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Re: Request and New Thread

EXCELLENT!!   I'm thrilled that others of you have seen it!  I have to agree
with both Don and Jeff and give it four stars -- at least.  Like Jeff, I see
a BOATLOAD of movies, and this one struck me in large part by it's
difference alone.  In fact, many of Peter's reasons for "not caring for" the
movie are things that I loved about it.  I, too, had most of those
conversations back in my college days.  I guess a large part of me misses
them, but the film also made me realize that I've let my interrogative
imagination fall asleep, so to speak.  I find I no longer really question
the order of things, and that works against me.  I've been trying to start
writing again, lately -- something I used to do a lot -- and this movie made
me realize that much of my trouble stems from thinking inside the box.  Case
in point -- I've seen it twice now, the second time with 2 friends who hated
it.  They thought the ideas and philosophies presented are absolute crap. 
One tried to make the whole thing seem absurd by saying that he could have
gotten into that movie just by saying that gravity is actually caused by a
race of invisible trolls who pull everything down, and our life is nothing
more than a struggle to fly.  He was trying to be silly and absurd, but I
realized that even in that, he basically came up with a workable idea for a
fantasy novel.  I felt very small and uncreative just then.  Also, I can see
where Peter (or anyone else) might be disenchanted with the lack of
narrative, or anything more than a skeletal plot at best.  I found that
completely in character for the film.  The way the animation and visual
styles complemented and enhanced the dialogue was outright breathtaking.  I
thought it was an "art film" in a fuller sense than anything I've seen in a
long time -- if ever.  I walked out feeling more awake than I think I have
in years.  By the way, Don, I totally agree with your analysis of the "holy
moment" scene, but beyond justifying the film, it succeeded in exploding my
awareness of the numinous aspects of everyday life.  That's a result I
rarely get from anything other than OTR music or certain books (almost never
from films), and that's well worth the $15 I've dropped so far, and the
money I'm sure I'll spend on it again.

Wow, guess I turned a review into some crazy kind of personal monologue,
there.  For those of you who haven't seen it, I hope that's not overbuilding
it -- it's just the way the movie connected with me.  I hope more of you
have opinions!

JeffO

-------Original Message-------
From: Peter T. Chattaway
Date: Monday, November 26, 2001 11:44:49 AM
Cc: Over the Rhine List
Subject: Re: Request and New Thread
On Mon, 26 Nov 2001, Don Smith wrote:
> I went with some friends, and we went to a pub afterward and talked for
> well over an hour about connections, physics, dreams, all kinds of
> stuff. That, to me, is what movies at their best are all about, and I
> have no reservations about giving Waking Life four stars.
Hmmm, one of the reasons I *didn't* care for _Waking Life_ all that much
-- certainly not enough to give it four stars -- is that there was no
topic of conversation in the film that I hadn't *already* discussed with
friends of mine. The film basically regurgitated a lot of college-campus
coffee-house chit-chat, but added nothing to my vocabulary. I guess I
prefer films like _Memento_ and _The Matrix_, which provide new ways of
addressing these themes by raising them within some sort of narrative.
Having said that, though, if there's anyone out there who hasn't pondered
these issues (and there probably is), then I guess they should see this
movie. And the computer animation was pretty cool, much of the time.
> Suddenly, after a looong dry spell, there are about six movies playing
> that I want to go see. I got to "The Man Who Wasn't There" . . .
Man, I listened to Beethoven piano sonatas for *days* after seeing that
one. What a sad, sad film.
> . . . and "Waking Life", and now I need to see "Amelie" and "Novocaine"
> before they move on.
_Amelie_ is entertaining, but depending on how you look at it, it's either
just frivolously hyper-active or kinda profound. Either way, I rather
like the soundtrack -- samples of which you can listen to at:
http://peter.chattaway.com/music/amelie/amelie.m3u
I admit, I'm biased towards the piano there. BTW, have you heard Howard
Shore's soundtrack to _The Fellowship of the Ring_ yet? It's already out
on CD, and I like it a lot -- I think it bodes well for the film.
--- Peter T. Chattaway --------------------------- peter at chattaway_com ---
"I detected one misprint, but to torture you I will not tell you where."
Winston Churchill to T.E. Lawrence, re Seven Pillars of Wisdom
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