The Making Of Madsen
Posted on | November 19, 2007 at 8:03 am | 3 Comments
Saturday was my second (and last) day attending the Denver Film Festival, and the penultimate day of the festival. I saw two films that day, both documentaries.
The first was Wonders Are Many: The Making of Doctor Atomic. This was a movie about the making of a modern day opera, sung in English and performed at the San Francisco Opera, about Robert Oppenheimer and the making of the first atomic bomb. The opera was directed by Peter Sellars (not Sellers), a flamboyant gentleman with spiky hair who certainly has his opinions on what art should be. The most interesting thing about this movie to me was that it was interspersed with historical information about the Manhattan Project and atomic bombs in general. What was uninteresting to me was all the stuff about the opera. I know, I’m a plebeian and all, but I just don’t get it. I could see what the movie was trying to do, comparing the historical making of the bomb and the team of people necessary to pull that off, with the staging of an elaborate new opera and the teamwork involved there, but the opera bits just made me doze off. The singing grates on me, and even though it was sung in English, it was still nearly impossible to figure out what they were singing (luckily there were subtitles). And after all that, they didn’t show any of the actual opera, although there were a lot of bits from rehearsal. I guess I should be thankful for that. There were some humorous scenes here and there, but not enough to keep me from becoming bored. I thought it was interesting how at one point they had to transport the prop mockup of the bomb through the streets on the back of a large truck, uncovered. And I take it no one stopped them.
The second film was Being Michael Madsen, a mockumentary that mocks celebrity, tabloid journalism, indie filmmaking, other documentaries, and a whole host of other targets. It’s kind of hard to describe, as it ends up curling in on itself like an Escher drawing. I wasn’t sure what to think at the beginning, since the first 20 minutes or so are exclusively talking heads against a solid black background. That really puts you in the mood to appreciate what comes next. Really, I can’t even begin to describe it, it’s just something you have to see, though it’s definitely not for everyone. But after going along for the ride, I ended up liking it, and there’s some really funny stuff in there along with some salient points about our celebrity-obsessed culture.
Jogged Today: Yes (@ 55°F – the warm before the cold!)
Songs That Came Up On The iPod While Jogging:
- “Going Up The Country” (Poi Dog Pondering)
- “Shenandoah” (Richard Thompson)
- “Boys In The Band” (The Libertines)
- “You’re My Drug” (The Dukes of Stratosphear)
- “Bokkie” (Elefant)
- “Flaming Creatures” (Channel Light Vessel)
- “Beside You” (Papas Fritas)
Today’s Weight: 163.8 lbs
Lunch Yesterday: One half of a pancake/egg/bacon/sausage/hash brown combo at IHOP.
Pet Peeve of the Day: People who light off a string of firecrackers in the street at one in the morning. I didn’t know it was the Fourth of July already.
Latre.
Comments
3 Responses to “The Making Of Madsen”
November 19th, 2007 @ 12:14 pm
I saw DR. ATOMIC – the opera – and it left me cold. Sounds like the movie did the same for you.
Pet Peeve: trying to add acomment but not filling in all the fields (since there’s no indication of which ones are required) and being told I haven’t filled in the required fields. (Name & Email, for those keeping score.)
November 19th, 2007 @ 12:23 pm
Sorry, when I switched to the new template, I forgot to add those instructions back in. I’ll fix it soon.
November 19th, 2007 @ 3:23 pm
I was gonna post a parody “capsule review” of your movie review posts here, but actually I agree a bit too closely with your views on opera and then my mind kind of started to wander as I skimmed the rest of the post, because apparently even a mention of opera “makes bored get into my eyes” (as the wife puts it)… so, where were we?
Oh right, my comment. Wait, let me go back and read the post again.