Notes from Under (the) Ground: Part Two

Click here for part one

I don't usually take notes at press screenings, because I find it easier to watch the screen—especially when subtitles are involved—than to watch, listen, and/or read while trying to guide my pen across paper in the dark (and I'm not about to use a lighted implement and irritate everyone

around me). That said, I make an exception every once in awhile, and I've always found these chicken stratches almost as amusing as enlightening. Here are a few examples.

MADE IN USA
(Northwest Film Forum, June 2009)

Words and pictures.

"To Nick and Samuel, who raised me to respect image and

sound"..."The Moroccan war made you a bit mean"..."Now fic-

tion overtakes reality"..."I feel like I'm in a Disney movie"...frog-

gy-voiced little men, folk-singing babes in bathtubs...the magnifi-

cent reds of La Chinoise, Pierrot le Fou, and the Technicolor mu-

sicals of Vincente Minnelli..."In 22 years, I'll be 26"...Marianne

Faithfull, "As Tears Go By"...tomato-red blood and no points of

entry; better yet, the blood matches the socks...Paula, Richard,

Typhus, and Doris Mizoguchi...jet airliner whooshes and loud

telephone rings...Paul Widmark...Jean-Pierre Léaud as Donald

[Siegel]..."Fascism must pass like miniskirts and rock & roll...

Frank Sinatra, Serge Gainsbourg, and [indistinguishable].

Click here for full review.

A TOWN CALLED PANIC
(Seven Gables, Jan 10)

Imagery and comparisons.

Animated opening...birth-

day...Gumby and Pokey,

Mr. Bill, Bob the Builder...

Farmer Steven...bricks, 50

million bricks...stolen walls...

inflatable [furniture]...reckless...cell phones...

travel through the Earth's Core to the other side...

enslaved by scientists...giant food...barracudas, sea

creatures, pearl fountain, swordfish saws...one year later.

Click here for full review. Opens at the Varsity on 1/22.

SAINT JOHN OF LAS VEGAS

(Seven Gables, Jan 10)

"Dante's Inferno" goes to Vegas.

Hue Rhodes [director]...Stanley Tucci and Spike Lee

[producers]...New Mexico...convenience store framing

device...John (Steve Buscemi, character actor par excel-

lence)...slicked-back hair, long sideburns...down on his luck...

filing claims at an insurance company...Peter Dinklage, boss...

Virgil (Romany Malco), co-worker, world's worst travel com-

panion...fraud...Jill (Sarah Silverman), smiley faces...Danny

Trejo..."When a cross-dressing skinhead don't rape you,

just take your smokes. Don't ask why"...Tasty Delight,

stripper...Tim Blake Nelson, nudist militia...Hell is Ve-

gas...disorienting, surrealistic..."I think I lost my eye-

brows, but that was the best smoke I ever had."

Opens in Seattle on Feb 19 at the Metro.

THE GHOST WRITER
(Pacific Place, Feb 2010)

Polanski goes Hitchcock.

Accident or suicide...busy, robust soundtrack [Alexandre Des-
plat]...Timothy Hutton, Jim Belushi...Adam Lang [Pierce Bros-
nan]...secret torture...flight...modernist house, looks like a pri-
son...Ruth (Olivia Williams), Kim Cattrall as assistant..."Bril-
liant in a horrible sort of way...all the words are there, but
in the wrong order"...Brits in the U.S...wind...sweeping
leaves..."Got into politics out of love"...Yale or Cam-
bridge..."This place is Shangri-La in reverse."

Click here for the full review.

Images from Port and The Auteurs.