The House Next Door

This morning, a double-dose of links that've been waiting in my inbox, both sent by House contributors. First, N.P. Thompson directs us to Seattle PostGlobe reviewer Bill White's article on the Lisandro Alonso retrospective currently running at Northwest Film Forum. Excerpt:

"There is something Pirandellian about these two characters searching for the movies in which they appear, although Pirandello is unnecessary to Alonso’s scheme. His interest is in the corridors, the elevators, the reflection of curtained windows in a mirrored table top, the girly magazines in an unused dressing room, restroom urinals, and a puzzled usher who doesn’t know what to make of the movie star who seems to be without fans."

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Second, Steven Boone points us to his friend Jason Zinoman's Vanity Fair web exclusive, a takedown of screenwriting guru Robert McKee:

"In the process of working on a book about the history of the modern horror film, adapted from a story I wrote for Vanity Fair last year, I’ve talked to most of the great horror directors of the 60s and 70s. That led to an interest in writing my own scary movie. So, a few weeks ago, I file into a room on the 18th floor of a hotel across the street from Madison Square Garden at around eight a.m. along with about 100 lumpy, underdressed fellow writers to participate in McKee’s one-day seminar on how to write a thriller.

I entered the course genuinely hoping to learn about screenwriting, but also, as a critic—and a specialist of horror movies—with a professional interest in McKee’s theories about genre and narrative.

By the end of the day, I had learned some valuable lessons about show business, the art of persuasion, and the tricky relationship between truth and fiction. I’d also learned that Robert McKee often has no idea what he’s talking about."

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"Link for the Day": Each day (more or less) the House editors post a link to an item that we hope will spark discussion. We encourage our readers to submit candidates for consideration to keithuhlich@gmail.com and to converse in the comments section.