(Since I have repeatedly open and shut this blog like a vault...)
Today I browsed some discount DVD racks and picked up two of my much-enjoyed movies which I heretofore did not own. It's such a joy to be able to revisit a movie you have loved in years past, pop it in the player whenever the mood strikes, and remind yourself of how it made you feel when you first watched it. Who you were back then. Who you are now, and why you love the movie in a different way.
I am now the owner of Tom Tykwer's Run Lola Run (1998), and Taylor Hackford's White Nights (1985). Lola is the sort of movie that I obsessed over as a teenager, aping Franka Potente's shock-red hair time after time, finding romance in her scenes with Moritz Bleibtreu (despite the harsh German accents), and totally "getting" it when I was just a kid who wanted to be cool and Donnie Darko and Memento hadn't come out yet. White Nights appealed to a different part of me, a ballet dancer who was naïve about but fascinated by political intrigue from before I was born. I could lose myself watching the masters, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gregory Hines, dancing for their freedom. I dreamed I'd one day be as beautiful as Isabella Rossellini (impossible). Lola spoke to my fast heartbeat and hard edges, and Nights to my soft daydreaminess.
In high school I studied ballet under a divorced couple (who still remained "close") that had sought political asylum in the U.S. from Cuba. They were such a fascinating pair, and excellent dancers, and I guess there is something so romantic about escape when you have never had to do it. He was dark and wore tight pants and controlled the classroom with the kind of terror that gets the best out of the students. She was gentle and beautiful but would explode when you were being slovenly in class. I'll never forget when a girl tried to excuse her lethargy with a vague plea that she hadn't eaten much that day. It's sort of a rule in ballet that eating disorders aren't talked about much if at all, so the student had been bold to invoke them. The instructor was so pissed off at this lazy lie of an excuse. "In Cuba, we sometimes ate catfood! And sometimes all we had to eat all day was a little bit of cafecito! But we still had to dance perfectly!" The unspoken "or else" hung in the air.
Run Lola Run is the kind of movie you watch in introductory film classes to learn about nontraditional narrative timelines and sound editing. It's sort of a primer for movies that make you think about heavy stuff like free will, and true love, but that's still totally fun and energetic. Lola is so pretty and determined and fearless, and what teenage girl doesn't want to be like her? Plus, this is the perfect movie to show to people who don't know what it's about. You get to smirk at their furrowed brow when they learn of the 20 minute "ticking time-clock," and then nod at them like "Right?! Get ready," twenty minutes later.
I hope you have seen these movies. If you haven't, please give them a try. I'd love to hear how they sit with people who see them for the first time as adults.
Showing posts with label dance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dance. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
singular, indeed
Last Wednesday I got to see a wonderful performance of A Chorus Line at the Ahmanson Theatre, which was definitely a culturally enlightening experience for me. A Chorus Line ended up being one of those things which is packed full of things that have been referenced in pop culture, and finally seeing it allowed me to contextualize all of those references.
As a dancer, and someone who (like most of us) entertained a few stage fantasies as a child, I very much enjoyed the portrait of the young wannabes in search of a chance to share the spotlight. At first, knowing that no intermission was going to come to break up the narrative, I was unsure about what story would unfold over the course of the show. It seems simple enough of a setup: some of the dancers will get a part, and some won't. But as the musical numbers unfold, it becomes an exploration of the personality traits which unite dancers across talent levels and backgrounds.
"At the Ballet" and "Hello 12, Hello 13, Hello Love," in particular, were the two songs which I felt really dug into the passionate emptiness of the dancers. That isn't to say that I feel that all dancers are beset with body image problems and daddy issues, but that most dancers have experienced the healing qualities of dancing and performing. What unfurls as a real-time representation of a crowded Broadway tryout is packed with the thoughts and feelings of the dancers, sometimes masked by their on-stage personae, as they vacillate between opening up to the choreographer about themselves and expressing their inner monologues to the audience.
There were some numbers which definitely felt dated in the mid-1970s style of the original, which has definitely been a conscious choice made by the directors of every iteration of the musical since then, and by the second hour, the lack of an intermission was certainly having an impact on audience attention span. Though Cassie and Paul are both very interesting characters, their soliloquies contributed to a slump in the second half. Spreading out the highly energetic medleys and very amusing numbers like "Dance Ten, Looks Three," would have kept the feel of the musical more even, I think. However, by the glittering finale of "One (Reprise)," there is so much onstage to look at and be impressed by that I left the theatre with a definite spring in my step.
A Chorus Line will be at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles through July 6.
As a dancer, and someone who (like most of us) entertained a few stage fantasies as a child, I very much enjoyed the portrait of the young wannabes in search of a chance to share the spotlight. At first, knowing that no intermission was going to come to break up the narrative, I was unsure about what story would unfold over the course of the show. It seems simple enough of a setup: some of the dancers will get a part, and some won't. But as the musical numbers unfold, it becomes an exploration of the personality traits which unite dancers across talent levels and backgrounds.
