Memoirs of a Geezer!
Reflections and Observations -- A Bright Passage from the Fantasies of Youth
to Illuminations of Advanced Maturity!
This Episode: Festival of Films... Another Extraordinary Milwaukee Film Fortnight + 1!
All of us, all human beings, I'm guessing, at times waft along on breezes of fantasy, subsuming ourselves in romanticized visions of unattainable goals. Films, especially those of great Film Festivals, spawn the breezes of imagination that carry us off to dreamy landscapes, passports of our imaginations. Anyway... I admit it! I tend to drift off into forests of cacti and big skies.
The recently concluded Milwaukee Film Festival, 2017 Edition, served its devotees a banquet of outstanding and delicious food for thought and fuel for conversation. For me, having lived and worked in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, even Washington State, I was roped in and nourished, for example, by The Ballad of Lefty Brown, our opening course, and far more than a "small plate" appetizer!
Unexpectedly, disarmingly, Lefty, a wizened and bewhiskered, *Gabby Hayes-like sidekick becomes the hero of the piece in a Western morality tale that offers it all -- gunslinging killers, vigilanteism, sweeping Montana vistas, clomping hooves, a two-gun-sporting "green" kid and eventual retribution. Great fun! An excellent performance by Bill Pullman. I couldn't quite score it a five, but rather a "high 4-1/2"! My fascination with the Western is likely due to the real and would-be
cowboys I've known. I'm addicted to them, Westerns, that is, and equally to the cowboys who populate the West and my own memories, experiences... and imagination! Recommendation #1!
Rolling along from Montana to the desert country of California, not in any order of attendance, Lucky -- and not the same genre as Lefty -- is a film that celebrates longevity, and the too often marginalized and largely ignored season of Old Age. Many in society who have not reached that plateau of life, tend to regard older people as having no past, no identity, no history, simply "oldness" (GeezerHood, maybe??!).
Lucky reveals it eponymous character -- a terrific performance by the now past-tense, Harry Dean Stanton -- in layers or stages, in my unschooled opinion. Lucky is introduced and identified to the viewer, not as an used-up old man, but as a richly invested and multi-faceted personality, revealing him, in a sense, layer by layer until we learn something of his history, his flaws and strengths, his longings... with a few remarkable surprises along the journey. For what it's worth, another Recommendation!
It's true! Manifesto is a thought-provoking series of manifestos, often comic, each delivered by one of a series of Cate Blanchett's in different roles, as different personae, different appearances. The dinner table and media segments are wonderful. Potential viewers -- as well as those of us who actually viewed this film at the Festival -- may wish to read about it through
reviews and synopses. The film's terrific, as is its star, if quite unusual, at times cryptic... depending upon one's understanding of the manifestos presented!
(I must set my hand to a manifesto of my own. Something long and tedious, perhaps devoted to my great fondness for the art of foolishness! I'll keep you informed...)
Back to the main subject, sort of... I've always wanted a goat. My mom wouldn't get me one, so movies had to suffice... Bad Lucky Goat (for example)... combines humor, colorful characters, a bit of suspense, a pair of bickering siblings, ultimate reconciliation through cooperation, and of course a wonderful bearded member of the "Bovidae" genre of animals -- Vincent Van Goat to be precise. The language is Creole
and the setting is a beautiful island belonging to Colombia! Were it not for Milwaukee's great Festival, don't know where else one could enjoy such a delightful movie on the "Big Screen." And, this film helps to carry the major theme, "GeezerHood" -- you know, Old Goats sharing wisdom and useful information! (No goat was harmed in the making, by the by!) Recommendation #4!
I could go on for pages and pages with this thing, but you may already have stopped reading, so I'll "review" a film or two more, and then no more after that! Rat Film, for example. The title may not compel many viewers to this exceptionally good and highly symbolic vehicle, but see it
if you can! Set in Baltimore, it's a commentary on "redlining" and "ghettoizing" disadvantaged citizens in a manner that will and should shock the viewer. It is a great film. The symbolic comparison between Baltimore's rats and a specific population of its citizens is disturbing and informative. It should be required viewing for every American citizen greater in age than, say, 12 years. Highly Recommended!
One more! -- This year's "Super Secret Screening" -- a bonus film for Milwaukee Film Members -- was Visages et Villages (Faces and Places, if you'd like an English translation!). And it is always a surprise. The film is a collaborative effort between fabled, 89-year-old film artist, Agnes Varda, and "JR," described as a renegade French graffiti artist turned outsize street photographer. Together, they profile ordinary citizens,
photograph them and place their enormous images on unusual "canvasses." I found the film a bit disappointing on some levels, but a visual treat. What the hell! I'm no film critic, but like any wandering buffoon or possible philistine, I'm entitled to an opinion. I'd recommend it, though, if only for the French scenery and the towering (or huge reclining...) images. JR's unusual "photo truck" alone is a marvel to behold!
