Weekend Update

Ticket Situation

The ongoing saga of Phoenix tickets is resolved, I bought two off Craigslist. I paid a bit more than I want, but at least I get to the show. They're doing another show here on September 12, but I'll be back at school then. It seems that every year, September and October are full of fantastic shows, while the summer's more fallow. I'm just counting down until next year when I'll be in New York full time. And, it'll be cool to see Phoenix and The New Pornographers next week, they both put on good shows when I saw them earlier this year, though I'm definitely more excited for Phoenix. Hopefully they'll bring back that drummer from the last tour.

The New Film

Today I started production on my new film, All Good Things. This will hopefully be my first feature, which will be cool to have. We shot 11 pages of the 75 page script today and it went very smoothly. Also, I just wrapped up editing on the video I did for Victoria Rocks, I've got to get final approval from her, then I'll put the link on here so you can check it out.

The Fountain Remains Dry

In bad news, The Fountain has been delayed another month. The film is done, why can't they just put it out? I've been waiting for this thing for six years already. It's one thing to delay a film so that the filmmaker can work on it more, it's another to do for marketing reasons or to position a film for Academy Award consideration. I think it would hurt a prestigious film to be released in December, when twelve other prestigious films are being released every week. Whereas if a critically respectable film comes out now, it will stand out. Look at Crash, that's a film that came out in April, was the only respectable film out then and went on to win best picture.

The Colbert Report

I don't usually write about it because it's not particularly suited to analysis, but ever since I've been home from school I've been watching nearly every episode of The Colbert Report. I like The Daily Show but I think it's been eclipsed by its spinoff. The Daily Show usually has a good 10 minutes out of the 22, while Colbert is good for nearly the entire show. The episode last week in which Stephen asks Julian Bond, head of the NAACP, to help him find a new black friend was one of the funniest things I've ever seen. When I saw the first episode, I wasn't sure if the premise could sustain a show, but he's kept up the energy and made it into the most consistently funny show on TV.

The Weekend

This weekend, I'm definitely seeing Miami Vice. On Sunday, I'm shooting more stuff for the film, and on Monday I'm heading into the city to pick up my New Pornographers tickets, which I grabbed cheap off Craigslist. After that, it's back to the workshop for another week of instructing kids on how to make films.

Upcoming Dates of Note

8/3 - New Pornographers at Summerstage
8/7 - Phoenix at Bowery Ballroom
8/8 - Manderlay on DVD
8/15 - Veronica Mars Season 2 on DVD
8/17 - Gnarls Barkley at Summerstage
8/25 - Idlewild Released
8/29 - Arrested Development Season 3 on DVD
9/22 - Science of Sleep Releated
9/24 - The Flaming Lips at Hammerstein
10/20 - Marie Antoinette Released
11/22 - The Fountain Released

JLA: New World Order (#1-4)

After last week's read of JLA Classified, I decided it was time to read Morrison's entire JLA run through. I'd read bits and pieces before, but never went through all the issues in order. After reading this, Zenith will be the only longform Morrison work that I haven't read.

The bits of JLA that I did read were a bit frustrating, I don't think I learned to understand Morrison's approach to the character until I read Seven Soldiers. In reading about the DCU, you usually approach it from the perspective of the most powerful people in the entire universe. I'd read interviews where Grant talks about the way that he saw the seven JLA members as a pantheon, he's essentially telling stories about gods, and as a result, every conflict has to be amped up to a ridiculous level in order to be any sort of threat. Reading a book like JLA is the equivalent of looking at the life of someone like George Bush or Brad Pitt, this isn't an average life and you can't expect average problems.

For the characters in Seven Soldiers, the JLA are gods and even one meeting with them can put you on the convention circuit for years. I think it's more interesting to read about the struggles of ordinary people to become great than reading about great people being great, so I was more drawn to Seven Soldiers. However, once you understand what Morrison's doing with the book, it's a lot easier to enjoy it. Reading this book is all about just enjoying the over the top action, ridiculous concepts and imagery that Grant puts forth.

Grant worked on JLA concurrently with The Invisibles and the book itself feels a lot like Invisibles volume two. The texture of the pages and the quality of the art has a lot in common with Jiminez era Invisibles. Grant has talked about how similar ideas wound up in both works, filtered through their different lenses, particularly in the upcoming Rock of Ages. But, it's just notable to return to the era of that work and get a glimpse of where Grant's mind was at.

The best moments of the series are the really pop moments where we get to see the ridiculous cool of our main heroes. Page 1.3 is a great example of this, a bunch of b-list heroes are scrambling, but on the bottom of the page, calmly moving in we see Superman and are informed that "The big guy's on the case." I think it's misguided to try to write Superman as a regular guy, the whole marketing pitch behind Superman Returns was he may be super, but he still hurts. This book acknowledges that Superman is on a totally different level from other superheroes, let alone normal humans, and lets him revel in that greatness. One of the best moments is where he says "This is Superman" and Superman is written in the title font.

Superman is a great character, but the star of the series is undeniably Batman. This incarnation of Batman is basically the ultimate ninja special ops guy, Jack Bauer on crack. The character is so nasty, he manages to be mofre effective at fighting people than any of the superpowered people on the team.

The thing that Morrison manages to do really well is give each member of the team an iconic moment that makes you understand how far above ordinary people they are. There's the great scene where the Flash opens a lock instantly, Green Lantern asks him how he knew the combination and Flash says I just tried a thousand different combinations until I got to the one that worked. This guy thinks in a totally different way than ordinary people and I imagine Morrison thinking all the time about unique uses for these peoples' powers.

The major issue I have with the arc is the fact that I think it'd be more exciting to have the Hyperclan come in and actually show up the JLA and be proactive in changing the world, rather than turn out to be rather stock villains. The design on the Hyperclan hasn't aged well and it's odd to see a duplicate of The Invisibles' Boy, only with much larger breasts. The story is rather prescient in presenting an Authority-esque superhero team to challenge the old JLA. I'm guessing that the story is meant to be a meta narrative designed to justify the JLA's place in the world. These new Image style heroes can come in and kill people, but ultimately their heroism is a shallow ineffecient one against the real power and moral authority of the JLA. Their solutions are ineffective in the long term, just like no matter how many new comic books come out, the characters in the JLA will almost always outlast the new trendy characters.

But, at the same time it's a bit odd for Morrison to be promoting the conservative, institutional heroes at the JLA over these proactive guys with new ideas. The Hyperclan have more in common with The Invisibles than the JLA does. But, he does always return to the breaking down of dualism. So, this story shows that reckless shows of surface change aren't lasting, as Superman says, you can't force people to become better, they have to do it on themselves, the JLA are just a security measure there to protect people when they fall. So, this is Morrison creating a vision of a utopian policeforce, one that is there to help people grow, not hold them back.

JLA feels less distinctly Morrison than the vast majority of his works. When Morrison started New X-Men there was the sense of a vast change in the universe to date. I haven't read much other JLA, but this feels much more like an amping up of what was already there than a reinvention. He's not out to reinvent the wheel here, rather he's hoping to tell the craziest, poppest superhero stories possible and I think he succeeds.

The read will continue and I'll be blogging it all. So, look for thoughts on American Dreams soon.

Related Posts
Seaguy (4/9/2005)
Seven Soldiers: Wrap Up (6/28/2006)
JLA: Classified #1-3 (7/16/2006)

Altman's Images

At first it started out as Altman week, then I bumped it up to Altman month, but I'm thinking that this may have to be the Summer of Altman! The man's made a lot of films, so I'll have plenty to see to carry me through the next month and a half. Yesterday's stop on the summer of Altsanity was Images, a film that comes from the same weird dreamy mold as 3 Women.

This film is far removed from what's typically considered Altmanesque, there's no overlapping dialogue and only five people in the entire cast. You'd be hard pressed to find a minute of Nashville with only five people in it. I hadn't heard much about this dreamy Altman stuff and it's fascinating to discover these films because they're so ambiguous and challenging. Images takes place in an entirely subjective world, we're immersed in Cathryn's mind and see all her delusions and hallucinations. The film has a lot of horror elements and some impressive scares, but it works because it remains more interested in depicting the character's struggle than scaring the audience. A lot of unsuccessful films fail because they're trying to appeal to the audience rather than staying true to the characters' story. This is particularly true in comedies and horror movies where there's an easy measure of audience reaction. If people aren't laughing or scared, you could think that your film is a failure, or it could mean that the film works on a more subtle level than typical genre fare.

I read an article in the New York Times magazine Sunday about horror films and in it, the Pang brothers were talking about how American audiences need to everything explained. In most of these new wave Asian horror films there is no logical explanation for what happens. A film like The Ring has a great setup, but there's no satisfying answer for the film's mysteries. So, the joy of the film has to be in just experiencing the horror rather than seeking an answer. However, the fact that there's no way to make the horror element make sense doesn't mean that the character arcs shouldn't make sense. A film like A Tale of Two Sisters doesn't fail because the story makes little sense, it fails because the filmmaker puts scares ahead of logical character development. That's the sort of film that could work if it was made by a supreme stylist like Wong Kar-Wai, where the film's so beautiful you don't even care if it makes character or narrative sense. However, it was not.

Anyway, Altman's Images has a lot in common with recent Asian horror films. I think the first appearance of Rene in their apartment is a great scare moment and the overmodulated uniquely 70s sound of Cathryn's scream is viscerally disturbing. However, the film is more about exploring Cathryn's psychosis. She is filled with guilt for cheating on her husband, this guilt is manifested in the hallucination of Rene. Whenever she's alone, this guilt plagues her, blurring the line between fantasy and reality.

Cathryn's vivid imagination is evidenced by the film's narration, a story about a unicorn that she most likely made up during her summers up at the cabin alone when she was younger. Because they're in such an isolated place, her sense of internal tumult is magnified. Everyone she runs into ties into a memory, a piece of her psyche that she doesn't necessarily want to deal with.

