Day: December 7, 2019

“What Do You Want?”

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Marriage Story is partly but not precisely based upon Noah Baumbach‘s divorce from Jennifer Jason Leigh, which occured between late 2010 and 2013. There are similarities and differences between the film and real life. Baumbach and JJL’s son Rohmer was born on 3.17.10. Leigh filed for divorce on 11.15.10, citing irreconcilable differences. The divorce was finalized in September 2013. That’s all I really know.

Some feel that Baumbach slightly tipped the sympathy scales in favor of his stand-in character, Charlie (Adam Driver), and a bit against the JJL stand-in, Nicole (Scarlett Johansson). I wouldn’t know much about that either.

As for any alleged Annie Hall analogy, Alvy Singer (Woody Allen) sweetened what happened between he and Annie (Diane Keaton) in his stage play. Baumbach’s film, on the other hand, indicates a less robust aftermath for Charlie than the one Baumbach and Greta Gerwig, his present partner, are currently enjoying. That’s all you can really say about any of this.

Three EFA Trophies Won by 2018 Film

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Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Favourite, which everyone saw a year or so ago and then flushed out of their heads after the 2.24.19 Oscar telecast, is back in the news. The arch period comedy has won three big trophies at the 32nd European Film Awards — Best Film, Best Comedy and Best Actress for Olivia Colman‘s portrayal of Queen Anne.

The other Best Film nominees were Pedro Almodóvar’s Pain and Glory, Marco Bellocchio’s The Traitor and Roman Polanski’s An Officer and A Spy. It was nearly a foregone conclusion that Polanski’s film wouldn’t win anything because of the recent #MeToo Paris protests, so the race was basically between Pedro, Marco and Yorgos.

Pain and Glory‘s Antonio Banderas, who won the Cannes Film Festival’s Best Actor award last May, won EFA’s Best Actor award.

Ladj Ly’s Les Miserables, which won the jury prize at Cannes and is representing France at the Oscars, won the European Discovery award.

Celine Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire won the European Screenwriter prize.

Nudity Police Alarm Bell

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A little more than five months ago (or 6.29.19) I posted a Clockwork Orange piece called “Cold, Repellent, Oddly Beautiful.” One of the visual components was a video capture of the last 31 seconds of Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 masterpiece. No biggie, right? Nearly a half-century old.

Today I was advised by YouTube that “your video ‘Clockwork Finale’ was removed because it violates our sex and nudity policy.”

Really? The PG-13-ish conclusion of one of the absolute landmark films of the ’70s, directed by one of the most iconic 20th Century helmers violates their sex and nudity policy? And it took them five and a half months to notice this alleged violation?

The Dickensian fantasy sequence in question (i.e., Malcolm McDowell‘s Alex DeLarge and a young woman having if off in the snow as 19th Century London swells applaud) is mostly about suggestion. Hardly an envelope pusher.

YouTube’s message stressed that “because it’s the first time, this is just a warning. If it happens again, your channel will get a strike and you won’t be able to do things like upload, post, or live stream for 1 week. A second strike will prevent you from publishing content for 2 weeks. Three strikes in any 90-day period will result in the permanent removal of your channel.”

3:30 pm update: I tried refreshing YouTube repeatedly and was unable to access the main page for 90 minutes or so. I wrote them to say (a) seriously? and (b) if this is a warning why can’t I access YouTube? Ten minutes ago they removed the strike.

Wokester “Streetcar” Dismissal

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I’m having trouble finding the author of the below tweet, but for legibility’s sake it states the following: “A Streetcar Named Desire is about an abusive relationship that has been glorified as a passionate romance for decades. [Marlon] Brando‘s character is abusive to both his love interest and her sister, and when I first saw it in my twenties I was stunned that it’s lauded as this great film. No thanks.”

Does everyone understand that a very similar complaint could have been voiced by an enforcer of Mao Zedong‘s Great Cultural Revolution of the ’60s and ’70s?

Miscarriage

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The Social Network‘s David Fincher obviously should have won the Best Director Oscar and not The King’s Speech helmer Tom Hooper. God, what were people thinking back then? If not Fincher then either The Fighter‘s David O. Russell or Black Swan‘s Darren Aronofsky should have taken it.

I accepted the Best Director nom corralled by True Grit‘s Joel and Ethan Coen, but I never felt the enthusiasm. I would’ve felt better about The Ghost Writer‘s Roman Polanski being nominated instead.

The triumph of The King’s Speech was one of the most depressing events of my Oscar-handicapping life. Almost as bad as when Best Picture Oscars went to The Artist (again — what were people thinking?) and Chicago, and on the same level of awful as the Best Picture wins by The Greatest Show on Earth (’52) and Around The World in Eighty Days (’56).

Leibman Afterthought

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While surfing around yesterday for clips of the late, lamented Ron Leibman, I came upon this HE YouTube clip from The Hot Rock. Robert Redford is no comedian, but his expression after saying “Afghanistan Bananistan” is one the funniest moments in 20th Century cinema, right up there with Buster Keaton, Laurel & Hardy and Jack Lemmon in Some Like It Hot. I’m posting this to explain to delusionals that he’s not saying “Afghanistan Banana Stand.”

Resentment

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Because of black twitter antagonism towards the 97% honorable, brilliant and pragmatically positive Pete Buttigieg, Democrats will almost certainly be stuck with Joe Biden as the ’20 nominee.

I grind my teeth about this every day. Speaking as a generally fair-minded white-ass liberal with a cosmic undercurrent, I haven’t felt this kind of eye-rolling alienation — alienation bordering on antagonism — toward the black community since the day of the O.J. Simpson not-guilty verdict (10.3.95).

I know how certain wokesters will respond to this, but as an American citizen I’m allowed to say what I feel on a bone-marrow level. I hate the idea of Biden being the nominee. I’ve no choice but to accept it, but I really, really hate it. This is like hearing from the rank-and-file that Stuart Symington is sure to defeat Jack Kennedy in the ’60 Democratic primary race, except Symington was 59 in ’60 and Biden is 77…yeesh.