Lebowitz & Scorcese : Wit & Wisdom

Martin Scorcese's HBO doc "Public Speaking," an attempt once and for all to capture the wit of Fran Lebowitz, is totally watchable and funny - another great example of the range of Scorcese's talents, not only can he work on the grand scale as in the recent Boardwalk Empire or any number of films but he also works well in the smaller confines of the documentary portrait - compare with his great No Direction Home, on Bob Dylan, in which he fashioned a beautiful and thoughtful biography using only archival material of his subject (though live interviews of others who knew Dylan). In Public Speaking, it's the opposite: plenty of time with Lebowitz, and only a little bit of archival footage: some great wits of the past (Oscar Levant, Dorothy Parker), some historical context (clips from TV talk shows of the 50s when wit ran rampant) all to give a sense that Lebowitz is incredibly funny (she is), acidic in wit but a good friend and good company (she is - I had dinner with her once at a RISD function and can agree), troubled but not troubled by her troubles (gotten lots of mileage out of his inability to write another book). Her 2 books of essays are incredible - but both are throwbacks, as she well knows, and so is she. Humor published today not so much about wit and observation as about personal revelation, which she does not touch on at all. In fact, she seems pretty solid about her privacy - Scorcese never asks her a thing about her personal life (family, lovers). She's funny because of her trenchant observations and insights and her incredibly quick mind - and she's cool enough to laugh at her own flubs and mistakes.

What will happen at the end of Friday Night Lights?

As we near the end of Season 5, the final season of the totally likable "Friday Night Lights," it will be interesting to see not only how the story ends, or, said another way, where the characters are in their lives when we can no longer live their lives with them, particularly to what degree will the series go for soft endings, in which things work out, more or less, for everyone, and to what degree will there be some edge, ambiguity, and unresolved tensions and issues - typical, even necessary, in the concluding seasonal episodes for a returning series, but problematic for a finale. Well, they're not going to blow everyone away, as in The Sopranos. But, having finished episode 10 with three to go, I predict: Coach Taylor will take the college job at Shane State - it's the only way to truly bring some closure to his coaching career in Dillon, leaving him there seems to beg for at least one more season of FNL; I worry that the black kids will be the only ones totally screwed and am hoping that Vince does lead the team to State and pursues a college scholarship. I suspect his dad, however, is heading back to prison. Not sure what will happen with Riggins now out of prison - will Becky ditch her current boyfriend and go for Riggins? I think so, but I think Riggins will leave town. Suspect that Julie will find her place in college. Hard to say about other peripheral characters - have just seen the troubled Epic dragged off campus by police, and would like to see her back in school - but they may leave this unresolved. Buddy - he'll endure.

Louis Malle's great memoir-movie about boys in occupied France

Yes there have been a million movies about children living through the Holocaust and yes there have been a million movies about coming of age in a boarding school, but Louis Malle's 1987 "Aux Revoir les enfants" (Goodbye, Children) is one of the best - somehow never saw it when it came out, probably played in theaters for a week and in the days of video stores it probably never showed up for rent, glad to catch it yesterday - a memoiristic movie about boys in a Catholic boarding school in a fairly remote part of occupied France in 1944, focusing on the relation between two boys, one a stand-in for Malle, named Quentin, seemingly a tough guy and a leader in the school but we also see that he has especially strong ties to his mother and is not as tough as he acts (in a casting quirk, the actor is rather small and soft-looking) and the new student, Bonnet, who immediately shows academic and musical talent but, as a new guy who's rather shy and secretive, is the object of hazing. We learn - as does Quentin - pretty quickly that Bonnet is a Jew in hiding; the fathers of the school are very brave and noble and harbor quite a few Jews among the boys and the staff. Movie takes some surprising twists and turns as the relation between Quentin and Bonnet develops, and there are some especially powerful and tense scenes, including lunch in a restaurant on visitors' day, with a table of German soldiers whooping it up and a sudden visit from the French police, checking ID's and kicking out the Jews. Closing scene in a snowy courtyard - I won't give it away - is extraordinarily memorable.

