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Aimee and I saw Adaptation at the Parkway Wednesday night, a film
featuring the same Spike Jonze/Charlie Kaufman collaboration that brought
the world the fabulous Being John Malkovich. This time Nicolas
Cage almost redeems himself as an actor as he portrays Kaufman himself
and his struggles to adapt Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief into a
screenplay. While Charlie fights writer's block and fails to kiss his
dreamgirl, his twin brother Donald (also played by Cage) manages to toss
off a successful script and snag the luscious Maggie Gyllenhaal without
even trying. Meanwhile, we watch flashbacks of Orlean (Meryl Streep)
gathering the material for her book and her encounters with the titular
orchid thief John Laroche as played by Chris Cooper. When their paths
all cross, that's when the fun really begins. Adaptation wants to
be a deep movie, but it is better as a hugely entertaining diversion. I
laughed out loud throughout the entire film, though Charlie's trials and
tribulations made me squirm a little when they hit uncomfortably close to
home. Writing myself into a story? Finding myself unable to span that 8
inches of space between myself and the object of my affection? Writer's
block? Nope, don't know anything about any of that.
Friday night Chris and I made our way to Artists' Television Access for
"Rhythm from Wreckage," an evening organized loosely around the idea of
cut-ups and reorganization. The piece de resistance was Things Go
Wrong, a video by Carl Diehl and Jason Kocol that reworked at least
two dozen Harrison Ford films into a hysterical narrative about sinister
clones, missing spouses, and terrible accidents. And just when things
start to get too crazy, you wake up in a bed of leaves on the side of a
hill. Absolutely brilliant. After the videos there was a wee bit of
exploration during which I scientifically determined that I don't really
suffer from a fear of heights, it's a fear of open grating.
Sometime on Saturday I settled in and watched Gimme Shelter. It
was a learning experience. First of all, Mick Jagger used to be a total
hottie. And damn, that man could dress. Also, drugs are bad, mmmkay?
Saturday evening I dragged myself out of the house and over to
Du Nord to
meet Logan and Raven and Antoun and Aimee and the visiting Eric, and to
listen to the incredible Victoria Hanna. That woman's voice and what she
did with it was amazing. Electro-Hebrew trance indeed. Trumpeter Frank
London opened for her by doing a klezmer-tinged free jazz sort of thing,
and that was also quite good. The new owner of the bar has already
knocked out a bunch of walls and completely destroyed the sense of
intimacy in the room with the stage. I fear for the Monday Night Hoots.
my cat hates you
one night only
Adaptation
Artists' Television Access
Gimme Shelter
Victoria Hanna
Frank London
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Heidi J. De Vries
