(Tip o’ th’ Metaphorager Topper to obamaicon.me!)
5 Thoughts: Difficult Cinema
1. ERASERHEAD. THE SECOND TIME I saw David Lynch’s mewling, puking masterpiece, I began to scream as soon as the opening credits rolled. It’s a dark, dark vision into the little world and lonely life of Henry, a printer whose misbegotten mutant child keeps him up at night with its mewling and you get it. But the lady in the radiator sings to him of Heaven, where “everything is fine.” So that’s something.
2. Tideland. Her little-girl-gone-weird’s broken home is peopled by doll heads, visions, and her father’s slowly wasting corpse. But somehow, she survives and even flourishes. The only Terry Gilliam film of which I’ve never seen the ending, and he’s one of my favorite directors, because it was bleak as only Gilliam can be. The man is just too brilliant.
Two Indigent Sketches
1. HITCHHIKING THROUGH RENO IN 1985, I wandered by the green banks of the Truckee River, where a number of seen-better-days men lived in the park, in what apparently remained of their business suits.
“Hey buddy, you got a second?” An older man, anyway older than I was — maybe 35. Dirty face, dirtier clothes.
“I don’t have any money, man, if that’s what you mean.”
“No, I wonder if you have a can opener.” He produced a can of Beanee-Weanees. “I haven’t eaten in two days.”
Three More Tender Words Than “I Love You”
“TAKE YOUR TIME.”
The Bright Side
IT’S ALWAYS A NICE DAY at 35,000 feet.
Dear Hollywood …
Fig. 1.
Your pal, Neal (PS: Have I got a pitch for you!)
Another “Next Big Thing”
“LOOMING” (N): PEOPLE BEHIND STUFF.
Fig. 1.