Sunday, June 20, 2004

 

SPENDING TIME WITH THE BUK


Saw a couple of interesting documentaries recently. One was BUKOWKSKI: BORN INTO THIS, about the life of writer Charles Bukowkski, and the other was THE FIVE OBSTRUCTIONS By Lars von Trier. Both are movies worth seeking out.


For those of you who don't know, Charles Bukowkski was one of the greatest writers who ever lived. An accomplished poet and novelist, his work includes the novels HAM ON RYE, FACTOTUM and POST OFFICE. He also wrote the screenplay for the movie BARFLY, which was also based on his life/fiction. Much of his fiction revolved around his alter-ego, Henry Chinaski, who was similar to Bukowski in a lot of ways. Both men's lives revolved around drinking, women and writing.


Bukowski was one of those rare people who truly was bigger than life. And the new film BUKOWSKI: BORN INTO THIS give us some insight into this life and the work he produced. Aside from interviews from people who knew him (old girlfriends and co-workers, his wife and his publisher) it features extensive footage of the man himself, including public readers and footage from the four-hour epic THE BUKOWSKI TAPES - which are kind of like home movies that director Barbet Schroeder made of Bukowski before filming commenced on BARFLY. Buk was quite a character and was known to be pretty volatile. Not all the footage in this movie is complimentary - a particularly disturbing scene involves Bukowski kicking his wife Linda off the couch during one of Schroeder's interviews. This is a "warts and all" biography, and for that reason it is highly recommended. It's not a glamorized episode of A&E's BIOGRAPHY series. This is as raw and uncompromising as the writer himself. If you're into the man and his work, this movie is a must see. And I can easily say that despite his flaws, Buk was a hero of mine and an influence, and I think he was a fucking genius. But like all of us, he was human. And therefore far from perfect.


THE FIVE OBSTRUCTIONS is a little different. While I don't think it's as important a film as BUKOWKSI, it is interesting in its own way. Lars von Trier is the Danish director of such (often controversial) movies as BREAKING THE WAVES, THE IDIOTS, DANCER IN THE DARK, and most recently DOGVILLE, as well as the original Danish television series, THE KINGDOM which served as the source material for Stephen King's recent TV series KINGDOM HOSPITAL (believe me, von Trier's original version, perhaps his best work so far, is highly superior to the American remake).


In OBSTRUCTIONS, von Trier torments one of his cinematic mentors, Jorgen Leth, to remake one of his short films, THE PERFECT HUMAN (1967) five times, under different circumstances. The five obstructions include such things as having to remake the film in Cuba, as a cartoon, in the "most miserable place on earth," etc. Each time, Leth rises to the occasion, despite the restrictions von Trier places on him, and he seems to make compelling films each time (we only see parts of each finished project). While I wouldn't go so far as to say I loved this film, THE FIVE OBSTRUCTIONS is fascinating, and any fan of movies and/or von Trier are going to have fun with this. It is a very interesting view of the filmmaking process. And the ending actually shows that von Trier has the most humane motivations at heart.


Two very different movies, both worth seeking out.


Otherwise, I've been writing and trying to relax a bit this weekend. This weekend is also the Provincetown Film Festival, which I had to miss again this year, due to low funds and no car. John Waters is there every year, and I regret never having met the man. I wrote to him years ago (before Hairspray) and he was gracious enough to respond (on a postcard that had a picture of Squeaky Fromme on one side, funnily enough), but I've never met him in person. I'd love to actually show him one of the invitations from Laura and my wedding - they feature pink flamingos and say "Isn't Love Divine" on them (I doubt many of the family members who got the invitation back then got the joke, although my friends certainly did). At the time, I almost sent an invitation to Waters, just for the fun of it, but chickened out at the last minute. He's definitely one of my favorite filmmakers of all time (especially his early films, up to POLYESTER), and I really hope I get a chance to meet him someday..


Oh well, life goes on. Until next time....Infernally Yours,


LLS


Thursday, June 10, 2004

 

LAURA'S BRITISH DEBUT


My wife Laura Cooney just found out that she sold her story "Newspaper Girls" to the British webzine BLOODLUST UK. It will be appearing in the next issue, due out at the end of June 2004.


Wednesday, June 09, 2004

 

STOKER AWARDS 2004


Spent this past weekend in New York City for Stoker Award Weekend. Got to see a lot of familiar faces including Linda Addison, Gerard Houarner, Lee Thomas, Nick Kaufmann, Tom Piccirrilli, and Karen Taylor, to name a few. Also got a pleasant surprise at the Awards themselves when Laura and I sat down at the same table as filmmaker Don Coscarelli and his wife. I've been a fan of Coscarelli's work since the first Phantasm movie - a film that left quite an impression on me as a kid (and one I still love). To make things even cooler, Coscarelli took home the Stoker award for Best Screenplay for his new film Bubba Ho-Tep, based on a story by legendary writer Joe R. Lansdale!


We had a great time seeing old friends and making new ones. The awards themselves were pretty cool. Winners included Brian Keene, Jack Ketchum, Gary Braunbeck and Tom Monteleone!


The Winners (available elsewhere, but if you haven't seen the list yet, here it is again)


Best Novel: Peter Straub - Lost Boy, Lost Girl


Best First Novel: Brian Keene - The Rising


Best Long Fiction: Jack Ketchum - Closing Time


Best Short Fiction: Gary Braunbeck - Duty


Best Fiction Collection: Jack Ketchum - Peaceable Kingdom


Best Anthology: Thomas Monteleone & Elizabeth Monteleone (editors) - Borderlands 5


Best Non-Fiction: Thomas F. Monteleone - MAFIA


Best Screenplay: Don Coscarelli - Bubba Ho-Tep


Best Illustrated Narrative: The Sandman: Endless Nights by Neil Gaiman


Best Work for Young Readers: J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix


Best Alternate Forms: Michael Arnzen - The Goreletter


Best Poetry Collection: Bruce Boston - Pitchblende


Lifetime Achievement Awards - Anne Rice and Martin H. Greenberg


Speciality Publishing - Earthling Publications


This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?