Rene lingers in her mind, distracting her from her relationship with Hugh and also magnifying Hugh's inadequecies. When she shoots Rene, she shoots a camera, the instrument used to preserve images. Clearly she's trying to rid herself of unwanted memories, however it's not so easy. Marcel remains, offering her the chance to cheat in the present. By the film's end, she's killing all the hallucinations, trying to lay waste to her demons, and she does that to the hallucination of Marcel.

While at the cabin, Cathryn meets Susannah, a younger incarnation of herself. Meeting Susannah puts her back in the fantasy mindset she held when she was younger, and she turns reality into a stage to play out the imagined narrative. A critical line is when Susannah says that if she doesn't have any friends, she'll make some up to play with. That's essentially what Cathryn has done, create fictional versions of people she knows as a way to deal with her emotional issues.

However, Susannah becomes delusional enough by the end that she sees Hugh as a version of herself and kills him. Her reality and interior world has merged, leading her to believe that she can murder people without consequence. I feel like the version of herself that's also Hugh is meant to be her personal weakness. Hugh is constantly shown as less manly and mature than her other men, a boyish American rather than the European men. Also, she clearly feels that she's remaining weak and allowing Hugh to cheat on her, so all her weakness is mixed up in this version of herself. By killing it, she thinks she can overcome her problems and become stronger, however, she's so gone at this point that she can't tell the difference between reality and delusion.

I don't think the film is as successful as 3 Women, though it was clearly a stopping point on the road to that film. Both films deal with shifting identities in a dreamlike world. The film that this really reminded me of is Lynch's Lost Highway. Both films feature a hero trapped in a lifeless marriage who wanders into a psychological dreamworld built on guilt and shame. Images has a bunch of interesting stylistic touches, the dream montage when Cathryn stands outside the door and the opening with the shifting Cathryns when they first get to the cabin.

I also like the way Altman plays with identity by having all the characters named after other actors in the movie. So, Susannah York plays Cathryn and Cathryn Harrison plays Susannah. I'd imagine it was a confusing set, but it's an interesting meta commentary on the shifting of identities involved in acting.

So, this was another great Altman film. The man was doing all kinds of stuff in the 70s. Next up in my Altman journey will be California Split. And as a bonus, here's my ranking of all the Altman films I've seen.

Nashville
McCabe and Mrs. Miller
3 Women
MASH
A Prarie Home Companion
Images
Short Cuts
The Long Goodbye
The Player
Popeye

Related Posts
Short Cuts (6/10/2005)
McCabe and Mrs. Miller (5/11/2006)
Nashville (7/7/2006)

Elysian Fields @ Joe's Pub

I don't know what an Elysian Fields show would be like at a larger venue like Irving Plaza. Most bands who play live are trying to psych you up, get a big reaction from the crowd, make you sing along and get involved. If your audience just stood there silent, you'd probably be doing something wrong. However, at an Elysian Fields show, that rapt silence is the default mode while they're playing, followed by clapping after they finish. The audience isn't wrapped up in the music becuase they're doing so much, rather it's the minimalism, the skillful playing that draws you into the world of their songs.

This show was even more restrained than the show at Tonic in March. For some songs that worked well, others I found could have used a little bit more. At this show, they played almost exclusively from Bum Raps and Love Taps, their newest album. There was a bit off Dreams that Breathe Your Name, and I don't think anything off of the first two albums. In addition, there were a couple of new tracks, including one they also played at the Tonic show that's about "A Dirty Rotten Bastard who turns you on." That song is a bit more cabaret than their other stuff and it would be interesting to see them go in that direction on a whole album.

The way they were set up here, everything was built around Jennifer's vocals. She carried almost every song, with only occasional moments when the piano and guitar were spotlighted. The highlight of the show was "Passing on the Stairs," with Oren and Jennifer together on vocals backed by an accordian. If I have one complaint about their live show it's that I'd like a drummer backing them on all the tracks, not just occasionally when Oren plays drums. That would make it sound a bit fuller, as it does on the recordings. I wouldn't want heavy drums, rather just something to contribute to the mood they've already created so expertly.

But, the show still works great without that. I like the fact that they keep the focus on the music, rather than on showmanship. Their music creates a moody world and seeing them live lets you get lost in that world.

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Lovage: Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By (11/19/2004)
Elysian Fields @ Tonic (3/18/2006)

Weekend Update

Elysian Fields

I'm heading into the city tonight to see Elysian Fields. I saw them back in March and it was fantastic, I'll write it up after I return tonight.

Comic-Con

The biggest comic book event of the year is going on right now, the San Diego Comicon. The biggest news for me is about Grant Morrison's new projects. When I heard he was revamping The Authority I wasn't too excited. The concept feels a bit 2000 and I was never a huge fan of the characters. However, his new take is brilliant, the Authority go through a dimensional warp and wind up in our world. Then, they set about to change our world for the better, one person at a time. Morrison's usually all about Silver Age craziness, so it's interesting to hear him talking about doing a very realistic series, even incorporating some Soderbergh style. This concept seems to be taken from the end of JLA: Classified, in which the Ultramarines were sent into a world without superheroes. It'll probably be at least a year before it turns up in trade, but I'm still psyched.

Seven Soldiers #1

In other Morrison news, Seven Soldiers #1 has finally been scheduled for release, October 25. It's a long wait, but in the long run it's worth it. I wouldn't want another Igor Kordey on New X-Men job. I'll probably reread the whole series before the release of #1.

Clerks II

I haven't gotten a chance to see Clerks II yet, but I'm going to get there soon and I'll write it up when I do. I rewatched the original Clerks and was a bit underwhelmed. The acting is so awful at some points and a lot of the jokes are very obvious. Jeff Anderson and Jason Mewes save the film however. Mewes is clearly the most talented, natural performer in the film. He's always funny even in the otherwise really weak Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Smith has only made one really great movie and that's Chasing Amy, it's still in my all time top 20. The transition from extremely funny comedy to emotionally devestating drama is seamless.

A Scanner Darkly Revisit

I rewatched A Scanner Darkly a few days ago. I really liked the film, but it doesn't match up to the best of Linklater's work. I love the stuff in the house, but the scenes at the police station, with the scramble suits, are less satisfying. It's meant to show the way that these scramble suits remove any individuality, but they also make it very difficult to emotionally relate to the characters. However, the film does close on a wonderful note, Keanu's delivery of "A present for my friends, at Thanksgiving" makes it sound like he's just discovered the key to the universe. Here's my ranking of all Linklater's work:

Waking Life
Before Sunset
Before Sunrise
Dazed and Confused
School of Rock
A Scanner Darkly
Suburbia
Slacker
Tape
Bad News Bears
The Newton Boys

New Gods

I've been reading Jack Kirby's New Gods series. I got the trade because I wanted to better understand Morrison's Mister Miracle series. The book is full of crazy ideas and generally holds up. There's some goofiness, like the constant use of exclamation points and the exposition focused dialogue. Every issue it seemed that Victor Lanza would have to state his name and profession. "I'm Victor Lanza, insurance salesman." "Victor Lanza's the name, insurance salesman." "But I'm just a poor insurance salesman, Victor Lanza!" And so on. But, it's very cool to get the background on everything from the previous series. New Gods overwhelming assault of ideas and concepts was clearly a major influence on Morrison himself.

Music

This week I've been listening to the Scissor Sisters' first album a bunch. I'm regretting not going to Siren Festival last week, I would have loved to have seen them live. The album is a great dance-rock record and even the cover of 'Comfortably Numb' is growing on me.

The other album I've been loving is 'A Night on Earth' by Crazy P. Like Daft Punk, their stuff is a perfect fusion of 70s disco with contemporary house. The album is 75 minutes of great songs, but the highlight is the opening track, Lady T. Check out the video here. This video is fantastic as well, though the version of the song used is a remix, not the album version.

Upcoming Dates of Note
7/22 - Elysian Fields at Joe's Pub
7/28 - Miami Vice released
8/3 - New Pornographers at Summerstage
8/7 - Phoenix at Bowery Ballroom (Hopefully)
8/8 - Manderlay on DVD
8/15 - Veronica Mars Season 2 on DVD
8/17 - Gnarls Barkley at Summerstage
8/29 - Arrested Development Season 3 on DVD
9/22 - Science of Sleep Releated
9/24 - The Flaming Lips at Hammerstein
10/13 - The Fountain Released
10/20 - Marie Antoinette Released

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A Scanner Darkly (7/6/2006)

Carnivale: 1x02-1x05

In my review of the pilot, I talked about the fact that this series has a very unconventional structure, based more around mood than a traditional plot or character development. Watching a lot of longform TV shows has changed my perception of narrative cinema. With a few notable exceptions, the character development in a 90-120 minute film feels woefully inadaquete next to the richness that comes from many seasons of a TV show. So, I began to see film as more about conveying mood, creating unique visual/emotional moments. The joy isn't in finding out the plot details, it's about enjoying the story as it unfolds and getting lost in the visuals and music. Films like The New World or Wong Kar-Wai's stuff are all about this.

So, watching Carnivale it's interesting to see a TV show that goes for this same feeling. The show draws on the mystery structure that's driven stuff like Twin Peaks and Lost, however what you take away from it isn't so much what happens as you do the dusty ambience of the depression era. The pacing is very relaxed, but I don't see that as a problem, it's refreshing to see a show that doesn't feel the need to give you a cliffhanger every ten minutes. This kind of pacing just wouldn't be possible on a network.

However, there is narrative progress here and things are getting interesting. I really liked seeing Justin build the church out of Mr. Chin's. What seemed like a random pretty dream sequence in the first episode turns out to have a deeper meaning. One of the most powerful scenes here was the sequence in which Justin confronts Templeton with his sin, the two of them seemingly stepping into a parallel dimension. I'm not sure if the black world he finds himself in ties into the black world that Samson was in in the first scene of the series.

That opening monologue set up a confrontation between good and evil, but at this point it isn't clear where Justin and Ben fall on the continuum. Justin seems to be doing good, by creating the church, but he's also clearly got some issues. Ben's clearly got talents, but there's a lot of potential for him to use those talents for selfish ends.