"At the Ballet" and "Hello 12, Hello 13, Hello Love," in particular, were the two songs which I felt really dug into the passionate emptiness of the dancers. That isn't to say that I feel that all dancers are beset with body image problems and daddy issues, but that most dancers have experienced the healing qualities of dancing and performing. What unfurls as a real-time representation of a crowded Broadway tryout is packed with the thoughts and feelings of the dancers, sometimes masked by their on-stage personae, as they vacillate between opening up to the choreographer about themselves and expressing their inner monologues to the audience.
There were some numbers which definitely felt dated in the mid-1970s style of the original, which has definitely been a conscious choice made by the directors of every iteration of the musical since then, and by the second hour, the lack of an intermission was certainly having an impact on audience attention span. Though Cassie and Paul are both very interesting characters, their soliloquies contributed to a slump in the second half. Spreading out the highly energetic medleys and very amusing numbers like "Dance Ten, Looks Three," would have kept the feel of the musical more even, I think. However, by the glittering finale of "One (Reprise)," there is so much onstage to look at and be impressed by that I left the theatre with a definite spring in my step.
A Chorus Line will be at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles through July 6.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
i carried a watermelon
In 1987, two very important things happened, for which the year will be earmarked in the pages of history. In July, I was born. But a few short months earlier, another bundle of creative energy, joy, and inspiration was brought into this world. Yes, I am referring to none other than cinematic tour de force, Dirty Dancing. Some people seem to like this movie in a tounge-in-cheek, "get me drunk and I'll sit and laugh at it with my gal pals" sort of way, but to them I turn a wry smile and think with fondness about what they're missing out on.
Next Tuesday and Wednesday, Dirty Dancing will be rereleased into theaters in honor of its 20th anniversary. Though I can't know for sure yet, I'm worried that end of semester business will prevent me from seeing one of my all-time favorite films on the big screen at last. Enough with the pessimism, though... Let's just bask in the cool knowledge that enough people understand the importance of this picture to bring it back for audiences old and new.
I can't remember how old I was when I first watched what must certainly be Vestron Pictures' magnum opus, but I remember finding out that there were "controversial themes" in the storyline which I had been too young to pick up on. I have some vague memories of watching my mother iron while nobody put baby in the corner on TNT, but I just cannot pinpoint the moment at which I could declare that I was truly a fan. Sometime in early high school, I think it was TBS that hosted a 12-hour marathon of Dirty Dancing. That's right - the same movie six times in a row. Now who would actually sit through something like that? Well, me, of course!
I cannot claim that this picture is a guilty pleasure of mine because I have loved it since before I knew what a guilty pleasure was. I can't tell if it falls into the category of cheezy dance movie that I love or cheezy romance that I love, but I figure it must be enough of both that it cycles out of the cheezy category altogether. I understand that the dancing is not that great, the actors are not really super-hot, and the performances are...alright. But somehow this neither diminishes my enjoyment of the movie nor forces me to love it in a so-bad-it's-good sort of way. I think that the mediocrity of some aspects of the film is perfectly balanced by the highlights of the characters involved and the lowlights of the situations they're placed in. Kellerman's is a completely boring place for the rich and complacent, and the location it was filmed in lacks even the natural beauty of a resort like Mohonk which must have inspired it. Finding a little bit of inspiration or romance in an otherwise unremarkable locale is tried and true, and this is where Dirty Dancing hits the spot.
Because to me, it's not about dance or love or even rebellion, really. It's about a teenage girl on the precipice of adulthood - too smart for her family, too naiive for independence, and too insecure in general. She wants to be free to learn about herself and change the world, but the reality is that she's too scared to let go of her support system.
"Me? I'm scared of everything. I'm scared of what I saw, I'm scared of what I did, of who I am, and most of all - I'm scared of walking out of this room and never feeling the rest of my whole life the way I feel when I'm with you." Baby says this to Johnny and I don't really think it's because she knows they're soulmates or anything. I'm sure there was a time in my preteen years when I believed that, but I've come to view her attachment to Johnny as a transference of security from her father to her lover. I'm not judging her motivations or saying they're too Electra-complex to be valid, but it just seems a likely explanation for how alone she feels when he is gone.
Baby represents intelligent, inexperienced, white-collar teenage girls everywhere, and I think her character marks an interesting change in American society. Her character grew up a child of the optimistic, economically-booming 1950s - the era of the teenager. By the time she had come into her own and was ready to attend Mount Holyoke, she must have absorbed enough of early second-wave feminism to believe that there was a cause in the world with her name on it. Poverty, hunger, and war are too big too start out with, so Johnny acts as a good stepping-stone for her. But the movie didn't come out in the '60s; it was released over two decades after it's set. I believe that the implications of a young woman looking to balance her sense and sensibility (notably not a new topic, Austen-ites) would have been quite resonant in a time when women's roles in the workforce were in a period of difficult adjustment.
