Cinema in Quarantine: The Straight Story

As with most things, I was late to the game in seeing David Lynch's 1999 film The Straight Story. When I finally got my hands on it I had heard enough about it to decide in advance that it was something I would like, knowing only that it was a story of a man who takes a long journey through the upper midwest on a lawnmower. I ended up enjoying it so much that I put it in the lineup of a "ten best indie films" list I wrote when I used to write reviews for Examiner, and brought it to one of the community ed film classes I taught (which the class also loved). A few days ago I sat down with Cameron Cloutier again (@bodian26) to do a rewatch and commentary.

What struck me most this time was how the film does such a great job of drawing out emotion for Alvin Straight (Richard Farnsworth) through its simplicity without seeming too overly sentimental. Some of the things about getting older that hadn't occurred to me in previous viewings made a bigger impact this time around; declining health, family estrangements, remembering when you were young, all this becomes a lot more important in later years (and I've gotten plenty older since the last viewing). Slow moving camera, interactions with unique characters, and as always, a beautiful score by Angelo Badalementi make this film indeed a David Lynch masterpiece, but one unlike any of its fellows in the Lynch collection.

The Straight Story is 112 minutes, is rated G, and is currently available to stream on Disney+.

Cinema in Quarantine: Wild at Heart

Last week I got together with writer and filmmaker Cameron Cloutier (@bodian26) to watch and discuss David Lynch's Wild at Heart in a live stream video. Cameron is the director of Queen of Hearts, an intriguing Twin Peaks-inspired film that explores characters Caroline Earle and Annie Blackburn, and through all this we discovered that we both really favor Lynch's late 80s/early 90s period that includes Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, and Wild at Heart.

My own personal experience of seeing this film for the first time was kind of interesting, at 15 I had to shut it off about halfway, but about a year later I muscled my way through the Big Tuna scenes and ended up really enjoying it. Unfortunately I was not able to see this in a theater, which would have been an entirely different, very visceral event (which Cameron describes). For anyone trying this for the first time, just know it's very violent, very sexual, and filled with jarring, intense moments that you just have to be able to go with. If you can make it through the conclusion of the Johnny Farragut situation about midway through the film, you'll probably be fine to the end. IMDB's official description uses the phrase "variety of weirdos" to summarize the film and the people in it, and while it's true, these people are weird and violence is at the root of the story, the film is a lot more than just that. For more on plot summary or character details you can read this review, also pretty informal, that I did ten years ago on this blog.

Sometimes when you watch a film you've seen multiple times, the experience can feel a little like you're just going through the motions or just serves as a setting where you can recite all the lines and feel comforted by the familiarity. Relaxing. Validating. This never really happens to me during Lynch films or Twin Peaks for two reasons.

1. Everything on the screen is so rich with detail---dialogs, composition, music, effects---there's almost always something each time I view that I notice for the first time. For instance, this time Cameron brought my attention to the music during the film's opening: its interesting shift from Badalementi's score to "In the Mood," to the aggressive guitars of Powermad during the first murder. Very disorienting but very fitting for introducing Sailor and Lula (while Marietta lurks in the background). Also Marietta's cute little pink bathroom with floral wallpaper. The furniture in the hotel lobby in New Orleans. And a random longhorn (we decided it may have been a light or decal with a florescent bulb along the underside) leaned up against one side of the bed at the motel in Big Tuna that was only there for one scene at night and then disappeared (!) Always something to see, hear, or think about.

2. The uncanny, somewhat incongruent elements (usually in the form of characters, but sometimes entire scenes or musical numbers) that pop up Lynch's work and speak to his brilliance and individuality as an auteur. I'm always on high alert when waiting for these situations, things like Marietta's mishandling of the lipstick, the woman sidestepping across the stage with her fingers flickering up by her cheeks at one of the New Orleans musical venues, the story of Jingle Dell, or the old men loitering around the hotel lobby where Johnny is supposed to meet Marietta (but has gone "buffalo hunting").

I've already said too much, but it was a fun couple hours reminiscing and hearing another fan's experience of it, too. Take a look, if you want to see/hear more, or better yet, turn on the film and watch along with us. Let me know in the comments what you think!

All the Updates

I tried to take a picture out the front and back doors as so to document the fact that it is snowing today, October the 27th, 2017, but the camera on my phone couldn't capture it and I thought posting a picture with superimposed snow (even though it is happening) would be a fake, cheater thing to do.

I've never not loved the piano.

Someone asked me today where my film review of It was, which means that this one person must have enjoyed my film reviews at some point over the years and therefore this validates me as a person, as a writer, and as someone who paid for and is still paying for a (mostly useless) film degree. The truth is, I haven't done many film reviews because I took a full-time job two years ago with Americorps as a reading tutor, and then just last May started full-time graduate school at Augsburg University for a masters degree in music therapy, which is to say my spare moments are all pretty much spoken for. In addition to piano, my at-one-time major instrument, and violin, my at-another-time second major instrument that's been left to sit way too long, I'm learning guitar, ukulele, and . . . (shhhhhh) voice. The interesting thing about this is the fact that my voice is not particularly ideal for singing, it's low and nasally, so more equipped for things like humming, ranting, or annoying people but it's coming along.

The education piece been exciting, challenging, and at times, very scary, but I really do love it, and have found myself more than once appreciating all the years of writing at Iowa's Summer Writing Festival and The LOFT Literary Center, because as it turns out, graduate school, even for music, is a shit ton of writing. Although in an interesting side note I'll add that chemistry, biology, and anatomy (all prerequisites for my admission) did not draw upon any writing, liberal arts, or narrative-based skills at all, and having to re-learn how to be tested on solid, scientific facts was somewhat of an adventure for someone whose main scholastic efforts tended to be, "GOOD ENOUGH," or "ALL MY BULLSHIT SOUNDS LEGITIMATE WHEN WRITTEN OUT THUS," (see former).

Regardless of my life, work, and educational commitments, I have missed writing about film and television. I taught a film appreciation class for Minneapolis Community Ed for five years and had to bow out this semester, and I find myself missing that, too. Funny how the things you tell yourself are too much seem to find their ways back to you if they're important enough.