The show's unique because it's got a lot of supernatural stuff in it, but isn't done in a typically sci-fi way. This doesn't feel like a superhero story, rather it's closer to Unbreakable in that the character has extraordinary powers, but lives in an utterly ordinary, even depressing world. The powers here are treated more as a religious experience than something supernatural. The influence of traditional morality is heavy on the series. Ben is someone who grew up in a very traditional environment and is struggling to function in the world of the Carnivale, where traditional social norms do not apply.

So, I'm liking the series, but I'll need to see a couple more episodes before I can go into major discussion of its themes and character.

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Carnivale: 'Milfay' (1x01) (7/16/2006)

Freaks and Geeks: 'Discos and Dragons' (1x18)

It's always an odd feeling watching the end of a longform series. In a great show, particularly one cut down before its time, it's difficult to watch knowing that the end of the series world is approaching. I would have loved to seen a second season, but as a finale, this episode is essentially perfect, capturing everything that's great about the series and providing a nice feeling of closure. This is easily the best episode of the series and one of the best series finales ever made.

The episode is all about confronting the characters with their potential futures. Sam, coming off his breakup with Cindy, feels he has the social capital to transcend geek status, he's just about ready to abandon his friends. The episode revisits the strong sense of discontent with high school life present in the first few episodes. The geek storylines frequently drift into comedy and it's nice to see a more serious undercurrent return here.

The real triumph of the episode is in the way the different storylines weave together, with events in one story setting the direction of the others. Daniel's feeling of intellectual inferiority has been a running theme of the series, most notably in "Tests and Breasts," where he gives a speech about the three sections. Lindsay comes to believe that this is just a stock excuse, but the events of later episodes show that Daniel really does have this insecurity, even if he's not quite motivated enough to do anything about it. Now, having failed at everything he tried, he decides to commit himself to actually doing something. One of the best moments in the episode is Sam looking at Daniel learning how to work the projector.

Daniel's interest in AV stuff and Dungeons and Dragons makes Sam reconsider his move away from them. In some respects it's a bit shallow that Sam would change his opinion just because a cool guy showed interest in D&D, but it makes sense. Coming off the experience with Cindy Sanders, he saw that it's no fun moving from the geek world to the popular world, so Daniel moving into the geek world is the ideal for him. It provides him with the social validation he needs to pursue what he really wants.

And it's a great moment when Daniel wins the D&D game. This is the first time we've seen him actually succeed at something and it's also notably the first time that he drops the cool facade he's had throughout the series. Through the role playing game, he's opened up and found his real self. The last time we see Daniel he's going off to get chips and soda, leaving the geeks to ponder if they've become cool or he's become a geek. I wouldn't say they're quite to cool, but what has happened is they've for the first time found someone in another social circle who they actually like hanging out with and he's accepted them for who they are. That's ultimately what they were seeking the whole series, social validation, and now they have it, so it's a bit easier going forward.

This episode is so good that a storyline that great is actually the weakest of the three stories. The Nick disco storyline finds an incredible mix of hilarity and total sadness. Joel Hodgson goes way over the top as the disco manager, but it works, his facial expression in the first shot of the episode is totally unreal, going so far you just have to laugh. This story looks a low rent Boogie Nights and made me want to see a film starring Jason Segal and John C. Reilly as 70s disco dancers.

And like Boogie Nights, the 70s clothes and music is surface fun on top of a heavy, sad core. Nick is clearly still in love with Lindsay, but has chosen to fully embrace a relationship with Sara, taking up disco dancing to make her happy. With her, he's making all the changes he should have done for Lindsay, stop smoking pot, do what she's interested in. I love the scene where they're dancing in Nick's basement and his not quite convincing claim that he's over Lindsay, and Sara always calling Ken "Kenny" is great.

However, the genius of this story lies in the final conversation between Nick and Lindsay. On the commentary for this episode, Paul Feig talks about the fact that the best writing is all about characters not saying what they mean. Nick and Lindsay have a lot of issues between them, but they don't actually talk about any of it. But, because we know what's between them, we're aware of everything that's going on and when Lindsay walks away, it's clear the Nick may still want her, but he'll never have her. The best shot in the entire series is the tracking shot following Nick into the dance contest. It's a perfect blend of image, music and emotion. The way the light turns blue on him, the slight slow motion and Sara out of focus behind him tells us everything we need to know. Brilliant.

Nick's anger in the dance contest is what makes the scene so effective. It's certainly hilarious, but it also shows us just how mad this guy is. And the subsequent bit with Eugene is one of the funniest things they've ever done. For Nick, the series ends with him looking out, overwhelmed. He's with Sara, but he's also aware that the person he really loved just walked out on him. Of all the characters, he's got the bleakest ending.

The other storyline in the episode forces Lindsay to finally confront her identity. The whole series has dealt with the idea that she's just posing as a freak when in reality, she's still just like Millie. She may claim to be the same as Daniel or Kim, but everyone still holds her to the standards of an A student. The Academic Summit forces her to confront this, the event is something that she "should" be going to, it's an event for smart people to put on their resume to help get into college, and the idea that she wouldn't want to go is alien to a culture that's wholly built around getting into college and excelling academically.

Her parents feel it's ridiculous for her to even consider not going to the summit, but they're ignorant of the fact that Lindsay's discontent with the system is more than adolescent posturing. She is forced to choose between two weeks of academic competition or a week and a half of seeing shows, and she chooses to embrace her freak side, doing what she wants rather than what others expect of her.

The scene with Lindsay at the bus stop is powerful, primarily because we know that we're leaving these characters forever. Lindsay might be back in two weeks, but we never will and that's what lingers. As she leaves on the bus, so do we. And the final scene is a great moment because for the first time we see Lindsay totally happy. She takes off the nice jacket, puts on the army jacket and fully embraces the identity she has chosen.

To some degree, the last episode of Six Feet Under has made every other series finale a bit unsatisfying. That episode gave you everything you want to know allowing for a smooth break from the universe. While not so sweeping, this episode does give you a similar smooth journey out of the universe. I'd have loved to seen more, but I don't really need it. Part of that is because the show isn't concerned with huge plot and character arcs, we've just taken a look in on these people at this moment in their lives, and they will continue after the show is over. There's no loose ends, it's just a world that will continue, but going out on the series' best episode makes it a lot easier to move on.

The show has some flaws, but on the whole, it's one of the most uniquely realistic series ever made. It's easy to see yourself in the characters, and more than any other piece of fiction, this captures a lot of the reality of high school life. And, though it was cut down early, these eighteen episodes are a perfect snapshot of this world. They told the story they set out to tell and it resulted in one of the great TV series of all time.

Related Posts
Freaks and Geeks: 'Pilot' (1x01) (6/26/2006)
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JLA Classified #1-3

Going through Seven Soldiers, I came across a bunch of references to Grant's JLA Classified arc, which served as a prelude to the series. So, having read all the Seven Soldiers stuff, I figured it was time to go back and see where it all began. Plus, I'll read anything Morrison does, so it was worth a look.

However, the one Morrison extended run I never got into was JLA. I'm not familiar enough with the DC Universe to follow a lot of what's going on. I'm going to go back and read the entire run through soon, but Classified has both what worked and what didn't in his previous JLA run.

The big issue with Morrison's work on JLA, and the JLA in general, is that these aren't so much characters as icons. As Superman Returns showed, it's very difficult to have narrative tension in a story about a guy who's got virtually no flaws, throw in six more similarly powered people and it's impossible to do a traditional narrative. Also, these aren't characters who develop and go through arcs, they just exist as what they are. This is a major difference from Morrison's work on X-Men, and the Marvel Universe in general, the X-Men are characters who can change, Superman is an icon who remains the same.

So, in building this story, Morrison uses the Ultramarines to create some actual tension. I don't know who these people are, but because they're not the iconic JLA, there is the chance that some bad stuff could happen to them. So, you can have a fairly normal narrative structure with them, they're battling Gorilla Grodd, a rather ridiculous foe, but a threatening one nonetheless.

The reason that Seven Soldiers worked so well is that all those characters are expendable, and also subject to change. The beauty of each Seven Soldiers miniseries is watching the character go through a trial and either claim the role of hero or reject it. There is change and growth for all involved. A JLA story can't do this, so once the main crew shows up the joy of the story is in watching these ridiculously powerful people in action.

I enjoyed the read, I don't think it's one of Morrison's stronger pieces, but I feel like I better understand how to approach the series than I did back when I read snippets of his previous JLA run. It's all about getting lost in the over the top craziness of events and just accepting everything that happens. The main villain is a giant gorilla, and that's one of the saner parts of this story.

The coolest concept in this series is the idea of the JLA being stranded in a world without superheroes. This ties into Flex Mentallo's idea that to escape danger, superheroes hid themselves in our fiction. QWEWQ is likely an analogue for our own reality, I love the idea that the JLA would just bounce through our world, it's just one piece of this massive cosmic reality that they exist in. This ties back into Morrison's idea of hypertime, that time flows like a river and certain universes branch off. So, our reality is just a branch on the river that they move through as well.

This would be interesting enough on its own, but the infant universe is also where the series ties in with the meta-plot of Seven Soldiers. Reading this arc reinforces the coolness of a shared fictional universe. Most stories are self contained, they happen and end. In the DCU you can read the whole Seven Soldiers series then branch out and see how these characters connect to others. It makes it feel like witnessing events from a parallel universe, something Morrison has talked about with his claim that he wants to make the DC Universe sentient. I'm not sure what he meant by that exactly, but I feel like it's commenting on the fact that this universe just moves forward, individual people can contribute ideas, but the universe as a whole is more than just the sum of its individual parts, the sheer weight of stories combines to create a universe that operates by its own rules.

This series gives us our first glimpse of the Sheeda mosquito soldiers. Looking at this in the overall scheme of things, the Sheeda used this moment to test the capabilities of the Earth heroes before beginning their invasion. Ironically, this test may be the thing that ultimately brings about their destruction.

