Susan Hated Literature

Over at North Atlantic Skyline there is a great photo of the record-breaking almost 50 surfers on the same wave. And elsewhere on that blog is a great shot of the lightening in Galway last week.

As well as changing the colours of the blog, I’ve also altered the sidebar a little. From now on a limited number of random links from the blogroll will show up over there. The full list can be accessed by clicking on the The Blogroll link up above. This is because I’ve started using Google’s Reader/RSS thingy, so don’t need the links here, plus it makes the sidebar shorter, which with this particular theme is a good thing. Although it is still a little on the long side.

I’ve also been to see two films this weekend; The Squid and the Whale is a very well made film^[1] about the impact of a divorce on a family. Semi-autobiographical account of the writ/dir Noah Baumbach’s family.
The Devil and Daniel Johnston is a totally autobiographic documentary about musician/artist Daniel Johnston and his struggles with his art and his bipolar disorder. It offers a lot of honesty and insight, but I felt^[2] as though the film-makers were a little manipulative of Johnston and his family.

And of course it is Luna Nina time:

1. Immune ::
2. Together ::
3. Blank ::
4. Professional ::
5. Thousand ::
6. Penetration ::
7. Shutter ::
8. Upside down ::
9. Neck ::
10. Unlisted ::

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Dir & Writ: Noah Baumbach

• Jeff Daniels - Bernard Berkman
• Laura Linney - Joan Berkman
• Jesse Eisenberg - Walt Berkman
• Owen Kline - Frank Berkman
• Anna Paquin - Lili
• William Baldwin - Ivan

A film about divorce set in the 80’s doesn’t really sound all that appealing, does it? Maybe not, but this is still a film worth seeing

I’m not sure how much of this is based on truth, but it seems that quite a bit of this film is based on Baumbach’s parent’s divorce, and there is a very strong sense of truth and honesty running through this film. And is quite a sad film, dealing as it does with the breakdown of a marraige, but at the same time it has some great humour.

It is the characters and acting that make this such a good film. Bernard is one of those overly academic types that has to analyse everything to death. Who is so sure of his own opinions that he isn’t happy until everyone else shares them. He has been a succesful author, but his most recent works haven’t been published. Joan, on the other hand, is an up-and-coming author, her work is excerpted in the New Yorker. Both husband and wife come across as caring, but somewhat distant parents to their two sons. It is almost as though they treat them too much as adults. Bernard in particular is guilty of this with Walt. Even more so after he leaves the family home and moves across the park.

But despite the excellence of Linney and Daniels, this film would be nothing if the two actors playing the sons didn’t deliver. And deliver they do.

Walt over identifies with his father. He worships him and takes all his opinions on board as though they were his own. He doesn’t even bother to read the books he recommends to a girlfriend, he so trusts his father’s opinion. In a way he is the perfect embodiment of the self-obsessed teenager, believing he is capable of greatness, and thinking he is so much better than others.

Frank seems hardest hit by the divorce. The youngest in the family he doesn’t share as many interests with his father. A fact emphasised when Frank tells Bernard that he is a philistine. That he wants to be a philistine. But he isn’t coping with the divorce to well, especially after being left behind by his father he ends up spending the weekend alone. He turns to drink and masturbation.

This isn’t a film everyone will enjoy, but I found it very entertaining, and moving in a non-sentimental way. The Bernard character comes across as more of a bad guy than anyone else, but there isn’t really any judgement being passed on any of these characters. They’ve all done silly stupid things, because that is what life is about. This film is content to simply present them and their actions and let the viewer decide on the meaning.

Official Site | IMDb | Daddyo’s | Ramblefish | Movies in a Nutshell

Dir. & Writ: Jeff Feuerzeig
Starring (as themselves) Daniel Johnston, Bill Johnston, Mabel Johnston, Louis Black

This is a documentary based on the life of musician, song-writer, and artist Daniel Johnston. Throughout his life he had taped conversations and videoed life going on all around him, many of these are used in this documentary. Johnston is something of a cult hit in the music industry. Numerous big names have come out in support of his music, and Kurt Cobain in particular raised his profile by wearing a t-shirt of Johnston’s album art for Hi How Are You. But to the world at large he is fairly unknown.

Daniel Johnston suffers from bipolar disorder, and a lot of his music if based on hallucinations, mood swings, and obsessions. In particular one fixation one girl, Laurie Allen, he met in his teenage years.

It is hard to ignore the music in this film, it is almost frightening in its honesty. But I don’t think I could listen to much of it. Johnston is a hugely talented song-writer, but the raw nature of his singing means that he probably comes across much better in live performances.

While this is fascinating look at Daniel, and his struggle with mental illness, this film seems a little exploitative. I suppose every documentary uses the subject, but somehow the impression of Daniel Johnston being used by the documentary really comes across.

They say that every artist is a little crazy, but as one of his friends says in this film, the abstract is a lot easier to take than the reality.

Official Site | IMDb | Guardian | News of the Dead | DubLinks