We've started The Walking Dead and everyone loves it, especially the dynamics between Rick and Negan, which are admittedly very graphic, very unpredictable, and kinda sick. Here's the reason I'm okay with it: YOU CAN USUALLY ACCEPT AN ENEMY AS LONG AS THEY HAVE A SOMEWHAT WINNING/UNSTABLE-YET-NOT-ABRASIVE PERSONALITY. And I think a bit of comedy is also necessary. Some favorite examples:

  Howard Payne in Speed. Intelligent (he makes bombs), mildly unstable, but high on the comedy factor. Loved this guy.

  Bobby Peru in Wild at Heart. Not terribly smart, quite abrasive, and extremely unstable but enough comedy to carry him through (and by comedy in a David Lynch film I mean grotesquerie.) 

  Annie Wilkes in Misery. This bitch is crazy AF but still finds time to play with her pet pig, listen to Liberace records, and watch The Love Connection. Bonus points for being a dedicated fiction reader.

There's just something about a bad guy/girl who manages to entertain you while being bad. You don't necessarily root for them, but you get a little excited when they come on. This isn't always the case; there have been tons of terrible, disgusting villains that you really just wish would piss off and die. Scorpio in Dirty Harry, Martin Keamy in LOST, or Ramsay Bolton in Game of Thrones. Gross, abrasive, and no redeeming qualities therefore prompting wild applause in their respective deaths. Do you have any favorite villains? Or any you absolutely hated? I'd love to talk more about this, Walking Dead, or any other similar topics!

I don't like you, Negan, but I don't want you to go, either.

Tomorrow, I'll talk about It: why I loved it and why I took the family to it.

All the Twin Peaks #8

Sorry, darling but I like the blondes.

Twin Peaks Journal

Episode #8 The Last Evening

Airdate: May 23, 1990

Written by: Mark Frost

Directed by: Mark Frost

Summary: Doctor Jacoby is beaten by a mysterious assailant; Deputy Andy shoots Jacques Renault; Leo torches the sawmill with Shelly and Catherine inside; Nadine Hurley attempts suicide; Lucy tells Andy she's pregnant; Hank shoots Leo; Ben tries out the new girl at One-Eyed Jack's (who happens to be Audrey), Cooper is shot.

Other Areas of Interest:

*How fitting that among other various talents, Cooper can count cards!  

*Jacques drives a goddamned EL CAMINO! YES! 

*Nadine's suicide setup is pretty elaborate. Poor Nadine. 

*Norma seems to be visibly disgusted by Hank, as we all are.

THOSE GETUPS! 

*Leland is starting to lose it.

Rating: 🍩🍩🍩🍩 (Four doughnuts out of four possible)

There are some seriously amazing moments in this episode: 1. Cooper's subtle reaction of disapproval when Jacques, during their interview at One-Eyed Jack's, says that Leo "was doin' a real number on her (Laura)," which was accomplished mainly by a sudden tight closeup on Cooper's eyes, and 2. Sheriff Truman's look of utter fury and badass as he and his team close in on Jacques Renault. What a couple of guys.

I suppose the bigger issue here, the theme, if you will, is that the murder of Laura Palmer has become secondary for Cooper. Even though still an outsider, the crime has now begun to affect Cooper on almost the same level as the others---Truman, Doc Hayward, James, etc.,  and not just as an agent of the law, there's emotion involved now. He's angry when Jacques nonchalantly brags about the sexual escapades with Laura, just as Truman is when he finally gets his chance to arrest who he believes is Laura's killer. It matters to us in the same way as we too have become invested and want justice.

Old girl finds JR, Dallas, 1980.

What we saw Cooper's dream is the suggestion Cooper will eventually solve Laura's murder, but also that the dream itself was bizarre in a way that only David Lynch could conceive---the room was red and sinister, a little man was speaking in what sounded like backwards-dubbed language, and Laura Palmer whispered into Cooper's ear who her murderer was. It's a valid assumption that Cooper both has grown to care about the people of Twin Peaks AND is intrigued by the mystery of his dream and the strangeness of the events surrounding the murder (I'm mostly referring to Sarah Palmer's visions, The Log Lady, The One-Armed Man, and Cooper's ability to tie all this together to the assumed-to-be-related murder he mentioned at the town meeting). We are on the brink of getting resolution with all this and then, BANG BANG, in a cliffhanger to end all cliffhangers (props back to the old school "Who Shot JR," for paving the way), Cooper goes down. A perfect episode with a perfect half-cadence conclusion to leave us high and dry, waiting for the next season.


Best Lynch Moment: Leo hiding behind the door with an axe

Best Line: "Be quiet, I'm thinking. . ." --Catherine to Shelly as the mill bursts into flames

Coffee, Pie, or Doughnut References: 1

All the Twin Peaks #7

"Audrey, you're a high school girl . . . "

Twin Peaks Journal
Episode #7, Realization Time
Airdate: May 17, 1990
Written by: Harley Peyton
Directed by: Caleb Deschanel

Summary: Lucy gets the results of her pregnancy test (wait, WUT?); Leo shoots Waldo the bird; Cooper, Truman, and Big Ed go to One-Eyed Jack's; Maddie sets up Doctor Jacoby; Audrey goes undercover at One-Eyed Jack's; someone spies on Doctor Jacoby.

Other Areas of Interest:
*Perhaps if Audrey would have postponed her little surprise-I'm-naked-in-your-bed thing with Cooper she might have been better received. . .

*Madchen Amick's acting is stepped-up as Shelly tells Bobby about shooting Leo, I believe it! Go, Shelly, GO! Red nails just like Lula Fortune in the mirror, crying.

*Unicorn=ancient symbol of purity? How ironic for "freshly-scented" perfume counter (One-Eyed Jack's) recruits. I gag thinking about stuff like this actually happening. I want to take all the exploited girls away in a death rig like Furiosa in Fury Road. And what do the hearts next to each counter girl's name mean? Ronnette got like three.

Jacques: That's Me! 