What Network got right - and wrong

Believe it or not, till last night had never seen "Network" (1976) - which has been noted in news stories after the recent death of the director, Lumet. Can see now why it was a shocking movie for its time; seeing it 35 years later, it's very strange how in some ways Network is incredibly prescient and in other ways misses the story entirely and also seems amazingly dated. It was probably even dated in its day - Chayevsky's extremely "talky" screenplay seems much more like a theater piece than anything written for the screen (I know older movies were more script-oriented, but this one's extreme - with numerous endless set pieces) and the on-screen relation between Faye Dunaway and Wllm Holden is the most ridiculous ever, less probable the Fay Wray and King Kong. That said, first of all, there are at least two hilarious scenes: the revolutionaries arguing over the contract for their TV show and (spoiler!) the network execs casually plotting the assassination of Beale. Network was way ahead of its time in foreseeing first of all the perversion of TV news into sensationalism and entertainment, second the corporate and conglomerate control over network news and programming, third the onset of reality TV, cheap and alluring. For that, many kudos. Still, what it totally misses are first the way in which we now interact with TV and media (a hint of that in the vox populi feature of its hit program - but they fall back on the cliche of the passive generation raised in front of the TV) and second and most important the politicization of TV news today. Network imagined that TV would numb us with stupidity, which it does, but did not foresee that it would numb us with ideology. It imagined a split between corporate greed and public information - the exec was willing to put anything stupid on TV just for ratings, without seeing the next step: uniting corporate greed and its ideology in the form of Fox News. There's a deep cynicism beneath the supposed values of Network, in that Beale the TV star voices an unfocused rage - against what? why? whom? The only group that seems to have any values, for a while, are the radicals, but of course they sell out and become a comic foil. Lots of provocative things in this movie, still worth seeing, but more as a curiosity today - like reading Brave New World or 1984 to see what they got right, or wrong.

Friday Night Lights and the myth of the level playing field

No series on TV more expertly and movingly explores the issue of racial and economic inequity on the supposedly even playing field of American public education than the great "Friday Night Lights," as we continue in the final season (5) to follow the East Dillon Lions on their way toward a state championship. Sports - and public education - is supposed to be a free and equitable opportunity for all - the so-called level playing field. Without dwelling on the inequities, we see quite clearly that this team from the mostly black East Side has almost no resources whereas the Dillon Panthers have a beautiful field, tremendous coaching support, and so on - the Dillon kids all being prepped for college and the East Dillon kids hardly aware of what college is about - if some of them get there, it's clear that most will be used as pawns or fodder for the football machine and then tossed aside if they don't make it. Someone ought to be arrested for allowing two schools in the same city (or state, or nation) to be treated so differently - but it's the same story everywhere. It just is this way, and we blindly accept that fact. Sadly, in FNL we see some anonymous hateful adults set up a Web site showing the East Dillon kids in mug shots with their arrest records, teenage ghetto crimes that the kids are trying to get beyond, and we see the ED kids saddened and humiliated by this illegal outing. Coach Taylor rises to their defense, but even he is helpless here. The beauty of the show is that it's also an extremely honest, truthful, and funny exploration of family dynamics and youthful passions, all played out low key and credibly, esp., in this season, daughter Julie's struggles in first year of college and parental dilemma about how much to get involved, how hard to push her or push back, what to defend her and how much to let her fight her own battles.

Faith, values, courage - Gods and Men is a strong, unusual movie

"Of Gods and Men" (the actual title is better translated as Of Men and Gods - why do they do that?) is a very unusual movie, quiet, slow paced (reminded me of some of the great Japanese movies, Ozu perhaps), serious, beautiful, maybe a bit long but interesting start to finish - about 8 monks in a remote monastery, seemingly in the Atlas Mountains in Algeria, though the film very carefully never names a country, ca. 1995?, as a fundamentalist Muslim terror group begins attacking foreigners. Threatened, the monks - most of them elderly - wrestle with the decision of whether to leave the monastery, to accept protection from the government universally believed to be corrupt, or to stand their ground and continue their life of self-sufficiency, prayer, and running a pathetically under-resourced health clinic for the small village, where they are much admired even loved. A lot of the movie involves the monks in debate with one another about these issues - but also some beautiful scenes of interaction with the villagers, including a terrific scene in which they're invited to some kind of religious induction ceremony, much like a first communion or bar mitzvah. The landscapes are painterly (especially the closing sequence of a walk through a mountain snowstorm), the monastery life perfectly conveyed in its order and simplicity - maybe too many Gregorian-type chants, but still - and the personalities of the monks, especially the leader, gradually emerge (though not all 8 become distinct) - and a few dramatic highlights, particular the encounters with the fundamentalist militants. Based on some true events, apparently - a movie about faith and values and courage. Jews, blacks, Americans - not the victims, for once!

