January.

Observed through the windows of the House, this mid-winter month:

--Your proprietor can't believe it took a second viewing to grasp how wonderful (and
how squarely aligned with his interests) Powell/Pressburger's BLACK NARCISSUS is. It's an exotic Technicolor travelogue, for sure, and a marvelous tale of culture clash, but in the end it's a Gothic horror through and through. The thing finally became a favorite, and kicked off a year of rep viewing on a perfect note.

--Similarly pleasing was THE COMMUTER, the first 2018 movie enjoyed this year. After so greatly enjoying THE SHALLOWS year before last I excitedly boarded the Jaume Collet-Serra train, joining a small but growing cult around the man's work and technique (among other things, JCS fans seem nicer and refreshingly less strident than the Nolan cult). THE COMMUTER sees Liam Neeson (in his fourth film with JCS) as a worn-out, increasingly desperate Everyman forced to seek out a passenger who doesn't belong on his train, for reasons that he (and we) slowly determine to be more and more sinister. Whatever fundamentals we lose through JCS' approach are more than made up for with some gorgeously stylish flourishes (here including a marvelous and efficient portrait of a marriage during a gracefully packed opening credits sequence, and a marvelous done-in-one fistfight). Perhaps because I wanted to be taken in I was engaged, even enraptured, throughout. If this movie establishes a baseline of quality through the year, then we're pretty much set.

--It feels strange, however, to prefer THE COMMUTER to PHANTOM THREAD, the latest work by Paul Thomas Anderson. It's a keenly, hermetically designed tale of a mid-50s fashion giant (Daniel Day-Lewis) whose routine is unraveled by the arrival of a quiet, but equally formidable woman (Vicky Krieps). As meticulously artful a work as it is, there's something stifling about its perfection. It helps that the movie is dryly but deliberately funny; among other things, Day-Lewis seems to have the lead in THE RON MAEL STORY all sewn up with his fastidious performance here. And its portrait of a powerful romance threatened by an unwillingness to shuck off interiority was a painful reminder of this viewer's own mistakes in that arena. But there's a sense of experimentation and risk-taking that's missing here, which is keenly evident in my favorite Anderson films such as MAGNOLIA and PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE (it certainly abounds in THE COMMUTER), which I realize is one of the main things I go to movies to experience. I'm pleased to have seen PHANTOM THREAD in its artisianally-preferred 70mm film format, and can't imagine it being anywhere near as satisfying otherwise. I may yet revisit it, and find my eyes opened to its greatness (as I did with BLACK NARCISSUS), but at the moment THE COMMUTER is the new movie that resonates most powerfully.

a quiet House in a besieged world

Yes indeed, it has been ages since any light shone forth from the House of Sparrows. With your proprietor happily working in service one of the best film video programs in the country, and trying to roll amid any one of a number of other preoccupations flying around his head, updates have been scarce.

And I'm not the only writer struggling with the notion that there's much going on in the world that deserves a lot more attention and action than one would give an unvisited fantasy film blog. Happily my office is a place that encourages political action and ongoing check-ins, but it's still alarming to wake up to both the latest barrage of horrible executive orders and the accompanying apocalyptic narrative. And also the ongoing inference that the shit that you're taking action against was only a distraction from the REAL shit going down, which only exacerbates the ongoing numbness.

I do take comfort in the ongoing work of my fellow culture workers, be they on behalf of the arthouse or the grindhouse. And I'm grateful to those who simply keep showing up and bearing witness. When culture is under fire, simply showing up to share at places that preserve and exhibit culture is a political act, and an activist one. There is great power in simply coming together, sharing stories, and drawing strength from the context they bring to our lives, and that's as true of schlocky fantasy as of political documentaries. Showing up for culture absolutely matters, still.

And if you can find that elusive harmony of pen and sword, it's a sweet spot. Indeed, if you can make it to the Alamo Drafthouse in San Francisco on February 15, you get to see your proprietor in an away game performance, introducing Jim Jarmusch's drone metal political fantasy The Limits of Control. I'm grateful that Mike Keegan booked one of my favorite films of the last ten years, and is letting me intro it and give it appropriate context for this moment. I hope your mission will at least bring you by, to share this story in the dark, to challenge the notion that life is nothing but a handful of dirt.

And right now your proprietor's going to call the office of his congressperson, make a quick dinner, and head out into the night. See you in the dark.

and a Happy New Year

Your proprietor wishes you nothing but goodness for 2012. There are a couple of posts percolating, but I'm happy to say I'm too enmeshed in goings-on with family and friends to really sit down and generate them. At least one end of 2011 list is forthcoming, and should hit by the time people are well and truly sick of 2011 best-ofs.

I'm not sorry to see this year end by any stretch (dig back in the archives to late September if you wanna see why), but I'm eager to share the bounties of 2012 (be they cinematic or otherwise) with you. I hope you're well!

Housekeeping

You may recall that your proprietor was recently displaced from his apartment by a fire that tore through the building a couple of months back. I'm pleased to report that I've secured a place to live (after rooming in the homes of three different, dear friends), and am moving into a room in a Victorian just 1.5 blocks from my former-and-ideally-future residence. I move in early next week, and am relieved to have a space for at least the immediate future that is mine.

Thanks to everyone who wrote or tweeted their support. I'm blessed to have such thoughtful well-wishers, and your friendship has been a beacon through a darker period than I ever hope to experience again.

101.

Jesus feckin' Christ, that last post took it out of me. That's what happens when you sit on pieces of writing - I note that this blog started up about two weeks after I saw SORORITY ROW theatrically, and I dug up a comment I posted around that time to Stacie Ponder in Final Girl about Mrs. Crenshaw. That comment may well be the seed from which this humble house bloomed.

So the thing's been worked on over the last two weeks (though all of the twenty-odd images from the film were grabbed last night), and since I wanted it to be post 100, I haven't had a chance to write about any of the awesome things I saw at the San Francisco International Film Fest. Or talk about turning 40 (which I did last week), though that particular milestone has informed my recent writing on a number of older characters, including the aforementioned Mrs. Crenshaw or former Detroit Tigers pitcher Billy Chapel or ongoing Missing Persons vocalist Dale Bozzio.

So I'm gonna end this rant here-ish, as the woman I love is about to grab me for the Eno-doc tonight at the Roxie, in keeping with this season of aging Taureans. More very, very soon.

Thanks for reading.

housekeeping

-Your proprietor is faced with a quiet evening devoid of plans, which given the busy schedule surrounding the just-wrapped San Francisco Film Festival is a blessing. Probably some slices from the pizzeria down the block from the house, brownies from the fridge, and some quality fantasia on the DVD player.

--The House of Sparrows looks absolutely lovely on an iPad, I have discovered.

--I am honored to call San Francisco resident/comics reviewer and budding scribe Jeff Lester a friend for many reasons, not the least of which is that he writes things like this.

--Your proprietor is celebrating a birthday this week, the celebration of which culminates in an afternoon coffee with many friends, and the 7pm screening of GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA at the gorgeous Viz Cinema. Hope your weekend is as pleasant and lively.