*Cooper has wealth of good ideas and seems sophisticated but at heart a gleeful little nerd. I bet he was awesome in shit like chemistry and physics. And quite attractive.

*Poor Jacoby. Innocent in all of this but takes a pretty big fall. And James' constant touching of Maddie is a little creepy. They all should have known that getup was a dead giveaway---Laura would never have worn that many layers of clothing. Maddie looks like a padded preschool teacher with all that garb piled on.

Rating: 🍩🍩 (two doughnuts out of four possible)

So here we are, back at the bizarre stuff again: high school girls getting recruited to whorehouses, talking birds, and Josie being an awkward liar. The anticipation of going to One-Eyed Jack's grows, bringing us toward an exciting conclusion!

The loose ties thus far: Jacques Renault/Leo Johnson (did they kill Laura? And what's up with that bird?), Catherine/Ben/Josie (Who will come out of this one on top?) James/Donna/Maddie/Jacoby (Was there something going on with the shrink?) Hank/Norma/Big Ed/Nadine (just unfortunate, all around). LELAND PALMER (getting creepier and creepier).

Best Lynch Moment: Leland, unobserved,  sits erect on the couch and watches Maddie sneak out of the house
Best Line: "I don't like birds,"--Cooper, when declining to feed Waldo
New Characters: Waldo the Myna Bird
Coffee, Pie, or Doughnut References: 2
Journal Entry of the Day: The Queen of the Double R, Norma Jennings

All the Twin Peaks #6

YES! 

Twin Peaks Journal
Episode #6, Cooper's Dreams
Airdate: May 10, 1990
Written by: Mark Frost
Directed by Lesli Linka Glatter

Summary: Cooper, Truman, Doctor Hayward, and Hawk visit the Log Lady and investigate Jacques' cabin; Audrey gets a job at Horne's Department Store; Maddie agrees to help James and Donna; Ben and Josie plot to burn the mill; Leo is assaulted by Hank Jennings and then shot by Shelly.

Audrey greets Cooper in bed (!).

Other Areas of Interest:
*Cooper has no patience for the Icelanders

*Ray Wise really is a genius as Leland. So much crying! All this dancing is just sad, and Catherine just makes it worse by imitating his moves.

*Cooper gets giddy over the Fleshworld situation---"Let's see who's writing to Ronnette!" Sometimes he seems like a little kid.

*Leo's phone call home---I MISS YOU, SHELLY? What, he misses hitting her? I suppose we should assume that he requires service in the bedroom as well as other areas of the house, or maybe Shelly really is just a maid to him? I want to believe that Hank is really just following up on his investment gone bad with Leo, but with the way he was leering at Shelly in the diner, I suspect he might have been thinking of the long game and a future without Leo and maybe a tumble or two with her? Hank is only slightly less disgusting than Leo; his one redeeming factor is that he seems to defer to Norma, who I still cannot believe dated/smashed with/married Hank.

Shut your eyes and you'll burst into flames!

*The Log Lady, Margaret Lanterman, is the first person to openly challenge Cooper in anything, she slaps his hand away from the cookies. How forward of her!

*The lineup shot of the four (Cooper, Truman, Hayward, and Hawk) is really sweet, it makes them all look badass and powerful and it conveys the importance of  Jacques' cabin as they all pause, scoping it out before launching into it. Julee Cruise playing softly on that turntable off in the distance just makes it all the more creepy, because why not? (Where we're from the birds sing a pretty song, and there's always music in the air.)



Rating: 🍩🍩 🍩 (Three doughnuts out of four possible)

After watching these episodes several times, it's been fun noticing little nuances that each new or different writer or director brings to his/her production. For example, this episode, written by Frost and directed by LLG has great emotional range and has a somewhat lesser focus on the strange/grotesque factors--(the episodes Lynch writes and directs are the opposite of this). Cooper's childish side, Leland's anguish, and the repeated encounters with the Icleanders' song are interesting situations with big emotions, and these scenes contribute to how the show manages to stay lighthearted and heavy in perfect balance throughout the first season. Nice work.

Best Lynch Moment: Getting to know the Log Lady
Best Line: "Wait, what kind of cookies?" ---Hawk
New Characters: The Icelandic Investment Group, Emory from Horne's Department Store
Coffee, Pie, or Doughnut References: 4
Journal Entry of the Day: Your favorite and mine, Shelly Johnson! I guess I thought she needed an Airstream trailer with some flamingos or something. Poor Shelly. It always made me sad she had to light her cigarettes on the stove (with all that hair just waiting to ignite) and then had to do all Leo's disgusting laundry OUTSIDE. We all want a better life for Shelly.

All The Twin Peaks #5

"I saw this man in my dream."

Twin Peaks Journal
Episode #5, The One-Armed Man
Airdate: May 3, 1990
Written by: Robert Engles
Directed by: Tim Hunter

Summary: Sarah Palmer describes the man she saw in Laura's room; the one-armed man is found; Norma's husband, Hank, is paroled; Cooper and Truman investigate Laura's bird bites; James meets Madeline Ferguson; Leo impresses Ben Horne by killing Bernard Renault and promising to burn down the mill; Cooper searches Jacques Renault's apartment and find Leo's bloody shirt; James and Donna can't find the necklace.

Other Areas of Interest:
*There seems to be some weirdness going on between Leland and Sarah when she's talking to the cops. Is Leland making fun of her "visions?" She seems pretty annoyed with him after he brings up the necklace vision . . .

*Ah, Lucy and Andy are "together," or were, maybe.

*Cooper asks Jacoby if Laura had problems, "Oh my, YES."

SICK.

*Hank is a damned creep. What's up with that domino? Quit putting it in your mouth. Yuck. I can't believe Norma hit that.

*Cooper and Truman stepping up to shoot targets after having emotional conversation about broken hearts is awesome.

Rating; 🍩🍩🍩1/2  (3 and 1/2  doughnuts out of 4 possible)

Things are getting complicated. According to Donna, Laura said her mother was "spooky." How about the fact that both Sarah AND Cooper have had visions/dreams of the same creepy guy? And while Laura's death is the catalyst for the story, it's a far cry from being the only strange occurrence around here. Everyone's either having an affair or plotting to ruin someone's life (with Ben Horne or at the request of Ben Horne). The drama is escalating nicely---at this point really anyone could have killed Laura and it's like a game of Clue over here, trying to narrow it down.

