Day: November 15, 2013

The intention of the Criterion guys to release a Bluray of Alfred Hitchcock‘s Foreign Correspondent (’40) fills me with equal levels of excitement and anxiety. It’s always been a crisp and generally good-looking film, and I for one can’t wait to see it look just a little better than before with a nice Bluray “bump.” I’m terrified, of course, that Criterion’s version will be blanketed with grain, which these guys do every so often. I’m taking a deep breath and calmly asking them to please not do that — please. It’s always looked fine on cable and on DVD. A grainstorm treatment will do nothing but frustrate the fans. I’m “asking them nice,” as Jake La Motta would put it.

If I’d been allowed to interview Nebraska‘s Bruce Dern (which isn’t going to happen), I would have mentioned the following opinions and asked him for a response.

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Richard Stayton, editor of Written By — the magazine of the Writers Guild — has written an editorial lamenting the trashing of The Counselor. In so doing he chastises those who reported (i.e., passed along) the belief that The Counselor is Cormac McCarthy‘s first screenplay. It isn’t. In their mostly negative reviews, critics “changed an all-too-frequent reaction — ignore the script — into a game of Get The Screenwriter,” Stayton writes. “Never before in the history of American film have critics mauled a screenwriter with such extremes of fear and loathing.” He acknowledges the supportive words written by N.Y. Times critic Manohla Dargis, Variety‘s Scott Foundas and myself, among others.

The issues also contains a piece by Counselor supporter F.X. Feeney about The Black & The White, the Herblock documentary directed by Michael Stevens.

I arrived at Hanoi’s Noi Ba airport last night around 9:45 pm. Customs, visa fee ($45 U.S.), mild weather, roughly 25 miles from downtown, a 45-minute drive. No freeways, and I like it like that. My Vidotour guide is a young married woman named Hang Nguyen, who lives south of town and gets around (like almost everyone else here except the elite) on a scooter. The Vietnamese have this wonderful idea about nighttime — they actually leave it alone and don’t try to obscure it with obnoxious floodings of electric light on every street corner. The half-Mexico, half-south of France atmosphere that I first commented upon last year is, of course, unchanged. I checked into room #909 inside the Hilton Garden Inn (20 Phan Chu Trinh, Hoan Kiem District). These were taken around 7:30 this morning.

I was fiddling with a blue in-camera tint when I shot these — mistake.

I already feel all-commented-out by Noah. I’m waiting for the next thought (anything) to surface but it hasn’t come. I’m sure it will. I just need a breather.

Like all Wes Anderson films, I both love and feel hemmed in by Castello Cavalcanti. On one hand I love (as always) the Andersonian style…that feeling of dry but immaculate control of each and every element. And of wry humor. Every time you watch any kind of Wessy flick (commercial, short, feature) this element sinks right the fuck in. That’s a very cool and extremely valuable thing, but you can’t let the old “stamp and imprimatur” concept run the whole show. Or is this inevitable once you’ve found them and vice versa? And yet I love the tiny Italian village vibe (I’ve hung in places like this and there’s nothing better when you’re in the mood for quiet soul-soothings), and I like the race-car metaphor and Anderson’s benevolent notion that life can sometimes nudge you away from that vaguely unsettled or anguished element. It’s all good, all serene.

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I might have been a teeny bit harsh on Seoul in my earlier post. Starting around 1 pm I walked around Bukchon Hanok Village and realized that if nothing else, Seoul is a foodie paradise (I ate at a vegetarian restaurant that couldn’t be beat) and some of the clothiers know from display windows. For all of Seoul’s architectural ugliness and enveloping smog, it’s a fairly hip town if you know where to hang. (Like any other city where particular people congregate, right?) My plane to Hanoi leaves in 20 minutes…later.

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