I identify with Frances "Baby" Houseman, perhaps because I recognize so many of her flaws. She wants so badly to do something meaningful, even if she's fooling herself into thinking her actions are more important than they are. The good-hearted father coming to terms with his daughter's blossoming sexuality, the first love, the search for excitement - these are all old tropes. But Baby gets something that almost none of us get. She gets those "celluloid moments" that I mentioned in an earlier post. She gets lifted up by a strapping young man in a lake with summer rain falling on her face. She gets to wear a flouncy pink dress and dance with a group of street-wise hotel employees who all know the steps. This is something that many of us envy, and I don't think there's anything about that to feel guilty for.
~Kat
P.S. I refuse to respond to any comments regarding the sequel, as I am barely willing to acknowledge its existence. However, if anyone's seen the musical based on the movie, I'd love to hear what you thought about it!
Next Tuesday and Wednesday, Dirty Dancing will be rereleased into theaters in honor of its 20th anniversary. Though I can't know for sure yet, I'm worried that end of semester business will prevent me from seeing one of my all-time favorite films on the big screen at last. Enough with the pessimism, though... Let's just bask in the cool knowledge that enough people understand the importance of this picture to bring it back for audiences old and new.
I can't remember how old I was when I first watched what must certainly be Vestron Pictures' magnum opus, but I remember finding out that there were "controversial themes" in the storyline which I had been too young to pick up on. I have some vague memories of watching my mother iron while nobody put baby in the corner on TNT, but I just cannot pinpoint the moment at which I could declare that I was truly a fan. Sometime in early high school, I think it was TBS that hosted a 12-hour marathon of Dirty Dancing. That's right - the same movie six times in a row. Now who would actually sit through something like that? Well, me, of course!
I cannot claim that this picture is a guilty pleasure of mine because I have loved it since before I knew what a guilty pleasure was. I can't tell if it falls into the category of cheezy dance movie that I love or cheezy romance that I love, but I figure it must be enough of both that it cycles out of the cheezy category altogether. I understand that the dancing is not that great, the actors are not really super-hot, and the performances are...alright. But somehow this neither diminishes my enjoyment of the movie nor forces me to love it in a so-bad-it's-good sort of way. I think that the mediocrity of some aspects of the film is perfectly balanced by the highlights of the characters involved and the lowlights of the situations they're placed in. Kellerman's is a completely boring place for the rich and complacent, and the location it was filmed in lacks even the natural beauty of a resort like Mohonk which must have inspired it. Finding a little bit of inspiration or romance in an otherwise unremarkable locale is tried and true, and this is where Dirty Dancing hits the spot.
Because to me, it's not about dance or love or even rebellion, really. It's about a teenage girl on the precipice of adulthood - too smart for her family, too naiive for independence, and too insecure in general. She wants to be free to learn about herself and change the world, but the reality is that she's too scared to let go of her support system.
"Me? I'm scared of everything. I'm scared of what I saw, I'm scared of what I did, of who I am, and most of all - I'm scared of walking out of this room and never feeling the rest of my whole life the way I feel when I'm with you." Baby says this to Johnny and I don't really think it's because she knows they're soulmates or anything. I'm sure there was a time in my preteen years when I believed that, but I've come to view her attachment to Johnny as a transference of security from her father to her lover. I'm not judging her motivations or saying they're too Electra-complex to be valid, but it just seems a likely explanation for how alone she feels when he is gone.
Baby represents intelligent, inexperienced, white-collar teenage girls everywhere, and I think her character marks an interesting change in American society. Her character grew up a child of the optimistic, economically-booming 1950s - the era of the teenager. By the time she had come into her own and was ready to attend Mount Holyoke, she must have absorbed enough of early second-wave feminism to believe that there was a cause in the world with her name on it. Poverty, hunger, and war are too big too start out with, so Johnny acts as a good stepping-stone for her. But the movie didn't come out in the '60s; it was released over two decades after it's set. I believe that the implications of a young woman looking to balance her sense and sensibility (notably not a new topic, Austen-ites) would have been quite resonant in a time when women's roles in the workforce were in a period of difficult adjustment.
I identify with Frances "Baby" Houseman, perhaps because I recognize so many of her flaws. She wants so badly to do something meaningful, even if she's fooling herself into thinking her actions are more important than they are. The good-hearted father coming to terms with his daughter's blossoming sexuality, the first love, the search for excitement - these are all old tropes. But Baby gets something that almost none of us get. She gets those "celluloid moments" that I mentioned in an earlier post. She gets lifted up by a strapping young man in a lake with summer rain falling on her face. She gets to wear a flouncy pink dress and dance with a group of street-wise hotel employees who all know the steps. This is something that many of us envy, and I don't think there's anything about that to feel guilty for.