And about the doppelganger theme (introduced first on "Invitation to Love," the soap opera the characters seem to enjoy). See "Mirror Image," on The Twilight Zone for the endgame of all this business.The Madeline Ferguson situation is a giant red flag.

Hey, it's me! Seems legit. . . 

Best Lynch Moment: Ben Horne taking "Little Elvis," for a bath.
Best Line: "File it under "f" for "forget it,"--Cooper to Gordon Kohl regarding Albert's report on Sheriff Truman
New Characters: Gordon Kohl (voice), Hank Jennings
Coffee, Pie, or Doughnut References: 1
Journal Entry of the Day: The one, the only, LEO JOHNSON

All the Twin Peaks #4

Twin Peaks Journal
Episode #4, Rest in Pain
Airdate: April 26, 1990
Written by: Harley Peyton
Directed by: Tina Rathbone

Summary: Cooper tells Truman and Lucy about his dream; Truman punches Albert; Maddie Ferguson arrives; Norma Jennings talks to her husband's parole officer; the town attends Laura's funeral; the Bookhouse Boys interrogate Bernard Renault; Josie and Truman get it on; Leland Palmer is slowly losing it.

Other Areas of Interest: 
* Cooper flirts with Audrey to get her to give up her handwriting sample. On One-Eyed Jack's---"Women, you know, work there." How subtle!!!

I'm not scared of funerals, I LOVE funerals!

*Bobby reaches up to crucifix at first to perhaps imitate and then to strangle Christ. If only there was something that could get him and his father to communicate!

*Shelly is quite the hit with the old codgers in the diner doing the imitation of Leland falling on the coffin schtick!

Rating: 🍩🍩🍩🍩 (Four doughnuts out of four possible)

We know most of the characters by now, but what about the town as a character? This may sound a bit sentimental, but what makes this episode great and sets it apart from the previous three is that we see the beginning of a change in Cooper (a good one, not a stupid one that comes later when he does that dumb-ass thing and falls in love with an ex-nun), and it's Twin Peaks itself that's driving this.

Cooper starts by pulling rank on Rosenfield for not releasing Laura's body for the funeral, he replaces Laura's hand back on her chest after Rosenfield knocks it off, records a query to Diane about potentially purchasing real estate (in Twin Peaks), and then joins Truman's little secret society to look into a crime that has absolutely nothing to do with Laura Palmer. He's becoming invested in the community! It's a hidden, creepy little town, but there's something about it we're all drawn to . . .

"We all knew she was in trouble,"

Best Lynch Moment: Leland Palmer pitching abruptly onto coffin
Best Line: "To Laura, Godspeed." --Cooper
New Characters: Madeline Ferguson, Joey Paulson, Bernard Renault
Coffee, Pie, or Doughnut References:4
Journal Entry of the Day: Maddie

All the Twin Peaks #3

I wanted to be boat girl, but whatever.

Twin Peaks Journal
Episode #3: Zen, or the Skill to Catch a Killer
Airdate: April 19, 1990
Written by: David Lynch and Mark Frost
Directed by: David Lynch

Summary: Ben and brother Jerry go to card-suit themed brothel; Bobby and Mike have been involved in drug deals with Leo Johnson, who wants more money; Cooper uses an ancient Tibetan rock-throwing technique to narrow down list of people of interest; Albert Rosenfield arrives; Nadine is successful in inventing silent drape runners; Cooper dreams of Laura.

Other Areas of Interest:
*Ben and Jerry with those Brie sandwiches---there seems to be some innuendo implied with these sandwiches that I really don't care to explore any deeper, although Jerry looks down at the sandwich when discussing Laura's death, was there something more between them?

*Doc Hayward uses good old-fashioned intimidation to orchestrate his daughters' chastity---"Will you be joining us for church tomorrow, Donna?" Eh, James is dim enough, it probably was all that was needed.

DOUGHNUT AND COFFEE TABLE!!!

*The new girl at One-Eyed Jacks looks very much like Laura Dern (Lula? is that you?)

*When Cooper throws the rocks for each "J" name, two rocks hit stumps, James Hurley and Josie Packard. All the other rocks must mean something, right?

*Cooper smiles big when Laura kisses him in the dream . . . (!)



Rating: 🍩🍩🍩🍩 (Four doughnuts out of four possible)

This is one of my favorite episodes. You really get a firm sense of direction in the Lynch-helmed ones, and this has it. There's something giddy and immature about Ben and Jerry Horne together, being naughty and going off to screw whores, just as there are cheesy moments peppered throughout the episode (Ben serenading Blackie, Big Ed and Norma, Lucy babbling on about which names to erase, and so on) but Lynch gives everything just the perfect amount of silly time and then cuts before it gets to be too much because just as you start to think things are silly or cheesy all the time, you get a Leo Johnson scene or that red room at the end, and things are dark and serious as hell, reminding us all that in the middle of all the doughnuts and coffee and dorking around, some pretty sinister stuff has been going on, too. Balance. Without it the show would be all soap opera or all violence instead of a skillful weaving of both, at once.

Best Lynch Moment: THAT RED ROOM AT THE END
Best Line: "Leo needs a new pair of shoes!" --Leo, shining light onto own feet.
New Characters: Jerry Horne, Blackie O'Reilly, Albert Rosefield, Little Man Dancing
Coffee, pie, or doughnut references: 6
Journal Entry of the Day: These two, Bob and Leland (shudder).

ALL THE TWIN PEAKS

Here it is: bad collage and terrible criticism!

TWIN PEAKS JOURNAL
Pilot Episode
Airdate: April 8, 1990
Written by: David Lynch and Mark Frost
Directed by: David Lynch

Summary: Welcome to Twin Peaks, Washington! A guy goes out fishing and happens upon the dead body of a young woman, wrapped in plastic. As the community grieves the loss of the girl, Laura Palmer, an FBI Special Agent rolls into town, ready to guide the local law enforcement as they try to discover who killed her.







