1. "Moving Image Institute: Days 4, 5 and beyond": House contributor Kevin B. Lee wraps up the MoMI Institute with an essential post.
["Now I love Apichatpong Weerasethakul as much as the next guy (well I probably love him a lot more than the next guy, since the next guy doesn’t even know who he is), but I don’t see how keeping him close to one’s vest does cinema a service. It may be the filmmaker’s prerogative not to care how much of an audience he will garner, but I feel that the critic has a different imperative, a different role to play in society, assuming that he cares about society. Maybe that’s what it comes down to. Those who disagree with me make arguments amounting to “art for art’s sake” irregardless of its function within greater society (except as the obstinate margin against which the mainstream is defined - or vice versa). But when it gets to the point that one argues that neither artist nor critic have a duty to even make their work understood to a larger populace - well I was kind of relieved when another participant floated the word “elitism” to describe the position Halter was advocating, lest I felt compelled to utter it myself."]
2. "Clinton Wins Primary, Keeping Bid Alive": And I see Bill's also been body-snatched.
["Mrs. Clinton faces major challenges going forward: her campaign is essentially out of money, with unpaid bills piling up, and she faces growing frustration among some Democratic officials who would prefer her to end her campaign in recognition of Mr. Obama’s lead in the overall popular vote of the primaries and caucuses so far, as well as his continuing edge toward amassing the 2,025 delegates needed to secure the nomination. With nearly 90 percent of the electoral precincts reporting, Mrs. Clinton had 55 percent of the vote to Mr. Obama’s 45 percent."]
3. "Stuff and Dough and more Romanians": GreenCine gathers some essential writing on Romanian film; see, especially, acquarello's coverage of the Film Society of Lincoln Center series Romanian Cinema, Then and Now.
["Recalling Sergei Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible in its atmospheric, if tempered historical epic on the bloody reign of sixteenth century Moldavian despot, Alexandru Lapusneanu, Malvina Ursianu's Return of the Banished is a trenchant allegory on the moral corruption and madness of absolute power. Unfolding though a series of flashbacks and flash forwards, the film opens to the image of Lapusneanu's eldest son and heir, Bogdan, and his mother, Doamna Ruxandra (Silvia Popovici) traveling across a mountain pass in a private horse-drawn carriage, separated from the family's entourage and Bogdan's younger siblings, asking her how to properly address his father (George Motoi) now that he has returned from exile and, once again, ascended to the throne as the rightful ruler of Moldavia. In hindsight, the chronological ambiguity created by the film's atemporal structure also reinforces the idea of recursive history."]
4. "Every Picture Tells a Story": David Edelstein reviews Errol Morris' latest; plus, thoughts on the Apatow factory.
["It’s possible that Morris errs on the side of compassion. What are we to make of the guard Sabrina Harman’s broad smile astride a human pyramid? “When you get into a photo,” says Harman, “you want to smile.” Yes—and no. But then she reads from a letter she sent to her partner, Kelly, in which her doubt and shame are right there on the surface. The world of Abu Ghraib these ex-soldiers depict is morally upending—the stuff of grisly farce. An Iraqi found dead after “extreme interrogation” is zipped into a body bag, iced down, then hauled the next day into the showers so he’d look—despite his lividity and horrific bruises—as if he’d keeled over from a heart attack. Clearly, the people giving orders were the ones who needed to be on leashes."]
5. "Behind the Blog": Film in Focus interviews our own Mr. Seitz.
["Of my own stuff, I'm probably most proud of my review of the second theatrical cut of The New World, my review of the finale of The Sopranos (recaps of which are collected in the sidebar on the site's main page); the piece I wrote last year on the filmography of the Coen brothers, and the essay I wrote about Owen Wilson after his suicide attempt, "A Sunbeam in the abyss." I can't single out any one blog entry by my staff because they're all such different writers and we're working our way toward our 2000th original post. It's like taking me out to a meadow and asking me to name my favorite flower."]
Quote of the Day: Warren Beatty, Bulworth (1998)
Image of the Day (click to enlarge): Blogging: Three Sides of the Equation?
Clip of the Day: Accompanying video to The New Yorker piece "Up and Then Down", in which former Business Week production manager Nicholas White gets trapped in an elevator for 40 hours.
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"Links for the Day": Each morning, the House editors post a series of weblinks that we think will spark discussion. Comments encouraged. Suggestions for links are also welcome. Please send to keithuhlich@gmail.com.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Links for the Day (April 23rd, 2008)
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8 comments:
Re: 1
The idea that a critic would argue “art for art’s sake” while making his “art” by appropriating someone else’s art (i.e., all those films that form his raw material) is also pretty sleazy.
Re #5: Congrats Matt! That picture of you looks as if it can see inside my house, though. "Put that bacon down, Odie!" it seems to be saying. "You know it's bad for your pressure."
Re #2: Bill's been body-snatched because he is essentially running an anti-Hillary campaign disguised as an "Ah'm promotin' mah wife" campaign. If she gets the nod, Bill will have to be a little more careful about that thing Bulworth's talking about in today's quote. "Aw, damn! This campaign is ruinin' mah rumpy pumpy time!" says Bill.
Matt looks like Ramirez aka Big Sean from Highlander in that pic. Very nice.
re #1:
I still don't see the real point of this event, despite kevin's coverage making me think I missed the most awesome thing since sleep-away camp at awesometown.
honestly, this makes me think i can sell tickets to see me and vadim shout at each other and make vague references to articles we can't remember because we're five whiskey-cokes in.
well, that's not true. vadim memorizes all of his material before he shows up. i bring more printed material to cite than a jesuit priest at a court trial.
that said--if you would like to purchase tickets to the next taping of Lichman and Rizov "Live" at Grassroots, you can send all cash donations to:
Corner of 4th Avenue and St. Mark's
Empty Metro NY kiosk
New York, NY 10002
please leave all donations in a brown paper bag between the hours of 7 and 8 pm on Wednesday nights.
Re: 5 - Matt, I'm glad you listed your New World stuff as some of your personal favorites. You put yourself out there for that movie more than most critics would - and rightfully so, by the way. I still think Mr. Malick owes you a steak dinner for your efforts.
"My Steak Dinner with Malick" is the documentary I dream of someday making. But why do I have the feeling he's a vegan?
Matt, nice interview.
He's definitely a vegan.
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