the BIG SCREEN...

And now for something completely different – an animated bio-pic of Monty Python-ette Graham Chapman screened at MoMA last night. The good news was that MoMA was packed (as always) with visitors on Wednesday (having closed as of Sunday night pre-hurricane). The not so good news that A Liar's Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python's Graham Chapman really didn’t hit the funny bone except for hard core Pythonites. And alas the Monday screening of Sally Cruikshank’s animations had to be cancelled. Those with enough enthusiasm and time to attend Friday’s screening weren’t disappointed. Introduced by Jim Hoberman (formerly of the Village Voice) his “fun on Mars” description riffing on one of Sally’s titles was no misnomer. Nor was his “she is some kind of genius” and his most anticipated screening of the To Save and Project: The 10th MoMA International Festival of Film Preservation. Parents: Sally’s animations will shut up those kids over the next few no school days. She is a self-confessed “dinosaur”. Judging from the compilation (that included her titles for the Hollywood film Ruthless People) she is a Diplodocus with teeth for boredom;) She re-called that co-incidentally she tuned into a radio station whilst driving and Mick Jagger was asked what he thought of the Ruthless People titles. Not very complimentary. Sally said she hates your new song too Mick. Whatever it is:) Check out MoMA. Whatever the criticisms and short-comings it’s far more than just a few indecipherable famous abstract paintings and the like. There’s even a James Bond movie retrospective. And they thought MoMA was crazy collecting this stuff/sh**;) Just goes to show how…are some people.

A review of Flight (opening tomorrow in NYC next Feb 1 in London) was kinda promised on this site when it world premiered at the 50^th New York Film Festival. And Hurricane Sandy REALLY harnessed by focus, anger and praise of and at this film. Up to a point it’s a revelatory film (and performance by Denzel Washington) of an alcoholic. Whatever job he may command. In his case he pilots a regular stress-free short domestic flight (whilst hungover/intoxicated/sleepless) through stormy Florida weather and into blue carefree skies to Atlanta. A technical failure almost kills everyone and would have if not for Denzel’s experience as a pilot. But there were deaths and they demand legal satisfaction. The trouble with criticism is that one tends to re-write someone else’s script (John Gatins in this case). And I still can’t square the circle of the film’s ending (trying to avoid a spoiler alert).  But like it or not Gatins (in a kinda parallel Michael Moore way) begs a lot of very pertinent questions. Is the truth always a welcome friend and neighbour? Gatins suggests yes. But ironically his overall film suggests not. One thought of the nurses carrying babies down 9 flights of stairs (6 to a baby) in the darkness to evacuate newborns- some even a few hours old from Langone Hospital. What if one nurse had been like that pilot and slipped ever so slightly and a baby would lose a limb? What if that nurse hadn’t been there. What if several nurses hadn’t been there? What if a fireman or police officer inadvertently themselves drowned after rescuing a baby. A family. Would they be any less of a hero because they’d been drinking that night and risked their life. Flight will anger many folk especially after Hurricane Sandy. And one really can’t give the production team credit for that. But Denzel Washington breaks your ffing heart because he’s the only motherffer who really ever cares about anything. And it’s questionable whether such a survivor (in such a nuanced performance by Washington) would give the response he gave at the final enquiry. Humans do their best. We are all fallible. And some of us find ways to cope that are very extraordinary and definitely not the social or legal norm. It’s like medication- it is so often a fine line between just the right amount and just too much. What would you have done? It’s so easy in retrospect to judge. So as in my oft quoted Les Murray poem perhaps the world will always need legends “else they will die of strangeness”.