Powerful Combination

Writing About the Movies
Well, I guess that's it. My last class of the semester was earlier this evening. We've always had a lot of fun in this class. The students would kid each other (in good spirits), and I would kid back and forth with them. Tonight, we went around the room and each one talked about his or her final paper. One student said that she wrote about A Mighty Wind and two other improv comedies (Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show) because she loved A Mighty Wind and was a little ticked off that some of the other students didn't like it. "So then you wrote your paper out of spite?" I said. She said she did. I told her spite was a great motivator, and I really believe that it is. But, of course, without her love for the film, there would have been no paper. So, really, it was written out of  love and spite. Powerful combination.

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!