Qwewq is an infant universe, its adult form is Neh-Buh-Loh, beloved Seven Soldiers villain. He's here as an observer and leaves when the test is done. Presumably what happens is Qwewq matures over time and finally becomes an adult sometime in the distant future, at which point the Sheeda have outlasted humans and rule the world. So, he is put to work for Gloriana and sent back in time to observe the JLA in preparation for the upcoming razing of this world.

However, as we see in Frankenstein #4, Neh-Buh-Loh is flawed. In his infant form, he's inhabited by the Black Death, the seed that would lead Neh-Buh-Loh to evil. However, to counteract that, the JLA places the Ultramarines into this world. Their influence is presumably what leads him to spare Misty and send her back in time to Zatanna, and they are also what ultimately weakens Neh-Buh-Loh so that Frankenstein can kill him.

If Misty does play a major role in defeating Gloriana, as I'm guessing/hoping she will, then the Ultramarines will have played a critical role in defeating the Sheeda. It's totally crazy stuff and even though this arc has some issues, you have to admire the sheer torrent of ideas Morrison puts forth in here. I can think of no one in film or TV doing the kind of crazy cosmic stuff that Morrison pulls off here. It works on its own, but it's particularly interesting to me because of the Seven Soldiers connection. The October solicitations are out tomorrow and I'm really hoping that Seven Soldiers #1 is on there, I need to get the conclusion of this story.

In the shorter term, I'll be readiing the whole Morrison JLA run pretty soon, and I'll blog that. And reading this and Seven Soldiers made me want to read 52, so once that comes out in trade, I'll pick it up. I hear it features appearances by Zatanna, Animal Man and some other Morrison characters, the chance to check in and see what's up with them makes it worth reading.

Related Posts
Seven Soldiers: Post Index (6/28/2006)

Carnivale: 'Milfay' (1x01)

I heard about Carnivale when it first aired and the multitude of David Lynch comparisons, plus the fact that it's an HBO series, made me want to check it out. HBO's "It's Not TV, It's HBO" advertising campaign could come off as arrogant if it wasn't backed up by such a high quality bunch of shows. I'll check out pretty much anything HBO does because they've got such a strong track record.

The show itself starts off with a wonderfully atmospheric pilot that has me intrigued to see more, but not totally hooked on the show. I've written before about the fact that in the past few years, TV drama has changed from an episodic medium to one where many creators conceive of the show as one larger story, broken down into chunks. A show like The X-Files, or even Buffy, started out with a rather unremarkable episode compared to what would come later. There was not the sense that this was the start of a huge story.

However, things have changed and Carnivale starts like the first piece of a much larger story. This structure informs the entire episode. The opening is what I'm guessing will turn out to be a thematic summation of the series as a whole, dealing with themes of good and evil, and the passage from an age of wonder to an age of reason. The conflict between wonder and reason is something that's at the center of a lot of Alan Moore's work, most notably From Hell and Promethea. It's a theme with a lot of potency, particularly when the act of creating a story is equated with magic.

Our main crew in this show are clearly from the age of wonder. They all seem to have some kind of magical power and that's just accepted. They're telekinetics, psychics, and dream readers, all governed by a mysterious "management." Outside of the Carnivale, the age of reason is in full effect. People are crushed by the reality of their losses and succumbing to total depression. When we first see Ben he seems utterly defeated by the world, which we now know is a result of the fact that his mother wouldn't allow him to use his gifts to save her. She sees his magic as something demonic and wrong, and has restricted his powers.

So, I'm assuming one of the big arcs of the series will be Ben's conflict between his restricted upbringing and the free environment of the Carnivale. They travel the countryside, temporarily distracting people from their plight and making them feel good, as powerful a magic trick as any. After spending some time with the Carnivale, Ben feels empowered enough to use his magic to make the little girl walk again.

This is a show that looks fantastic, it feels like being dropped in another world, one so alien that even the World War I footage in the dream sequences feels out of place, belonging to our world not theirs. The concepts and visuals are great, but the pilot doesn't really give you a feel for what an average episode will be like. As I mentioned before, this feels more like the first chunk of a huge story than a typical pilot for an episodic TV series. I'm guessing the basic structure will be the Carnivale travelling to new towns, but it's unclear which of the characters, other than Ben and the Preacher, are going to be major figures and even those two aren't particularly well defined yet.

But, in the long term, I'd much rather see a pilot like this, that teases you with the mood and a bit of plot, than one that gives you a neat three act structure. If you're coming back for twelve episodes, there's no need to provide any sort of closure here and if I want to find out what the average episode will be like, it just means watching the next one. Even if the opening speech is a bit pretentious, I admire the fact that they have a specific agenda of themes that are going to be explored.

I'll definitely be watching more, there's a ton of potential here and it will be interesting see how it plays out.

Related Posts
Promethea: 1-16 (2/22/2005)
Carnivale (1x02-1x05) (7/20/2006)

Freaks and Geeks: 'Smooching and Mooching' (1x16)

I've been watching Freaks and Geeks, through 'Smooching and Mooching' right now. I was one of the few viewers who actually watched it when it was on TV and I've always been a big fan of the series, however, when I first watched it, it was before I was a really big fan of serialized TV storytelling. After seeing many series, I've got a slightly different perspective on the series.

I don't think Freaks and Geeks is a perfect series, but like Cowboy Bebop and The Office, it's a show that accomplishes exactly what it set out to do. Part of this feeling is probably due to the fact that it has such a short run, it doesn't experience the growing pains that come from a major change to the series' premise, as in say Buffy or Gilmore Girls season four. If there was a third season, a bunch of the characters would be out of high school and I'd be very curious to know what the longterm plans for the show where. Buffy showed that if you have good characters, leaving a high school setting can actually help the show, because the problems become larger. That would force the freaks to really examine the direction of their life, it's not so fun misbehaving when you're out of school with no job and no long term plan.

Going ahead it would have been difficult to keep those characters together, Lindsay would pretty much have had to go to college, so even if you did keep the other freaks together, you'd have the serious issue of your main character being cut off from every other character.

Besides the obvious issues surrounding the freaks' graduation, I'm not so sure the geek plots would have worked moving ahead. In the DVD booklet, they talk about how once they knew the show was ending they decided to throw Sam a date with Cindy. So, if the show wasn't cancelled maybe that wouldn't have happened, but as it is, that's the major misstep of the series for me. Maybe it's just personal bias, but you very rarely see the 'male friend' move into the role of boyfriend, particularly when Sam is so socially inept around Cindy.

Most of the show takes place in such an oppressively real environment. The pleasure and pain of the series is the extreme awkwardness of the interactions between characters. We're allowed to see everyone at their worst and that makes the moments of happiness more satisfying. But, the end of 'Smooching and Mooching' is a case where the show goes off into fantasy and gives the viewer something that's enjoyable but rather unbelievable, notably the scene with Vicki and Bill. I think his speech where he asks her "What's it like being pretty" is fantastic, but the fact that she kisses him so enthusiastically rings false. I would have rather seen her just give him a small kiss, acknowledging his point, but not leaving reality.

However, in that same episode we get one of the best stories on the series, Nick's time with the Weirs. This story works well on so many levels because we're allowed to view things from Nick's perspective, Lindsay's perspective and Harold's perspective. It's a series of very small, believable events that build to illuminate a lot of character truths. Nick isn't used to an environment where people actually support him, Harold gives him encouragement while still being tough on him, something that his father wouldn't do. Lindsay's jealousy of her parents' affection for Nick is wonderfully done and also reinforces her difference from the freaks. She has so much ability, she needs to do more to succeed than they do. Her intelligence prevents her from fully joining their circle, and that's both a blessing and a curse for her. She has to be aware that they'll probably never leave town, but she will. And it's also extremely funny.

With only a couple of exceptions, the freaks' storylines are almost always superior to the geek storylines. That's because in most cases the geek ones are the comic relief, they go through some stuff, learn a lesson and move on. There's more ambiguity on the freak side. When the geeks do go for high drama, it's usually a reaction to something around them, like Neil's dad's affair or Bill's allergies, rather than coming out of their own lives and actions.

The show has a very de-dramatized 70s cinema style most of the time, but it does hew a bit too closely to the set up a problem, play out problem, find closure for problem structure of a lot of TV shows. There's continuing arcs, but each episode has a standalone story and that sometimes results in a feeling of artificiality to the closure that the characters find. Because there's a large cast we get a Sopranos season five style structure where one or two characters will have the spotlight for the week and play out all their issues. On The Sopranos this was used to give insight to the characters, but usually there wasn't any easy resolution. Some plots here work that way, others go for the easy solution to character problems.

But, that doesn't stop it from being a great show. This is a show that had its exact voice right from the beginning and never did a bad episode. There's some I like less than others, but there's always at least one good plot going on. The show's dual structure allows for an easier balance of comedy and drama than on almost any other show. You can have one character in a coma almost dying and another doing some broad marijuana humor and it works. And when the two universes collide, as in the great moment where Neil sees his brother kissing Lindsay, it provides for some of the best moments of the show, as we watch how actions have reprocussions across group lines.

Related Posts
Freaks and Geeks: 'Pilot' (1x01) (6/26/2006)
Freaks and Geeks: 'Discos and Dragons' (1x18) (7/18/2006)

Weekend Update

Bunch of small news items to cover today.

Phoenix Tickets

Damn you working during the day! I'd been waiting to see when tickets for Phoneix's August 7th show at Bowery Ballroom go on sale and it turns out that they went on sale at noon today, so I missed them. I'm hoping to track down tickets somehow, if anyone's got any extras, drop me an e-mail: patrick@respectfilms.com. You would be my best friend. And if you get a chance to go the show, definitely do so, their last show at the Bowery Ballroom was awesome. Let's hope they kept the same drummer.

