R.I.P. ALBERT MAYSLES

I have fond memories of trekking through shitty NYC weather in my early 20’s to purchase various Maysles brothers documentaries from people off of craigslist.

R.I.P.

PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN (1967 - 2014)

Did people just rush to their laptops seconds after Philip Seymour Hoffman's death to put out their "greatest performances" lists? I understand writing for publications like Indie wire & Huffington Post require that you churn out work fairly quickly but geez... Was I the only one who felt like some critics & bloggers already had their write-ups & dedications for Hoffman ready to go a little too fast? In my opinion, making any kind of a list that chronicles and/or pays homage to a career that spans two decades should require some kind of deep thought & reflection and I don't see how that could be done in 20 minutes.
So instead of naming off Hoffman's greatest performances and adding to the pile of almost identical lists that you've already seen on the Internet over the past few weeks, I'll give you a rundown of how many times Philip Seymour Hoffman came up in conversation organically in my day to day life (in just a little over a month) prior to his death, which, in my opinion, is the best way to show how great of an actor he was and how much he affected a common cinephile like me.

January 6th 2014

Happiness

After the great response I got from you all on The Cinema Of Abel Ferrara at the beginning of the year, I immediately went to work on two new entries simultaneously. One on Todd Solondz and one on Hal Hartley. While Hoffman never worked with the latter, his role in Solondz' Happiness is one of his most memorable performances and it played a huge part of catapulting him in to the next decade as one of cinema's leading actors (it was part of that two years period where he showed up in everything from The Big Lebowski & Boogie Nights to Happiness & Magnolia).
So for the majority of January I spent a decent amount of time looking at stills of Hoffman from Happiness, trying to get the right screen grabs to use for my future blog entry which should be ready at some point in April or May...

January 26th 2014

While hanging out at my studio with a buddy of mine, we got in to a conversation about underrated performances by great actors and Hoffman's name eventually came up. To my surprise, he'd never seen or heard of Paul Thomas Anderson's feature film debut Hard 8. Naturally I had to pull up his one scene from that film on YouTube and as I imagined, he was enthralled by Hoffman's hilariously obnoxious performance as the nameless craps player...

Various points in January 2014

I know this sounds weird, but I sometimes work out to movie clips on YouTube instead of music (and yes, people working out next to me often look over my shoulder with curiosity). Two of the clips on heavy rotation are Hoffman's breakdown in Before The Devil Knows You're Dead and the "SHUT UP!" scene from Punch Drunk Love. I must have watched these scenes at least three times each in January while working out on the elliptical at New York Sports Club.

February 1st 2014

The Matser

My girlfriend and I had the pleasure of having dinner with Lelia Goldoni recently. While hanging out with John Cassavetes' iconic actress, we discussed everything from movies & the public school system to race & religion. At some point in the conversation the subject of a certain faith-based organization founded by a controversial sub-par science fiction writer came up. Naturally I inquired if Lelia had seen Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master (a film that's loosely based on the aforementioned organization). She hadn't, but when I mentioned that Hoffman portrayed a character loosely based on the said real life controversial writer, she quickly replied: "Oh, I Love him!"

I wouldn't be able to live with myself right now if I referred to Philip Seymour Hoffman as the greatest actor of our generation. I don't remember too many people saying that about him when he was alive so it feels weird saying it now (I'm willing to bet had someone like Daniel Day Lewis or Denzel Washington passed away instead of Hoffman everyone would be saying the same exact thing about one of them instead). I don't even know if he's one of my personal favorite actors. But I do know his presence played a huge part in my movie watching since the late 90's so I felt slightly obligated to write a lil' something about him

R.I.P.

REST IN PEACE: BEN GAZZARA

Ben Gazzara, an icon of American independent film, a fixture in the work of John Cassavetes and one of my favorite actors, passed away tonight. Outside of his work with Cassavetes he appeared in classic films like 'Anatomy Of A Murder' and 'Carol For Another Christmas' and he played both; Al Capone and Charles Bukowski. In more recent years he worked with everyone from The Coen Brothers ('The Big Lebowski'), Vincent Gallo ('Buffalo 66') and Lars Von Trier ('Dogville') to Spike Lee ('Summer Of Sam') & Todd Solondz ('Happiness'),
Much like the Peter Falk blog entry, I'd rather not flood facebook with a bunch of youtube video clips because I know how annoying that can be to some of you (especially if you're not that familiar with him).

R.I.P.

I CANT SLEEP (REST IN PEACE KATERINA GOLUBEVA)

I've been watching this movie for YEARS and just recently found out that some of the events in the film are based on real murders. Claire Denis' often forgotten about mid-90's film 'I Cant Sleep' takes on a whole new meaning now that I know this. I guess because here in America we have enough trouble keeping track of our own serial killers that we don't realize the same shit is going on in other countries (part of 'I Cant Sleep' was based on a real french serial killer). I still feel like this is something I should've known, given all the random info I know about Claire Denis and her work. It just goes to show how much I pay attention (or don't pay attention in this case). Denis' early-mid 90's work is becoming more and more obscure in the U.S. There's still no DVD release of 'No Fear No Die' or 'U.S. Go Home' and the U.S. DVD of 'I Cant Sleep' has gone out of print (thankfully I own it).
'I Cant Sleep' is an underrated movie that got lost in the midst of so many other independent, multi-character, multicultural, similarly structured films of the mid-90's. Not that it has anything to do with 'Pulp Fiction' (a movie that Claire Denis once refereed to as "verbal diarrhea"), but it still came out at the HEIGHT of that period in the 90's when every other independent movie seemed to be one of those multi-character/interwoven plot films like Jarmusch' 'Night On Earth' ('92), Haneke's '71 Fragments' ('94), 'Go' ('95), '2 Days In The Valley' ('96) and plenty more.
'I Cant Sleep' is set in Paris in the midst of a serial killers rampage. It's centered around 3 characters who briefly connect or cross paths with one another:

