Well, dear readers, yesterday was what we wags call a lazy day. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, yesterday was what we wags call a lazy day. It was a do nothing day, it was a don’t bug me with marginalia day, it was, in short, a lazy day. I got eight hours of sleep, arising at nine o’clock. I answered a few e-mails, then went to Gelson’s and bought some lox. Had I gone an hour later, they would have had none. I came home and ordered bagels and cream cheese from Western Bagel and those arrived about fifty minutes later, very fresh but not warm as they sometimes are. Throughout the day, I ate some bagels with cream cheese and lox and some with just cream cheese. It was an all-bagel day and that’s just the way it was. Too many damn bagels, but they were good and they would not have been good today, they would have been hard and gross, not necessarily in that order. Then I read about a movie that sounded pretty good that I’d never even heard of, a Spanish movie entitled Death of a Cyclist, directed in 1955 by the uncle of Javier Bardem, Jose Bardem. I found it online for a small rental fee and watched it and it was indeed very good, and short, too, which is always appreciated. The actors were good, the photography was lovely, and the story of infidelity among the upper class – infidelity and the title accident, which the infidelity people flee and then are blackmailed for – was good.
After that, I took a brief viewing break, then spent forty-five minutes trying to find some other damn thing to watch. I did find something, called Reasonable Doubt, and interestingly its plot device was a hit and run accident. But twenty minutes in and I realized I’d seen it, so that was that. Then I saw Witness was available, and while I own it on Blu-ray, I wanted to check out the transfer and see if it was better than the import I have. The answer was yes, it was better and of course I just got sucked into watching the whole damn thing again. For me, it’s one of the ten best movies of the 1980s and would hold its own in any decade. Brilliantly directed by Pete Weir, there’s nary a false note in the entire film and boy could there have been and if the film was made today by today’s crop of whatever they are every pitfall would have been taken and blatantly so. But Weir respects the world in which the film takes place, and so do the writers. Harrison Ford gives what is for me his best performance as John Book, a clean cop. The first ten minutes of the movie is all spent with the Amish characters and we meet recently widowed Kelly McGillis, her father, Jan Rubes, the man who’d like to woo her, Alexander Godunov, and, most importantly, Lukas Haas as her son. She and son are coming to the city to visit a relative and in so doing the boy, while in the bathroom, witnesses a murder. The scene in which the boy, after looking at a line-up and not recognizing the murderer and looking at endless mug shots with the same results, wanders around the police station while Harrison Ford is on the phone and then sees a photo of the killer and Ford sees the boy’s expression, is one of my favorite scenes ever, again brilliantly directed. Ford is shot, and in order to stay safe he has to stay with the Amish until he heals. The story is always compelling, and because we got to know the Amish before they ever step foot in the city, we understand their ways and how fish out of water Ford is. The dialogue is wonderful, McGillis deserved an Oscar for her performance and Lukas Haas is extraordinary as the boy. Danny Glover is excellent as is Josef Sommer, and Patti LuPone has a nice bit as Ford’s sister. The all synth score by Maurice Jarre shouldn’t work at all and yet it does – it’s kind of a fish out of water sound and it just captures everything really well. If you’ve never seen Witness, get on Amazon Prime and watch it – it’s a perfect film.
I tried to find something else to watch but I couldn’t. So, I listened to music and now playing is the third symphony of composer Louis Glass, a Danish composer who passed away in the mid-1930s – his music is wonderfully melodic and appealing. I’d only heard these pieces once when I got the CD three or four years ago. Really good stuff. And that was the lazy day.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll see the first two episodes of Sami with close captioning, just to see how that works, I’ll talk to Marshall Harvey about a plan for the trailer/sizzle thing – I really want to keep it no longer than one minute and I don’t think I want any actual dialogue or live sound – I just want images and music. I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll eat something light, and then at some point I can watch, listen, and relax.
The rest of the week is more of the same, some meetings and meals, hopefully getting at least one of the blurbs so we can announce the book, and trying to survive.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up when I’m up, do whatever needs dong, see the first two Sami episodes with close captioning, talk to Marshall Harvey re the trailer/sizzle thing, eat, hopefully pick up packages, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion. What are your favorite films of the 1980s? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had a restful lazy day.