Gnarls Barkley/Peeping Tom Show

I may miss out on that show, but last night I grabbed tickets for the August 17 Gnarls Barkley show in Central Park. When I heard about the show, I was thinking about going, but I decided that it wasn't quite worth it. However, yesterday I saw that Peeping Tom was going to be supporting Gnarls at the show. Peeping Tom is Mike Patton's newest album, it's pretty good, though a bit routine for Patton. However, he's one of my favorite singers and I've never seen him live, so this is the perfect opportunity. Plus, I am psyched to see Gnarls, I saw Cee-Lo at Wesleyan Spring Fling in 2005 and he was very entertaining. So, this should be a good show.

True Blood

HBO did a press conference yesterday to announce their future plans. There's one bad piece of news, that the new season of The Sopranos has been delayed until March. However, in good news, Alan Ball's new series, True Blood is moving forward for a probable Autumn 2007 premiere. Six Feet Under is my third favorite TV series of all time so I am quite excited to see what he does next. He has an uncanny ability to create characters who are totally real and a wonderful mix of flaws and virtues. At the end of SFU we may hate Nate's choices, but it's easy to see why he does what he does. Plus, it'll be cool to see Ball tackle vampires, his casting in season four indicates that he's a Buffy fan, so how will this crew of undead compare to Buffy's? We'll see, but I do know that this is my most anticipated film project.

Popeye

I've been on a big Altman kick the past couple of posts, hailing the man's virtues like it' going out of style, but it's not all good. I watched Popeye a few days ago and was not impressed. It had some trademark Altman elements, but Altman works best when he shoots in a documentary style, drawing you into a believable world. The fact that every line Williams speaks sounds poorly ADRed is the first strike against this film, and the awful townspeople are the next. That said, it was cool to hear "He Needs Me" in its original form. It made me want to give Punch Drunk Love another viewing.

The Youth Speak!

I'm running a broadcast news workshop for teens now and it's interesting to hear them talk about films. I heard a couple of people mention how they're sick of the fact that everything's a sequel or remake. Hollywood, this is your demographic, they want new stuff! However, they did see all these sequels or remakes, so even if people complain about it, they still go see these films.

Upcoming Dates of Note
7/21 - Clerks II released
7/22 - Elysian Fields at Joe's Pub
7/28 - Miami Vice released
8/3 - New Pornographers at Summerstage
8/7 - Phoenix at Bowery Ballroom (Hopefully)
8/8 - Manderlay on DVD
8/17 - Gnarls Barkley at Summerstage
9/22 - Science of Sleep Releated
9/24 - The Flaming Lips at Hammerstein
10/13 - The Fountain Released
10/20 - Marie Antoinette Released

Related Posts
McCabe and Mrs. Miller (5/11/2006)
Phoenix @ Bowery Ballroom (5/11/2006)
Nashville (7/7/2006)

3 Women

The Altman watching continued today as I checked out another one of his 70s classics, 3 Women. Even more than Nashville, this is a film that would be completely impossible to make within the studio system today. Even the vast majority of indies don't come close to this level of narrative ambiguity. So, we can be thankful that Altman got a chance to do stuff like this back then.

Watching a film like this, with the high levels of narrative ambiguity and character transition, forces you to sit back and go with the flow. For a lot of people this is a problem, unlike Mulholland Dr., which engages in similar identity games, there's no definitive answer for what happens here. The film gives you the raw material to think over, but it's up to you to construct your own throughline. Altman drew the film from dreams, and it's likely that even he doesn't know exactly what everything means, it just feels right emotionally.

I'll start with the film's ending and track back. The closing moments of this film remind me of Kim Ki-Duk's The Isle, in the sense that the last scene isn't so much tied into the narrative we've seen before as it is a thematic summation of the film as a whole. These three women represent archetypes and as the film progresses, we see them each grow up and take on each others' roles. The entire film is about the life cycle, the progression from childhood to adulthood to old age and ultimately death.

Water is a critical image in the film. We open with a pool, images of naked people adorning the walls, reproduction is a clear motif. Water is where we come from, and it's ultimately where we go back to, we move from the waters of birth at the beginning to the water of death, which the old people enter. It's clearly a cyclical thing.

At the beginning of the film we see Pinky as a child, lacking confidence and seeking a mother figure to latch onto. She finds a role model in Millie, a single woman who seems to be in total control of her life. Her self image is totally out of whack with how society perceives her. She considers herself a confident single woman, with countless male admirers. She's trying to conform to the image of single women presented in magazines, however in reality no one particularly cares about her. Her attempts at high fashion are mocked by the other people in the singles' community and the doctors don't even notice she's there. At work, she's the only one without a counterpart, so she naturally latches on to Pinky, who looks up to her and makes her feel like the image she has of herself.

Millie is constantly making allusions to the interest that men have in her, talking about the pill and the rollaway bed, and at first Pinky is quite admiring, imitating Millie in every way she can. However, as things progress, the reality of Millie's life comes to the surface. She obsesses about her dinner party, but the people wind up not even showing up and when she goes out to get a man, it's actually Edgar. Seeing Millie with Edgar exposes Pinky to the fact that most of Millie's claims are hyperbole and that it's not Pinky holding Millie back, it's Millie herself.

Millie yells at Pinky and forces her to be complicit in Edgar cheating on his pregnant wife. Being exposed to the truth about Millie, her parent figure, forces Pinky to grow up and plunge into the water. The water in the film is associated with the life cycle, Pinky enters a child, but emerges as an adult, taking on the role that Millie had fashioned for herself in the first part of the film.

Here, we see another parent/child relationship. Pinky wakes up and says that she doesn't know the people who claim to be her parents. This works both as evidence that Pinky has become part of a new family unit, with Millie and Willie, however it also works as a depiction of what every child has to do to grow up. In becoming an adult, Pinky must reject her parents and establish herself as an independent person. This is an extreme representation of that, in that she actually claims that they aren't her parents at all, but it fits perfectly with the theme of growing up.

Earlier in the film, our point of view character was usually Pinky, and we saw Millie through her eyes. However, after Pinky goes into the coma there's a switch, and we begin to see things through Millie's eyes. After waking up, Pinky fashions herself into the person that Millie wanted to be. She's popular with all the men at the apartment complex and has even taken Edgar away from Millie. Physically she's transformed into an adult, putting on makeup and dressing in a different way. In becoming an adult, she has forced Millie into the role of a mother. We no longer see Millie pursuing men, rather she's trying to keep Pinky safe. The car stealing episode in particular sees Millie treating Pinky like her daughter. Pinky's leap has also forced Millie to grow up and abandon her previous identity. She's become the mother.

So, where does that leave the woman who's actually pregnant? With Millie growing up to assume the role of mother, Willie must also grow up and give up her fertility. This is dramatically represented in the scene in which Willie gives birth to a stillborn child. The generations have advanced and she now must be the elderly one. During this scene we see water covering parts of the screen, as in the opening scene, a visual reminder of the advance of generations.

The film's final scene effectively sums up the themes of what we've seen before, clarifying the roles of all the women within the film. Pinky now calls Millie her mother, and Willie is the grandmother. This scene is designed to show us how each of the characters embodies one of the archetypal female roles, and over the course of time they move through these roles. The film's tagline is 1 woman became 2/2 women became 3/3 women became 1, the 3 Women of the title aren't the three characters, rather it's the three archetypal roles: child, mother and elder.

If the archetypal role of woman is to give birth, to bear and produce life, the critical scene of the entire film is the birth scene. Here, we see Willie, the elder, becoming aware that she is no longer able to give birth, she has moved beyond fertility and lost her purpose. Millie insists that she doesn't know how to deliver a child, but because she's in the role of mother, she draws on innate knowledge that shows her what to do. Pinky is outside, the child confronted with her future. She may be young now, but eventually she will be the one giving birth and that scares her.

As the film proceeds, it becomes more and more about these archetypal roles and the characters recede from reality. We no longer see them at work and by the end even the singles complex has faded away. The birth scene takes place away from society, out in the desert with only women present. Here, we see the death of a male child, he can not live in this world which is devoted to exploring the life cycle of women. Similarly, Edgar dies. He has no place in the final scene, which is about characters embodying the three stages of the female life cycle.

So, the critical thing to note about this film is the way that it progresses from a relatively mundane real world setting into an increasingly metaphoric world where characters cease to have agency and instead are forced into roles dictated by the progression of time. Just like no one makes a conscious decision to stop being young, Millie never decides to move into the role of mother, rather the ascent of a new generation means that she can not continue to live the life of a young single woman. Just as Pinky stole her social security number, she steals her role in the world, forcing Millie to find another.

The final scene effectively sums it all up, showing the way that all women are connected and through the progression of time, the young supplant the old until they return to the waters and the cycle begins again.

Was this the interpretation that Altman intended? I don't know, but I feel like the film supports it. I don't think this was strong as McCabe or Nashville, but from an analytical perspective, it may be Altman's richest, most challenging film.

Related Posts
McCabe and Mrs. Miller (5/11/2006)
Nashville (7/7/2006)

Nashville

About a year ago, I wrote a piece cracking on Robert Altman, basically saying that he's done good films, but never great ones. A few months ago, I saw McCabe and Mrs. Miller, which is definitely a great film, and yesterday I rewatched Nashville, which I would now also rank as a great film, one that improved quite a bit on the rewatching.

The reason I first watched Nashville was because I'd heard it was a major influence on Magnolia, and that affected the way I viewed it. Magnolia is definitely Altmanesque in structure, but it has a lot more connection between the stories. It's one story split into nine different characters, while this is a whole bunch of stories that have some overlaps. In that respect, it's more like Morrison's Seven Soldiers, each character inhabits their own little universe, there's some crossover, and there is an overarching plot, but on the whole, most of the stories begin and end without being profoundly affected by what's going on elsewhere.

Some of the pieces here are complete stories, you could extract the stuff with Barbara Jean and make a 45 minute movie about her illness and murder. Others are just fragments, the guy with the violin case does a bunch of stuff, then ends up shooting Barbara Jean, but we don't get a sense of his motivation from what actually happens to him. Rather, his final action becomes a blank slate that we can ascribe motive to based on what happened elsewhere in the film.

