I saw Brokeback Mountain yesterday. I'd say that pretty much does it for the big movies of '05 that I've seen. I decided to boycott all bio-pics this year ... Walk the Line, Capote, Good Night and Good Luck, I haven't seen any of them. Why you ask? Well I figure its like this; if I were to make an album where I totally copped Sinatra, sang Sinatra tunes, tried to emulate Sinatra's voice, use Sinatra's arrangements, etc. I'd be looked at like a ripoff artist and there'd be no way I'd be nominated for a Grammy. But when Jamie Foxx cops Ray Charles he gets a Grammy. I don't see the difference. In my mind its easier to play a living person because you have a source instead of having to create something out of your imagination, thus the boycott.
So if I was running the Oscars here's how they'd shake down:
BEST PICTURE-Syriana
BEST ACTOR-Terrence Howard, Hustle and Flow
BEST ACTRESS-Laura Linney, The Squid and the Whale
SUPPORTING ACTOR-Mickey Rourke, Sin City
SUPPORTING ACTRESS-Michelle Willians, Brokeback Mountain
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY-Syriana
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY-Munich
BEST DIRECTOR-Paul Haggis, Crash
ART DIRECTION-Sin City
Last night my buddy Pasta calls me and tells me that this restaurant he works at occasionally has been playing The Funky Supervillain for weeks. He had given the owner a copy and the guy loved it. So I went to the restaurant after it closed to meet the guy, he was really nice and really complimentary of the record and told me it plays there at least twice a day. He even said he'd sell it behind the bar if I brought him some copies. I thought that was pretty cool, it's nice when total strangers are into your stuff (no offense family and friends). I'll take him some copies next week.
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- at 12:00 PM on Saturday, February 04, 2006
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9:55 AM
hey you... I have this big issue about covers---unless you have some new and interesting perspective on a tune, you ought to leave it alone. So there we're in agreement. But I do feel differently about biopics---and that's because of our fascination with celebrities and the fact that they can have pretty interesting lives---so I wonder, Lym: do you also boycott autobiographies or biographies? Curious.
I have to tell you, you've missed a tremendous performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman. Capote was an incredibly intriguing man and the circumstances around his writing In Cold Blood are even bizarre. Its a tale worth being told and it does require talent to portray someone faithfully to what is known about them. More, even, to pull off the feat of suspending the knowledge of both the subject and the actor to believe that the actor IS the character.
did you like Brokeback Mountain? I can't tell if I should see it or not.
loving you and all you do---
kat -
12:39 PM
Biographies and autobiographies are accounts of a person's life, not a "dramatization" "based on a true story." The story can get so convoluted you don't know what is what.
Besides a writer can write a biography and show unique skill in his craft. He or she is not merely emulating another writer simply detailing somebody's life.
And Brokeback Mountain was very good. I don't think its as great as everyone seems to think it is, but its a great movie. -
5:05 PM
Yeah---I've been worried that the characterization of love would be given the usual Hollywood treatment--playing to cliche and shock. My buddy Dave liked it well enough but I think he was just distracted by how hot Heath Ledger is... I may go see it, maybe not.
You may recall meeting neighbor Renee Randall when you were here in May. She and her husband played your disc at a little happy hour they hosted last evening and the response was VERY positive. The crowd was mostly from Annapolis so maybe you'll get to play Ram's Head again and we can fill the room.
Lov eyou
kat - 9:31 PM
- 9:31 PM
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10:01 PM
Kat touched on some of the exact same things I was thinking when I read your post. However, I think that even a new and interesting perspective on a cover is still using someone else's art, or in many cases life, as your own and there is a risk in that. I'm not sure I can see the difference between that and biopics. Even (auto)biographies could be said to be "based on a true story". Just ask James Frey. Done properly, I think a biopic can be much harder to pull of than other films, specifically because there is a real life person in which to compare the performance, just as Kat stated. I don't think just anybody can do a movie about another celebrity or historical figure and do it well. I think it takes a lot of skill to make the audience believe that they are watching Ray Charles or Johnny Cash or Capote and not watching a movie about those people.
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11:35 AM
A cover is using someone else's art as a vehicle for your own artistic vision. Just listen to Julie Andrews sing "My Favorite Things" then listen to John Coltrane play the same song. The two versions sound worlds apart.
Now if John Coltrane did a version of "My Favorite Things" where he tried to look, act, and sound exactly like Julie Andrews (a'la actors in biopics) he would not be expressing his own artistic vision, merely copping hers. -
12:33 PM
Ok, I'll agree that covers are a little different. I'll also agree that if John Coltrane tried to act, sound, and look like Julie Andrews it would be wrong because that's a musician imitating another musician. However, I still don't see the problem with having an actor portray a musician. Two different professions.
- 10:22 AM
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1:02 PM
lyman: regardless of what you think about biopics, I'm going to buy you a copy of Capote when its released on DVD because, goddammit, PSH was flipping fantastic and the general cinematic craftmanship, the subtlety of human interaction, the nuance of theme---jeez---this is a movie that made me want to jump out of my seat and shout. It was that fantastic of a movie. In fact, Mr. Medeiros, I'm going to Amazon.com right now and pre-ordering it for you. so you definitely should give me the two hours time to watch it. You can convert it for viewing on your new iPod video on a long trip.
You know I'm a hard-ass about pop-culture and art. I wouldn't say this was good if it weren't. And I didn't like Ray. So there. I would like it very much if you'd give it the time to watch it and then tell me if you think there's no art there...OK?
I actually walked immediately from the movie theater to a bookstore to buy In Cold Blood so that I could have a full appreciation of the events portrayed in the movie. I'm so glad I did. I loved the movie, loved the novel but they are not one and the same. At all.
kat
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