Ten weeks after Kenneth Branagh‘s Belfast had its first showing at the Telluride Film Festival and after constant latherings of praise from film critics and festival audiences, it’s finally playing before ticket buyers in the gladiator arenas. Reactions from the HE community would be greatly appreciated. Please focus part of your writings on the music — to what extent does the musical score (i.e., the Van Morrison songs) make a difference? Anyway, that’s it. Thank you.

On 10.21 the House of Representatives voted to hold Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress over defying the January 6th committee and refusing to cooperate, etc. Attorney General Merrick Garland had no choice but to seek an indictment, but the House vote was over three weeks ago. From this corner it seemed as if the Justice Department was dragging ass. I don’t know if it could have been fast-tracked or not. I only know that a lot of activist Twitter types seemed irked and annoyed at the pace of things.

..and had witnessed the devastating toll that The Great Depression took and had personally witnessed how so many millions were suddenly without a pot to piss in, you would have probably felt some degree of sympathy and support for the ideas behind Communism and the party’s general anti-capitalist theology.

Hence a lot of people attended meetings, flirted with supporting the party (at least nominally), and in some cases confirmed their support with a signature on this or that form. Like Lucille Ball did in 1936. And Elia Kazan and many other left-leaning Hollywood types did. Even my mother, who became a mildly conservative moderate after marrying and raising a family, was a kind of “red” in her college years.

The same type of impressionable teens and 20somethings who believed during the ’30s that Communism was a more humane system than capitalism were cut from the same cloth as ’60s street radicals (i.e., Students for a Democratic Society, Yippies, Chicago 7 supporters) as well as today’s wokester terrorists. But of course, younger people gradually grow out of that shit.

Classic line “If you’re not a communist at the age of 20, you haven’t a heart. If you’re still a communist at the age of 30, you haven’t a brain.”

If and when the hair-trigger Twitter mob tries to to revive that idiotic Ansel Elgort + “Gabby” narrative about alleged statutory rape, just remember that the whole story was completely fraudulent. ‘

The story ignited in June 2020 and ran out of gas after three or four days.

Ansel and “Gabby’s” relationship happened in New York State in late 2014, when she was old enough (17) to consent. Elgort turned 20 on 3.14.14. He and Gabby were sexual and then Elgort hurt her feelings by ignoring her messages in some kind of passive-aggressive way. That’s all it was. It was nothing. Relationships will occasionally leave bruises. I know what it feels like to be casually dumped or abruptly ignored by a lover, but it happens. Tough shit, life in the big city, etc.

“Canyon Coyote” responds: “My point isn’t that Elgort did anything wrong but there is a perception that he’s part of the ‘bad men’ group. It seems like dudes who fall into that lot, fairly or unfairly, consistently have to cope with whisper campaigns against them for years. The Aziz Ansari bad-date story is still a thing and he did was act in a presumptuous or less-than-fully-sensitive manner.

With all the Licorice Pizza buzz and the related topic of May-December love affair flicks, I was startled to read about Richard Donner‘s Lola (aka Twinky), a 1970 dramedy about a 38 year-old novelist (Charles Bronson) falling for and marrying a 16 year-old (Susan George, actually 19 during filming). Looks awful! Bronson’s character writes porn novels (!).

A much better film in this vein was Bertrand Blier‘s Beau Pere (’81), about a 30-year-old pianist (Patrick Dewaere) who has an affair with his 14-year-old stepdaughter (Ariel Besse) after her mother dies in a car accident. Can you imagine Twitter’s reaction to such a film? Can you imagine anyone even flirting with making it? Much, much worse that the Woody and Soon-Yi thing.

Yeah, I know — the Licorice Pizza situation isn’t exactly “May-December” but it’s close enough, I guess. A 25 year-old woman (Alana Haim) being attracted to a 15 year-old male actor (Connor Hoffman) doesn’t seem too beyond the pale, but it keeps Haim from getting entangled with Hoffman for most of the running time.

There was a slight age-inappropriate discussion with Luca Guadagnino‘s Call Me By Your Name (’17), due to Timothee Chalamet‘s Elio being 17 to Armie Hammer‘s Oliver being 24. But mostly no one cared.

Older women falling for younger fellas movies are much more palatable. And no one thinks there’s anything tragic or hurtful about teenage guys having it off with older women…c’mon. When I was 15 and 16 I used to dream about getting lucky with this or that female teacher. It would have been heaven on earth. And when I was in my 20s I used to dream about women in their 30s.

Best older women-younger dude movies: Simone Signoret in Room At The Top (’59). Adrien Lyne‘s Unfaithful (’02), The Mother (’03). Notes on a Scandal (’06), Rushmore (’98), The Reader (’08), Y Tu Mama Tambien (’01). Others?

On 11.12.17, a certain Call Me By Your Name clique — director Luca Guadagnino, myself, Tatiana, director Ferdinando Cito Filomarino, Amazon’s Scott Foundas and one or two others — shared a nice big dinner at Matsuhisa. Little did we know that the scourge of woke terror was just around the corner…

As yesterday (11.11) was Veteran’s Day, I’m allowed to quote my Marine Lieutenant dad, who slugged it out against Japanese forces (Iwo Jima) and had this to say: “No soldier ever gave his life for his country. They caught a bullet or shrapnel or just bad luck. People glorifying battlefield death as some kind of noble patriotic charity is…bunk.”

Guillermo del Toro and Kim Morgan (whom I’ve personally known for several years and ran into at a Telluride brunch three or four years ago) have been travelling around for two or three years and working together on Nightmare Alley (they co-wrote the script), and now they’re married…cool. GDT was married for 20 years to Lorenza Newton, mother of his daughters Marisa and Mariana. They separated in early ’17. Morgan was previously married to Canadian highbrow director Guy Maddin for four years.

HE is looking forward to seeing Nightmare Alley sometime in early December.