I found a remaindered copy of the Renata Adler collection After the Tall Timber the other day and re-read her Kael piece. It's something...many posts about it above.
I've gotta quote this from Michael Wolff's preface, though:
But the rightness of Adler's view of Kael as nasty, self-promoting gasbag only became more obvious as Kael's reputation disappeared after she lost her New Yorker post and power. She was unreadable, said Adler; and indeed, Kael is unread now.
He wrote that in 2015.
Whatever you think of her, "Kael is unread now" is a truly bizarre assertion. Only four years removed from the biography and The Age of Movies, no less.
― clemenza, Friday, 18 August 2017 13:49 (six years ago) link
"How could Kael be read? - nobody I know reads her."
― jmm, Friday, 18 August 2017 14:04 (six years ago) link
lol michael wolff
― mark s, Friday, 18 August 2017 14:06 (six years ago) link
I may see this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=341&v=zyn23q7g5ok
That's been up for a while--maybe somebody already posted it on one of the other Kael threads. Tarantino looks like he'll be unbearable.
― clemenza, Thursday, 5 July 2018 13:57 (five years ago) link
This is a better link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyn23q7g5ok
― clemenza, Thursday, 5 July 2018 14:03 (five years ago) link
Out soon, presumably.
http://variety.com/2019/film/reviews/what-she-said-the-art-of-pauline-kael-review-1203133864/
― clemenza, Monday, 11 February 2019 01:00 (five years ago) link
Sounds like our kind of Won't You Be My Neighbor.
― zama roma ding dong (Eric H.), Tuesday, 12 February 2019 19:08 (five years ago) link
RIP
― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 12 February 2019 19:16 (five years ago) link
pauline would've been the worst kids' show host ever
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Tuesday, 12 February 2019 19:23 (five years ago) link
good sketch potential
still like to see Streep play her in Feud
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 12 February 2019 19:31 (five years ago) link
She'd send kids home crying.
Whether the documentary is good, bad, or mediocre, there'll be a bunch of people who knew her ripping it to shreds within a day. (Unless, I suppose, they were interviewed for it.)
― clemenza, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 19:32 (five years ago) link
episode one: a kid says his favorite drink is apple juice, pauline responds "oh, try it again. you won't like it."
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Tuesday, 12 February 2019 19:39 (five years ago) link
"There's no ambiguity in apple juice."
― zama roma ding dong (Eric H.), Tuesday, 12 February 2019 19:42 (five years ago) link
pauline's personal hell would be having to watch the same episode of Mr. Rogers or Barney over and over again
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 19:55 (five years ago) link
I guess "What She Said" is the filmmakers attempt at a "I Lost It At The Movies" Kaelian double entendre?
― zama roma ding dong (Eric H.), Tuesday, 12 February 2019 20:02 (five years ago) link
thought this was a v charming story about meeting pauline back in the 90s:
http://sessumsmagazine.com/2019/02/02/pauline-at-the-buggy-whip-factory-our-day-with-pauline-kael/
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Saturday, 2 March 2019 23:19 (five years ago) link
That was an entertaining read.
The "disappointment" question Bram raises at the end reminds me of Woody Allen in a '77 interview with Dick Cavett, where they both talked about getting to know elderly Groucho Marx, and Woody says he "just seemed like a funny Jewish uncle."
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 3 March 2019 01:00 (five years ago) link
I thought the funniest line in there was her reaction to the Pee-Wee Herman scandal: “He was visiting his family. Oh fuck. Who hasn’t done something stupid when they were visiting their family?”
― clemenza, Sunday, 3 March 2019 16:08 (five years ago) link
i don't think i've ever seen the words "charming" and "pauline kael" in the same sentence before
― affects breves telnet (Gummy Gummy), Sunday, 3 March 2019 18:24 (five years ago) link
I saw the documentary yesterday afternoon. I was entertained, and it was nice to see Paul Schrader and vintage clips of Woody Allen, De Palma, Altman, etc reminisce about running to newstands to buy The New Yorker to read what "Pauline" had to say.
However, like the MJ documentary, the absence of any dissenting voices made for a tedious experience no matter how entertaining the result. The director was taking questions and ran out of time; otherwise I would've asked why he thought Kael had no interest in Akerman, Fassbinder, and the other great '70s directors (I have my reasons, but I wanted to hear it from him).
― Let's have sensible centrist armageddon (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 3 March 2019 19:37 (five years ago) link
What are your reasons?
― Theorbo Goes Wild (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 3 March 2019 19:49 (five years ago) link
She disliked (a) what she considered schlock taken seriously (b) narrative film that abjured sensation.
― Let's have sensible centrist armageddon (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 3 March 2019 22:13 (five years ago) link
What about that “sick soul of Europe” business?
― Theorbo Goes Wild (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 3 March 2019 22:32 (five years ago) link
Just came across this with respect to that:http://sensesofcinema.com/2015/cteq/la-notte/
― Theorbo Goes Wild (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 3 March 2019 23:16 (five years ago) link
narrative film that abjured sensation
eg, Celine & Julie Go Boating walkout ("I'm going to the movies!")
