Rob Christopher's Blog, page 24

RIP Gary Indiana

RIP Gary Indiana, the matchless novelist, essayist, and author.I was fortunate enough to have dinner with him one night in June 2022. His publisher Dan Simon set it up after I had expressed my love of his writing. Over Japanese food and wine we talked about a myriad of interesting topics. Though his acerbic wit on the page made me a little nervous to meet him, in person that night he was gracious and funny. For some reason, what I’m remembering right now is him telling me about a project he worked on with filmmaker Mike Hodges for a time, a remake of Bunuel’s THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL. Apparently, they’d been toiling away on it and then he suddenly realized, “We’re crazy! The movie is perfect and can’t be remade!”I shared my film ROY’S WORLD: BARRY GIFFORD’S CHICAGO with Gary and he said that he liked it but it made him sad. I knew what he meant. The melancholy of remembering childhood. I’m so pleased that he connected with that.This is your cue to read any and all of his brilliant writing, especially I CAN GIVE YOU ANYTHING BUT LOVE, THE CAN THAT SOLD THE WORLD, FIRE SEASON and of course (my favorite) DEPRAVED INDIFFERENCE, which I have been trying to make into a film with Gary’s blessing.

3 things about John Parker’s DEMENTIA

Dementia [1955]

1. Hand in the flower basket.
2. Shorty Rogers and the band briefly jam before taking the stage.
3. Opening endorsement by Preston Sturges (!)

3 things about John Carpenter’s SOMEONE’S WATCHING ME!

Someone’s Watching Me! [1978]

1. Comped wine.
2. A grate in the laundry room floor.
3. She never does make it down to Houston.

3 things about Mario Bava’s BLOOD AND BLACK LACE

Blood and Black Lace [1964]

1. Carlo Rustichelli’s extremely catchy theme music briefly becomes music from the club next door.
2. Tracking shot along a line of cubicles for the models.
3. Wrestling the corpse out of the tub by grabbing its breasts.

3 things about Quentin Dupieux’s DAAAAAALI!

Daaaaaalí! [2023]

1. A very long hotel corridor.
2. Vile stew.
3. She brings him the telephone. Which is unplugged—the cord isn’t long enough.

3 things about René Clair’s I MARRIED A WITCH

I Married a Witch [1942]

1. Fireplace lip-sync.
2. Susan Hayward’s resting bitch face.
3. “I Love You Truly” stuck on repeat.

3 things about Slava Tsukerman’s LIQUID SKY

Liquid Sky [1982]

1. “Cocteau was Cocteau before he did drugs.”
2. Shrimp everything.
3. Blacklight facepaint.

3 things about Willard Huyck & Gloria Katz’s MESSIAH OF EVIL

Messiah of Evil [1974]

1. Green bathroom. A mural of faces receding into perspective.
2. Conclave in the Meat Department.
3. She describes her father’s hands.

3 things about Dario Argento’s DEEP RED

Deep Red [1975]

1. An engineer who plays the piano.
2. Stabbing a bird with a knitting needle.
3. Behind the wall, a desiccated corpse.

3 things about Stéphane Lafleur’s VIKING

Viking [2022]

1. Every night she plays a recording of Steven snoring.
2. The waitress brings him a cup of coffee with two sugar cubes.
3. A replica of the Mars lander made out of a metal garage can.