tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161060.post116416327406352041..comments2023-11-05T04:31:48.615-05:00Comments on Elusive Lucidity: Schrader 2: Electric BoogalooZChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10211734319629732065noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161060.post-1164403477558082092006-11-24T16:24:00.000-05:002006-11-24T16:24:00.000-05:00As I said earlier, I really like Lebowski actually...As I said earlier, I really like <I>Lebowski</I> actually. My favorite Coen Bros. film. But if your aspiration is toward rigorous and time-honored (or, ah, shopworn) standards of middle-of-the-road artistic greatness, then it's a case of 'one of these things is not like the others.' Including <I>Lebowski</I> on a favorite films list is great: but for Schrader to include it after his ranting reeks of the sort of gesture you've just described, Eric.<BR/><BR/>Campaspe, I hope you can see and like some of these films soon. (Being in NYC now, Anthology will give you chances to see some of them regularly!) And I don't think of your cinephilia as lowbrow, myself--you've got a smart take on a certain mainstream cinema (i.e., classical Hollywood). I don't show my classical H'wood colors as much as I could on EL,<BR/><BR/>As for lowbrow, there's nothing wrong with it. I frequently lurk on cult video websites like MHVF and DVDManiacs. I love the Farrelly Brothers as well as the Shaw Brothers (and cartoons by Warner Brothers). Lowbrow can be a beautiful, liberating thing!<BR/><BR/>(Yes, yes, middlebrow can be great too. One day I will tell EL readers at length about my affection for the two Hollywood films that James Gray has directed: utterly intelligent and beautiful mainstream work. And there are some distinctly middlebrow films on my counter-canon: the mind-numbingly great <I>Make Way for Tomorrow</I> can be easily appreciated by the proverbial aunt in Dubuque, for instance. The film <I>Calabacitas tiernas</I> is a hilarious little Mexican comedy, hardly a dark subversive gem. Though its director did go on to make <I>La Sexorcista</I>, which I've never seen.)ZChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10211734319629732065noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161060.post-1164388289400300052006-11-24T12:11:00.000-05:002006-11-24T12:11:00.000-05:00Catching up with my blog reading, and this very in...Catching up with my blog reading, and this very interesting set of articles & posts & counterposts. I think we cinephiles are too scrappy a lot to come up with a consistent canon. My eyes about popped out of my head at yours--I've seen This Land Is Mine and maybe two others--so I must bookmark it for future viewing reference. I am basically resigned to my lowbrow status, but I do think Mr. Schrader should have found room for Lubitsch.The Sirenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13587505433284584391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161060.post-1164179350396704342006-11-22T02:09:00.000-05:002006-11-22T02:09:00.000-05:00I had a moment of clarity the other day about his ...I had a moment of clarity the other day about his inclusion of <I>Lebowski</I>. I'll just quote what I said: "<I>The Big Lebowski</I> makes sense in this list. It's all about the diminished power of the (aging, white) Dude in the face of the exact things his canon article is fighting against. (Except Eurocentrism, in the form of the nihilists.)" Yeah, my moments of clarity don't burn for too long.Eric Hendersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01730423919177553813noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161060.post-1164170054612798532006-11-21T23:34:00.000-05:002006-11-21T23:34:00.000-05:00Aw, forget it, I'm just going to post an alternate...Aw, forget it, I'm just going to post an alternate list now anyway.ZChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10211734319629732065noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161060.post-1164164832918339322006-11-21T22:07:00.000-05:002006-11-21T22:07:00.000-05:00Actually, if I am going to do this well, it'll tak...Actually, if I am going to do this well, it'll take more time & thought. So nothing's coming up tonight, or at all this week. But I'll be working on it!ZChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10211734319629732065noreply@blogger.com