I'm no longer paranoid about work. I'm too damn busy. I'm guessing that's a good thing.
Mary and I went to see Metropolis, the opening of the Chicago Silent Film Festival, at the Gateway theater, which is way on the Northwest side of Chicago. Cool old theater, with the whole organ that rises from the floor thing. Tragically, I'm not that into theater organ music, but what can you do.
The film itself -- See, I wish I could turn off the whole 21st century ironic detachment thing and just let things sink in. Some of the visuals were stunning, and parts of the story were gripping, but I kept getting distracted by my own litany of barely suppressed snarky comments. It's just so different, seeing everyone in that seriously overdone pancake makeup, seeing how much of silent movies were acted with eyebrows and head wiggles, seeing a "garden of paradise" that looks like a matte painting Dr. Seuss did on an off day. But the things that went right... The sets were amazingly conceived, the robot was coonvincingly evil (although I never quite got WHY she was evil...I guess she just was), the end of the underground city was gripping... I dunno. I've got to let it sink in.
I was surpised at how racy bits of the movie were -- pre-Hayes code, and German for that matter, I guess they could get away with it. What the hell, it was the '20's, free love was the name of the game. But Mary and I both had a "poing!" moment when all of a sudden the evil robot is dancing around in pasties. (I'm not entirely sure how that served the story. Just showing the difference between the evil robot and who she is taking over for, I guess. Or maybe even at the dawn of cinema, they knew that nekkid chicks sold tickets. Sigh.)
Have to get up early to do some CCA stuff. I'm going to bed.
Mary and I went to see Metropolis, the opening of the Chicago Silent Film Festival, at the Gateway theater, which is way on the Northwest side of Chicago. Cool old theater, with the whole organ that rises from the floor thing. Tragically, I'm not that into theater organ music, but what can you do.
The film itself -- See, I wish I could turn off the whole 21st century ironic detachment thing and just let things sink in. Some of the visuals were stunning, and parts of the story were gripping, but I kept getting distracted by my own litany of barely suppressed snarky comments. It's just so different, seeing everyone in that seriously overdone pancake makeup, seeing how much of silent movies were acted with eyebrows and head wiggles, seeing a "garden of paradise" that looks like a matte painting Dr. Seuss did on an off day. But the things that went right... The sets were amazingly conceived, the robot was coonvincingly evil (although I never quite got WHY she was evil...I guess she just was), the end of the underground city was gripping... I dunno. I've got to let it sink in.
I was surpised at how racy bits of the movie were -- pre-Hayes code, and German for that matter, I guess they could get away with it. What the hell, it was the '20's, free love was the name of the game. But Mary and I both had a "poing!" moment when all of a sudden the evil robot is dancing around in pasties. (I'm not entirely sure how that served the story. Just showing the difference between the evil robot and who she is taking over for, I guess. Or maybe even at the dawn of cinema, they knew that nekkid chicks sold tickets. Sigh.)
Have to get up early to do some CCA stuff. I'm going to bed.
posted by SAJ at
11:29 PM
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