i do think it's worth a watch, especially if you're a fan of oddball musicals.
― think “Gypsy-Pixie” and misspelled. (We are a white family.) (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 15 September 2021 18:51 (two years ago) link
That whole protracted stand-up routine towards the beginning made me think of Scott Walker's 'SDSS14+13B (Zercon, A Flagpole Sitter)', and I wonder if there was a connection there, seeing as Scott provided the soundtrack for 'Pola X'.
Anyways the film didn't really work and i think a good part of the blame is on driver, who was great! But also deeply limited with his singing voice! And tremendously not funny as a comedian! It just felt like the right actor doing the part with the wrong skillset to fully capitalize on a complex character.
The humor question dovetails with the contemporary critique of toxic masculinity. I'm not sure to what extent accusations of misogyny have dogged Sparks ("smarm" is the slur I remember from one of the old record guides, Rolling Stone's or maybe Christgau's). It's certainly evident in many of their character-driven songs and might be taken as in earnest. The only thing the Maels said was off limits for the documentary was their romantic relationships. The cover-of-Gratuitous-Sax-tabloid joke about this would be that they concealed a lifetime of abusive behavior, except that it probably wouldn't be a very funny joke, even if it was patently absurd (much as the songs on e.g. Big Beat are not particularly funny).
Putting it a bit differently: somebody wrote that Sparks' central theme is the stupidity of masculinity. This is a moment where that stupidity seems to have particularly dire consequences, and where it's increasingly difficult to conceive of what a positive idea of masculinity would be. Maybe spending your life hanging out recording clever songs with your brother, touring occasionally, just trying to get a movie off the ground? No harm done trying to turn a child into a project, a validation of self? Redemptive sublimation!
― eatandoph (Neue Jesse Schule), Wednesday, 15 September 2021 21:52 (two years ago) link
Christgau said (in a Talking Heads review!): "Like Sparks, these are spoiled kids, but without the callowness or adolescent misogyny". I didn't think that was fair when you can flip any Sparks lyric around so that the male protagonist is the object of the joke. The only lyric I can think of written from a female perspective (before they wrote songs for Christi Haydon) was "Thanks But No Thanks", which is also an implicit critique of masculinity.
― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 16 September 2021 00:41 (two years ago) link
I definitely do not get callow misogyny from Sparks unless it's with tongue firmly in cheek like in "Under The Table With You"
― Urbandn hope all ye who enter here (dog latin), Thursday, 16 September 2021 15:04 (two years ago) link
"...With Her" I should say
― Urbandn hope all ye who enter here (dog latin), Thursday, 16 September 2021 15:05 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8jQ7oYjQE8
― the 45-year-old gaz coomber (Whiney G. Weingarten), Thursday, 16 September 2021 15:07 (two years ago) link
Anyway, this movie was cool. The puppet is gross to look at and I hated it.
― the 45-year-old gaz coomber (Whiney G. Weingarten), Thursday, 16 September 2021 15:08 (two years ago) link
Yeah “throw her away” & “young girls” spring to mind immediatelyThere’s nothing misogynist about “under the table with her” tho, not even ironically
― siffleur’s mom (wins), Thursday, 16 September 2021 15:17 (two years ago) link
Yes, that song seems like one of their most warm (although written from a non-human perspective)?
― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 16 September 2021 15:45 (two years ago) link
It’s not written from a non-human perspective either!
― siffleur’s mom (wins), Thursday, 16 September 2021 15:48 (two years ago) link
It’s about 2 kids sitting under a table having slipped under unnoticed by the adults, what are all these wild readings
― siffleur’s mom (wins), Thursday, 16 September 2021 15:49 (two years ago) link
The protagonist is a dog!
― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 16 September 2021 15:52 (two years ago) link
No, they yelp & are mistaken for a dog
― siffleur’s mom (wins), Thursday, 16 September 2021 15:53 (two years ago) link
As is the girl whose hair gets patted
― siffleur’s mom (wins), Thursday, 16 September 2021 15:54 (two years ago) link
“Dinner for 12 is now dinner for 10” did they set a place for the dog?!
I guess I took that line as the dog being fed at the same time that dinner was served. Now the song seems completely devoid of any point.
― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 16 September 2021 16:10 (two years ago) link
“People all around the world are having only rice & tea/Two of them should come & take the place of Laura Lee & me” there are two unoccupied places at the table, belonging to the children “diminutive offspring” who are playing under the table and not missed by the adults because there are “bigwigs there” It doesn’t seem devoid of point to me even tho there’s no big twist, it’s just sweet and humorously written
― siffleur’s mom (wins), Thursday, 16 September 2021 16:21 (two years ago) link
The bigwigs are so lofty they fail to notice the animalistic sexual depravity going on between the singer and guest because they don't recognise them as human. It's Histoire de l'Oeil in 2.20 minutes.
Or probably not.
― Urbandn hope all ye who enter here (dog latin), Thursday, 16 September 2021 16:26 (two years ago) link
Edgar Wright's commentary on the soundtrack album reckons it's ambiguous. As an aside, he says Sparks were disappointed how well-received Queen's subsequent forays into chamber-pop was compared to their own.
― Urbandn hope all ye who enter here (dog latin), Thursday, 16 September 2021 16:29 (two years ago) link
anybody want to buy an annette bathrobe? i have two.
― think “Gypsy-Pixie” and misspelled. (We are a white family.) (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 16 September 2021 16:35 (two years ago) link
I mean they are specifically described as children (offspring) so I don’t see the ambiguity. I guess the kids could be having sex? Maybe with a dog? Is that the theory? Is this a bit? I do love it, one of my very favourite of theirs
― siffleur’s mom (wins), Thursday, 16 September 2021 16:35 (two years ago) link
Annette was fine
― siffleur’s mom (wins), Thursday, 16 September 2021 16:36 (two years ago) link
This was annoying as hell, but I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since I watched it the other day.
― Les hommes de bonbons (cryptosicko), Monday, 4 October 2021 19:12 (two years ago) link
otm
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 4 October 2021 20:22 (two years ago) link
Saw Holy Motors again for the first time in a while. It is fun to watch, but it still doesn't make much sense to me. There may be a lot to it, but I haven't gotten beyond its general appreciation for 'acting'
― Dan S, Sunday, 21 November 2021 04:27 (two years ago) link
i understand why ppl find this movie incredibly annoying but idk i'm into it
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Tuesday, 25 January 2022 16:55 (two years ago) link
Wisdom
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 25 January 2022 17:01 (two years ago) link
not a fan but this film is a hundred times less annoying than holy motors
― devvvine, Tuesday, 25 January 2022 17:19 (two years ago) link
Pretty cool:
https://variety.com/2022/film/global/cesar-awards-2022-winners-1235190152/
“Annette,” which world premiered on opening night at the Cannes Film Festival, won five awards, including best director and original score for Ron Mael and Russell Mael from the rock band Sparks who performed live during the Cesar ceremony.
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 26 February 2022 00:15 (two years ago) link