From the Desk of…
I’ve an early meeting and had to run around troubleshooting some things this morning, so I’ll be brief. Every living former governor of Ohio says that the August special election to make constitutional amendments harder is a bad idea. Of course, none of that’s going to matter in the slightest to the current governor, as DeWine has indicated his support for doing it. Be ready to vote in August! If you don’t, well, you might never get to again. I learned DeSantis’s wife is from Troy. I’m disappointed but not surprised that he’d pull someone from western Ohio. Sen. Dick Durbin has tried nothing and is all out of ideas, saying there’s no point in asking corrupt Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to testify in front of the Judiciary Committee because he’d ignore it. To his credit, Roberts told him to stuff it, so he’s probably right. Do you live in Washington Court House but work in Columbus? Do you think you’ve had IBD or chronic diarrhea for the past several years? If so, you may be the lucky Ohioan breeding the highly divergent lineage of COVID that could kill us all. At least, that’s what this one thread supposes. Ain’t nothing like Ohio, is there?
The Brain Dump
the most pro-Union Republican president was probably Lincoln
i pray every day i do not get punished with the blue check
the episode of King of the Hill where Bill goes to New Orleans is one of the best episodes of television ever made. you cannot dissuade me from this
I can't believe I got fired from both Fox News and CNN on the same day
if a distant relative left me a fortune but I had to spend a night in their haunted house, I'd be like "bonus"
Oh right, Don Lemon and Tucker Carlson both got fired Monday. Here’s hoping their departures are juicy and messy.
At the Movies
I need to check for tickets, come to think of it.
Beau Is Afraid (2023), dir. Ari Aster ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ❤️
If 2001: A Space Odyssey can lay claim to being "the ultimate trip," then I think Beau Is Afraid can lay claim to "the ultimate guilt trip" for its future marketing and posters. Beau is Aster's most ambitious film, and you can tell it's been cooking in the back of his mind for a while. Several of its themes, such as the breakdown of familial relationships and the manipulation of people by mysterious outside forces, have already been expressed in his prior features - arguably, expressed better, or at least more coherently. However, Beau, in its ambition and its scope, perhaps expressed them more cogently. The film strives to unify the ideas of both Hereditary and Midsommar, and in doing so the film proves revelatory about them while still making its own claims. I'll make some notes by act here.
Act One: Truly delightful. Fantastic production design throughout, and a brilliant depiction of the cartoonishly madcap and scummy city that exists in the imagined world of suburbanites and conservatives. Aster shows what the world would be like if people couldn't park in front of the Spaghetti Warehouse, and he does so hilariously. I'm not exactly itching to rewatch the film immediately, but I am excited to revisit this part just to break down all the things happening in its backgrounds.
Act Two: Great work from Nathan Lane here, and its depiction antiseptic suburban life replete with revered heroes of questionable heroism works. Probably the most straightforwardly humorous segment with the most clearly structured jokes. Aster is funny, and he's finally going for laughs instead of screams! It's like an inverted Peele.
Act Three: The most beautiful act by far, but the most meandering and mystical. Liable to lose a lot of folks here, I think. Off the cuff, probably the part that would've been the easiest to trim, but "the play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king," and Aster's illustration of a life that could've been - perhaps a life even dreamed for - provides an interesting counterbalance to the reality (or perceived reality). I'm also a sucker for stories within stories. We also get to briefly meet beloved Canadian character actor Julian Richings, something only I cheered about in the theater. Well, beloved by me at least.
Act Four: Firstly, let me say, Parker Posey awooga. Great turns by Posey and LuPone here, but the performance most folks will probably be talking about here is that of beloved American character actor Richard Kind as the lawyer. Well, beloved by me at least. The act is interesting, but it's also some of the most direct in how it almost looks directly at the audience and recites the ideas of the film. It's a good ending and last shot, but this act felt the least cerebral of the film - perhaps a reprieve from the prior acts, but it just felt like it was winding down for a while. That doesn't mean it's absent of thought though! I mean it only as comparison to the rest of the work, which we can all agree was rather heady. Well, I suppose the thing in the attic was rather heady as well.
Phoenix is great throughout. The film wouldn't have worked without him. Alongside the hero's journey, something I used to talk about in relation to Homer's Odyssey was Hegel's Volksgeist vis-à-vis cultural anthropology, and what we can potentially learn about cultures through the stories they tell - what traits and values they showcase, what obstacles and headwinds they face, and what they use overcome them. Using Odysseus to tie into the history of ancient Greece works in a number of ways. I think Beau can be used similarly, not only the specific fears of Aster but the anxieties of modern American culture (and, though I'm sure others will write on it more, the anxieties of Jewish American culture. Aster himself called the film the "Jewish Lord of the Rings." I saw someone else call it a Curb Your Enthusiasm episode set in Hell.) and the tools and strategies we use to get through life, as ineffective as they may turn out to be.
The film was good. Ari Aster played a cruel trick on me with Mona's favorite song. Go see it if you feel the need. I appreciate that it could be made. More artists should be afforded such opportunities to make something like this.
Whistle and I’ll Come to You (1968), dir. Jonathan Miller ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ❤️
bro.
BRO.
slow to start in the way ghost stories tend to be, but I had to rewind to rewatch that nightmare sequence once it got rolling. that was some damn fine spooky filmmaking. they made this for TV in the '60s. bro what
Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985), dir. Tim Burton ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ❤️
watched in honor of a friend who recently had their bike stolen and then found it behind the dumpsters of the Alamo
Pee-wee rejecting Dottie's offer to go to the drive-in by acting mysterious and then laughing at his own bits on the way out of the bike shop is, like, a base template for my behavior.
Oh, you’re still here? I thought most would dip at the Beau review.
One Picture
The brain machine at Kinko’s Biloba went wrong.
In closing,
I hope warmer weather returns soon. I hate a cold May, but like the old song goes, “sumer is icumen in.”