First the 'not much else'. July has been warm and humid. I was not surprised to read where some local immigrants were interviewed about Essex County summers. They were from tropical Africa and said that the heat and humidity here is as bad or worse than where they came from. We can have temps as low as 83 F but the humidity makes it feel like 99 F. What that means is that it is difficult to breathe, and being in the shade isn't much cooler. Take 90 F in Albuquerque, a desert city, and it can feel like 86 F. Low humidity makes things more comfortable, and being in the shade feels much better. Just think of saunas. 140 F is quite nice until a cup of water is thrown on the hot rocks. It turns to steam (humidity) and when that hits your skin it burns. The temperature has not risen, just the humidity. We are expecting high 90s this coming week yet again, and with the humidity it will feel like a sauna. Sadly, air conditioning is not universal in this area. We keep our house at 77 F in the summer with central air, but our electric bill doubles as a result. Many people do not have it, and suffer a lot from the heat. This is not a nice place to be in July and August, except for a few rare days when the humidity and temps both drop to a comfort level. The heat and humidity also produce wicked storms. Our last power outage was a major one (almost 9 hours), though many people went five days without it. And it blew out a lot of computers and modems, too. We were racing around the house unplugging everything last week, as the storm hit very suddenly. The power went on and off about a dozen times before it finally went dark. That's the part that kills electronics.
We watched Godard Cinema, a 2023 documentary about the great French film director. He was a somewhat complex man, often not really knowing what he was doing. He tried to do everything opposite of other directors, and when his first film made him famous he did his best to destroy that version of himself by making films that would not appeal to many. He became very politically involved, making films that virtually disappeared after a screening, many extolling the virtues of Communism. This film does its best to unravel myths and legends about the director, but he eventually became a hermit, seeing no one. This must have been a difficult film to make, despite the many clips and photos of Godard from younger years. Interviews with actors and others associated with him help, but no one person seems to have grasped who he was or what he really was striving for. Well worth watching for fans of European films.
Kino Films is streaming this film.
From 2004 comes The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made. The title gives a pretty good description of this film. We were surprised at how many we haven't seen. Lucky us. The usual choice for #1 is actually different this time. Since 2004 the list could easily now be doubled. Each film has some clips and stills shown, along with trailer features. A voice over describes reasons for the choices. A mind-numbing event, but much better than having to watch even one of these movies.
Also streaming on Kino. Great for fans of B films.
Painters Painting is from 1972, detailing the work of several New York artists from 1940 to the present (1970). Unlike Paris, where artists would gather in cafes and talk with each other, the New York school of painters had little to no connection with other artists. They were each in their own isolated studio trying to work out what the hell came next for a painter. We have had a very good education in this (not a) school of painters, thanks to museums like the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Chicago Art Institute, among others. Several artists from this non-group we have discarded, as they seem to have arrived at dead ends. But others, such as Barnett Newman and Jules Olitsky, and even Frank Stella, have interested us for many years. Helen Frankenthaler is one of the few women included in the documentary. Though a bit on the dry side, the interviews (including a very taciturn Andy Warhol) are usually interesting, as are the clips showing the artists working. Not for everyone, but it was worth watching for us.
Now streaming on Criterion.
Lastly comes Onlookers, a 2023 film that documents tourists, tourist sites and daily life in Laos. Laos is a land-locked country in southeast Asia, and not an easy place to get to. Most of the images we see here are along the Mekong River. This little film is like a picture book that once opened to an image shows people interacting with the scene. Random places are shown for a minute or longer, sometimes an active scene is played out and sometimes a type of still life. Anglo tourists and Asian tourists pass by and do touristy things, like zip lining, floating down the river on giant tubes, or taking photos of monks and temples. The good, the bad and the ugly of tourism is shown. Beautiful landscapes include river scenes, waterfalls and mountains. This is really a special kind of film. There is no narration or scripted dialogue. We both enjoyed watching, especially as this is a place we will never likely visit. It's also a reminder that there is really nowhere to go to escape tourists, except for several places we know about in New Mexico.
Now streaming on Criterion.
Next time will be a piano repertoire update, as well as an update on my PC gaming life. See you soon.
Mapman Mike
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