I love the opening credits of the film, with a cranked up announcer shouting about the cast of "Robert Altman's Nashville." I love the meta touch, we're made aware that it's a film we're watching, this is basically a trailer within the movie. From there, we get the fantastic scene of Haven Hamilton performing "200 Years," a song that's very catchy. I love the juxtaposition of his folksy image, as evidenced by the song and his stage banter later, and his diva-ish personality.

This scene also introduces my favorite character from the film, Opal from the BBC. She's always hilarious, in her total lack of regard for the people around her and her absurd, over the top voiceovers. Every scene she's in is brilliant, but my favorites are the Elliot Gould scene, the voiceover about the cars and her dismissing Norman as a servant. The most emotional scene involving her character is when she's talking about knowing Tom "biblically," oblivious of Mary's relationship with him.

The subsequent scene, in which Tom plays "I'm Easy," and we see four different women looking at him, thinking he's singing just to them, is my favorite in the film. I think musical performance can be one of the most powerful devices to convey emotion in a film, and just watching a character listen to a song can tell us everything we need to know about their emotional state. It's a favorite David Lynch device, witness "Questions in a World of Blue" in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me or the whole Club Silencio scene in Mulholland Dr.

The "I'm Easy" scene is a perfect example of what the film's structure does in allowing us to experience the diegesis from multiple perspectives. We've hung out with Opal, Linnea, Mary and L.A. Joan, and they're all likable characters, so their happiness at watching Tom perform becomes pain for the viewer, because we're aware of what kind of guy Tom is. This is backed up by the song, which is Tom basically saying that he's got no problem with sleeping around.

The film does a good job of showing Tom's simultaneous attractiveness and bastardness. He puts so much effort into sleeping with Linnea, then once she says she's got to leave for the night, he's on the phone to someone else. So, this is a guy for whom the conquest is the important thing, when Linnea doesn't want him, he desperately wants her, but once she's not giving him anything, he's moving on while she's still in the room.

One of the most effective setpieces in the film is the car crash sequence, which does a good job of drawing the characters together. Visually, it's very cool, and it provides a lot of the very real moments that Altman excels at capturing. Altman's greatest strength is his ability to give you the feeling that everyone in the film is a real person and he just happened to wander into their lives with a camera. This is what threw me at first, because Magnolia is a film so utterly stylized, using all the tricks of filmmaking to immerse you in a characters' emotional world. Altman is much more of an observer, and that's very refreshing. I'm so sick of transparent three act Hollywood films at this point, it's great to see a film that builds a world and explores it. All the characters have arcs, but they don't feel contrived, they feel like just ordinary events that would happen to people over the course of time.

One of the surprising things about the film is the way that even though most of the characters don't find any closure, there is a definitive sense of resolution and satisfaction at the ending. The murder has a high level of ambiguity, the sequence of shots, with Kenny first looking at Barbara Jean, then at the flag, then shooting her indicates that killing Barbara Jean is an attack on traditional American values. When John is trying to convince Bill and Mary to appear on the TV broadcast he tells them that their new music will stand out against all the old fashioned Nashville stuff. So, their disillusioned 60s generation will replace the old generation, which is represented by Barbara Jean. That fits with a lot of the other stuff in the film, notably L.A. Joan never even seeing her aunt before she dies. The older generation is dying out, Barbara Jean herself is already being bumped out by Connie White, as is Haven. This also fits in with the fact that it's a fundraiser for the Replacement Party.

One of the most amazing moments of the film is when Albequerqe gets on the mic, finally having a chance to sing, and we find out that, unlike her parallel character, Suelynn, Albequerqe can actually sing. I love the way the song builds, the choir joining in and then the crowd, all saying "It Don't Worry Me." The song is fantastic and it gives a really powerful feeling of closure to the end of the film.

This is a film full of interesting stuff, it feels like being dropped into a world and given free license to wander around. There's hilarious bits, like Opal, and quietly sad moments, like the man losing his wife, but it all works together as one whole. And, it works equally well as a collection of small pieces. I'm not sure if I'd call this or McCabe his best film, but Nashville is the most distinctly Altman film in his catalogue. This is a film where even the end credits are great, due to a really rocking version of "It Don't Worry Me." So, watch the film and stick around for the credits, it's a great experience.



Related Posts
Short Cuts (6/10/2005)
70s Cinema, Box Office Economics and Auteur Filmmaking (6/21/2005)
McCabe and Mrs. Miller (5/11/2006)

A Scanner Darkly w/ Richard Linklater, Keanu, etc.

Tonight, I finally got to see one of my most anticipated films of 2006, Richard Linklater's A Scanner Darkly. Linklater's one of the best filmmakers working today, and Philip K. Dick is my favorite prose author ever, so I was justifiably excited about the fusion of these two creative masters. And, in attendance at the screening tonight were Richard himself, Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr., Jonathan Lethem and Philip K. Dick's daughter, Isa. It's a big post, first I'm going to do a quick non-spoiler summary of my thoughts on the film, then go into spoilers, and after cover the talk, without spoilers. So, if you haven't seen the film, just skip the middle part.

So, quick summary. The film is very close to Dick's book, and better captures the essence of how I imagine the world of PKD than any other film, even Blade Runner. I always imagined his books taking place in a fusion of the future and the 70s, a look that this film captures nicely. There's some innovative uses of animation, notably the scrambler suit, but I felt slightly distanced from the characters due to the animation. It doesn't work as well for this story as it did for Waking Life.

Right now, I'd say it was a good film, possibly great. I need a review to better assess, but my first impressions are that some of the middle dragged a bit, but the ending, both of the film and the coda after, were fantastic and very powerful. I'll definitely give it another look in the next couple of weeks when it's out in the theater. With films that I've been waiting for for so long, the first viewing is usually difficult because the real film doesn't quite match the expectations I had for it. So, another viewing is needed.

On to spoilers...

The film's opening, with the bugs, is right out of the book, and it's also the broadest moment. I think it does an effective job of setting up the danger of Substance D, but it's a bit too over the top next to the darker rest of the film. I think the subsequent scene, with Freck and the policeman, was much closer to the humor of the rest of the film, and much more affecting.

I was expecting the film to be a fusion of Dick's themes and Linklater's conversational style, and to a large extent that's true. The lengthy conversation about leaving the apartment door unlocked was both funny and thematically right on target. The diner scene with Frenk and Barris was right out of Waking Life.

The most Dickian scenes were the scenes with Arctor and the doctors. That was really mind bending, crazy stuff, particularly the exchange about the cards. The basic conceit of the film is great, undercover cop work is right on target with PKD's favorite themes, because it's all about multiple levels of identity. You're an actor in real life and inevitably, as in Arctor's case, the charade starts to become real and the reality fades away. Arctor is playing an addict, but in playing an addict, he becomes one, and then he's no different from the people that he was working to stop.

One of the most powerful scenes in the film was the flashback to Arctor's family life. It's a brutal condemnation of complacent suburban lifestyle, and just how these addicts are going to keep doing the same thing everyday, so do ordinary people. They may not have the vices, but they too have routine, and after a while, the dose they need to get through the day increases. Arctor has developed too much of a tolerance to his everyday life, what worked once doesn't do it anymore and he has to leave. I like how he still talks about his family at the police job because it ties in to the mixed up identities. As Fred, Arctor is presenting this front of a cop, he's "posing as a narc," as he says. By this point in the story, Arctor the addict is the real person and the man in the scramber suit is the construction. This is what the opening speech scene is about, he can't keep towing the party line.

My biggest issue with the film has to do with the animation. I'm not a big fan of animation usually, I think an actor's face in live action can do more than an animator can ever capture. I can certainly understand why the film was animated, and aesthetically it looked great, but I felt a slight distance from the characters. In Waking Life the animation was fine because that was basically a talking head film, and the animation gave it some visual pazazz. Here, I liked the flourishes they did, like the dream sequences in the beginning, but I think it would have been easier to relate to the characters as real people if it was in live action.

Of course, one of the reasons for the animation was to create a hazy, dreamlike world, and in that respect it succeeded. I actually found myself wishing there were more moments of surrealism, like those dream sequences, because the film was on the whole constructed in a very traditional way. I also feel like the score could have done a lot more, the strings sounded very Waking Life, but I would have liked something a bit more prominent.

But, even through the animation, the actors all turned in great performances. This is a perfect role for Keanu, who can do any character, as long as it's a variation on a California surfer. He was great here, and his conversations with Downey and Harrelson sounded exactly like what high people sound like, full of lengthy debates over ridiculous minutiae.

The film has some pacing issues, but it's largely redeemed by a fantastic finale. Arctor is sent into Newpath and we see him in a very aloof state. He seems totally gone, but he still picks up the flower and the film ends with a wonderful shot of all the flowers and the thought that they might eventually be able to bring down Newpath. This was a fantastic ending, abetted by some nice Keanu voiceover.

So, I was definitely up on the film at that point, and then the final coda pushes things even further. The film ends with the afterword from the book, where Dick lists the people he knew that inspired the book, and wound up messed up by drugs. It's a very powerful anti-drug statement and a fantastic tribute to PKD.

Watching that coda made me think about the film's stance on drugs. It definitely indulges in humor surrounding the characters' addiction, but it ultimately comes down pretty clearly in the negative. All the users in the film are paranoid and clearly on the road to mental damage. However, the brief scene of middle class life is equally oppressive. So, what is Linklater suggesting is a better way to live?

With the revelation that Newpath is growing Substance D, and is in league with the government, Linklater seems to be indicting society as a whole, implying that we're complicit in our own imprisonment, be it in boring middle class life or in the squalor of drug addiction. It's generally pessimistic, but there is some hope there in the final moments.

So, this film has a lot that really works, but some issues that hold it back from the greatness that Linklater reached with Waking Life or Before Sunset. The biggest issue may be the fact that he is so faithful to the book. It's cool to have a film that is close, but Linklater is such a great filmmaker, it could have been interesting to see him claim the material for his own. Still, it's the best film of the year so far, and full of interesting thematic issues to ponder. I'll need another viewing before I give it a definitive assessment.



