4 stars out of 5
As I already boldly announced that Drive My Car was the best film of 2021, I guess I have to also vote for it as the best International Feature at the Oscars. But Norway’s entry, The Worst Person in the World, is really good too. I was quickly charmed by Renate Reinsve, who plays our protagonist Julie (and, spoiler alert, is not the titular worst person). The actress and character give off a Greta Gerwig air: carefree, quirky, unsure what she wants to do with herself and totally OK with that. I also felt a Woody Allen influence in the urban light comedy of the early going here, but in Oslo instead of New York.
Director/co-writer Joachim Trier (no relation to Lars von) adds a couple of artful, clever sequences that add to the fun without distracting from the story. He certainly understands and is able to convey the thrill of being young(ish) in a city as we rush along with Julie’s life — divided here into 12 chapters, plus prologue and epilogue with an occasional narrator.
The not-yet-30 Julie connects with north-of-40 acclaimed comic-book artist Aksel (a terrific Anders Danielsen Lie) and another dimension is confronted: whether or not to follow the marriage-and-children track. Sweet, dumb Eivind (Herbert Nordrum) provides less drama for her but is that necessarily a good thing? It’s a testament to Trier and co-writer Eskil Vogt that I was able to relate a lot to two very different characters, Julie and Aksel. Or maybe that’s a testament to me, I don’t know.
Julie bounces through life to an appealing yet unfamiliar indie soundtrack. And like most “better” films, her tale gets a bit heavier in the later chapters, taking the movie to another level. OK, so my current rankings are Drive My Car, The Worst Person in the World, The Hand of God….
Movie Review: The Worst Person in the World
Aquarium Playlist, 2/22/22
EPISODE #475: SATELLITES
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
The High Water Marks — “Satellite”
Spoon — “Satellite”
Elvis Costello — “Satellite”
Elliott Smith — “Satellite”
Phoebe Bridgers — “Chinese Satellite”
The Replacements — “Satellite”
Orange Juice — “Satellite City”
The Hooters — “Satellite”
Wilco — “You Satellite”
The Bats — “Satellites”
Yo La Tengo — “Satellite”
Velvet Underground — “Satellite of Love” [alternate demo]
The Sadies — “Last of the Good” r.i.p. Dallas Good
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
Movie Review: Jackass Forever
3.5 stars out of 5
It’s not that I was opposed to Jackass; I just never tuned in. I certainly noticed the show’s influence on my young friend [TRIGGER WARNING: obscure name-dropping], then-aspiring filmmaker Van Neistat. I dug the Minutemen song they used as theme music. Names seeped into my awareness: Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Wee Man, Bam… Margerine? (Less sure about that one.) At some point I saw one of the movies: 2, or maybe 3. And I laughed a lot. So, new movie, why not? It’s been a hard couple of years.
I laughed a lot. The hardest I laughed at anything in a while. I guess I’ve always enjoyed cartoon violence, Three Stooges violence, and this is, you know, real. But they laugh afterwards so that makes it OK I think. There is something very satisfying about this for me, and that’s between me and my analyst.
There’s also something pleasing about the lasting friendships on display, the aging warriors suiting up for one last battle. Not that there’s any sentimentality in this flick, but it’s a subtext. Also telling is the inclusion of newer, younger jackasses who can take a little more beating, and the inclusion of… inclusion. A woman. A black guy. Jackass is woke.
Prominent people pay their respects. Co-creator Spike Jonze drops by. (These weren’t just bros kicking each other in the dicks; these were SPIKE JONZE-approved bros kicking each other in the dicks.) Eric Andre, whose own career owes a serious debt to the Jackass universe, and whose meh-movie Bad Trip shows that this stuff isn’t easy to pull off on the big screen, is in the house. Machine Gun Kelly is here for the young people.
Oh, about that dick-kicking: Whatever homoerotic issues these dudes were dealing with two decades ago, they still haven’t remotely sorted out. So there is a ton, I dare say too much, penis- and testicle-related stunts. And doodie. It’s in for a penny, in for a pound of shit with these guys.
