Pity Party on the Mountain

It’s hard to believe that a successful, Pulitzer-prize winning author, who had her short story adapted and made into a movie, and then nominated for eight academy awards, winning three, and then win best picture at the Independent Spirit award, would have much to complain about. Well believe it. Annie Proulx, author of the short story that was adapted into the feature length film Brokeback Mountain, threw a verbal pity party in the British newspaper, The Guardian.

Despite all the success and attention (both good and bad) that she and her story have received over the past year, Proulx sounded like a spoiled little child that didn’t get the toy she wanted at her already extravagant birthday party.

During her tantrum she stated that the Academy is, “out of touch not only with the shifting larger culture and the yeasty ferment that is America these days, but also out of touch with their own segregated city.” (yea, “yeasty ferment”, that just sounds nasty)

She went on to say, “If you are looking for smart judging based on merit, skip the Academy Awards next year and pay attention to the Independent Spirit choices." Of course, people that think like you and agree with you are geniuses everyone else is an idiot.

Continuing her whining she stated that “rumor has it that Lionsgate inundated the academy voters with DVD copies of Trash - excuse me - Crash a few weeks before the ballot deadline.” Can you believe that, the producer/distributor of the movie would actually want to promote their movie? Unbelievable! Especially since Crash, unlike ALL the other movies that wanted to be considered for Best Pic, was released in early 2005 as opposed to as late as possible in the year (Brokeback’s release date was Dec. 9th) , in order to be fresh on the academies mind during nominations.

It takes a real class act to not only whine and cry because you didn’t win everything but then, belittle your competition, nice. A writer like Proulx should know that what makes a Protagonist so great is the strength of the Antagonist. If the other films that were competing against Brokeback were “trash” as she put it, then to win Best Picture against them would have been meaningless.

Success can blind people. So can their obsession with other people’s perceived intolerances and prejudices. Brokeback has been successful both financially ($81,000,000US) and critically (8 Oscar nods, 3 wins). It also has brought the topic of homosexuality to the forefront of American culture. I’m not sure what Annie Proulx hopes were for her story but, if she is not happy with what it has done so far then she never will be.

Comedian

Last Friday I was able to see my favorite comedian, Jerry Seinfeld, live. And even though he's put out a restraining order against me, I'm still a big fan. But there is something you should know about Seinfeld that your average admirer wouldn't know. After he finished his very successful run with the Seinfeld T.V. show, Jerry wanted to return to standup. Now, at first this may appear to be a simple task. After all he has been doing this for years, he's well known, and has a great following. This is where Jerry did what was unheard of in the comic industry. He "threw away" all of his old material. Material that had made millions laugh, that sold out theatres, and made him rich. To mark this occasion he went on a tour entitled I'm Telling You For the Last Time. If you own any standup material from Seinfeld it's from this album. Here, as the title implies, he used all his material for the last time. What happened next is documented in one of the best and underrated documentaries of all time, Comedian. Comedy is an art form for sure. With all the subtleties, structure, intuition and risks that you find in film, music, or painting. Comedian gives an inside look like no other into what it's like for a comedian to create and write material and then perform that material in front of hundreds of people and hope that they laugh. Good comedians make it look simple but, the truth is it's very hard to make people laugh. Seinfeld started all over. He vowed to use nothing but new material. As the documentary explains no comedian ever uses all new material. Even the veterans. Especially the veterans. They always use their tried and true material to warm up the crowd. Stuff they know will go over well. Then, and only then will they dare to try out new material. This is what made what Seinfeld did so fascinating. He had so much good material to fall back on. Yet, he started over. The movie starts with him working the same clubs in NY that he worked when he (and many others) worked when they were getting started. He would do only five minute sets, because that's all the new material he had. The movie is fascinating if you have ever been interested in what it's like to be a comic or what it's like to perform in front of hundreds of people. The commentary track also includes Jerry, which is almost like watching a documetary on the documetary. I love this film and recomend it to anyone who enjoys stand-up or is a Seinfeld fan.

Lord of War - The Black Sheep of Political Films

2005 had its' share of politically charged dramas. Most notably Syriana and The Constant Gardener. Both films were critically acclaimed and both opened up talks about big business and corporate corruption, whether it be in the oil business or pharmaceuticals. But, what about Lord of War? Though the trailers would lead you to believe otherwise, Lord of War makes just as strong of a political statement as Syriana and Gardener, maybe stronger. So why other than the typical movie review did I not hear much about it. No talk show interview, no NPR discussion, nothing. Nicholas Cage is a strong, well known actor, so it had star power. Ebert and Roeper gave it two thumbs up, so critically, it was well received. So why did it come and go without much fanfare? Well, first I would say reason number one, is the classic bait and switch with the trailers and the type of movie advertised. With up beat pop music in the background, fast clips of Cage giving the thumbs up and line after line of witty remarks all while the guy doing the voiceover sounds like he's advertising for a National Lampoons movie. But, thankfully this movie is much better than that. Though classified as a Drama/Thriller, I would throw a little dark comedy in there as well. And I think this is why the movie did not get the same attention as the others. Cage's character is not your typical protagonist. He's a dishonest, immoral, gun dealer who rationalizes the sale of illegal arms to the troops (and little children) of one country so they can fight an unjust war against another. Actually, he doesn't care who's fighting who or why, just as long as they are buying guns from him. As the movie begins you half believe you are going to see a typical international thriller (with some comic relief according to the trailer) but, before it's all over you realize that this movie is making a strong political statement and you are left thinking about the world that goes on around us. It's worth noting that one of the special features on the DVD states that events in the move are based on real world wide occurrences, making the story that much more poignant. I think the movie takes sides and for that reason it may alienate some views. But, I think most of all the reason this movie did not get the attention it deserved is because it talked about an issue that does not effect you or me. Let's face it. Most of us are familiar with big companies and we are not surprised when we hear of the measures they will go through to make money. And we all know first hand how much gas cost and how sensitive an issue that is for everyone. But, I've never been to war. Chances are you haven't either. I've never seen a kid with an AK-47. When I go down the street, the only gun I might see is on a police officer. Even in our worst Americans cities where gangs run rampant I don't think it compares to the conflicts that rage between countries that go from civil war to dictatorship to an uprising to civil war. In short, I think that this movie didn't have the same "impact" as some of the others because it deals with an issue that many would say is "just is not our problem."