(no subject)

[proximoception]

Other narcissist film directors: Neil LaBute, E. Elias Merhige, M. Night Shyamalan. All deep in, insufferably so, maybe Seventh, Ninth and Eighth circles, respectively (yes, I think Merhige is as bad as anyone ever here, worse even than Haneke). Can't tell if Richard Kelly is on the basis of the one film of his I saw - had that impression at points, but surely there's other ways to fail.

If you like some of their movies you're not necessarily wrong to. Narcissists razzle dazzle well at times, and they're definitely unconventional.

And I'm not sure they're malignant ones - the kinds that poison significant others and progeny - though I suspect it, and find it pretty likely in LaBute's case based on those early films where he's shedding the harsh light of truth on sexuality. He was probably telling it like he saw it.

Can't tell if Ozon's one or just working through having grown up with one.

Comments

[jones-casey.livejournal.com]

i didn't think i'd have much to say, but it turns out i don't always have encyclopedic depth regarding what i've ingested, and so i do.

for example, i didn't realize that southland tales was by the same fellow who did donnie darko, even though i typically remember the key players behind movies i loathe (the connection between the directors you mention is that they all seem capable of making a movie i'll loathe) so i can avoid their work in the future. southland is definitely full of razzle dazzle supplied by celebrities and comedians and an mtv brand of absurdism. village voice critic j. hoberman, who called it a "a visionary film about the end of times" comparable in recent american film only to david lynch's acclaimed mulholland drive [i strenuously object to that comparison], specifically noted its "willful, self-involved eccentricity", and i for one would be willing to put kelly in one of those circles on the basis of the one film. i didn't despise st like dd but my appreciation for it was mostly meta, not for the work as a work. a friend of nightspore's wrote a really great in-depth review of st in 2007 that's worth a look (and was what pushed it to the top of my queue) -- he also compares it to lynch's work. and now i feel glad i hadn't got round to watching the box, which i'll drop far down the queue, and for this i'm much obliged.

i also didn't think i'd seen any haneke, but i watched enough of the remake of funny games to know i loathed it. a.o. scott: "mr. haneke shows a certain kinship with someone like eli roth, whose hostel movies have brought nothing but scorn from responsible critics."

i also didn't think i'd seen any ozon, but i did see swimming pool. unfortunately i don't recall much about it except that it bored me.

i didn't realize it was labute, but i did loathe lakeview terrace, which i was forced to watch when with some friends. and i don't recall much about nurse betty except that it seemed fairly coenesque. neither of those seem to me particularly narcissistic but you do refer specifically to his early films and i recall even less about your friends and neighbors -- i may have loathed it and put it out of my mind.

shyamalan i absolutely agree with. after the sixth sense i had the misfortune to see unwatchable (sam jackson's in so many films it only makes sense that he's the lead in two of the movies i loathe) and have not watched an mns movie since. from what i've read this is wise.




so what about lynch then, or woody allen, or the coens even -- what circle are they in?