END SPOILERS

So, about the Q&A. Before the film, Keanu and Downey went up to introduce it, at that point Richard Linklater was not there, his flight was delayed. So, they did some funny banter, then headed into the audience and Keanu ends up sitting two seats down from me. It was cool to see him watch the movie, he was having some popcorn and seemed to be really enjoying it, always a big smile on his face.

After the film, all five people went up on the stage for a Q&A with some good stuff, but a few too many stock questions. I think I'm skewed being from New York, but Linklater talked at a really slow pace, and seemed a bit unsure of himself. But, I hear they take things slower out in Texas. Downey was a joker, his best comment was when he admitted he still wasn't sure what happened with the end of the film.

I've always been a Keanu defender, so I was glad to see that he was actually quite intellectual. He was the one always bringing the book to set, and had a lot of interesting stuff to say about his character, even if he did drift off into uncertain rambling occasionally. Still, he seemed to really engage with the film's ideas.

Linklater talked about how he had read 'Valis' a while back and shortly after Waking Life, decided to do a PKD adaptation as his next animated project. He actually ended up asking a bunch of questions to Isa about how her father worked, and what his life was like in the A Scanner Darkly era. She talked about how PKD rarely did revisions on his books, he would generally just plow through and finish them. He's someone who has so many ideas, it feels like he's just got to get them down on the page as fast as possible.

Most of the stories they told were stuff I'd read in interviews before, how Linklater got the rights to the book, the different approach in shooting for animation, the process of animating it, etc. However, there were enough interesting comments to make it worth it. This was a case where the focus was more on PKD's vision than on Linklater's, and considering how much of an autobiographical work this was for him, it's appropriate that the film be something of a tribute.

After the Q&A, I asked Isa why it was such a struggle for Linklater to get the rights to this book, but there's a ton of crappy movies based off PKD short stories. She said that they consider some of his stuff 'Philip K. Dick light,' and that's what gets turned into a bad action movie, but they keep a closer guard on his more personal stuff. So, don't worry about seeing John Woo's 'Valis.'

If nothing else, seeing this film and Q&A definitely made me want to check out some more PKD books. I've read a lot of his stuff, but I've still got some major works left to check out.

Related Posts
Finding Meaning in Discussion: On Linklater and the Before Duology (12/7/2004)
Dazed and Confused (3/23/2005)
Richard Linklater Day (7/22/2005)

Belle and Sebastian @ Battery Park

I Fought in a War//Another Sunny Day//The Model//Sukie in the Graveyard//Don't Leave the Light on Baby//La Pastie de la Borgiosie//Jonathan David//If She Wants Me//If You're Feeling Sinister//Lord Anthony//Dirty Dream Number Two//Funny Little Frog//I'm a Cuckoo//Your Cover's Blown//The Wrong Girl//White Collar Boy//Sleep the Clock Around

Encore:
Star Spangled Banner//Boy with the Arab Strap

For the third time in eight months, I got to see Belle and Sebastian live. This was their second best show, not quite up to the performance at the Nokia theater in March, but better than their previous outdoor show at Across the Narrows in October.

The thing I really liked about this show was that they mixed up the setlist. They've got a huge back catalog, and always do a good job of mixing new and old stuff. Freed from the need to promote the new album, they went back to some older stuff, particularly Fold Your Hands Child, which had four tracks. It was cool to hear 'The Model' and 'Don't Leave the Light on Baby,' and you can never go wrong with 'The Wrong Girl,' the one song they've played every time I've seen them.

Other highlights were a really tight version of 'La Pastie de la Borgiosie' and a majestic 'Lord Anthony.' Hearing that song on the album, it doesn't sound like it'd go over great live, but it really built and ended up as a highlight of the show. That song in particular was helped by the presence of a string section, which Stuart claimed approached them that morning. Most of their newer songs are based around synths, so there's not a huge need for a string section, but if they've got them around, it definitely helps fill out the sound.

'Your Cover's Blown' should be played at every one of their shows, it's a great mix of disco and epic rock. 'I'm a Cuckoo' was my favorite song they played, though I would have loved to hear 'If You Find Yourself Caught in Love.' Along the lines of those anthemic pop songs, 'White Collar Boy' has been taken up a notch with each playing and it rocked here. The bass line is fantastic.

I usually prefer the newer songs, but it was great to hear the three best songs off 'Boy with The Arab Strap,' the title track, 'Dirty Dream No. 2' and 'Sleep the Clock Around.' I hadn't heard 'Sleep' live before, and it was a great set closer.

So, it was great to hear a bunch of different stuff live, and it was really great that it didn't rain. The sound quality at the venue was top notch and it was just a lot of fun to be outside watching a great show. I'm guessing this will be their last trip to New York for a while, but I'll definitely be there when they come around in a couple of years to support the next album.



Related Posts
Belle and Sebastian: 'Dear Catastrophe Waitress' (11/10/2005)
Top 20 Belle & Sebastian Songs (2/28/2006)
Belle and Sebastian @ The Nokia (3/4/2006)

2006 Screening Log: Part I

Here's all the films I've seen in the first half of 2006. The films with an asterisk next to it are the ones I'd seen before, but rewatched.


Five Star
Gozu (Miike)
All That Jazz (Fosse)
Clean (Assayas)*
Aliens (Cameron)*
Lost in Translation (Coppola)*
Star 80 (Fosse)
Casablanca (Curtiz)*
Brazil (Gilliam)*
In the Mood For Love (Wong)*
2046 (Wong)*
Apocalypse Now: Redux (Coppola)
Domino (Scott)*
Requiem for a Dream (Aronofsky)*
Visitor Q (Miike)
The Doom Generation (Araki)
Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (Park)*
The Shining (Kubrick)*
Lost Highway (Lynch)*
The Wild Bunch (Peckinpah)*
Boogie Nights (Anderson)*
Far From Heaven (Haynes)*
Days of Heaven (Malick)*
McCabe and Mrs. Miller (Altman)
Irreversible (Noe)*
Shampoo (Ashby)
Head-On (Akin)
The Professional (Besson)*
The New World (Malick)*

Four Star
Last Tango in Paris (Bertolucci)
Badlands (Malick)
On the Waterfront (Kazan)
Brokeback Mountain (Lee)
Broken Flowers (Jarmusch)
The Bow (Kim)
Lilja 4Ever (Moodyson)
Thumbsucker (Mills)
Dodge City (Curtiz)
Schindler's List (Spielberg)
Bride of Frankenstein (Whale)
6ixtynin9 (Ratanaruang)
Leave Her to Heaven (Borzage)
Secret Things (Brisseau)
High Noon (Zinneman)
Pretty Persuasion (Siega)
Two For the Road (Donen)
My Summer of Love (Pawlikowski)
Thelma and Louise (Scott)
Carrie (DePalma)
Tetsuo: Iron Man (Tsukamoto)
Head (Rafelson)
Three...Extremes (Chan/Park/Miike)
The Heroic Trio (To)*
The Searchers (Ford)*
The Seven Samurai (Kurasowa)
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Demy)
Imitation of Life (Sirk)
The Thin Red Line (Malick)*
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Hill)*
Dancer in the Dark (Von Trier)*
Little Big Man (Penn)
24 Hour Party People (Winterbottom)
Fat Girl (Breillat)
The Squid and the Whale (Baumbach)
Funky Forest (Ishii)
A Prairie Home Companion (Altman)

Three Star
Me and You and Everyone We Know (July)
The Piano (Campion)
High Art (Cholodenko)
Match Point (Allen)
Hell's Hinges (Swickard)
The 40 Year Old Virgin (Apatow)
Bubble (Soderbergh)
Back Street (Stahl)
Bound (Wachowskis)
Stagecoach (Ford)*
The Last Picture Show (Bogdonavich)
9 Songs (Winterbottom)
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Kaufman)
Lenny (Fosse)
Eros (Wong/Soderbergh/Antonioni)
The Ox-Bow Incident (Wellman)
Marathon Man (Schlesinger)
The Pillow Book (Greenaway)
Red River (Hawks)
Hearts of Darkness
Strangers on a Train (Hitchcock)
Sex, Lies and Videotape (Soderbergh)
Red Headed Woman (Conway)
The Gunfighter (King)
Morven Callar (Ramsay)
Stella Dallas (Vidor)
Pretty as a Picture: The Art of David Lynch (King)
Funny Ha Ha (Bujalski)
V For Vendetta (McTeigue)
Thank You For Smoking (Reitman)
Harold and Maude (Ashby)
Buffalo '66 (Gallo)
Written on the Wind (Sirk)
All That Heaven Allows (Sirk)
Rio Bravo (Hawks)
The Magnificent Seven (Sturges)
Sullivan's Travels (Sturges)
Election (Payne)
Capote (Miller)
The Hustler (Rossen)
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Fassbinder)
The Outlaw Josey Wales (Eastwood)
Main Hoon Na (Khan)
A Hard Day's Night (Lester)
Schizopolis (Soderbergh)
Vital (Tsukamoto)
Klute (Pakula)
Party Girl (Von Scherler Mayer)
Belle du Jour (Bunuel)
Darling (Schlesinger)
Blow-Up (Antonioni)

Two Star
Storytelling (Solondz)*
Downfall (Hirschbiegel)
The Man Without a Past (Kaurismaki)
Heathers (Lehmann)
Red (Kieslowski)
Spun (Ackerlund)
Way Down East (Griffith)
The Constant Gardener (Miereles)
Broken Blossoms (Griffith)
Alien 3 (Fincher)
Killer's Kiss (Kubrick)
Jesse James (King)
My Darling Clementine (Ford)
Fort Apache (Ford)
Mannequin (Borzage)
La Haine (Kassovitz)
The Girl From Missouri (Conway)
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (Allen)
Jane Eyre (Stevenson)
Shane (Stevens)
Gerry (Van Sant)
Lila Says (Doueiri)
Bull Durham (Shelton)
Don't Come Knocking (Wenders)
No Such Thing (Hartley)
Letter from an Unknown Woman (Ophuls)
Madame De... (Ophuls)
Totally F***ed Up (Araki)
Lola Montes (Ophuls)
Johnny Guitar (Ray)
Major Dundee (Peckinpah)
Some Came Running (Minelli)
Home From the Hill (Minelli)
Beauty and the Beast (Cocteau)
High Plains Drifter (Eastwood)
A Killing (Klympko)
Nine Lives (Garcia)
The Hired Hand (Fonda)
X-Men: The Last Stand (Ratner)
Art School Confidential (Zwigoff)
Scarface (DePalma)
L'Age D'Or (Bunuel)
Deliverance (Boorman)
Man Bites Dog (Belvaux)
A Tale of Two Sisters (Kim)
Superman Returns (Singer)

One Star
Malena (Tornatore)
Underworld: Evolution (Wiseman)
Wyoming Outlaw (Sherman)
Silent Witnesses (Bauer)
Ran (Kurasowa)
Balzac and the Chinese Seamstress (Dai)
Broken Arrow (Daves)
P.C.U (Bochner)
Winchester '73 (Mann)
Viva Zapata (Kazan)
Taegukgi (Kang)
Cobweb (Minelli)
The Brave Heart Will Take the Bride (Chopra)
Failan (Song)

Subtracting stuff I'd watched before, here's the overall ratings breakdown.