Other areas of interest:

* A girl named Audrey Horne (Sherilyn Fenn) delightfully spoils her father's business deal
* Two high school dudes, Mike (Gary Hershberger) and Bobby (Dana Ashbrook), act douchey
* Biker guy and girl with the decade's greatest mushroom cut bury a necklace
* Sarah Palmer (Grace Zabriskie) seems to have heightened senses about her daughter and could stand to lay off the Virginia Slim 120s. Damn.

*The pilot opens on a shot of the very lovely Josie Packard (Joan Chen) in front of a mirror, messing with her lips. As we see more, Ms. Packard has a very "kept woman" vibe, but there is definitely more than meets the eye going on with her. First name starts with "J," though, just in case that becomes important later on . . .

*That ceiling fan is creepy.

*Dr. Jacoby (Russ Tamblyn) seems a bit . . . touched (to use proper psychological terms, affect is off, giggling at inappropriate moments, improperly forward with Cooper). He's probably on drugs.

*"Nervous about meeting "J" tonight," WHICH J? This is a mystery!!!

*Is that bank clerk Sheryl Lee dressed up in a wig and huge glasses? VERY FUNNY, LYNCH. I guess he just couldn't get enough of her.

Okay, maybe it's a beer. 

*WHAT THE HELL IS THIS CAT LEO JOHNSON DRINKING, CREME DE MENTHE? This is my favorite thing visually, so far. It's like he's this badass macho trucker but yet takes pulls from his fancy-bottled liqueur whilst threatening his wife for smoking multiple cigarette brands.

 And it's hard for me to decide whose perm I enjoy more, Leo's or Shelley's. Do I need to say I disapprove of spousal abuse and how he belittles her? I DISAPPROVE.



Rating: 🍩🍩🍩🍩 ( 4 doughnuts out of 4 possible).

Overall, the way this pilot was written and directed really make it an outstanding television achievement. Nothing like this had been done on network television before---things like Pete Martell's constant mumbling to himself, the slow dolly down the empty hall in the high school while the principal announces Laura's death, Cooper's excitement over pie and coffee, and the unconventional pauses between lines of dialogue, reaction shots, and the nagging feeling that something is a bit off with every single person in this community--this is what happens when an amazing director does television.



Finally, Laura's Page from my journal:
Oh, and spoilers, I guess.

Happy Tax Day!

Sorry I ain't been around . . .

I last posted here in February of 2013.

Kind of a lot has happened since then but I still dig on all this and as always, have things to say, so as the Black-Eyed Peas so eloquently put it, let's get it started. I'll try to be brief, poignant, and entertaining (and I'll be failing at 1 and 2).

HIT RESET.

1. HOMELAND (spoilers) 

I'm a huge fan of Homeland, have been since the beginning. I think we actually left Christmas of 2013 early in order to get home and finish the season we'd been binge watching that week, and with the exception of season 4, I've enjoyed each consecutive year's offering. And as a bloated, self-important, longtime fan, I'll even go on record and say I thought they did a great job this year.

From what Twitter has to say, people were really piss-and-vinegared about the finale--Quinn's er, resolution, as it were, and sure, it was unfortunate. You know what else is unfortunate? EVERYTHING ELSE ON THAT SHOW. Oh, you liked Brody? Yeah, things went poorly for him. You enjoyed Saul and Mira together? Yeah, no more of that. David Estes? Farrah? Dana Brody? Just kidding, everyone thought Dana Brody was an insufferable brat, but whatever. These were all interesting, well-written, well-developed characters and all of them had bad things happen to them because it's a show about THE CIA. No one gets a fun, happy life, least of all Carrie and least of all Quinn. If you wanted an ending where they frolicked off into the sunset I think you may have been watching the wrong show.

Quinn was a legit badass, one of my very favorite characters of all the shows I'm invested in. What made him so striking was that he was damaged and competent---the best at his job, but intelligent enough to know that the job he was so very good at was killing him, little by little. Many times the writing referenced Quinn's desire to leave intelligence, but someone or something always pulled him back in and because he was the best black ops agent Dar Adal had ever recruited, he got every shit job that came along because no one ever got 'er done like Quinn. (We don't ever want to know what happens on the wall, we just know that we want him on that wall, we need him on that wall.)

What happened to Quinn in Berlin was terrible, and what happened to him after was terrible. Yeah, he was in love with Carrie. Yes, it would have been nice if they got together and left the life to go raise Frannie and Hop on a beach somewhere, but it was never gonna happen. If Quinn didn't have a stroke, something else would have done it, because EVERYTHING ON THIS SHOW IS UNPLEASANT. Maybe I've spent too much time watching Kathryn Bigelow's films, but people who have difficult jobs often times don't get a lot of blissful moments. I think Quinn got that, and so did Carrie. He did a noble, selfless thing in the end, not just for Carrie but for the PEOTUS, as well. Too bad she turned out to be such a snake in the grass. I know I'm probably in the minority here, but I'm very excited to see what they do with that dynamic next year---remember all those years with Evil President Charles Logan on 24? Everyone loved hating that guy.

Salutes to Rupert Friend for his amazing portrayal of Peter Quinn, here's one of my faves of his:



2. TWIN PEAKS 

This guy!

May 21 is the premiere date of the new Twin Peaks reboot, a two-hour long episode! I've started a re-watch and plan on dropping these creepy little reviews I did of the show the first time I watched all the episodes back in the 90s which referenced things like

Best Lynch Moment: Cooper meeting Audrey, "Do your palms ever itch?"
Best Line: "By God those things will be quiet now!" --Nadine
Coffee, Pie, or Doughnut Count: 9

I don't want to know anything beforehand, but Kyle MacLachlan has been extremely active on Twitter, answering questions live and liking/retweeting a ton, so that's been pretty rad. I think they're all as excited as we are! See you there? SEE YOU THERE.

3. I'm teaching a Tarantino film class for Minneapolis community ed this spring, which is pretty much the class I've been wanting to teach since I started doing film classes there in 2012. Wednesday nights, 7pm. Link below, if you're interested. Need to be at least 16, kids, and FYI, films will contain violence.

