All My Stars (1)

By: Joanne McNeil
January 7, 2016

stars

One in a weekly series in which Joanne McNeil recommends books, films, exhibitions, and more. You can also subscribe to the All My Stars newsletter here.

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Good evening! And thanks for subscribing! That sounds a bit corny to say but I am in good spirits right now because after nearly a month of illness I’m finally feeling well and have much of my energy and concentration back. I was down with something nasty called “walking pneumonia,” which reminds me of what China Miéville once said about “fridge men”:

“When I was moving into my new house a few years ago we were having all our kitchen stuff delivered and my then-partner got off the phone, turned to me and said ‘the fridge men are coming,'” explains Miéville. “Now, it seems to me that there are two kinds of people: those that hear that sentence and think ‘oh good, delivery of the white goods’, and then there’s those people who imagine a kind of enormous cyborg thing.”

The idea for this newsletter is to catalog the number of films and books and art and other things that fascinate and inspire me. But since I was sick, I was living in a soup of film and audio and tv — especially tv! — and it’s a bit tricky to disentangle what I actually liked and what served its purpose. So I’m going to back up a month and tell you what I was obsessed with just before the holiday.

Love-Mercy_poster_goldposter_com_3

Last year was marked by a great deal of international travel. And just like I have trouble reading when I’m sick, I am often too distracted to read books while I’m in transit. That’s made me think about what makes for a good in flight movie (very different from what makes for a good movie!) Focus — that Will Smith movie — is a good plane movie. Foxcatcher. If low budget chamber play sci-fi were actually a thing and not just Ex Machina that would make for good in-flight entertainment too. The kind of stuff that does well at award season is usually just boring enough that you can look out the window for five minutes without losing the plot.

And if there were such a thing as the In-Flight Movie Awards, Love and Mercy would sweep the big five. It is perfect for a long flight. First, and of course, it has great music. The story is an uncomplicated drama with an emphasis on compelling characters rather than lush landscapes and action sequences. You could probably watch it on a smartphone and not miss much.

Once I arrived at the hotel in Dortmund, jetlagged but trying to stay awake to adjust to the new time zone, I turned to YouTube to find documentaries about Brian Wilson. (Here was one: Beautiful Dreamer – Brian Wilson and the Story of ‘SMiLE’) I look for film and tv to watch on YouTube while I’m traveling because then I don’t have to pay more in subscription fees for a VPN to use Netflix or watch CNN or whatever is in English on the hotel TV. There’s a lot of classic film there, too old for studios to care about copyright or semi-disguised if subtitled in French or Turkish and posted under the Turkish title. I imagine most of these links won’t work in a few months (already I had to cut an item because the video was taken down) but anyway, here goes.

shoot horses

Recommendations

  1. The Richard Pryor Show — All four episodes of the groundbreaking sketch comedy show. Hilarious and then as swiftly takes a turn for the dramatic like this episode with Maya Angelou.

    2. Episode 1
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoHxBmstE-I

  2. They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? — Maybe my favorite film? Ask me tomorrow. It’s bleak. The French existentialists loved it. You won’t forget it. Best appreciated in a jetlagged contemplative state. (See also the Alexander McQueen runway show it inspired.)

    3. Full movie
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1VBLYRki74

  3. Bugsy Malone After They Were Famous — Bugsy Malone isn’t on YouTube as far as I can tell, but here’s a British documentary interviewing all the now grown child stars like Jodie Foster and Scott Baio. Just as much a story of the production — it had the most ridiculous premise but Alan Parker didn’t just pull it off… he made a great film.

    4. Part 5

  4. The Prisoner — It’s is all on Youtube! Just as good as you remembered. But be careful not to stumble upon the humorless 2009 AMC remake starring Islamaphobic anti-stem cell activist Jim Caviezel, which is also there (and sometimes with the same TV episode titles).

    5. Episode 1
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-BE8iicBkg

Categories

Kudos, Movies

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