Five Stars: 8
Four Stars: 32
Three Stars: 50
Two Stars: 45
One Star: 14

So, this wasn't the best time for new films. Though, my ratings are a bit different than your average critic. A five is a perfect or near perfect film, a four is a really good to great film, a three is a film that had solid entertainment or intellectual value, a two I probably liked, only the ones were films I really couldn't stand. But still, I didn't see that many great movies, and only one, All That Jazz made it into my all time top 100. And just for comparison's sake, here's how the two halves of 2005 break down.

First Half of 2005:
Five Stars: 16
Four Stars: 27
Three Stars: 34
Two Stars: 23
One Star: 32

Second Half of 2005:
Five Stars: 9
Four Stars: 30
Three Stars: 29
Two Stars: 18
One Star: 11

Related Posts
2005 Screening Log: Part I (7/7/2005)
2005 Screening Log: Part II (1/1/2005)

My Emmy Nominations

Back in March, I did a post with all my Oscar nominations,and now it's time to do the same for the Emmys. The actual nominations are out next week, but here's what I think they should be. Now, I'm a bit handicapped because I can only put down people who are on shows that I actually watch, but there's a pretty solid mix of shows. In some cases, I chose to combine comedy and drama, just because I don't watch that many shows and I wanted to put people down who actually have done good work. And, rather than doing seperate writing and directing catergories, I combined them into a Best Episode catergory. And one final note, the eligibility period was June 1, 2005 to May 31, 2006, which means that a couple of shows that are now gone are making the return here. On to the awards...

Supporting Actor (Comedy):
Will Arnette - 'Gob' on Arrested Development
Michael Cera - 'George Michael' on Arrested Development
David Cross - 'Tobias' on Arrested Development
Kevin Dillon - 'Johnny Drama' on Entourage
David Sutcliffe - 'Christopher' on Gilmore Girls


Arrested clearly had a lot of fantastic performances, but the most consistently funny one on the show is Michael Cera as George Michael. His bizarre relationship with Maebe in the final few episodes of the series gave him some of his best material and he managed to get huge laughs by underplaying the material.

Supporting Actress (Comedy):
Kelly Bishop - 'Emily' on Gilmore Girls
Alexis Bledel - 'Rory' on Gilmore Girls
Portia De Rossi - 'Lindsay' on Arrested Development
Alia Shawkat - 'Maebe' on Arrested Development
Jessica Walter - 'Lucille' on Arrested Development


Two of the people in this category are basically playing the same character, Kelly Bishop and Jessica Walter, the only difference is that one lives in a relatively real world and the other lives in a crazy cartoon world. However, I think the best performance here is by Portia de Rossi who went to such weird places in the final few episodes of the series.

Supporting Actor (Drama):
James Callis - 'Gaius Baltar' on Battlestar Galactica
Michael Imperioli - 'Christopher' on The Sopranos
Chris Messina - 'Ted' on Six Feet Under
Tony Sirico - 'Paulie' on The Sopranos
Jeremy Sisto - 'Billy' on Six Feet Under

This is a category with a ton of worthy people, you could easily get five from the cast of The Sopranos alone. However, the winner here is Michael Imperioli, who always remained emotionally intense even when the show started to drift towards the end of the season. His lingering issues about Adrianna's death and the direction of his life provided some of the season's best material.

Supporting Actress (Drama):
Tricia Helfer - 'Six' on Battlestar Galactica
Tina Holmes - 'Maggie' on Six Feet Under
Grace Park - 'Sharon' on Battlestar Galactica
Katie Sackhoff - 'Kara' on Battlestar Galactica
Grace Zabriskie - 'Lois' on Big Love

Another catergory with a surplus of great performances, however the best is Grace Park, who had to create two seperate, but very similar characters and pulled it off entirely. She provided the best moments in the weak run during the second half of the season and her work at the end of the year, particularly in Downloaded was fantastic. She's one of those people who makes every scene they're in great.

Actor:
James Gandolfini - 'Tony' on The Sopranos
Michael C. Hall - 'David' on Six Feet Under
Peter Krause - 'Nate' on Six Feet Under
Julian McMahon - 'Christian' on Nip/Tuck
Kiefer Sutherland - 'Jack Bauer' on 24

For me, Peter Krause is Nate, I don't watch him and say "That's a great performance," I just see it as someone who exists and is living his life. While the Oscars usually reward stuff like Ray or Capote, where you're always aware of watching a 'great performance,' I think the best acting is like Krause's, where there is no apparent line between the character and the person. His angst during the early part of the season leads to the absolutely brutal breakup with Brenda on his death bed. He went through a lot this season, and I would consider Krause's work as Nate over the course of the series the greatest television performance of all time.

Actress:
Lauren Ambrose - 'Claire' on Six Feet Under
Kristen Bell - 'Veronica' on Veronica Mars
Edie Falco - 'Carmela' on The Sopranos
Lauren Graham - 'Lorelai' on Gilmore Girls
Rachel Griffiths - 'Brenda' on Six Feet Under

This is the best bunch of performances of any of the acting categories, and if you compare it to the best actress nominations at the Oscars, it's pretty clear that women are getting much more to do on TV. Falco and Graham did some of their best work this year, but no one can top Rachel Griffiths, and her work as Brenda. Take everything I said about Krause above and repeat it, because she does the same level of brilliant work. The thought of her going through this extended story about miscarriages and possible genetic disease while actually pregnant is crazy, but she takes it and does some of her best work. The one scene that stands out for me is the dream where she and Billy are about to have sex, it's such a creepy scene, but she handles it perfectly. Brilliant work.

Episode (Comedy):
Arrested Development – ‘Development Arrested’
Entourage – ‘I Love You Too’
Gilmore Girls – ‘I Get a Sidekick Out of You’
Gilmore Girls – ‘Partings’
Gilmore Girls – ‘The New and Improved Lorelai’

Obviously, Gilmore Girls had a lot of great stuff, but the best comedy episode of the season was the insanity of Development Arrested, which saw the series spin further into craziness then it had gone before. They knew they were cancelled, so Hurwitz and co. took this as the opportunity to break down all the taboos and go to a very odd place. It's very satisfying as a series finale, with the biggest highlight being the return of Anyong. It was a great way to go out.

Episode (Drama):
Battlestar Galactica – ‘Downloaded’
Six Feet Under – ‘Ecotone’
Six Feet Under – ‘Everyone’s Waiting’
The Sopranos – ‘Join the Club’
The Sopranos – Mr. and Mrs. Sacrimoni Request…’

The final five minutes of the series were its best, but the best episode of Six Feet Under's final season, and the best episode of the year, was Ecotone, one of the most intense and brutal episodes of any series. This went to a lot of the same territory as Buffy's The Body, but with its glimpse into a parallel universe and dream ending, it goes to a uniquely Six Feet Under place. Nate breaking up wtih Brenda and the dream were both highlights, but it was that final white screen that left me totally overwhelmed. Nate had quite a journey, and this was an incredible way to go out.

Series (Comedy):
Arrested Development
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Entourage
Gilmore Girls
Weeds

It's odd to give the best comedy award to Gilmore Girls, because this season went to a very dark place and stayed there, culminating in an all falls apart finale, but the show's in the comedy category, so content be damned, it shall win. This season saw the best work from Lauren Graham, taking Lorelai in a darker direction, first with the strain between Rory and Lorelai, then with the strain between Lorelai and Luke. This is a great example of a show staying fresh by exploring new territory, and even if the show loses something wtih the Palladinos, at least they went out on a high note.

Series (Drama):
Battlestar Galactica
Big Love
Six Feet Under
The Sopranos
24

For the final five minutes alone, Six Feet Under deserves this award. No show provided has ever provided as satisfying a conclusion as the jump into the future. But, the entire season took those kind of creative risks, Nate and Brenda's arc, Claire's time in the office, the chaos 'Static' and the sadness of 'Ecotone.' All fantastic stuff. When this was airing, Sunday night became the highlight of my week. It was the second strongest season of the show's run and a perfect conclusion for one of the greatest series of all time.

Total (Wins)
Six Feet Under - 10 (4)
Arrested Development - 8 (3)
Gilmore Girls - 7 (1)
The Sopranos - 7 (1)
Battlestar Galactica - 6 (1)
Entourage - 3
24 - 2
Big Love - 2
Nip/Tuck - 1
Veronica Mars - 1
Weeds - 1
Curb Your Enthusiasm - 1

Related Posts
My 2004 Oscar Nominations (1/26/2005)
My 2005 Oscar Nominations (1/31/2006)