Spock Misses The Point

After a night of talking more rubbish to friends and strangers alike, I shared a cab home with a couple of friends.  We started talking about movies and their soundtracks and he joined in with a comment.

He had a slight English accent.  Wish I could place it more precisely.  He seemed to like the soundtracks which are less “accompaniment” and more “songs of the era” in that they bring people back to that era.  Except when the audience member didn’t grow up through that era.  As I was the last one on the route, I went on to ask if he liked going to the cinema, which he confirmed.  The last film he saw was Thank You For Smoking.  I have not seen it, but by the sound of it, the movie didn’t quite work for him as the satire it was supposed to be.  He went and saw it with one of his oldest school friends (he’s probably in his late forties or early fifties) since it was his birthday.  They celebrated with a dinner, few beers, then a movie.

We agreed that US satire somehow doesn’t grab us like UK satire can, which seems to manage to be very funny and no less poignant.  US satire can often be a little on the self-concious side.  You sometimes don’t know whether you should laugh at some things, because it seems the film is either being too serious, or too funny, or just trying too hard to be both.  Too serious with no fun, and it becomes preachy.  Too ha-ha for the sake of being funny, and it misses the point.  I think we have pretty similar views on that side of things.  This went on to US film violence vs UK film violence.  Again, for both of us, US film violence is often a bit on the glamourised side, or a bit hammed up for the effect of violence.  To serve up violence in-your-face style so the movie goers won’t miss it, as opposed to a more realistic feel of violence which affects you as a witness.  Now, I’m paraphrasing and elaborating a bit here, but I think we knew what each other was crapping on about, and it’s in this kind of ball park.  I then moved on to script writers.  “Charlie Kaufman”, I said.  He nodded.  I asked if he’d watched Being John Malkovich, and he lit up.  Adaptation he also liked.  He mentioned Coen brothers’ O Brother Where Are Thou.  I haven’t seen it, but he whole heartedly recommended it.  He was really impressed with George Clooney’s latest ones.  Good Night and Good Luck was superb.  I didn’t grow up in that era, but I said after watching that film I felt educated, and I actually felt angry about what happened.  He grew up in that era, and it was obvious that it meant more to him in ways I’ll never understand.  I was about to bring up Syriana, which George acted in, but that was when we arrived at my place.  Time to pay up and finish the chat.  Pity, I would’ve liked to hear what he thought of P T Anderson, and Woody Allen, and Scorsese, and Kubrick and …

My photography muse has definitely gone AWOL, but perhaps my filmmaking bug is returning.  May be.  Dunno.

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