Before Linklater

Before I get into the Linklater stuff, here's what else I've watched lately. (I know, it's a lot. I haven't been able to sleep. Obviously, since I'm posting this at 3am.)

Following: This was so great. It was a really short (1 hr 9 min) black and white "neo-noir" film from Christopher Nolan. I'm sure some of you must have seen it. I absolutely loved this, and I'm mad at myself for waiting so long to watch it. It reminded me of Nolan's Memento, another favorite of mine, in its stylistic elements (I've now seen all Nolan's films and I actually think those are his only two films that have that style, his others also have a distinct style but they're a lot different). Basically it was about a writer who starts following people, at first out of sheer curiosity / to get inspiration for his stories. But once one of the people he follows confronts him, everything changes, and he gets wrapped into a storyline that even he couldn't have concocted. I thought this was really creative and exciting and so well made with great use of light and shadow and camera angles and editing. I love stories that are told out of time. (Also, fun fact - one of the main character's names was Cobb. Inception anyone?)

See You in September: This was a little indie about a group of New Yorkers whose therapists all go on vacation during the same summer month, so they decide to try forming a group where they give each other therapy, without their therapists. The script had some gaping holes in it I thought, but it was cute as far as the romance department goes, I really like Justin Kirk (he's Andy from Weeds), so I'm happy to watch him in anything, even an un-perfect little film like this one.

All American Orgy: This was actually a pretty good movie, I'm surprised it was so poorly marketed  - it's not really a comedy, and it's also not porn. Three couples having serious relationship issues go off to a farm to have an orgy and everything goes exactly how you'd expect it to go when people with this many issues start thinking about sleeping with each others' significant others. It was strange but interesting. I think it was really truthful, it played out the only way I could have seen the scenario playing out, especially considering the fact that the "leader" of the whole orgy idea was a complete sociopath, and I think the acting was actually pretty good for a film starring people I've never seen before. This was a simple film and it if it was marketed to the indie crowd instead of the horny boy crowd, I think it would have been more successful... instead of playing on Showtime at 2am.

Joseph Campbell: Mythos I: This is a 5-part lecture series with Joseph Campbell, who I love. It was great to hear him lecture about his theories, but hard to watch him so close to when he died, he was hard to understand at times and I thought that was sad. Anyway, most people probably find this kind of stuff boring, and his theories about mythology in religion are probably a bit offensive to some people, but I really enjoy it. Mythos II is about eastern religions, so I'm excited to watch that soon.

The God Who Wasn't There: Horrible documentary that was trying to be some kind of Michael Moore-like expose but just left me cold. I would not recommend this to anyone, it was really poorly made and just left me thinking the director (who also somehow made himself the star of the film) was an asshole.