Wrecking Crew," who provided the instrumentals on most of our favorite songs from the 60's.

 

Most of the riffs Baby Boomers have come to identify with didn't actually come from the artists credited with the song but by the session players, an elite group of studio musicians, who were called in again and again to provide the music.

 

Artists such as Cher, Herb Alpert, Mickey Dolenz of The Monkees (who I will always remember as "Circus Boy," one of my favorite Saturday morning shows growing up) and Jimmy Webb give testimonials to the talents of "The Wrecking Crew," of which Glenn Campbell and Leon Russell were a part until they made it as solo artists.

 

Denny Tedesco who directed this documentary was the son of one of these guys: guitarist Tommy Tedesco.  Others were Al Casey (guitar), Earl Palmer (drums), Hal Blaine (drums), Plas Johnson (sax), Joe Osborn (bass), Don Randi (keyboard) and most interestingly, Carol Kaye, who was not one of the guys, she was a woman who played bass, something that was most unusual for the 50's and 60's. These musicians could play more than one instrument and play any style and often contributed ideas on how the song should go. Kaye is credited with the familiar riffs on "Good Vibrations."

 

 

 

This is Tedesco's labor of love and he spent years trying to get the permissions he needed to feature the songs that are intermingled with archival footage and interviews.

 

Like the Academy Award-winning documentary "Twenty Feet from Stardom," this film highlights the talents that were overshadowed by the big name stars.

 

Rosy the Reviewer says...a fascinating look inside the L.A. music scene during the 60's and a long overdue nod to the unsung musical heroes who gave us some of the greatest songs of our time.

 

 

***My 1001 Movies I Must See Before I Die Project***

 

276 to go! 

Salt of the Earth  (1954)

 

This blacklisted film tells the fictional story of striking Mexican American workers at a zinc mine in New Mexico in the 1950's.

The workers at the San Marcos mine in Zinctown, New Mexico are sick of the discrimination they are experiencing so they call a general strike.  The men want better wages but the women want sanitation.  The women are told, "You're a woman, you don't know what it's like up there." 

The Mexican workers want equality but their wives want decent living conditions.  The men are chauvinists but eventually they figure out that they need to organize the women too.  When the company takes out an injunction against the men forbidding them to picket, the women take their places on the picket line and when the scabs come in, the women fight them off but are arrested.  When the women are locked up, the men find out what it's like to try to run a household without sanitation and the women are not about to go back home and be subservient to the men.  You go, ladies!

There is solidarity for the men and the women.

Directed by Herbert J. Biberman (one of The Hollywood Ten) and with a script based on a true event, this film was banned for over a decade, probably because it questioned racial and gender equality, but in 1992 the film was selected for inclusion in The National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. The rudimentary acting (some of the cast were not actors) and spare production values makes this feel more like an industrial film, except this is pro-union, pro-feminist and shows the anti-Mexican sentiment at work during that time.

"This rarely screened classic is the only major American independent feature made by communists...[The film] was informed by feminist attitudes that are quite uncharacteristic of the period [and] was inspired by the blacklisting of director Herbert Biberman, screenwriter Michael Wilson, producer and former screenwriter Paul Jarrico, and composer Sol Kaplan...because they'd been drummed out of Hollywood for being subversives, they'd commit a 'crime to fit the punishment' by making a subversive film. The resuls are leftist propaganda of a high order, powerful and intelligent..."
---"1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die"

Rosy the Reviewer says...not an especially easy filmic experience, but an important piece of film history nevertheless.

***Book of the Week***

Judy & Liza & Robert & Freddie & David & Sue & Me by Stevie Phillips (2015)

 

Hollywood agent Phillips' no holds barred memoir of her career representing some big name talents, especially Judy Garland in her final years.

The Judy in the title is Judy Garland and Liza is Liza Minnelli.  The others are Robert Redford, Freddie Fields, David Begelman and Sue Mengers.  Fields and Begelman were the founders of CMA (Creative Management Associates now ICM), at one time, one of the most powerful talent agencies in Hollywood.  Sue Mengers was a powerful agent and one of Phillips' colleagues and closest friends.

When Phillips was in her twenties and just starting out working at CMA, she was called upon to be Garland's "minder" of sorts, so she saw first hand Garland's self-destruction.  Likewise, later in life, when she represented Liza Minnelli, Garland's daughter, she watched her unravel as well. At the end of the book, Phillips credits her time with Judy and later Liza as an awakening of sorts, to drug addiction and her own co-dependency.

It's difficult for me to believe that anyone, except Hollywood's Old Guard, would care very much anymore about Freddie Fields, David Begelman or Sue Mengers.  Or even Phillips herself for that matter, despite an interesting career working with some of Hollywood's greats.

People drawn to this book are no doubt interested in dish about Garland and that's mostly what we have here.  There is not much about Redford or even her friend, Sue Mengers.  As for Garland, I have a bit of a problem with books that are all about the declining years of an icon.  And Garland's declining years were not pretty, but they have already been well-documented.  I say let her rest in peace and let us remember her as she was in her movies. 

But this is also Phillips' story. Phillips was making her way as a talent agent back when women were more likely to be taking shorthand and getting coffee.  So she had to have been one smart and tough cookie to make it big in that industry. But it took its toll.  Now 78, and with three failed marriages, Phillips, despite being a feminist, doesn't believe women can have it all or do it all. In addition to her time with Garland, Phillips was Liza Minnelli's first agent and helped her get her start, and was rewarded by Liza's betrayal, which it took Phillips almost ten years to get over.  She points out that loyalty in Hollywood is not in great supply. 

She eventually reinvented herself as a Broadway producer, finding great success with the stage version of "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas."  She disavows the movie version, which I am glad to hear because it was the only movie I have ever walked out of half-way through. Her insights on what it takes to produce a Broadway show would be of interest to theatre folks.

Rosy the Reviewer says...If you like insider Hollywood anecdotes or are interested in what it took to be a woman talent agent in Hollywood in the 60's, you might enjoy this book, but Garland fans might not want to know all of these gory details about her.

Thanks for Reading!

 

That's it for this week.

 

See you Tuesday for

"Retirement Brain"

 

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