Film Appreciation: The Films of Quentin 
Tarantino

Hopefully I'll see you there, too!

Books of Note

1. The O. Henry Awards Prize Stories, 2000.

Yeah, I'm pretty much not punctual when it comes to everything (year 2000 and all). There were twenty short stories in this volume; I liked them all. My two favorites were "He's At The Office" by Allan Gurganus and "Whileaway" by Jeannette Bertles. The first was about Alzheimers disease, the second about the aftermath of a divorce; both were brilliant and involved little bits of trickery by their characters. I'm kind of big on trickery, of course and furthermore, I think everyone should read short stories. Creating a contained world for a short piece and its events from start to finish is actually a lot harder than most people realize, but when done right? Amazing. The very last story was one by Raymond Carver ("Kindling"), whose style I really, really like a lot. Here's a bit:

"Then he put the pen down and held his head in his hands for a moment. Pretty soon he got up and undressed and turned off the light. After he'd gotten into bed he realized he'd left the window open. But he didn't get up. It was okay like that."

2. Roger Ebert's Book of Film, 1996.

This is a really respectable collection of writings on film, not film reviews, and is basically really valuable knowledge on the craft. Parts of it felt a little heavy to me, not because the essays or interviews weren't interesting (they all were) but because many of the subjects were film people (stars, directors, writers) from a completely different era and it kind of felt like reading a history novel after a while. Yeah, it's a generational thing, I suppose, but let's just say I put my time in with all that years ago, so I gave myself license to skip any parts that weren't blowing my skirt up. I'm sure Ebert won't mind. As a whole, though, I really liked this book, it made me giggle a lot, and many of the essays were really well done.

Libby Gelman-Waxner writes (on noir and David Lynch):

"I saw Wild at Heart at a brand-new multiplex in SoHo, where there is a cafe that serves French pastries and at least ten different bottled waters, and where at least one of the theaters is always showing a blasphemous foreign film that portrays Jesus as either a cabdriver or a teenage girl. Everyone in the audience had asymmetrical haircuts, glasses with thick black frames, and clunky, rubber-soled shoes. They looked like French opium addicts, but if you ask me, they were all probably assistants at public-relations firms uptown. All of these people loved Wild at Heart, and they all felt that David Lynch is a quirky visionary who deals in subconscious dream imagery, and after a while, I wished I was home watching a Golden Girls rerun. I have never been able to sit through a whole episode of Twin Peaks; it's a postmodern soap opera, which means that every time someone onscreen eats a piece of apple pie, you can hear a thousand grad students start typing their doctoral dissertations on "Twin Peaks: David Lynch and the Semiotics of Cobbler."
(SNORT! I mean, granted, I love Wild at Heart AND Twin Peaks, but I was in school together with an ocean of French Opium Addict-looking dudes, and trust me, that last statement is more valid that you'd think. . .  !)

And Bukowski (from Hollywood)

There was a small group with cassette recorders. Some flashbulbs went off. I didn't know who they were. They began asking questions.
"Do you think drinking should be glorified?"
"No more than anything else . . ."
"Isn't drinking a disease?"
"Breathing is a disease."
"Don't you find drunks obnoxious?"
"Yes, most of them are. So are most teetotalers."
"But who would be interested in the life of a drunk?"
"Another drunk."
"Do you consider heavy drinking to be socially acceptable?"
"In Beverly Hills, yes. On skid row, no."
"Have you 'gone Hollywood'?"
"I don't think so."
"Why did you write this movie?"
"When I write something I never think about why."

I think I'm going to have to get Barfly pretty soon.

Fire Walk With Me

Fire Walk With Me, 1992. Written and directed by David Lynch.
starring: Sheryl Lee, Ray Wise

This is by far my favorite of Lynch's films; like Twin Peaks but with nudity, bludgeoning, and swearing. RIGHT ON. What I like best about this film is the utter comedy thrown in (with all the jazz music, love for blonds, and fear of the elderly). I don't think I've laughed so hard in months as during the first hour of this film. Just ridiculous.

-Gordon Kohl's voice, "GET ME AGENT CHESTER DESMOND IN FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA!" and uncomfortable beat with secretary before she walks out. And pretty much Gordon Kohl's voice anytime, anywhere.

-The whole Lil production. Seriously. "CHET! YOUR SURPRISE!"

-The entire scene from start to finish in the diner. The flashing lights in the front room together with Jack's explanation about Irene. Irene herself. "Are you talking about that little girl that got murdered?" "I KNOW SHIT FROM SHINOLA!" Once again, "Are you talking about that little girl that got murdered?"

-Carl (played by Harry Dean Stanton). The sharpie-written threats on the door. "This is all just the way she left it, I ain't touched a GODDAMNED THING!" Good Morning America = coffee. And all the creepy random people wandering in and around Carl's trailer: WHERE'S MY GODDAMNED HOT WATER? HOT WATER, CARL!" he replies, "I'm gonna get you a Valium."
Harry Dean Stanton is a genius.

This is where we live, Shelly!

The comedy factor obviously goes down from there, but it's a lovely ride. David Lynch is an extremely strange man in his own little world, but seriously. The man loves blondes and can write awkward/funny; aces in my book.

One final note: Once while discussing this film, at the part where Laura is doing lines in her mismatched lingerie up in her bedroom, I said, "WHAT THE FUCK IS SHE WEARING?" My brother in law responded (completely deadpan), "Nothin' but the best for Jacques and Leo. . . "

Bobby Briggs: I would so hit that.

I just love it. After LOST, Twin Peaks has got to be my very favorite television event. And I'm glad (for my own health and safety) that I didn't see this in high school. Bobby Briggs would have done me in. This has all gotten me into a very Twin Peaks kind of mood. (Laura Palmer? See you later!)

Wild At Heart.

What's it about? IMDB says, "Young lovers Sailor and Lula run from the variety of weirdos that Lula's mom has hired to kill Sailor." I suppose I need to do a better job with actually giving legitimate descriptions of the things I rant about on here instead of just peppering some pseudo film or book review with my emotional blathering, so there you go. 


