Sam Shepard 1943-2017

Fuck shit piss

Maybe 15 years ago I was waiting for a friend on the upper west side to go see a movie, and he walked by. I looked at him of course but didn't say anything, Good morning he said to me and walked on. Another great loss today. And donald trump still walks this earth. Unfair.

Jeanne Moreau 1928-2017

My heart and soul are broken, and probably will never completely heal over this tremendous loss. My close friends know how much I adored this great actress. I am very sad.

Heli 2013

A vivid and brutal depiction of the Mexican drug problem with all that goes with it. Set in a rural part of the country the film is directed by the young filmmaker Amat Escalante who won the best director prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013. Amat is certainly talented with a sure hand and a vivid eye for telling a story no matter how unpleasant that story might be.

The film is simple. A family comprised of a young man Heli of the title his wife, young child, young sister and father live together in poverty in a dry, barren and raw part of Mexico. Both Heli and his father work in a bright, shinny and noisy auto factory that is a long way from their house which is barely a shack and Escalante fills it with details and reality.

Heli is trying to hold things together, his marriage is falling apart and his sister Estela who is all of 12 has taken up with a 17 year old wise guy who is training with the federal police and is pressuring her to go all the way with him. The father is passive so all of the problems of their world is on Heli’s young shoulders and things take a terrible turn when Beto the boyfriend steals some cocaine, that is the property of a drug cartel who has members in the army and also probably in the corrupt police force.

Beto hides the drugs on the roof of Heli’s house in a water canister where Heli finds it when he goes up to the roof to try to restore the water that has stopped running in the shower and destroys the coke. Not smart on either one of their parts and the 2nd half of the film is rough and tense and unbearable.

This film bleeds and it chewed me up and spit me out all over my apartment. It disturbed me and I will warn you that it is not for everyone, hell I don’t even know if it’s for anyone. There is a scene of torture that takes place in a home where young boys watch video games and a mother cooks in the kitchen that is probably one of the most brutal scenes I have ever witnessed in a film, and this sequence alone is enough to make anyone thinking of seeing it to think twice.

That said it is also a touching and moving film of hope and faith under the most dire of situations that made me say thank you for the modest, creative and mostly peaceful life that I lead. I know this might sound crazy to say but it is also a beautiful film to look at, with rich colors and textures. Also the young cast is superb especially Armando Espitia who plays Heli and Andrea Vergara who plays his young sister. See at your own risk and don’t blame me for your nightmares.

Summer No. 7. The last one of July 2017

Japanese Bamboo Art & Irving. The Met Museum

Saw this stunning show today at the Met, which thrilled me in spite of the muggy weather. Beautifully installed in the roomy Asian wing where you can get away from the crowds and just relish the beauty of these works of art. Here we have objects that are magical and amazing and made from bamboo that is twisted and gently turned. Most of the pieces were made to be useful to hold things, to display flowers, to carry and set on tables in sublime rooms. As a sculptor these really interested me in their colors and intricate designs and forms. I loved this show so think about going. I wish I had better thoughts on the Irving Penn show that is coming to an end in a day or so. Installed in a cramped way in small galleries, some one kinder might say intimately installed but I was uncomfortable surrounded by all the admiring crowds hemming and hawing and snap snap snapping those goddamn smart phone photos of the photos. These images were originally done for magazines and that's how they should be seen not on walls entombed in a museum that more and more is actually turning into a fashion magazine. They're pretty yes, and all those photos of famous people, isn't that so and so, why yes it is Mary. And was it even possible to take a bad photo of Picasso or Duchamp? I doubt it. Sorry Irving but I'm just not into pretty photos of pretty women wearing nice clothes that were expensive even back in the 50's, these are not my kind of photos, I was bored by them, they all looked the same, they didn't make me want to rush back home and make art, or even take photos. Pretty pretty. You have a day left to see this show.

http://www.metmuseum.org/…/listings/2017/japanese-bamboo-art

Oddball Magazine

https://oddballmagazine.com/2017/07/26/poem-by-adrian-slonaker/

Shanghai Literary Review

Just got my copy in the mail of The Shanghai Literary Review with several of my notebook drawings published in full color. Nice job. Thank you Shanghai

John Heard 1945-2017

Summer No. 6. July 2017

oddball July 2017

https://oddballmagazine.com/2017/07/11/poem-by-sandip-saha-2/

George Romero 1940-2017

Martin Landau 1928-2017

Liu Xiaobo 1955-2017

And donald trump still walks this earth. unfair

Summer #5. July 2017

Claudius Speaks

This was a long time coming. It kept getting pushed back. They are suppose to give me a 15.00 fee also, I won't hold my breath.

https://claudiusspeaks.com/2017/07/13/woman-2015-ira-joel-haber/

Get Out 2017

A big unexpected money maker and critical hit (it got a 99% rating on rotten tomatoes) from last Winter is this small scale labor of love horror film that wears it’s bleeding heart (metaphorically) and influences on its tattered sleeve.

