#119 - acquired tastes.

about a week back, after an eight plus month hiatus from netflix, i decided it was high time that i got back on the ol film-by-mail wagon. i'd originally put the service on hold partially because i wanted to save $15 a month & partially because i'd get films in the mail & they'd just sit there unwatched for weeks on end before i'd get around to watching them. a couple times, i even sent a few back unwatched. in general, i was bored with film & ultimately decided that it just wasn't working out between netflix & i, so we took a break.

but the bitch is back! the first two films arrived in my mailbox last week. they're the same ones that i had all queued up back in november when i initiated the break--mister lonely (trailer here) & fay grim. mister lonely (2007) is the latest film from harmony korine, the dude who's responsible for creating gummo (1997) & julien-donkey boy (1999), but is mostly known for penning the script to kids (1995). the other film, fay grim (2006), is the most recent film from nyc filmmaker hal hartley. after ten years & a few films in between, hartley decided it was time to revisit the story from 1997's henry fool with a sequel. that sequel = fay grim.

the first one i took on was mister lonely. korine is no stranger to odd storylines & this is no exception. it's the story of a michael jackson impersonator who crosses paths with a marilyn monroe impersonator, who then invites him to come live with her in a commune inhabited by nothing but impersonators. with a cast of impersonators, there are endless moments where you get the juxtaposition of famous people doing mundane things (abe lincoln riding a tractor, larry, curly & moe slaughtering sheep). the story between marilyn & her husband (charlie chaplin) really brings out the idea that while these people get to pretend to be other people, they still have issues, as the lovable chaplin is actually, in the words of marilyn, "more like hitler than chaplin."

on top of that, there's an unrelated side story involving a father (played by werner herzog) & the nuns he works with. after one of the nuns falls out of the plane during a food drop & lives, they believe that they can fly because god will protect them. oh religion. overall, it's a pretty good film & definitely more accessible than his other two directorial efforts, but it's still nowhere close to a "traditional" film. if you can believe slashfilm.com, who have info from the toronto international film festival, his next film, trash humpers, is already in the can. with a name like "trash humpers," i can only assume that it's about people having sex with trash, a topic that's even more accessible than that of mister lonely.

as for fay grim, there was once a time when i thought that hal hartley's films were absolute genius. he's made eleven feature-length films over the last twenty years, all of which contain his signature style, one that can very easily rub viewers the wrong way, as his films typically feature some sort of social commentary, everything filmed at dutch angles & characters who speak their thoughts out loud. the last part pretty much goes against the whole "show don't tell" mantra i learned in screenwriting classes, but regardless, i've always loved the blatant feel of it.

it doesn't work as well here. the characters often speak their thoughts, but they also often use dialogue to explain a good deal of the plot from henry fool. it just seems too unnatural. the plot of fay grim revolves around a woman (fay grim, played by parker posey) whose husband (henry fool) is on the run from the law. he's penned a series of notebooks containing U.S. security secrets, so the CIA convinces fay to go to paris to find him. even with the blatant plot explanations, it expands upon what we've learned from the first film, so if you haven't watched henry fool first, there's a good chance you're missing half the story & will have no idea what's going on or know why you should care. if you have seen henry fool though, it's worth a watch, if only to see jeff goldblum play a CIA agent...not recommended for those who believe that the fast & the furious and its sequel (2 fast 2 furious) are the pinnacle of filmmaking.

#119 - acquired tastes.
snack: nori
drink: ito en's dr andrew weil for tea gyokuro green tea



the other night, whilst watching mr lonely at some unspeakable hour of the eve/morn, i was feeling a wee bit peckish. earlier in the day, i'd stopped by my brother's place for a bit & as i was leaving, he was all, "you want some nori?" yes. yes i did...so he gave me two strips & i put them in my backpack for later consumption & went on my merry way. since my peckishness came at an hour in which i probably shouldn't have been stuffing my face with snacks, i decided that the two strips of nori would suffice...& they sort of did.

nori's nothing more than the dried seaweed used to wrap sushi sans the filling sushi part. that's it. apparently japanese people love it. my favorite way to consume nori is to break off little pieces & let them dissolve in my mouth like some sort of salty, fishy breath strip. then i like to make out with the nearest person. since i was alone watching a movie in my apartment at the time, i settled for making out with my hand. please note that i did draw a mouth on my hand before slipping it the tongue, so i'm not a complete weirdo.

to wash down the nori, i went with a can of ito en's dr andrew weil for tea gyokuro green tea. it's one of a line of special ito en teas made in conjunction with dr andrew weil. as the can shows, he's a bald but thickly bearded man who enjoys gazing skyward. in addition to his skygazing, the doctor's also a leader in integrative medicine & according to his website, he's "your trusted health advisor." a side note for health advisors: that "trusted" slogan's totally trademarked, so don't even think about claiming that you're someone's trusted health advisor. anyway, essentially, he's a proponent of combining conventional medical treatments with unconventional, alternative medicines. that means CAH-RAZEE stuff like homeopathy & meditation & healthy diets & whatnot.

the healthy diet part includes drinking his bland, crappy teas. sorry, doctor, but your gyokuro green tea sucks. i mean, i understand that green tea has all sorts of antioxidants & junk & you're all about keeping a simple diet, but would it kill you to add a little sugar or honey or something? basically, you're paying for a can of tea that you can just as easily brew & chill at home except at home, you can at least sweeten it a little bit. sure i could have poured it in a glass & dumped in some sugar or something to make it taste better, but what's the point on buying it pre-made then? actually, i know where i went wrong. you need to fully embrace the dr weil-branded lifestyle to enjoy the tea. i didn't do that. to enjoy the tea, you need to purchase some dr weil multivitamins & some dr weil mega-mushroom face cream & some dr weil fruit & nut bars & dr weil sockeye salmon sausage & if you still have money left after that, you should pick up a couple of his books & DVDs. without them, the tea just won't work.