Jottings

[poliphilo]

1. We finally got to meet the new baby next door. His name is Zaim (I hope I've spelt it right). We hear him going feed me feed me feed me at four o'clock in the morning.

2. The Great Madcap (dreadful title!) is a moralising comedy from Bunuel's Mexican period. (Isn't it amazing what oddities turn up on DVD?) It says on the case that it's a hidden gem, but it's not. What it is, is a moderately engaging adaption of a crummy middle-brow play with weak performances and some quirky touches and occasional splashes of local colour. If you didn't know Bunuel was responsible, you'd never guess it.

3. I caught the end of a documentary about Lautrec last night. I don't know why exactly, but anything to do with Lautrec- apart, of course, from that horrid Luhrman film, brings tears to my eyes. The presenter, Waldemar Januszczak, said Lautrec was the Rembrandt of the19th century. Yes, indeed. 

4. We were shown photos of Lautrec clowning about naked on a boat. And, yes, the legend is true- he did have a big dick. 

5. This will be the 55th time I've celebrated Christmas. I'm trying to be honest here and not strike any attitudes. So what do I feel? I feel a weary sense of inevitability. Yeah, here we go again. 

6. Let's have some more Lautrec. This one's called In Bed

Comments

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

I thought about you today--Laura Dern, the actress in David Lynch's latest movie--was interviewed on National Public Radio. She said she was first hired by Lynch for Blue Velvet when she was 17, and the script disturbed and amazed her. She said she got a call from one of the people affiliated with this latest film saying he had been asked by Lynch to provide "a soldier [?], a one-legged woman, and a monkey by 3:15 that day, and was Lynch joking or what?" Laura told him, Welcome to a Lynch film! He meant what he said! So the man rounded up the soldier, the woman, and a monkey for that day's filming.

She further said that Lynch told her he was planning a movie about "a woman who gets in trouble." She waited for more information, but there wasn't more (of course), but she said that simple line sustained her for the three years of filming.

He doesn't use celluloid--he uses a small digital camera.

Three hours long. The people coming out were baffled and bewitched...one said, if this film were an IQ test, I'd be in trouble!

--

I like the painting above very much. How sensual and comfortable--one can feel the heat of it.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I've known Lautrec all my life, but I've only just clicked onto him, so to speak. I thought he was all can-can dancers and absinthe and hadn't bothered to look closer and see how much he cares for his people.

A soldier, a one-legged woman and a monkey- I can't wait!

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

I also heard a brief interview with Lynch, who talked about dreams, how one can tell one's dreams to another, but the other can't experience it the same, no matter how well articulated...he never explains his plots, just lets them happen to the viewer, like dreams.

I must say, my dreams are never so weird! (But of course they are, and so are everyone's.)