Still, I laughed a lot. Many very, very funny bits, and a handful of really cleverly conceived ones. And yeah, totally stupid bits too. Penny, pound. Knoxville says they’re done but I haven’t noticed any real successful outside projects in the past so, see you guys in 2030.
Aquarium Playlist, 2/15/22
EPISODE #474: BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2022
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
The Weeknd — “Save Your Tears”
Billy Wright — “After Dark Blues”
The Staple Singers — “Uncloudy Day”
The Treniers — “Rockin’ Is Our Bizness”
Ohio Players — “Love Rollercoaster”
Cecil Gant — “I Wonder”
Hank Ballard & the Midnighters — “Work With Me Annie”
Dee Dee Sharp — “Mashed Potato Time”
Kool & the Gang — “Open Sesame”
Don Covay — “Mercy Mercy”
Betty Wright — “Baby Sitter”
The Tams — “Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy”
Brenton Wood — “Gimme Little Sign”
Percy Sledge — “Take Time To Know Her”
Betty Davis — “If I’m in Luck I Might Get Picked Up” r.i.p.
Syl Johnson — “Back for a Taste of Your Love” r.i.p.
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
Aquarium Playlist, 2/8/22
EPISODE #473: CANCELED CONCERTS III
The omicron variant caused a large spike in COVID cases, resulting in a new batch of canceled events.
Peter Holsapple — “Cancelled” [ALTERNATE THEME]
Joy Cleaner — “False Alarm”
The Ergs — “Every Romance Language”
Shellshag — “Driving Song”
John Cozz & the Rippers — “Italian Meats”
The Exbats — “Best Kiss”
Baby Shakes — “Sweet ’n’ Sour (pt. 2)”
The Connells — “Fading In (Hardy)”
The Sensational Country Blues Wonders — “My Baby Stabbed Me With a Steak Knife”
Yo La Tengo — “Is That Enough”
Last Roundup — “Just a Little Is Enough”
The Wrens — “This Boy Is Exhausted”
Bettye LaVette — “Everything Is Broken”
Jonathan Richman — “This Is One Sad World”
Vehicle Flips — “Requiem for a Canceled Program” [CLOSING THEME]
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
Aquarium Playlist, 2/1/22
EPISODE #472: GROUNDHOG DAY (SHADOWS)
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
Rolling Stones — “Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow”
Beat Happening — “Cast a Shadow”
My Teenage Stride — “Cast Your Own Shadow”
Au Revoir Simone — “Shadows”
Yo La Tengo — “Shadows”
Rufus Wainwright — “Shadows”
Velvet Monkeys — “Shadow Box”
Pale Lights — “Port of Shadows”
Flowers — “Shadow”
Lucinda Williams — “Shadows & Doubt”
Dr. Dog — “Shadow People”
Chromatics — “Shadow”
Elvis Costello & the Attractions — “Complicated Shadows”
Charles Brown — “Evening Shadows”
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
Aquarium Playlist, 1/25/22
EPISODE #471: FLOATING
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
Spiritualized — “Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space”
Teenage Halloween — “Floating”
Karyn Kuhl — “Floating World”
The Apples in Stereo — “Floating in Space”
Julee Cruise — “Floating”
Eyelids — “Floating Underground”
The Lampshades — “Floating”
Planet Gong — “Floatin’ Anarchy” [live]
They Might Be Giants — “Haunted Floating Eye”
Aberdeen — “Sink or Float”
Dott — “Floating Arrows”
Failed Flowers — “Coke Floats”
Modest Mouse — “Float On”
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
Movie Review: Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
3.5 stars out of 5
First things first: Vanna White does not appear in this film. Having just named Drive My Car my favorite movie of 2021, I was excited to see another offering from director Ryûke Hamaguchi. And this time I’d be judging him fully on his own merits, as there wasn’t a Haruki Murakami story to base the screenplay on.
I must admit to slight disappointment in learning that, like Buster Scruggs and French Dispatch, this was yet another anthology film. (And bigger disappointment to discover that some people are calling them portmanteau films — the comparison doesn’t seem to fit.) It’s not that I’m against cinematic short-story collections, but I guess when I’m sitting in a theater, I prefer to immerse myself in one long story.
