C/D -- Charlie Kaufman

and it panders to people who think their romantic relationships are the ultimate existential experience that can be had. fuck that.
hrm. i can understand where this is coming from. but again, different viewers, different responses. i don't think this re: relationships, but i like the movie. i just thought it was about, well, life, not nec in an existential way.)

i like adaptation too. esp the ending.

hi john.

there was a twilight zone episode that had a woman without a mouth on it, and that gave me nightmares as a kid.

I think Eternal Sunshine is basically a good romantic comedy which, in a world where romantic comedies are absolute shite, is a bit of a revelation. It does have some visually stunning set pieces too.

BJM is great. I think it's lazy to criticise it for being Meta. I hate that knee-jerk reaction that people have to something being meta. It's almost as if, because the arm chair critic is clever enough to be able to know the correct technical term - metafiction - then it must be a shallow trick that only stupid people would buy into. BJM revolves around a really interesting idea. Its Metaness is secondary.

pandering to people's already heightened self-regard in these matters

Yes, because without this movie those people would see themselves as they are. Where by 'those people' I mean everyone ever.

See, for the last 20 mins I was all I GET IT AWREADY.

The first 20 mins of the Barris movie are astonishing -- big ups to Rockwell and Clooney -- then it just sorta flops around.

Adaptation really merits repeated viewing, too. crazy brilliant.

BJM revolves around a really interesting idea. Its Metaness is secondary.
I have a problem with this statement, because while it may revolve around a really interesting idea, once you see or hear that idea it's like OK, that's cool, now what? And there's nothing there. A movie has to be better than its synopsis (or gimmick) for me to care.

Eternal Sunshine is as meta and formalist as either of the other ones, but that nakedly emo bullshit core gives me a reason to want to see it again.

I personally love his first two films for daring to be so meta and formal in an age of formulaic blockbusters

It's no stretch for any screenwriter or director with half a brain to be meta. Gimme a formulaic blockbuster any day: at least the stars are prettier.

new project: Steve Carell as a screenwriter, Jack Black as his film blogger nemesis.

http://www.awardsdaily.com/2011/10/about-that-new-charlie-kaufman-screenplay-frank-or-francis/

to HBO, with Keener.

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/charlie-kaufman-to-write-direct-hbo-series-starring-catherine-keener-20120521#

Okay, yeah, I'm 100% on board with that.

^well, what happened with this?

New TV pilot:

http://www.deadline.com/2014/01/john-hawkes-michael-cera-to-star-in-charlie-kaufmans-fx-comedy-pilot/

Okay, yeah, I'm at least 92% on board with that.

lol

http://www.clickhole.com/article/cinephiles-rejoice-here-are-9-screenshots-movie-ad-3714

ack hueg!

Lol

She was very good, much better movie on the whole even if it was unsuccessful or uneven than Wild Rose, the only other thing I've seen her in

I haven't been able to get it out of my mind since watching it nearly two weeks ago, which I take as a good sign.
― A White, White Gay (cryptosicko), Sunday, October 11, 2020 4:25 PM (two months ago)

I started I'm Thinking of Ending Things a couple of months ago, stopped 20 minutes in--just wasn't in the mood--finally watched it this week. (Not in one sitting, though I of course restarted.) Cryptosicko's comment is pretty much where I am right now: I'm fairly sure I won't forget it, and there are strange films I forget immediately. I don't think I'd started the third season of Fargo yet when I made the first attempt, so I didn't know Jessie Buckley--she had some kind of year there. This is a lazy way to approach the film, I know, but I think my two favourite parts were when it felt like it was about to turn into a horror film: the scratched-up door to the basement, and the whispered warning from the Tulsey Town server.

I haven't read the novel the film is based on, but I have seen it classified as horror. I suspected that Kaufman heavily, er, Kaufmanized the source material, but this makes me curious to read how this material might play with a more genre-specific orientation (though, again, haven't read, so I have no idea if that's what the novel actually is).

the novel is definitely horror

"psychological horror" i guess

yeah, Horrorible

oh I thought you meant Antkind. hold fire on the author of I'm thinking of ending things

didn't love I’m Thinking of Ending Things while watching it the first time but it has stayed in my mind and I now want to see it again

My partner audibly hating every second of it made it hard for me to form a considered opinion.

i watched what the theater claimed was the official big screen debut of Ending Things with Kaufman there to talk, preceded by his new sad-poetry-slam-meets-john-wilson short Jackals and Fireflies.

i got to ask Kaufman a question that's been on my mind with most of his movies which is if his intent is to leave the audience playing with the puzzlebox and trying to keep up with his story or if he means for us just to try to hang on and enjoy the immediate ride. He said his goal was for people to appreciate the moment to moment experience of the film and not get caught up in the details, which gives it a framework for response on his terms: Jackals and Fireflies was not much to write home about but I found Ending Things equal parts disturbing, frustrating and very very good. Gonna have to see it again. It's very much an existential horror film with a knockout cast.