What is like for a cat to have his eye removed? Painful and very uncomfortable, especially if you have to wear a collar and you can't rub the sore area or lick it. We are keeping him sedated today as much as possible, and applying ice regularly. He seems to be bouncing back, and continues to eat well. But it's going to be a long ten days. Mogi keeps bumping into things with his collar. Deb says that he is like a little roomba vacuum, hitting something and then immediately changing direction and trying to go somewhere else. With only one eye he has no depth perception, either.
I am pretty far behind on my movie updates, so I will try and keep things short. Deb's going away film was called The Homecoming. This was definitely not The Waltons version. Peter Hall first directed Harold Pinter's bizarre play on the London stage, then followed up with this 1973 film version. It's like a mad tea party for truly demented adults. Despicable adults. Enjoyable? Hardly. Hard to turn away from? Somewhat. Annoying? Very much so. We did finish. Not so with another Pinter filmization, called Butley, starring Alan Bates. This one was so annoying that we both gave up after about twenty minutes. Hard to believe people paid money to see this stuff in theatre, and then would rush out to see the film.
Showing on Criterion until the end of April.
Next came my two choices, my main one from the collection, and the secondary one from the leaving file. I chose Zatoichi #18, The Fugitives. He kills a lot of bad people, once again decimating the male population of a large area of Japan. By the time he is through with an area, the male to female ratio must be nearly astronomically small, perhaps one man to 10 women (Caracas anyone?). Unfortunately, nearly every film in this series has now become the same one. He arrives, gets involved in local politics, wipes out the bad guys, makes a lot of friends, then leaves. Any one of them is quite good, but after 18 versions of the same film, one wishes for a slightly different ending someday.
Now showing on Criterion.
My leaving choice was Gregory's Girl, from 1981, an hilarious teen coming of age movie directed by Bill Forsyth, one of Scotland's wittiest artists. Gregory, a gawky, shy, girl crazy teen boy falls in love with a female football wizard. His date with her, and what happens before and after, is the film's raison d'etre. A wonderful film, and beautifully acted by all involved. Now a cult classic.
Leaving Criterion on April 30th. A don't miss film.
Lastly (for today's blog) came Deb's weekly main choice, Chaplin's Modern Times. One of the greatest and funniest films ever made, if you only have time to see one Chaplin film before you die, this is the one. Though we have seen it multiple times, it was a joy to watch it again. I am fascinated by how Chaplin can use his body, whether he is walking, running, roller skating, dancing, or doing slapstick, his body is a form of poetry in motion. The film is hilarious from start to finish, and when he is on camera there is simply nowhere else to look. Watch for the feeding machine, his work on a very fast factory assembly line, his department store roller skate, and his nonsense song in the cafe. A true genius.
Now showing on Criterion.
Mapman Mike
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