I learned a lot of things from this film.

1. Just how creepy David Lynch really is. I didn't ever watch Eraserhead or The Elephant Man or Blue Velvet until I was in school for film. This, for some reason, I saw because my mother's best friend from college brought it home, probably from Honzay's in Bird Island (we had a Beta); I think I would have been in tenth grade. Yes, this is a severly inappropriate film for a fifteen-year-old, but I don't even think my mother knew I was watching it. My brother might have even seen it too, I'm not sure, but he would have been twelve. Whoops.

The first time I made it almost until Johnny Farragut met his end and then couldn't take any more. This is to say, it was too disturbing for me *BEFORE* Bobby Peru came on. I remember being severely troubled by those old codgey dudes wandering around the hotel.
Or Marietta, covered completely in red lipstick and the damned elf shoes? It seemed to be one big cluster of weirdness, and honestly, I didn't understand one bit of it.


2. About a year later, I was talking to a friend about it and she said something like, "isn't that movie, like, full of sex or something?" Until then, honestly, I hadn't even processed that YES, it was, because of all the other creepy shit that was going on. Plus I never really found Nic Cage that hot (until years later) so I had no interest in it. So we rented it on a Friday night and watched it straight through--it's quite long, actually, and it was full of sex. This time, I watched it and thought, "Wow, she's really into him. And boy, they really are having sex in many different positions WITH THE LIGHTS ON! What's she gonna do if he, you know, leaves her?" Since getting dumped was the biggest concern any girl with no self esteem could have. . .

 And what do you know? She gets pregnant, he lies to her, robs a bank with Bobby Peru, goes to jail, and leaves her standing at a railroad crossing with his son, who he had never met. I was absolutely crushed, I remember it very clearly. But he comes back. And I bawled. A lot. And then I think Wendy and I took off somewhere and got into some weird situation with Keith Paananen standing on the side of the road, hitch-hiking, maybe?

Somehow, through all of the weirdness, it's still my favorite sick little love story. And Sailor Ripley, as a character? Best. Lines. Ever. Although that screaming through the song at The Hurricane has got to go. It's almost as bad as James Hurley singing in Twin Peaks.
"I'd like to apologize to you gentlemen for referring to you all as homosexuals. You taught me a valuable lesson in life. LULA!"

3. Let's talk about Bobby Peru. Seriously, has there ever been anyone this gross? I did an image search and of course, the only ones that came up were the ridiculous TEETH when he's making his disgusting little drooling, bad-guy laugh when he reveals to Sailor that he, Bobby, has outsmarted him ("those are dummies, DUMMY!") Apparently the fitting of the teeth was a big event on the set during the filming, with Lynch gleefully telling Dafoe, "Time for your teeth, Man!"

 Ugh. I seriously almost vomit every time I see those teeth. It's almost a relief when he blows his own head off. And the whole exchange with Lula in the bedroom when Sailor's away is just horrid. The stuff that he says to her? Downright terrifying. It's disturbing to me that I find the writing of this character so impressive when the character himself is probably *the grossest* thing, ever in a film. Some dude at Blockbuster tried to argue with me once that Hopper in Blue Velvet was a more disturbing villain, and because I never argue with anyone, I let him win that one, but I really don't agree. The nitrous mask made Hopper seem a little bit more monster-ish, maybe, but nothing can compete with those goddamned TEETH! And the way Peru is all snappy and reactionary about the Tonkin Incident? Definitely waaay more unstable, but sly enough to come wandering into Lula's hotel room and orate on puke, pregnancy, and jack rabbits? What a nightmare.

4. Diane Ladd should have won the statue in 1989.

What's your favorite Lynch?

Lost Season 5 and 24 episode 4

LOST: fine. A good enough beginning. Kate kind of overreacted to the whole blood test thing, which I'm sure was engineered by Benjamin Linus somehow. Sun, I just feel kind of blah about. So getting revenge is more important than spending time with your daughter? Take a lesson from Beatrix Kiddo: sit in a hotel room, spend your money, and don't look back.

Sayid is the Iraqi Jack Bauer. I love it.


24: That killing of Samantha Roth was unnecessarily brutal. What luck that the secret service guy happened to catch a less than ideal position on the fall over the railing! Now if that first gentleman knows ANYTHING he'll call his WIFE and get someone outside the secret service over the ASAP to see the kid dead with this elaborate scheme all laid out and rubber gloves and plastic wrap still on his person.

I am starting to think that ETHAN is the rat inside the oval office. It obviously won't be the secretary that resigned but someone she thinks is on her side; he fits the bill. Plus he was the corrupt warden in The Shawshank Redemption, some stereotypes you just can't escape. . .

Jack needs to stop being tender with Renee Walker. She honestly believes the FBI ISN'T INFILTRATED? Like David Lynch said about the Iphone. . . GET REAL.

Theory on Twin Peaks, season 1

Jonathan Rosenbaum says about Lynch:

". . . .he is perceived and celebrated in some quarters not as an integral part of this country's ideological mainstream but as a serious artist subverting the American soil from within. . . "

"It could be argued, morever, that Lynch's increasing visibility and popularity is largely a function of the fresh contexts in which his work has appeared. Compared to ERASERHEAD, BLUE VELVET is like a TV soap opera, and compared to BLUE VELVET, TWIN PEAKS seems formally unadventurous and fairly tame in terms of subject matter; but compared with other TV serials, TWIN PEAKS looked like a bolt from the blue. . . ."

**maybe. But cinema and television are completely different as mass media. You cannot make ERASERHEAD television, not back at that time, anyway. No one would have watched it or gotten it except for Lynch fans.
(I think all this was taken from the collection FULL OF SECRETS edited by David Lavery, who also edited a collection together on The Sopranos called THIS THING OF OURS. This guy is seriously my intellectual media-idol)


"In my opinion, the first problem---the important problem in our world--is the problem of dissemination, and it's the conception of this dissemination that may lead to catastrophe. The way it's used now, the influence of the masses leads to nothing but the scattering of material. For example, think of a liter of wine: it's certainly sufficient when shared by three or four people. But if we want this same liter of wine to be shared by one thousand people, we have to put water in it, and then it's useless. We have to wonder whether something like this doesn't happen in the process of dissemination."
---Jean Renoir.

