...And the Ship Sails On

From an extended hiatus, I return.

Now...what to discuss...

An over view of my recent views is as good a place as

any. Currently, I am in the middle of the 2nd Brakhage volume from Criterion, which is rather daunting, as all of his work is for the average viewer. But more on that once I have completed it and can offer a more comprehensive analysis.

Theater going is a thing I have been unable or unwilling to do as of late; lack of time or lack of...well much of anything that looks interesting in my vicinity has been scarce. I am still looking forward to seeing Tilda Swinton and John C. ("Check the expiration date, dummy") Reilly in what I have heard to be the excellent We Need to Talk About Kevin. After Ratcatcher, I would see anything that Lynn Ramsay produces.

I guess what is left is to play a bit of selected catch up. Rosi's Moment of Truth is quite the spectacle. The un-staged footage of the matadors during bull fights is a wonder to behold, captured in a brilliant color scheme and true to the stories Spanish roots. The story, however, is largely uninspired and ripped from the fabric of standard art house fare, and the scenes outside the bull fighting ring with a false sense of the touristic. Rosi has never been known for his gift with story, and it shows in this film.

My greatest triumph recently is that I finally found a copy of Ichikawa's Tokyo Olympiad, that wasn't a hudred bucks or more used on Amazon. I finally made it to Premiere Video while staying with a friend in Dallas, and was overwhelmed with their vast collection. I found a copy of the DVD and must throw in with all the others who have heaped praise on this masterful work. The slow motion bits, the camera

coverage must have been an enormous undertaking.

It was a strange coincidence when I finished reading Reservation Blues and subsequently stumbled upon the film Smoke Signals from 1998, finding out just before watching it that they were both from Sherman Alexie. The concurrent characters in both the book and the film diverged greatly from what I imagined in my reading, but Thomas Builds-the-Fire and Victor still came alive in certain moments on screen. It is not the most accomplished film but the contemplative moments, most notably standing on the bridge overlooking the white-watered river below carried an impact. But if I had to tell you to pick one or the other, Reservation Blues is the easy choice in terms of narrative quality.