Here we get three stories: an unexpected love triangle; a #metoo plot against a college professor; and a mistaken-identity reunion of two women in a post-technology world.
The first segment drew me in with its tale of introverts finding love, and being wounded by infidelity, and the “queen bee” ex who doesn’t want you yet doesn’t want anyone else to have you either. I can relate to all of that! I appreciated that Hamaguchi fleshed out the main character so we didn’t see her simply as a selfish villain.
I found the second segment to be the weakest (of course, with 3 parts, that’s usually going to be the case). We have a young mother cheating with a younger college student, who devises a “honey trap” scheme against a professor he feels has wronged him. (Is honey trap a common term in Japan?) The segment devolves into Black Mirror-lite territory, which, again, is not what I go to the movies for.
In the final segment, after a virus has destroyed the internet (stop watching Black Mirror, Ryûke!), two women who may or may not be acquainted run into each other after a high school reunion. As they talk, they learn that each has something to offer the other emotionally. There was a sweetness to this one which reminded me of “Augie Wren’s Christmas Story” by Paul Auster (already captured on film in Smoke).
I admire that Hamaguchi is delving into the murky areas of the human condition — as he ages I imagine he’ll gain even more insight. And kudos to him for featuring female protagonists, though in the middle segment, a cautionary tale for women presented by a male screenwriter was a little icky. I’d also warn him against making movies that are too talk-y; in the short-film mode perhaps it’s easier to revert to writing a one-act play. But movies let us go bigger. I’m interested to see what this filmmaker comes up with next, hopefully in feature-length story form.
Aquarium Playlist, 1/18/22
EPISODE #470: RONNIE SPECTOR TRIBUTE
The Ronettes — “Be My Baby” [ALTERNATE THEME]
Billy Joel — “Say Goodbye to Hollywood”
Marshall Crenshaw — “Something’s Gonna Happen”
The Ramones — “She Talks to Rainbows”
The Beach Boys — “Don’t Worry Baby”
Ronnie Spector & the E Street Band — “Say Goodbye to Hollywood”
Ronnie Spector — “Something’s Gonna Happen”
Ronnie Spector — “She Talks to Rainbows”
Ronnie Spector — “Don’t Worry Baby”
Johnny Thunders — “You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory”
Amy Rigby — “All I Want”
Ronnie Spector — “You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory”
Ronnie Spector — “All I Want”
Ronnie Spector — “Farewell to a Sex Symbol”
Eddie Money feat. Ronnie Spector — “Take Me Home Tonight”
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
Movie Review: France
2.5 stars out of 5
Note to self: Just because a movie’s in French and is playing at an art theater doesn’t automatically mean it’s good. In this case, I must admit I didn’t do much advance research. A film starring Léa Seydoux? What she say, I do! Seydoux first caught my eye in The Grand Budapest Hotel in 2014, and retroactively caught every other part of my body when I finally saw Blue Is the Warmest Colour. So I bought a ticket to France tout de suite.
Seydoux plays a celebrity journalist in France named… France. Everyone wants a selfie with her! And Emmanuel Macron is sort of in the movie! This is, how you say, le satire. And as we either learned or didn’t learn from Don’t Look Up, satire ain’t easy. You either need to lampoon a topic that hasn’t been done to death before, or else you better bring a unique perspective. France fails on both counts.
France the character is more interested in presenting herself than in presenting the news or her interview subjects. She “directs” camera angles and actions while reporting in the field, to tell the story as she sees fit. The media being staged was covered pretty well by Broadcast News back in 1987. And yes, France is cynical, but didn’t Network already take a delightfully dark look at the news media in 1976?
I guess the twist here is that France has an ethical awakening. She then steps away from television and becomes charitable so, they decide she’s mad! And thus is sent to fancy rehab in the Alps. Next there’s a scandalous report about her. But her savvy assistant knows that everybody loves a comeback and besides, the public has a very small attention span. Along the line, we learn that being phony is easier than being real, and dishing it out is easier than taking it. Not too original. C’est la vie!
Jack Silbert, curator