Being There Again

Adaptation
My class had so many different interpretations of the ending of Being There, when Chance (Peter Sellers) walks on water. Everything from a basic Christian take on it (he's like Jesus) to a sort of willpower reading, as in the movie's final line, "Life is a state of mind." An especially ingenious student suggested that just as the entire movie presents the illusion for many characters that Chance is a brilliant man, so the ending presents the illusion for the viewer that Chance can walk on water, although the character is only walking on a sandbar or something. Also some wide-ranging ideas about what the title means.  A really fascinating class session. I have to say I learned a lot.

High Noon: Not So High Anymore

Cinema Criticism Writing

High Noon hasn't held up as well as I thought it would. I used to call it my favorite western, but now it seems a bit dated and mannered. Yes, there are a lot of good things in it, but I'd put it behind Stagecoach, Rio Bravo, the recent remake of True Grit and a bunch of other oaters. I was never a huge Gary Cooper fan, but I used to like his performance in this one more than I do now. The b&w cinematography is still striking, though, and I can't fault the famous editing, with all those shots of clocks as the high-noon showdown approaches.

M*A*S*H: What's Not to Like?

American Film Comedy
M*A*S*H is such an unusual movie that I asked my class to tell me what annoyed them about it. That certainly stimulated discussion. Some students didn't like the overlapping dialogue (although others did). Some didn't like the episodic nature of the movie. One student hated everything about Hot Lips, both before the famous shower scene (which dramatically alters the character) and after. Another student, who admitted she's sensitive about such things, simply couldn't look at all the blood. I should have asked them to say what they liked also, but there wasn't time. Maybe next week.

Folk Revival

Writing About the Movies

Has it really been six years since Christopher Guest and his merry band of improvisers made their last movie together, the disappointing For Your Consideration? Yes, they did create that funny "focus group" bit for this year's Oscarcast, but I hope the relative failure of For Your Consideration hasn't discouraged them so much that they won't try again at the movies. We saw 2003's A Mighty Wind in class this week and, like such other Guest comedies as Best in Show and Waiting for Guffman (plus This Is Spinal Tap, which Guest didn't direct), it's hilarious and oddly poignant. The climactic scene, featuring the song "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow" is structured so masterfully that it's both funny and heartbreaking. C'mon, guys, go ahead and make another movie!

Walking on Water

Adaptation

We saw Being There this week, which, I think, still holds up. Shirley MacLaine looks younger in it every year. Was her waist ever really that thin? Anyway, next week we'll discuss the meaning of the famous final scene (before the hilarious outtakes), in which Peter Seller's character walks on water. Should be interesting.

Beatle Battle

Cinema Criticism

Who'd have thought those Liverpool Lads with the crazy haircuts could still stir controversy in 2012? In this week's class, there was a a serious disagreement between two students, one pro-A Hard Day's Night and one anti. Each student seemed unshakable in his opinion, and each made a really good case for his position. Can't wait to read their papers on the film...

On the Air

American Film Comedy
Back from Spring Break, we saw M*A*S*H tonight, with Donald Sutherland as Hawkeye. I asked the class to tell me, next week, something about the film that irritated them. Wonder what they'll come up with. Meanwhile, when I got home I turned on CNN and saw a commercial for Delta Airlines. The voice on the commercial, with its distinctive, vaguely Canadian vowels, belonged to, yes, Donald Sutherland. Like Delta, apparently, he's ready when you are.

Spring Break

Well, I guess I'm officially on Spring Break now. For me, that means reading a big stack of student essays, doing additional planning for my classes for the rest of the semester and catching up on some other reading I need to do. There's also a dental appointment in there somewhere. BTW, my last class before the break, Writing About the Movies, ended rather abruptly Thursday evening. About halfway through the session, a big, school-sponsored celebration of some sort started up just below the window of my second-floor classroom. Very LOUD music. I gave the class a 15 minute break to see if the music would die down but it didn't. So then I said we had two options: dismiss class or start dancing.
We opted for the former.