Renoir made political films. Poetic realism, French cinema after the first world war. Was of course an artist but always dealt with societal issues, rich/poor, government, etc. This is not what Lynch does, but Lynch is still an artist making comments on society. Whereas Renoir had weightier issues on his agenda, American directors (generally, and even more today) tackle issues using a bubble gum approach by showing us ridiculous situations we think are important but are really just trivial. No one is say, starving to death usually, even in a very serious film. No one is sitting in a back alley somewhere without water to drink or without clothing to keep them warm. American audiences are not usually accustomed to seeing children or babies die. These things happen the world over, but in cinema, as in life, we close our eyes to them.

Notes/Discussion on Twin Peaks, Season 1

Thanks to Cinema Garmonbozia for the original program clips https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjQpnf6Ty3gBuUgkKF3wITg


The event is a spectacle; uniting the community (WATCHING TWIN PEAKS was this way, back in the day, like Dallas, The Sopranos, Lost, etc.)

Laura=event, even before her death. This unfolds during the pilot episode, showing how everyone was connected to Laura.
theoretically speaking, the event of Laura's death mirrors TELEVISION as a medium, its ability to connect everyone as well.

genre: detective story vs. soap opera vs. lynch cinema (art). which elements are more? make a list or chart.
is Twin Peaks cinematic (like the Sopranos)?
writing. how the genre in the first season compares to what happens in second?

narratives in detective stories vs. narratives in soap operas. usually detectives are not so clean. Coop is special, flawed, but we don't find this out until the second season. Coop is almost unhuman: robotic hand gestures, philosophical/divorced from emotion (at first) from Laura's death/omnipotent in knowledge and instinct. . .

What of the NEATNESS of the first season? Ends on a bit of a half-cadence, true, but wrapped up nicely too!
(decline). This happens in mafia narratives. You never see anything through to the end that isn't heading into the guttter.

America: small town vs. city: Albert Rosenfeld factors in here largely, Maddie too?
secrets: who has them, how many people know about them

GIRLS in America. Is this really going on? (sex, drugs, abuse?) with homecoming queens?
innocence vs. evil in both Leland and Laura.

Twin Peaks episode 7

airdate: May 23, 1990
director: Mark Frost
writer: Mark Frost

Summary: Jacoby is beaten by a mysterious assailant; Deputy Andy Brennan shoots Jacques who survives; Leo torches the sawmill with Shelley and Catherine inside; Nadine Hurley tries to kill herself; Lucy tells Andy she's pregnant; Hank shoots Leo; Ben goes to try out the new girl (Audrey); Cooper is shot by a mysterious gunman.

****four star rating: Let's Rock!

Notes: How fitting that among all his other various talents, Coop can also COUNT CARDS! The close up on Coop's eyes ROCKS when Jacques unfeelingly describes Leo "doing a number" on Laura as if it were funny. ROCK ON! Jacques drives an El Camino? Of course he does. Harry walking up to Jacques with such a pissed off look is PRICELESS!!! Truman is the hottest thing in this show. Some of the shots here maek me want to cry with amazement. Even the look on James' face is good after hearing scathing remarks about himself while listening to Laura's tape. And normally I just want to punch James (and Donna) in the face. Nadine's suicide attempt is really elaborate! Norma seems physically (visually) disgusted by Hank; so am I. Leland is starting to lose it.

Best Lynch moment: Leo hiding behind the door with an axe.

Best Line: "BE QUIET! I'm thinking. . . ." Catherine to Shelley while the mill is on fire.

coffee, pie, or doughnut references: 1

Twin Peaks episode 6

airdate: May 17, 1990
director: Caleb Deschanel
writer: Harley Peyton

Summary: Lucy gets the result of her pregnancy test; Leo shoots Waldo; Cooper, Truman, and Ed Hurley go to One-Eyed Jack's; Maddie sets up Jacoby; Audrey goes undercover at One-Eyed Jack's; someone spies on Dr. Jacoby.

**two star rating: My Log Does Not Judge

notes: Perhaps if Audrey would have just *postponed* her little naked-in-bed stunt she would have been better received by Cooper. Shelley's (Madchen's) acting is actually all right when telling Bobby about shooting Leo. Unicorn=ancient symbol of purity, how ironic for the "freshly scented" perfume counter One-Eyed Jack's recruits. Cooper has a lot of good ideas and seems to me like a sophisticated and giddy nerd. Quite attractive, though. I feel really bad for Jacoby, innocent in all this. Poor hippy.

Best Lynch Moment: Leland watching (unobserved) Maddie sneak out of the house.

Best line: I DON'T LIKE BIRDS. --Coop, declining to feed Waldo.

New Characters: Waldo the Myna Bird, Mysterious Asian Man

Coffee, pie, or doughnut references: 2

Twin Peaks episode 5

airdate: May 10, 1990
director: Leslie Linka Glatter
writer: Mark Frost

Summary: Cooper and Truman visit the Log Lady and investigate Jacques' cabin (and find Waldo); Audrey gets a job at Horne's Department Store; Maddie agrees to help James and Donna; Ben and Josie plot to burn the sawmill; Hank beats up Leo; Shelley shoots Leo; Cooper finds Audrey in his bed.

***three star rating: Stab it and Steer

Notes: Coop gets a little giddy and boyish when getting excited over Fleshworld? LET'S SEE WHO'S WRITING TO RONNETTE! Margaret is the first one to challenge Coop by slapping his hand away from the cookies. What's up with Leo telling Shelley he misses her (out of the blue)? Nice shot of the four dudes lining up one at a time to look at Jacques' cabin.

Best Lynch Moment: The Log Lady

Best Line: "---not much meat on her, though." Hank Jennings, ABOUT SHELLEY JOHNSON.

New Characters: The Icelandic Investment Group

coffee, pie, or doughnut references: 4