~Kat
P.S. I refuse to respond to any comments regarding the sequel, as I am barely willing to acknowledge its existence. However, if anyone's seen the musical based on the movie, I'd love to hear what you thought about it!
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
the final countdown
I just came from registering for next semester's classes. Look at me, all grown up and a senior in college! I will be taking "Film and Literature," which is looking like an overview of most of what I've been studying these past few years, but I'm sure will be a good class to take concurrently while I write my thesis because a) it's exactly the subject I'll be writing about, and b) it's taught by my advisor and thesis reader! Wrapping up my last course requirement for my lit major I've signed up for "Women and Comedy," which is taught by my current (amazing) Jane Austen prof, and focuses on 18th and 19th Century lit.
The honor of fun elective will go to "L.A. Stories," a Pomona class which could be very helpful to me in the future. L.A. is a great setting and a better character, and we may indeed learn some history about my beautiful home as well. According to an email from the professor, "How is Los Angeles made and remade in the products of its culture? An exploration of that question in the overlapping fictive forms of noir, social realism, postmodern fantasy, and neo-noir. Writers to be considered include Nathanael West, Raymond Chandler, Christopher Isherwood, Chester Himes, Oscar Zeta Acosta, Joan Didion, Karen Tei Yamashita, Luis Valdez, and James Ellroy. Some attention, as well, to the more theoretical work of Theodor Adorno, Mike Davis, Norman Klein, and D.J. Waldie, as well as to the relationship between L.A. and our own Inland Empire. Films, roughly, from The Big Sleep to The Big Lebowski." If we don't watch Chinatown I'm going to have a fit.
Somehow I, a former dedicated athlete, managed to get this far in college without having completed her final P.E. requirement. To compensate, I'm taking two next semester. I'll be taking ballet again, which will be good for my state of mind, and I'm paying $50 to spend one weekend kicking some guy in the nuts and learning how to defend myself against attackers. Too cool.
Also, I'd just like to thank those of you who have read my blog so far. In the future I don't intend to continue with this many posts a day, but I'm just trying to bulk it up while it's getting started. If you like what you read here, I encourage you to sign up for blogspot so that there can be some discussion about what's posted, suggestions for what should be discussed, and communication among interested people about the cultural zeitgeist!
~Kat
P.S. Zeitgeist. What a word, huh? It's one of those terms that I hate myself for using, but I can't get enough of. Like...Schadenfreude, mise-en-scène, and even "deus ex machina." What are your favorite guilty pleasure words/phrases? I'd like my snobcabulary to expand as much as possible, please.
P.P.S. Yes, I just conflated two normal words to make a weird one that would never fit into its own description. I rock. If this is how I am after three hours of sleep, I'm doing alright!
The honor of fun elective will go to "L.A. Stories," a Pomona class which could be very helpful to me in the future. L.A. is a great setting and a better character, and we may indeed learn some history about my beautiful home as well. According to an email from the professor, "How is Los Angeles made and remade in the products of its culture? An exploration of that question in the overlapping fictive forms of noir, social realism, postmodern fantasy, and neo-noir. Writers to be considered include Nathanael West, Raymond Chandler, Christopher Isherwood, Chester Himes, Oscar Zeta Acosta, Joan Didion, Karen Tei Yamashita, Luis Valdez, and James Ellroy. Some attention, as well, to the more theoretical work of Theodor Adorno, Mike Davis, Norman Klein, and D.J. Waldie, as well as to the relationship between L.A. and our own Inland Empire. Films, roughly, from The Big Sleep to The Big Lebowski." If we don't watch Chinatown I'm going to have a fit.
Somehow I, a former dedicated athlete, managed to get this far in college without having completed her final P.E. requirement. To compensate, I'm taking two next semester. I'll be taking ballet again, which will be good for my state of mind, and I'm paying $50 to spend one weekend kicking some guy in the nuts and learning how to defend myself against attackers. Too cool.
Also, I'd just like to thank those of you who have read my blog so far. In the future I don't intend to continue with this many posts a day, but I'm just trying to bulk it up while it's getting started. If you like what you read here, I encourage you to sign up for blogspot so that there can be some discussion about what's posted, suggestions for what should be discussed, and communication among interested people about the cultural zeitgeist!
~Kat
P.S. Zeitgeist. What a word, huh? It's one of those terms that I hate myself for using, but I can't get enough of. Like...Schadenfreude, mise-en-scène, and even "deus ex machina." What are your favorite guilty pleasure words/phrases? I'd like my snobcabulary to expand as much as possible, please.
P.P.S. Yes, I just conflated two normal words to make a weird one that would never fit into its own description. I rock. If this is how I am after three hours of sleep, I'm doing alright!
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