Why Friday Night Lights is the most likable series on television

As Season 5 gets underway I'm once again reminded by "Friday Night Lights" remains about the most likable series on television: almost every scene feels true to life, the conflicts between the characters are realistic and moving, the characters are drawn vividly, there's pathos and humor, the structure of a football season as the team strives to excel give each season a reasonable arc, the series takes on not on issues of adolescent angst but issues of parenthood, addiction, racial tensions and poverty, but never in a heavy-handed manner. The only drawback to Season 5 is that many of the great characters have evolved out of the show or appear only in bits; though new characters have stepped in, there are now very few that have endured through the whole series. The Taylor family is the main constant presence - particularly Coach Taylor and Tammy, who in my opinion is the true star and moral center of the series. Julie is now off at college, and though we follow her freshmen-year turmoil (an affair with a married grad assistant), the season is a little scattered as it branches out beyond the boundaries of Dillon - the small-town life and the various aspirations of the kids who want to get out of Dillon but are afraid of change is what has made the show show poignant. Season 5, apparently the last season, brings the Taylors into the same school again, the racially diverse East Dillon, and the struggles of the kids in poverty is a compelling part of the plot; we also feel bad for the lost soul, Becky, and begin to develop interest in Buddy and his son who comes home to Dillon with serious addictions.

One of the best New York movies of the 50s - even better today : Little Fugitive

For J and me, "Little Fugitive" was one our favorite movies when we were kids - was shown repeatedly on NY TV to my recollection, and seeing it now 60 years later it's even better: still a great and simple and moving story beautifully told in every but now with the added beauty of being a little time capsule of New York/Brooklyn/Coney Island, perfectly preserved look at the past, like a fly in amber. The little-known (at least to me) writers/directors (Engle and Davis?) use a cast of seemingly amateur actors, with kids in the two lead roles (neither of whom went on to any acting career), very simple camerawork, some imaginative editing, some extraordinarily beautiful compositions (the light under the boardwalk, the deserted beach in the morning, crowds huddled during a sudden storm) and simple and haunting jazzy score. Story is simple and wonderful: older brother caring for younger while mom's away (a bit improbably) plays a mean trick and the younger brother (about 7 years old?) runs away to Coney Island; older brother tries to find him before mom comes home. The filmmakers get an extraordinary amount of variety out of this simple premise and perfectly capture the personalities of the kids - they're very believable boys: the younger boy living entirely (almost) in the moment, the older learning and growing through the film, movie is scary at times, and full of heartfelt sentiment - and an extraordinary b/w look at the past recaptured. Few similar films ever, but it does remind me a little of two LA films, also both documentary in feel and a look at working-class families: The Exiles (about Native Americans) and Killer of Sheep (the black community).

Night of the Shooting Stars: Heroes or Collaborators?

I saw "Night of the Shooting Stars" back when it came out, ca 1982, in a theater (of course, no other option then), and remembered almost nothing about it, other than that I was impressed, so watched it again last night and it holds up reasonably well, though a little creaky by today's standards: the ridiculous "wipe" montage, the overbearing soundtrack, the obvious and clumsy studio dubbing of the dialog, the awkward framing device (woman looks at night sky and recalls the same sky during a time of her youth). Today, this film could have been far more artful, but even so it has some wonderful elements to it, as we follow a group of Italian villagers who, rightly, distrust the command of the bishop to assemble in the cathedral and instead take off in the night, against the orders of the Germans (and their Italian Fascist henchmen) in search of sanctuary with the Americans. We follow them on a scary and surprising adventure across the countryside, encountering many obstacles and some incredibly tense and poignant scenes, notably the shootout with the Fascists in the wheatfield, the arrival of the stunned victim of the cathedral bombing, the first encounter with American GIs, and a night in an old farmhouse. The storytelling, however, is kind of clumsy, as it's extremely difficult to keep the characters straight and to have a sense of what they're doing on their trek (sometimes they seem to have to move only at night, at other times they're walking in broad daylight, for example). Also I;m somewhat troubled by the unstated political realities - great that this group wants to get sanctuary from the Americans, but what have they done throughout the war? How many of them cozied up to the fascists, and now just want to be on the side that's winning? Are they heroes, collaborators, opportunists, or just survivors? At least two of them were part of the resistance, it seems (from an encounter near the outset, but this theme is not developed), but not clear what the role of the average citizen was - probably played along to get along.