movies

[ellen_datlow]

Over the weekend I watched the South Korean movie Oldboy (finally--after three damaged DVDs from Netflix). Pretty harrowing and very effective. A man his kidnapped and kept prisoner for 15 years, with no idea as to who imprisoned him or why. When he gets out he's led through a cat and mouse game by his torturer.

Next up, Glengarry Glen Ross with a terrific ensemble cast: Jack Lemon, Alec Baldwin, Al Pacino, Kevin Spacey, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin, and Jonathan Pryce. The lives of cutthroat real estate guys in Chicago selling investments in Arizona and Florida land and not caring who they destroy to get on top. I saw the 2005 revival on Broadway with Liev Schreiber, who won a Tony. Not a great play or movie but it's made by its cast every time.

The Seventh Victim produced by Val Lewton and directed by Mark Robson. Someone recommended it and it was pretty lame. Young woman leaves school when her only living relative (who is supporting her)--her older sister-disappears. Satanic cult, blah blah blah. Very choppy the last fifteen minutes. There was a short about Lewton afterwards (maybe that's why the whole thing was recommended) but I just didn't care.

First two hours of the first season of Deadwood. Initially, the cursing put me off (surprising since I my self curse quite a bit in everyday life) but I found it off-putting at first. Got used to it though and enjoyed the episodes.

Comments

[bev-vincent.livejournal.com]

Everyone in our marketing group at work has been watching Glengarry Glen Ross lately to gain a better appreciation of our sales force. It's all about lead generation. Apparently all of our sales guys have the movies installed on their laptops and they can quote from it at length. A few of my coworkers were shellshocked after watching it. The vulgarity and animosity among the characters is pervasive (though perhaps lame by Deadwood standards. The cast referred to the movie as Death of a Fucking Salesman while they were working on it.

Alec Baldwin's scene is astounding (his part was written specifically for the film and did not appear in the original stage play).

It was interesting listening to the cast discuss the shooting process. Alan Arkin said that they had a script supervisor who made sure they got the dialog exactly correct, right down to the number of uhs in a stammer. If he did two and the script called for three, he had to redo it.

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

Bev,
This is fascinating. Thanks for the info.

[ebenstone.livejournal.com]

First prize is a Cadillac El Dorado, second prize is a set of steak knives, third prize...you're fired.

[vee-ecks.livejournal.com]

"Alec Baldwin's scene is astounding (his part was written specifically for the film and did not appear in the original stage play)."

Yep, and it is just great. I yell "PUT. THE. FUCKING. COFFEE. DOWN." and "COFFEE IS FOR CLOSERS" at people at work all the time. (Likeminded people who aren't going to assume I'm saying that seriously, I mean.)

BTW, in a similar vein, this is a pretty swell anthology in general, and one I've to a few salespeople I know who also read for pleasure, over the years:

http://www.amazon.com/Closers-Great-American-Writers-Selling/dp/product-description/0312180683

Unfortunately OOP, but you can get copies from Amazon used book affiliates for a song. Very much worth it.