"Camille"

Camille is a quiet, somewhat shy, gay, soft spoken drag queen. And he's also an unsuspecting serial killer who targets old women (the newspapers have dubbed him "The Granny Killer"). This was the first movie Richard Courcet ever appeared in. Non-professional actors can be a gamble sometimes and even though his performance may be slightly rough around the edges, he gives off a perfectly creepy vibe as the quiet guy you'd wanna watch out for.

Like I mentioned at the beginning, the character of Camille and the murders he commits are based on real life serial Killer Theirry Paulin, who also performed as a drag queen and murdered elderly women

the real killer, Theirry Paulin, performing in drag (1989)

Richard Courcet performing in drag in 'I Cant Sleep' (1994)

real news article on Paulin

fake news article on the murders Camille has committed

"Theo"

Theo is Camille's 1/2 brother. Even though they aren't close, they still see each other on a regular basis (Camille often crashes at his brothers apartment). Theo doesn't seem to approve of his brother's life style and wants nothing to do with him (and has no idea, like everyone else, that he's a serial killer), yet they're both performers/entertainers. Camille being a drag performer, while Theo is a violinist. Denis sets up a few shots (some subtle & some not-so subtle) to symbolize their relationship with each other...

at the beginning of the movie Claire Denis introduces the 2 brothers separated by a wall which is a more than obvious metaphor

when Camille finally admits to the killings and his family has to come down to the police station, Theo makes a profound statement about his brother. In true Alex Descas fashion, he plays this role with the same calmness and composure that anyone familiar with his work should expect.

"Daiga"

Daiga, a Lithuanian immigrant who comes to Paris with dreams of becoming an actress, is essentially the "main character" who kind of plays the role of a voyeur. After having her dreams of being an actress shattered, she ends up working at the hotel where Camille lives. Before realizing that he's is the serial killer everyone's talking about on the news, she grows fascinated and starts to follow him. She eventually realizes who Camille really is after seeing a police sketch of the suspected serial killer...

the police sketch from 'I Cant Sleep' that catches Daiga's attention

Claire Denis made 'I Cant Sleep' and 'U.S. Go Home' in the same year. Like I've pointed out in just about all of my blogs about her (most recently 'Friday Night'), almost all of her films have a relationship, connection or a similar shot with one another. 'Friday Night' and 'Beau Travail' are connected through similar cinematography. 'U.S. Go Home' is like a prequel to 'Nenette & Boni' (the 2 lead actors in both films play brother and sister in both movies). 'I Cant Sleep' has a similar vibe to 'U.S. Go Home' and even features some of the exact same shots...

'U.S. Go Home' (1994)

'I Cant Sleep' (1994)

The most interesting connection that the 3 main characters have with one another is that they're all "foreign"/non-Parisians. Daiga is from Lithuania and Camille & Theo are from an immigrant family (their mother is from the Caribbean). 'I Cant Sleep' is essentially an "outsiders" view of Paris (something Claire Denis often explores). At no point do we see Paris through the eyes of a native "Parisian". Even the supporting characters are made up of mostly eastern Europeans (Daiga's family & associates) or people of Caribbean/African descent (Theo & Camille's family & friends).

'I Cant Sleep'

And on a much sadder note, I'd like to say rest in piece to Katerina Golubeva (the actress who plays 'Daiga' in 'I Cant Sleep'). She died at the age of 44 this past august. Her filmography may not be that extensive, but she co-starred in one of my all time favorite movies; 'The Intruder' (also directed by Claire Denis) as well as other great modern french films like 'Pola X' (directed by her partner 'Leos Carax'), the highly debated about '29 Palms' and the Russian film '977'. Naturally I hold any actor that's part of a circle of people consisting of Claire Denis, Leos Carax and Bruno Dumont near to my heart as these are films that I love very much and watch all the time. Her face was a regular fixture on my TV screen for many years. And she was more than just a good actress. She seemed to be one of the few women that was very secure and confident about her body and filming candid sex scenes on film (pola x and 29 palms). Its a shame. She was so beautiful and died way too young. If you aren't familiar with her work you should get familiar...

REST IN PEACE: PETER FALK

Peter Falk, an icon of both Television and Film, has passed away today. May he rest in piece. Now, instead of flooding facebook with a bunch of youtube clips one after another like I usually do when someone I admire dies, I figured I'd put them all in this one blog entry and not annoy my facebook friends who don't share the same feelings I do for Mr. Falk.
Surprisingly enough, almost all of my favorite movie clips of his are on youtube (but the clips from 'Wing Of Desire' are pretty slim). And I didn't really watch 'Columbo' (although i do obviously realize that's what he'll always be known for), so I'd feel like a fraud posting a bunch of clips from a TV show that I didn't really know.
And I realize that we've lost a lot of important actors & artists in 2011 so far (most notably Elizabeth Taylor) and I haven't made a blog entry about them, but due to Peter Falk's life-long connection to John Cassavetes (one of my all time favorite directors who I constantly mention on this blog) this passing holds a little more importance to me.