MOVIES you watched this week? (DVD)

[HejiraNYC]

Originally Posted by Nikolaj

^^^ or 4 posts above, not just the small excerpt above, but all of it was great to read, Hejira. 'Eynam Pkutoh' especially sounds really worth investing the time in to watch. I still have not seen 'Brokeback Mountain' but this sounds like it could be more socially and culturally rewarding than 'BM' which I'd heard enough about from people I respected to know I wasn't going to feel uplifted by watching a negative depiction of what could have been a positive, life-affirming film. I was curious to see the peformances in it, which I'm sure are excellent but I knew the story's outcome, and didn't want to support the film's ulitmately negative premise, though I know the director is brilliant. 'Eyes Wide Open' (easier to type) seems like it will be more of something I'd enjoy, then another account of a gay guy destined for promiscuity and death or hiding behind a wife while really in love with a man.

Well, if you're looking for something "uplifting," "Eyes Wide Open" is not that movie. It is brutally frank in its depiction of the orthodox society, but it does raise some interesting philosophical questions about the role of man on earth and whether it is his prerogative to indulge in earthly pleasures per the Jewish Code. Maybe it's because of living in NYC and knowing lots of Jewish people throughout my life, but I have always found the Jewish customs/traditions to be incredibly fascinating and enigmatic. As such, this movie was just as much a cultural odyssey for me as well as a tale of forbidden love. And forbidden love is forbidden love- whether gay or straight. And we all know how these kinds of stories end...

The trailer is a little bit sensationalized compared to the understated, langorous, moody tone of the movie, but you get the gist...

Hmm, guess I figured out why I haven't seen it!
"More Tales" --as you wrote, really couldn't compare to the first 'Tales of The City'- the grandmother brothel owner was kind of too painfully homely to ever really let your eyes not hurt watching her, though her acting was fine, she was just too freaky. The second actor to play 'Bear' -in 'More Tales' - was likeable enough, I guess, but the actor in the first 'Tales' really seemed to be missed, by everyone I knew and in every review I read, at the time.
What stands out now,besides how Laura Linney showed such ripe talent so long before she went mainstream and had the Oscar nominations, is how brave it was of Thomas Gibson to take on some of the male-on-male scenes he played as the bisexual married to a woman man. I respect his talent even more now, because there was no 'Harry Hamlin stigma' for him afterwards. He just has worked steadily ever since 'Tales,' refusing to believe or accept that portraying homosexual or bisexual or, really, maybe just a homo-erotic character should leave him unemployable for long stretches. He's remained a working actor ever since. Hamlin had a promising film career way, way back (I remember 'King of The Mountain' fondly, but vaguely) then along came 'Making Love' and there went his film career.

I don't think Thomas Gibson was exactly a household name back then either, so I'm not sure if one could call him "brave" for taking on the Beauchamp Day role; any struggling actor would have jumped at the chance. And it's not like he was humping every man walking by- he was "straight" for 95% of the series and wasn't even shown actively doing it with a guy. And as for Harry Hamlin, I think he faded into obscurity for two reasons- he couldn't act for sh*t and his looks hit the wall very rapidly and suddenly about 15 years ago. Nobody from LA Law has gone on to any major success, with maybe the exception of Blair Underwood, who continues to get lots of work (and he sold his soul to the devil or something because he looks exactly the same as he did over 20 years ago).

I liked the 'Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman' references in 'Tales Of The City', too.
To me, 'MHMH' is an example of television that is on the level of 'Tales'-- Youtube has a clip of Louise Lasser in what Norman Lear called 'the greatest performance ever given by an actress in the history of television'-- its a very long scene where 'Mary' has a nervous breakdown while on The David Susskind Show, and by the end of the clip, it does seem that Lasser took television acting to an entirely new level- she's brilliant. That very episode isn't even available on DVD, and there doesn't seem to be any followup dvd releases beyond the MHMH dvd that's been out for years .
Suddenly feeling nostalgic for the 7os, between 'Tales Of The City' and 'MHMH.'
Will track down the movie of the Israeli duo Hejira mentioned. It sounds promising, even if one of the guys is married. It happens.

I will have to check out Mary Hartman on youtube! I think I was just a little bit too young to really understand that show back when it was on. I remember thinking it was really weird and boring. I suspect I would totally love it now.