The Heart and Mind

I previously discussed the Edge books: smart, brief discussions about a variety of topics. In particular, What Are You Optimistic About? is interesting in how it allows the thought leaders of today to explain why the future is actually getting better. In a time like ours, which I see as fairly pessimistic, this is a great read. The inspiration for today's link is how this book is a collection of brief essays: each entry is no more than a couple of pages long, and many are significantly shorter. It's a buffet for your brain: a little Jared Diamond, some Judith Rich Harris, a dash of Steven Pinker, Richard Dawkins, Brian Greene, and many others...

The movie Paris, Je T'Aime is a group of vignettes, each with a very small cast, and each by a different director. Most are interesting and touching, and they all take place, of course, in Paris. There are 18 vignettes, each in a different arrondissment, and each with a distinct feel. There's Olivier Assayas, Alfonso Cuarón, the Coen brothers, Tom Tykwer, and Gus van Sant. There's Juliette Binoche (of course!), Nick Nolte, Natalie Portman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Elijah Wood and Steve Buscemi. It was really fun to watch the incredible cast and phenomenal group of directors have a go at conveying the feel of Paris.

Strange endings and beginnings

I'm going to make a link today between the book Barney's Version by Modecai Richler, and the movie Magnolia, directed by PT Anderson. But the strange thing is that I'll only provide a hint as to why.

Barney's Version is about an aging Montreal Jew who is convinced to write his memoirs as a defense against accusations in the autobiography of an enemy. The story itself, the characterization of Barney, are all incredible. He's tough to love if you imagine yourself actually knowing him, but easy to smile with as he tells his own version of his life story. He was accused of the murder of his best friend, was found innocent, and is incredibly upset at his best friend for disappearing. But his best friend was sleeping with Barney's third wife. Barney is an increasingly unreliable narrator, which always makes for an interesting story, and Mordecai Richler does not fail to entertain and enrich.

In addition to a great story with a curmudgeonly character, Barney recalls all sorts of places and times that strangely overlap parts of my parents' and grandparents' generations: Barney, the storyteller, was apparently born sometime in between those two generations (Richler himself was born in 1931, closer to my grandparents), and a number of places that he describes could very well have been out of my own family's history. But my enjoyment of this book went well beyond how the book touched me personally.

Magnolia is about the strange intersections of a number of characters in modern Los Angeles. The ensemble cast is incredible, with such powerful acting as so many strange events unfold and personalities are revealed, that it is truly a riveting movie. Tom Cruise and Julianne Moore cut loose, Phillip Seymour Hoffman is dreadfully tender, Phillip Baker Hall and Jason Robards are filled with such profound regret... and there's more as well. Really, watch it.

The thing is, that the movie is about coincidence as much as anything else - the coincidence that these so very different characters lives are all intertwined in some fashion: As one character says at a pivotal moment, "This happens. This is something that happens." This is the sort of coincidence that links this movie to this book. Highlight it to discover the spoiler: Several people die in unlikely ways in the movie, and the manner of one of those deaths is the key to solving the mystery of Barney's Version. Enjoy the trailer...

Buddies

Of course there are tons of buddy-movies. An incredibly popular movie of this genre was Swingers, in which two guys in their low-to-mid-twenties pursue women. They do it with style -mostly- of the neo-lounge scene. This is the movie that spawned the phrase, 'Vegas, baby, vegas.' Directed by Doug Liman, Swingers stars Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn and Ron Livingston.

I couldn't help but think of Swingers when I finally saw Flight of the Conchords. This is a HBO TV series about a New Zealand band of the same name that comes to New York to make it big. They're a real band, of the humourous-folksy variety, and their songs are woven into the episodes. It was mainly the interaction between the two guys (Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement), and especially their discussions about women, that made this link for me.

Also, call me crazy, but I think that Rachel Blanchard (in the video, below, from the show) kinda looks like Heather Graham in her Swingers style (in the photo).

More Confused Young-ish Men

I wanted to add to Miss Mabel's post about Confused Young-ish Men. Along the same theme, there's The Last Kiss, starring Zach Braff, Casey Affleck and Rachel Bilson. The movie shows the problems of several relationships as the guys approach 30. Michael's girlfriend Jenna announces she's pregnant, putting them on the fast track to marriage. But then Michael meets Kim... Besides that, Chris and Lisa can't stop arguing about raising their baby, putting their entire marriage into question. Kenny won't commit to his newest girlfriend, and Izzy won't let go of Ariana. Jenna's parents have their own problems, as well. The key line is that Michael is having a crisis because his life feels way too planned out, as though there will be no more surprises. I'll add that of the 30-ish guys I've polled, this is a common type of crisis. It's a significant movie in the sense that it makes life into art, in a very real and touching way. As an aside, The Last Kiss is a remake of the Italian film, L'Ultimo Bacio.

I'll make another connection that is a little further afield: Vanilla Sky, directed by Cameron Crowe and starring Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz and Cameron Diaz. Also a remake, of the Spanish film Abre Los Ojos, also starring Cruz. It's a sort of sci-fi/drama/romance/mystery. David Aames seems to have it all, until a car crash changes his life in exceedingly strange ways... But David learns alot about what is important in life, and that comes back to the theme of the movies for Confused Young-ish Men.

Connections for The Confused Young Man

The Tao Of Steve, starring Donal Logue and High Fidelity, starring John Cusack and based on the book by Nick Hornby.

I re-watched these movies this month and they both deal, in part, with the 30-something male crisis of Settling Down. Get out the popcorn and have a boys night!

(Hmm maybe boys don't do that.)

Intense, genius acting

I just saw There Will Be Blood, directed by PT Anderson. It stars Daniel Day-Lewis as an oil man in early twentieth-century California. The intesity of the acting is just incredible. I couldn't look away - the man is awful, thoroughly unlikeable - but completely watchable. It's just amazing. Here's a quote to give you an idea of the character:

"I have a competition in me. I want no one else to succeed. I hate most people."

And I associated this with the Alec Baldwin part in David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross. He, too, was incredibly intense, mean and commanding. Co-star Jack Lemmon said the cast was the greatest acting ensemble he had ever been part of. It's a sort of Death Of A Salesman for the 90's - but the plot is almost secondary to the incredible acting talent on display. If you haven't already seen it, then see it now.

Good Will Geeks

Freaks and Geeks was a TV show (Judd Apatow produced it, and the stars include James Franco and Seth Rogan) about two overlapping groups of kids in high school in the early eighties. There's one episode where Sam, one of the geeks, found out that one of the popular, good-looking cheerleaders liked him and wanted him to ask her to a party - a make-out party. He was discussing whether to do it with his other two geek buddies. One of the geek buddies, Neal, was arguing that Sam should do it because they couldn't. (Not to mention that it would also help his own situation.)

This very much made me think of the scene in Gus van Sant's Good Will Hunting where Chuckie (Ben Affleck) tells Will (Matt Damon) that being in construction is a waste of his time. Will is a genius, but does not want to take advantage of that, to leave his life, to challange himself. Chuckie goes on to say, "you owe it to me," to cash in the winning lottery ticket. It's a turning point, where Will finds that even his most trusted friend wants better for him.

Those geeks were feeling the same way for the Sam! OK, OK, it was a much less serious moment, but it still felt very much the same to me.