Shut Up Shut Up Shut Up

The Pianist is a beautiful film in every way. Yet, Polanski says that the constant idea on this particular film for him was to get the hell out of the way. All the people collaborating on the film were masters in their respective fields BUT on this particular film, they all decided that they were going to hide behind character. Just this once, they would not show off, they would serve the story and do what is right.

Good cinematography, good costume design, good directing seems to all come out of an insecurity about the story. The best filmmakers might be the ones who can shut up. Work as hard as you can on telling a good story. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up.

And then there's that miserable monstrosity: A Beautiful Mind. See it if you've never seen it, see it if you've forgotten the pain of seeing it. It won Best Picutre in 2001. Its painfully obvious in every way, the screenwriter/director/actor all treat the subject as an exotic object... so AFFECTED. There is this very obvious fascinated way in which they look at people in the 40s, like they were some weird species of dogs or this higher elevated beings, so cultured, so refined. And Geniuses? Oh they are those eccentric crazy types that have to do stuff to make sure you notice: there walks a genius. And this is why Half Nelson is a work of perfection. It just is. It. IS. itself. It just is.

THAT's LA for me.

There's the mouth that eats onions and fish,
and the lips that kiss, and the tongue that slides slightly in,
and the ass that shits and smells and farts,
and the hand that wipes that ass,
and the hand that shakes the dinero's hand,
and the brow that thinks and sweats,
and they never get to know each other.
That's LA for me.
There's a Brad Pitt and a stupid housewife and an illegal immigrant and me, all in this very city.