Jason's Blog, page 111

Some more paintings

The colours don't come off that well with the webcam, but anyway

Cat in window

High-Low, Lost Cat

Rob Clough reviews Lost Cat: http://highlowcomics.blogspot.fr/2013...

Exhibition, signing

I will have an exhibition at Grafill in Oslo, opening September 12, 6 PM: http://www.grafill.no/kalender/jason-... There will be pages from both Lost Cat and Pop!, and I also did some new paintings, like this one of Bukowski. Then there will be a signing at Tronsmo bookstore September 14, 2 PM.

Death, unfinished

The Young Lions on the Waterfront

The Young Lions
World War II. Marlon Brando is a nazi, Montgomery Clift is a Jew and Dean Martin is... well, pretty much Dean Martin. Directed by Edward Dmytryk. One problem with old films is that the dialogues often sound artificial. This is one of those movies. There's a constant distance to the characters - they never seem believable as people. The war scenes lack credibility as well, despite the camera shaking every time there is an explotion, and Brando as the nazi officer comes off as impossibly naive and well intentioned. 

On The Waterfront
Directed by Elia Kazan. This film has the intimacy that Young Lions lacks. The scenes between Brando and Eva Marie Saint feel true and are very touching. Ah, Eva Marie Saint! As the viewer you actually care about these people. There is nothing like the glove scene or the taxi scene in The Young Lions. Maybe that's because Kazan came from the theater, and he was looking for those moments of authenticity. The one thing they do better in films today is fake blood - in this film it looks like chocolate sauce.

Wild River

Montgomery Clift is sent to Tennessee to buy land from an old widow, to build a dam that will stop floods, and falls for her granddaughter, Lee Remick. Directed by Elia Kazan.

Okay, maybe not a masterpiece in the same league as On The Waterfront, but still, a pretty good film, about both the good and the bad side of progress. Clift and Remick are very good and there's also the classic, understated direction by Kazan - not a single shakycam in sight.

If Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift were young today, what kind of movies would they do? Would they do superhero films? Would we see Brando as Wolverine or Clift as Batman? It's a bit depressing to think about.

Some Books I've Read 12

You're All Just Jealous of My Jetpack by Tom Gauld
Minimalistic and drily funny strips collected from The Guardian.

Sgt. Rock vol 3
Far too text heavy, often telling things you already see in the panels, just like in the EC comics - you end up just looking at the images by Joe Kubert (and sometimes Russ Heath), trying not to get ink in your eyes.

Billy Wilder in Hollywood by Maurice Zolotow
A great book about Wilder's life and career, not skipping the less successfull films of his later years.

Forgotten Voices of The Holocaust by Lyn Smith
Heartbreaking stories told by the survivors, and more powerful since you're getting the stories directly, in their own words, not retold by a writer.

Their Darkest Hour - People Tested to the Extreme in WWII by Laurence Rees
This on the other side has too short chapters, and it feels less powerful since you get the stories filtered through the writer.

After Daybreak - The Liberation of Belsen, 1945 by Ben Shephard
The story of the British troops and doctors trying to save the lives of the camp survivors, including mistakes that were done, causing more deaths.

Inside Scientology - The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion by Janet Reitman
It's an interesting book. So, apparently, Hubbard was a crook and the current leader, David Miscavige, is a psychopath. Most devastating are the chapters about the death of scientologist Lisa McPherson, that the church tried to cover up. Also, you'll never want to see another film with Tom Cruise.


Currently Reading:
Savage Continent - Europe in the Aftermath of World War II by Keith Lowe
We know what happened in WWII, but what happened after the end of the war, with people trying to survive in the ruins of Europe?

The Voice Is All - The Lonely Victory of Jack Kerouac by Joyce Johnson

Waiting to be read:
Surviving The Sword - Prisoners of the Japanese 1942 - 45 by Brian MacArthur
The Last Escape  - The Untold Story of Allied Prisoners of War in Germany by John Nichol and Tony Rennell
Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey

I am number four

It seems like Lost Cat is number 4 on the New York Times hardcover graphic novel bestseller list, between a Batman and a Wonder Woman book: http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-b...

I'm not sure if I've been on the list before, or if not, why this is the book that made it, but anyway, thanks to everybody who bought a copy!

Morituri Zapata

Morituri

World War 2. Marlon Brando is a German blackmailed by the English to be a saboteur. Can a good actor save a bad film? No. It's another one of Brando's many flops from the 60s. He's doing the German accent thing again, like in The Young Lions. It's a talkative film, not very exciting. Yul Brynner looks pretty bored. There are some 'splotions and stuff at the end, but it's too little too late.

Viva Zapata!

Much better! It takes some time to get used to Marlon Brando in brownface, to look more latin, but it's a good film, less dated than I feared, with Anthony Quinn as Brando's brother and a solid script by John Steinbeck.