Wednesday, September 24, 2003
Average is Dumb?
Sooo, I saw American Splendour on Sunday night, and I even paid for it (!), so it had a lot to live up to. Anyway just to get this out of the way first: I liked it. Although that being said I mainly wanted to slap both Harvey Pekar and his charming wife (I’m talking about the characters here people). This may very well be that they were sort of a niggling reminder of some things that I don’t like about myself but let’s not go down that road. Anyway the neediness of them, that’s what got to me. The sucking desire to be close to another human being at whatever the cost, and the sort of desperation and resignation to it. When Harvey tells us he always gets married quickly ‘cos he has to snap up anyone who will have him he is not angry or sad, just matter of fact - that is how things are for him. Anyway to get away from actually engaging with the characters in the movie I really liked the postmoderny thing they had going on where they had the ‘real’ Harvey narrating and talking to the camera. I was also a fan of how on a number of occasions they sort of pulled back from the scene (ok not technical term) and exposed the artifice of the set so you didn’t forget how constructed the whole biographical thing was. People I saw it with thought it was kind of dull, and I can see how it never really went anywhere, but I think this was the point, the sheer crushing relentlessness of life is never gonna make thrilling viewing.
One more thing: I knew I hated David Letterman.
Sooo, I saw American Splendour on Sunday night, and I even paid for it (!), so it had a lot to live up to. Anyway just to get this out of the way first: I liked it. Although that being said I mainly wanted to slap both Harvey Pekar and his charming wife (I’m talking about the characters here people). This may very well be that they were sort of a niggling reminder of some things that I don’t like about myself but let’s not go down that road. Anyway the neediness of them, that’s what got to me. The sucking desire to be close to another human being at whatever the cost, and the sort of desperation and resignation to it. When Harvey tells us he always gets married quickly ‘cos he has to snap up anyone who will have him he is not angry or sad, just matter of fact - that is how things are for him. Anyway to get away from actually engaging with the characters in the movie I really liked the postmoderny thing they had going on where they had the ‘real’ Harvey narrating and talking to the camera. I was also a fan of how on a number of occasions they sort of pulled back from the scene (ok not technical term) and exposed the artifice of the set so you didn’t forget how constructed the whole biographical thing was. People I saw it with thought it was kind of dull, and I can see how it never really went anywhere, but I think this was the point, the sheer crushing relentlessness of life is never gonna make thrilling viewing.
One more thing: I knew I hated David Letterman.
