Rob Christopher's Blog, page 22

3 things about Youssef Chahine’s CAIRO STATION

Cairo Station [1958]

1. They slip him into his bridegroom’s outfit: a straitjacket.
2. The cat is Hanuma.
3. Grabbing the knife by the blade.

3 things about Alan Arkin’s LITTLE MURDERS

Little Murders [1971]

1. As he ascends the subway stairs, he crosses paths with a man bleeding from a head wound.
2. Carol deftly opens the breech.
3. “I married you because I wanted to mold you. I love the man I wanted to mold you into, but you’re not even there. How can I mold you when you’re not there?”

3 other things.

3 things about Jane Schoenbrun’s I SAW THE TV GLOW

I Saw the TV Glow [2024]

1. VHS, Home of the Vultures.
2. Abandoned shopping carts arrayed outside the theatre.
3. “It’s just the suburbs.”

3 things about George Pollock’s MURDER MOST FOUL

Murder Most Foul [1964]

1. A ratty coat she swore was mink.
2. Timer-triggered stove.
3. Searching for someone to play the housekeeper.

3 other things.

3 things about Chris Kelley’s OTHER PEOPLE

Other People [2016]

1. Laxative. Breaking down in an empty supermarket.
2. “I’m sorry I was an asshole about your butthole.”
3. She tells him to look into the faces of his sisters.

3 things about George Pollock’s MURDER AT THE GALLOP

Murder at the Gallop [1963]

1. Eating muffins straight from the oven.
2. Cat in the closet.
3. Opening the window, inhaling the fresh air.

3 other things.

3 things about Joel Coen & Ethan Coen’s BARTON FINK

Barton Fink [1991]

1. Wandering down the road while singing “Old Black Joe” at the top of his lungs.
2. Blood spreads from the underside of the body.
3. “The common man will still be here when you get back. Who knows, there may even be one or two of them in Hollywood.”

There is no alternative to persevering.

Rebecca Solnit:

They want you to feel powerless and to surrender and to let them trample everything and you are not going to let them. You are not giving up, and neither am I. The fact that we cannot save everything does not mean we cannot save anything and everything we can save is worth saving. You may need to grieve or scream or take time off, but you have a role no matter what, and right now good friends and good principles are worth gathering in. Remember what you love. Remember what loves you. Remember in this tide of hate what love is.

You can be heartbroken or furious or both at once; you can scream in your car or on a cliff; you can also get up tomorrow and water the flowerpots and call someone who’s upset and check your equipment for going onward. A lot of us are going to come under direct attack, and a lot of us are going to resist by building solidarity and sanctuary. Gather up your resources, the metaphysical ones that are heart and soul and care, as well as the practical ones.

People kept the faith in the dictatorships of South America in the 1970s and 1980s, in the East Bloc countries and the USSR, women are protesting right now in Iran and people there are writing poetry. There is no alternative to persevering, and that does not require you to feel good. You can keep walking whether it’s sunny or raining. Take care of yourself and remember that taking care of something else is an important part of taking care of yourself, because you are interwoven with the ten trillion things in this single garment of destiny that has been stained and torn, but is still being woven and mended and washed.

3 things about Louis Malle’s MY DINNER WITH ANDRE

My Dinner with Andre [1981]

1. References to “my girlfriend Debbie”: writer Deborah Eisenberg.
2. Borrowing Richard Avedon’s place.
3. The man in the fortune cookie factory.

3 other things.

3 things about Charles Vidor’s LADIES IN RETIREMENT

Ladies in Retirement [1941]

1. Revulsion at Gilbert & Sullivan.
2. An umbrella stand becomes a giant vase for bulrushes.
3. They remark that they just observed Albert playing a game of tag with several gentlemen.