[ For those more interested in reading books than viewing films, below are images of fine reading material you may wish to explore, and a few resources for securing copies: www.amazon.com; www.powells.com; www.barnesandnoble.com; www.booksamillion.com. Optionally, you can purchase a hard or printed copy of Good Night to All the Beautiful Young Women...
at Woodland Pattern Book Center, Locust Street in Milwaukee, WI, The Little Read Book in Wauwatosa, WI, or even Paperbacks in Cocoa (Village), Florida! Thank you, and good night, or perhaps good day (depending on when you choose to view this latest edition of Memoirs of a Geezer!) ]
* George "Gabby" Hayes (1885 - 1969), perennial sidekick of Western movie heroes. He played the "grizzled codger" sidekick to Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Wild Bill Elliot, even Randolph Scott (six times) and John Wayne (15 times)! (I do a fine imitation of "Gabby" if anyone's interested! )
All of us, all human beings, I'm guessing, at times waft along on breezes of fantasy, subsuming ourselves in romanticized visions of unattainable goals. Films, especially those of great Film Festivals, spawn the breezes of imagination that carry us off to dreamy landscapes, passports of our imaginations. Anyway... I admit it! I tend to drift off into forests of cacti and big skies.
Unexpectedly, disarmingly, Lefty, a wizened and bewhiskered, *Gabby Hayes-like sidekick becomes the hero of the piece in a Western morality tale that offers it all -- gunslinging killers, vigilanteism, sweeping Montana vistas, clomping hooves, a two-gun-sporting "green" kid and eventual retribution. Great fun! An excellent performance by Bill Pullman. I couldn't quite score it a five, but rather a "high 4-1/2"! My fascination with the Western is likely due to the real and would-be
Rolling along from Montana to the desert country of California, not in any order of attendance, Lucky -- and not the same genre as Lefty -- is a film that celebrates longevity, and the too often marginalized and largely ignored season of Old Age. Many in society who have not reached that plateau of life, tend to regard older people as having no past, no identity, no history, simply "oldness" (GeezerHood, maybe??!).
Lucky reveals it eponymous character -- a terrific performance by the now past-tense, Harry Dean Stanton -- in layers or stages, in my unschooled opinion. Lucky is introduced and identified to the viewer, not as an used-up old man, but as a richly invested and multi-faceted personality, revealing him, in a sense, layer by layer until we learn something of his history, his flaws and strengths, his longings... with a few remarkable surprises along the journey. For what it's worth, another Recommendation!
It's true! Manifesto is a thought-provoking series of manifestos, often comic, each delivered by one of a series of Cate Blanchett's in different roles, as different personae, different appearances. The dinner table and media segments are wonderful. Potential viewers -- as well as those of us who actually viewed this film at the Festival -- may wish to read about it through
(I must set my hand to a manifesto of my own. Something long and tedious, perhaps devoted to my great fondness for the art of foolishness! I'll keep you informed...)
Back to the main subject, sort of... I've always wanted a goat. My mom wouldn't get me one, so movies had to suffice... Bad Lucky Goat (for example)... combines humor, colorful characters, a bit of suspense, a pair of bickering siblings, ultimate reconciliation through cooperation, and of course a wonderful bearded member of the "Bovidae" genre of animals -- Vincent Van Goat to be precise. The language is Creole
I could go on for pages and pages with this thing, but you may already have stopped reading, so I'll "review" a film or two more, and then no more after that! Rat Film, for example. The title may not compel many viewers to this exceptionally good and highly symbolic vehicle, but see it
One more! -- This year's "Super Secret Screening" -- a bonus film for Milwaukee Film Members -- was Visages et Villages (Faces and Places, if you'd like an English translation!). And it is always a surprise. The film is a collaborative effort between fabled, 89-year-old film artist, Agnes Varda, and "JR," described as a renegade French graffiti artist turned outsize street photographer. Together, they profile ordinary citizens,
[ For those more interested in reading books than viewing films, below are images of fine reading material you may wish to explore, and a few resources for securing copies: www.amazon.com; www.powells.com; www.barnesandnoble.com; www.booksamillion.com. Optionally, you can purchase a hard or printed copy of Good Night to All the Beautiful Young Women...at Woodland Pattern Book Center, Locust Street in Milwaukee, WI, The Little Read Book in Wauwatosa, WI, or even Paperbacks in Cocoa (Village), Florida! Thank you, and good night, or perhaps good day (depending on when you choose to view this latest edition of Memoirs of a Geezer!) ]
* George "Gabby" Hayes (1885 - 1969), perennial sidekick of Western movie heroes. He played the "grizzled codger" sidekick to Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Wild Bill Elliot, even Randolph Scott (six times) and John Wayne (15 times)! (I do a fine imitation of "Gabby" if anyone's interested! )
Humbly Submitted, 10-17-17 -- Joel K.
(I mean, gosh, it's been a while since I
promoted my "library" of fine literature!)