Written and directed by Jordan Peele who is a partner in the successful comedy team of Peele and Key this movie is not at all what you would expect from an African American comedian and is not for everyone but I can without any reservations say see it especially if you are into horror movies.

It’s influences are wide and varied from the history of horror films, it’s like a bulletin board with tacked up sources such as Rosemary’s Baby, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Eyes Without a Face, Night of the living dead, Carnival of Souls, The Stepford Wives and even Frankenstein (it’s alive) along with a large bowl of comedy sources especially Abbott and Costello who hover around like a drone with regards to the second banana supporting appearance of a hilarious LilRel Howery as a TSA employee and the best friend of the male lead who is not only funny but wise.

The plot is lean and I have to be careful here not to give any of the secrets, twists and turns away because it is tempting but that would make me one of the bad ones. A nice mixed racial couple Rose and Chris played by Allison Williams of “Girls” fame and a newcomer to me, the British actor Daniel Kaluuya (both of whom are terrific) go on a weekend trip to visit Rose’s parents somewhere deep in some out of the way place.

Chris has some misgivings about this visit since Rose has not told her parents that Chris is black, but so what “it doesn’t matter” she tells him because mom and pop are intellectuals and liberal. Dad is a neurosurgeon and Mom is a psychiatrist with strong belief and leanings in hypnosis.

The first ominous warning we get is as the couple moon and spoon and chit chat while driving and they hit a deer oh dear. Not good especially when they have to deal with a local cop who is suspicious because she is white and he is black and of course he asks him for ID even though Rose was driving.

We are in racial territory now and just where is this movie going I asked as I nervously spilled my cranberry juice all over myself. Note do not drink or eat while watching this movie for a variety of reasons. Mom played by the great Catherine Keener is welcoming but somewhat cold and dad played by Bradley Whitford is over welcoming and condescending and tells Chris he would have voted for Obama a third time if he could. Also around the dinner table is the nasty race baiting brother of Rose along with the black housekeeper and black gardener who are acting strange and take part in a jaw dropping nighttime outdoor scene that is guaranteed to shake you up. I’ll stop here with the plot but I will say that you will never look at a cup of tea the same way after you see this film. One of the best films of the year so far and don’t be surprised to see the film next year at the Oscars.

Summer 4. July 2017

Marjorie morningstar 1958

                  

A very precious love. Made in 1958 but looking like a throw back to all those glamorous woman weepies of the 1940’s, this one was actually directed by one of the kings of that genre Irving Rapper. A Warner Bros. contract director Rapper made some of the best Bette Davis movies including the divine and dripping with tears and silliness “Now Voyager”  and “Deception.” Marjorie was based on a Herman Wouk novel and set among the upper middle class Jews of New York City which alone was an unusual and somewhat brave plot device for this kind of movie to take on at the time.
                             The film opens with Ed Wynn who plays Uncle Samson arriving at the Morgenstern’s new apartment on Central Park West on the day of their young son’s Bar Mitzvah and there is even a sequence of the ceremony along with a scene of a Passover seder later on in the film. Their young 17 year old daughter Marjorie played by Natalie Wood who by the way is so breathtakingly beautiful that I gasped when she makes her first appearance. Marjorie is smitten with the theater and is smart and itchy to start her life preferably away from her always looming parents played by Everett Sloane and Claire Trevor but she is on her way to Hunter College like it or not.
                      She is goaded by her best friend the tartly tantalizing somewhat wild Carolyn Jones, who talks her into taking a job with her as a summer counselor at an all girls camp. Soon they are row row rowing their canoe across the lake to the adult summer resort that is host to the somewhat lazy and rundown summer stock theatre group run by Gene Kelly a failed composer who has been working on his musical forever without much success and longs for the fame that constantly eludes him . 
             Kelly was too old for the part and was at the end of his impressive career in movie musicals, his bad toupee didn’t help matters, but he still had his sex appeal and charm and if you squint a bit he can squeeze his 46 years to a workable 33. Natalie is soon smitten with Gene who gives her the name of Marjorie Morningstar and they start an affair that is rough and unhappy. There are several other suitors knocking at her door including Ed Burns a few months away from his kookie days on tv, Martin Balsam as a doctor, and Martin Milner as the loyal assistant to Gene Kelly who makes it big on Broadway in a wink of the eye, but Natalie only has eyes for Gene. The film opened at Radio City Music Hall and was a hit with the teen set (my sister adored it) and was generally panned by the critics but that didn’t stop the audiences from flocking to see it, especially since it had a big hit song running through it, “A Very Precious Love.” The restoration is pretty nice with saturated colors and the 50’s clothes are wonderful, and then there’s Natalie.