Why to write this blog at all that at best gets 'courtesy attention'. And what do I have up for the holiday season? ! Like I care? Well, I do actually. I don't want to disappoint the kid/teenager/adult who kinda still believes in…
Then I thought, thought of the movies catching up with me with this week. Nobody forced me to watch them, nor review them, nor anything. I simply plunged in and wished to enjoy. And I did, for the most part, in spades.
Miracle on 34th St
The White Crow
The Aspern Papers
Bessie
Pariah
Our belief systems are crumbling in these times. For some ossifying. For some, still hangin' in there…
What these 5 movies offer any race, even alien, is a reason to carry on into a face of adversity. There is a helluva lot of ego there, involved, admittedly, but in such good cause. It is the cruelest thing for the better off Bina in Dee Rees' film Pariah to seduce Alike (who has always been hesitant/reluctant to that point for a lesbian experience) and then next morning dismiss her as 'fun' 'being myself'. Naturally, Alike goes 'ballistic'. Though, nothing is ever intended nor enacted as cruel.
Simply states of being. Of becoming. Of beholding.
Bessie Smith could be bossy, and why in the hell did she want to live in the style of what rich white trash lived in? Who wouldn't is the answer. Hello, New York , New York…..Bessie's mentor/savior Ma Rainey instilled in her: sing for the pains in that audience not for those in oneself.
The Aspern Papers seems so far from the present yet so totally not. It was Julien Landais' first feature, passion and the belief in his vision and the material that got the film made. Does it 'creak' a bit? Well, it deserves a theatrical screen not a computer really to savor its delights! Blessed with performances of mother/daughter Vanessa Redgrave/Joely Richardson the movie/story still retains a sting in its tale for today. Selfish? Yes, yet understandably so. So would you be under the circumstances.
Was Rudolf Nureyev selfish or simply following a passion and destiny to dance for the world? Actor Ralph Fiennes directs this incredibly poignant film The White Crow analyzing Nureyev's upbringing, struggles all leading up to this 23 year-old's defection from Russian 'minders' at a Paris airport in 1961. A known story but somewhat untold and relegated to history. Amazing casting thanks to the collaboration of Fiennes and his Russian/European casting directors. Adèle Exarchopoulos’ (Blue Is the Warmest Colour) Clara Saint is simply fascinating as witness to Nureyev's new female eyes into the West.
And what could possibly be said again about Miracle on 34th St?
The only person in Miracle on 34th St who has no ego whatsoever is Santa Claus (he ?human? Kris Kringle): one of if not the only non-flawed character in human film let alone history:) ! It sets a precedent beyond all legal precedents: if 'you' and children ('some') and the ….reminds me of Robin Williams' character in search of the Holy Grail of NYC in The Fisher King. Once famous now 'down-at-heel' radio DJ Jack Lucas also trying to discover/renew a sense of purpose in living, believing in Parry. The Fisher King is darkness personified compared to Miracle on 34th St. Yet they both reach the summit.
And one thing more do I know: I stand now before my last summit, and before that which hath been longest reserved for me. Ah, my hardest path must I ascend! Ah, I have begun my lonesomest wandering!
He, however, who is of my nature doth not avoid such an hour: the hour that saith unto him: Now only dost thou go the way to thy greatness! Summit and abyss—these are now comprised together!
Thou goest the way to thy greatness: now hath it become thy last refuge, what was hitherto thy last danger!
Thou goest the way to thy greatness: it must now be thy best courage that there is no longer any path behind thee!
Thou goest the way to thy greatness: here shall no one steal after thee! Thy foot itself hath effaced the path behind thee, and over it standeth written: Impossibility.
And if all ladders henceforth fail thee, then must thou learn to mount upon thine own head: how couldst thou mount upward otherwise?
Upon thine own head, and beyond thine own heart! Now must the gentlest in thee become the hardest.
He who hath always much-indulged himself, sickeneth at last by his much-indulgence. Praises on what maketh hardy! I do not praise the land where butter and honey—flow!
To learn to look away from oneself, is necessary in order to see many things:— this hardiness is needed by every mountain-climber.
He, however, who is obtrusive with his eyes as a discerner, how can he ever see more of anything than its foreground!
But thou, O Zarathustra, wouldst view the ground of everything, and its background: thus must thou mount even above thyself—up, upwards, until thou hast even thy stars under thee!
Yea! To look down upon myself, and even upon my stars: that only would I call my summit, that hath remained for me as my last summit! —
Thus spake Zarathustra to himself while ascending, comforting his heart with harsh maxims: for he was sore at heart as he had never been before. And when he had reached the top of the mountain-ridge, behold, there lay the other sea spread out before him: and he stood still and was long silent. The night, however, was cold at this height, and clear and starry.
I recognise my destiny, said he at last, sadly. Well! I am ready. Now hath my last lonesomeness begun.
Ah, this sombre, sad sea, below me! Ah, this sombre nocturnal vexation! Ah, fate and sea! To you must I now GO down!
Thus Spake Zarathustra (Friedrich Nietzsche)