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Monday, 4 March 2019 01:20 (five years ago) link
NYC centennial retro
I'd forgotten she was crazy about Re-Animator
https://quadcinema.com/program/losing-it-at-the-movies-pauline-kael-at-100/
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Monday, 13 May 2019 21:54 (five years ago) link
Wait -- she didn't much like Hannah and Her Sisters. Was it included to Stir Debate?
― recriminations from the nitpicking woke (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 13 May 2019 22:01 (five years ago) link
The writer/director’s biggest success of the 1980s took a melancholy yet surprisingly upbeat and even joyful look at love via the familial and romantic ties of three NYC sisters; it won Oscars for Best Original Screenplay and for Best Supporting Actor and Actress (Michael Caine and Dianne Wiest). Amidst rapturous critical acclaim, Kael pumped the brakes: “It’s likable…[Allen has] made the picture halfway human…[but] the wilted sterility of his style is terrifying to think about.”
― zama roma ding dong (Eric H.), Monday, 13 May 2019 22:08 (five years ago) link
a melancholy yet surprisingly upbeat and even joyful look at love
― recriminations from the nitpicking woke (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 13 May 2019 22:33 (five years ago) link
imagine telling someone that the wilted sterility of their style is terrifying to think about. pretty harsh
― flopson, Monday, 13 May 2019 23:59 (five years ago) link
Wilt the Sterilt
― Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 14 May 2019 00:00 (five years ago) link
― flopson, Monday, May 13, 2019 7:59 PM
He never spoke to me again iirc
― recriminations from the nitpicking woke (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 14 May 2019 00:05 (five years ago) link
lol
― Dan S, Tuesday, 14 May 2019 00:07 (five years ago) link
"You're likable enough, Woody."
If you notice the landing page says they included both raves and dismissals... but this one isn't quite either.
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 14 May 2019 00:26 (five years ago) link
Only a couple selections look like they go under dismissals. The Gauntlet the most obvious one. But kudos to them for not just programming the obvious choices like Clockwork Orange and West Side Story.
― zama roma ding dong (Eric H.), Tuesday, 14 May 2019 11:55 (five years ago) link
Best, most Kael-like choices: Blume in Love, the Fury, Loving, The Warriors (films she liked much more than most people).
― clemenza, Tuesday, 14 May 2019 14:13 (five years ago) link
iirc, she called Love in the Afternoon "perfect" but didn't seem to particularly like it.
― jmm, Tuesday, 14 May 2019 14:17 (five years ago) link
This movie is, in its way, just about perfect, but it's minor, and so polished that it practically evaporates a half hour after it's over.
― jmm, Tuesday, 14 May 2019 14:18 (five years ago) link
and she hated the other Love in the Afternoon too (and no wonder)
― recriminations from the nitpicking woke (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 14 May 2019 14:19 (five years ago) link
xps I was under the impression that people generally loved The Warriors?
― zama roma ding dong (Eric H.), Tuesday, 14 May 2019 14:22 (five years ago) link
w/out looking i expect it didn't go over well with stodgy mainstreamers
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 14 May 2019 14:40 (five years ago) link
Who are the reason a Pauline Kael had to happen, frankly.
― zama roma ding dong (Eric H.), Tuesday, 14 May 2019 14:42 (five years ago) link
wondering if i want to live another 9 years for a Sarris centennial retro
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 14 May 2019 14:45 (five years ago) link
you may make it to the Peter Travers symposium.
― recriminations from the nitpicking woke (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 14 May 2019 14:47 (five years ago) link
I understand James Berardinelli has a lemonade stand set up outside where he dares you to change his mind.
― zama roma ding dong (Eric H.), Tuesday, 14 May 2019 15:00 (five years ago) link
btw John Simon turned 94 this week
only the good die young
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 14 May 2019 15:04 (five years ago) link
John Simon spotted at symposium
https://cdn.empireonline.com/jpg/70/0/0/640/480/aspectfit/0/0/0/0/0/0/c/articles/5cb5b9fb133d503e3a48e86f/star-wars-palpatine.jpg
― recriminations from the nitpicking woke (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 14 May 2019 15:07 (five years ago) link
When Kael joined The New Yorker in 1968, she soon became the most influential voice on an exploding art form, staking a position that often privileged “trash” over “art” and dismissed the auteur theory (although she could be as auteurist as they come).
Does this just mean that she loved directors? I take her argument in "Circles and Squares" to be that there are at least two version of the auteur theory, one of which makes strong theoretical claims and the other of which is trivial. i.e. If what the theory says is that directors can be great artists and that it's possible to follow a director's work like that of an author, then this is hardly a theory.
― jmm, Tuesday, 14 May 2019 15:18 (five years ago) link
I haven't read "Circles and Squares" in many years, but to me the argument felt more like American auteurists were basically being dumb boys about the whole thing.
― zama roma ding dong (Eric H.), Tuesday, 14 May 2019 16:28 (five years ago) link
In that recording of the 1963 symposium with her, Simon and Dwight MacDonald, she comes pretty unambiguously in defense of using auteurism to study directors' overall body of work, in the face of MacDonald's wholesale dismissal of Sarris and auteurism (he says ideally a critic would watch a movie without any foreknowledge of who made it, avoiding credits and such).
― zama roma ding dong (Eric H.), Tuesday, 14 May 2019 16:31 (five years ago) link