TOD
Not much this week so far, but...
A couple of nights ago I took a movie off the shelf, Last Exit to Brooklyn, which I saw the week it opened in summer of 1990, and then only once a few years later when I got it on laserdisc. I'm not even sure I watched it all the way through that second time. But suddenly, out of the blue, I was ready for it this week, don't know what triggered that, but I ate up every frame. It's something of a miracle how this German director Uli Edel took it under his wing and shot it in what was then still a very dangerous part of the city. The translation of Hubert Selby's prose to the screen is incredible, and makes On the Waterfront look like the Disney version of a dockworkers' strike. And there's so much more. The cinematography and atmosphere are overwhelming. There's a vintage and worthwhile 45-minute "making of" doc on the Blu-ray, much of which is devoted to author Selby who appears in a bit part and talks about his life and the book and the locale, and after I've taken a few days away from it I shall listen to the director's commentary.
So where does one go from there? Requiem for a Dream? Same author, same incredible dark world...