The Big Sleep: The Current State of Things and a Few Words on Glenn Kenny

So here is the current state of things around here. Got back from Tribeca a week ago when the following proceeded to occur:

• My laptop died. Thought it'd be a simple matter of replacing the hard drive and recovering some data from the old one. Turns out the whole motherboard is fried (or some such shit like that... I'm not the tech-savvy type) and the data is, to quote Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) in Blade Runner, "lost... like tears in rain." Included in that data, pictures of my son's first Christmas. Lesson: Always back everything up.
• My cell phone is dying. Which has made it almost impossible to conduct business while I wait for my new laptop, since my cell was the only way I could answer email. Working on getting that replaced as well.
• My car could go any day now. Scary is hoping your car doesn't die out in Atlanta traffic with an unreliable cell phone to depend on.

The good news is that I've had plenty of time to watch a stack of screeners that was waiting for me when I got back from NYC. So you'll be getting plenty of reviews as soon as I'm back up, including:

• A survey of all the Indiana Jones material available out there as we approach the release of the new chapter: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
• Todd Haynes' look at Bob Dylan, I'm Not There
• Hilary Swank in the romance, P.S. I Love You
• A look at some new Sinatra material, out on DVD tomorrow
• Several documentaries like Surfwise, At the Death House Door, and When the Moors Ruled in Europe

Until then, let's talk about something else that has been on my mind. Premiere Magazine, a film magazine that started in France (and continues to be published there), was first published in the U.S. in 1987. Some have been critical of the American magazine for trivializing the art of film, i.e. concentrating on celebrities and box office tallies, and even putting out an annual list ranking the most powerful people in Hollywood. I was a subscriber from day one, and I can tell you that at fifteen, it was a considerable influence on my approach to analyzing cinema. Sure, if you were looking for scholarly examination of film in the context of world cinema you were probably better served by reading Film Comment (a publication I still enjoy greatly). But there was still room for Premiere's brand of journalism. Because though some would accuse it of trivializing the medium, I found it was honest in covering American film in the grander scheme of things, covering everything from independents to blockbusters, films to home videos, spotlighting actors both famous and obscure, and never letting you forget that though you may love film for its art, it was ultimately the business forces that decided if it would get made or not. Last year, Premiere, in the U.S., succumbed to the erosion of advertisement income now plaguing much of print media in the face of the rising popularity of the internet as news outlet. Many of the staff lost their jobs as it transitioned to a second life on the net, except one.

Glenn Kenny, the mag's resident film critic, continued in that capacity as the magazine became one of many entertainment sites that abound online. His singularly distinctive voice and style was one of the few reasons to continue to visit the site, as he also supplemented his reviews with a fantastic blog, "In the Company of Glenn". Not only does this man have an opinion (which I frequently disagreed with), but he is a master of the English language. You'd be surprised how few of those exist online. Here's an example of his way with words from his post on 4/21/08 entitled Monday Evening Palate Cleanser:

It vexes me. I am terribly vexed.

Why, on this mild Monday evening, do the words of Joaquin Phoenix's Commodus echo through my head?

That's a rhetorical question. I know exactly why. That answer's multi-faceted. Part of my vexation stems from encountering, in this here blogosphere, a putative paean to a particularly distinguished work of cinema, which praises the particular work at the expense of practically every other movie the director of that work ever did, trotting out heavyweight quotes the better to swat at...David Denby, who recently had the temerity to cite said director's "refinement." What such score-settling has to do with the work at hand is, naturally, beyond me. But the score-settler seems to believe he's achieved the ambition of that character in Gass' "In The Heart of The Heart of The Country," which I guess is nice for him, not so nice for those turning to him for some wit or perception. And in thinking about all this, I further think, "Dude, you really want to get into it like this?" "It" being the week, after a weekend of examining some of the other discontents readily available in the film-appraisal corner of our world. And I answer, "No, I do not."

I bring up Mr. Kenny because Premiere just terminated his position. And as NPR reported on a story on the very day Kenny announced his departure, he is but the latest casualty in a long string of critics who've accepted buyouts or have been terminated from magazines and newspapers nationwide. So a site struggling to stand out from all the others just got rid of the one person who had the most potential to help them in doing so. And another veteran film critic loses his job because of ever increasing competition from bloggers who write more often, more incoherently, and often for free.

Though I am thankful for the immediacy, and facility, that the online world affords me in expressing my views on this subject I adore, cinema, I will always defer to journalists with formal training and experience when it comes to writing. Here's hoping that Mr. Kenny will land on his feet quickly, and get on with the business of provoking us to think on cinema from his perspective, no matter how often I may disagree with it.

An archive of Glenn Kenny's blog for Premiere, "In the Company of Glenn", is up, for the moment, under my Recommended Blogs to the left. His new writings may be found under a blog he set up, all by himself, called "Some Came Running", also under my Recommended Blogs.
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DVD Review: Blade Runner: The Final Cut - Neo-Noir Lost in Translation?

Blade Runner: The Five Disc Ultimate Edition on DVD was released in December 2007. Produced by Charles de Laurizika (producer of Twin Peaks - The Definitive Gold Box Edition), it is the culmination of 7 years of hard work to restore this film to Ridley Scott's definitive version.

In 1992, Blade Runner: The Director's Cut debuted nationwide to sold out audiences in theaters, a decade after its original cut had premiered. This release led to a dubious distinction well known among film buffs. On DVD the idea of a director's cut, or special edition, was oft-imitated to less spectacular results, as evidenced by the trend of releasing endless versions of movies , i.e. Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Terminator 2: Judgement Day - The Ultimate Edition, Terminator 2: Judgement Day - Extreme DVD, etc. Many a great film was subjected to multiple cuts unnecessarily, an example of the law of diminishing returns.

Arguably, the decision behind the release of Scott's revisionist Director's Cut was born out of a loftier motive. He hoped to reinstate his original story intent, revise the ending, and eliminate what he and star Harrison Ford believed to be an extraneous, distracting narration. But did this actually help the narrative? And how necessary was it to create a 2007 cut dubbed The Final Cut?

Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) is a blade runner, a cop assigned to "retire," or kill, runaway androids. The Nexus 6 series of androids acquire human emotions and therefore, life. Too bad there is a built-in safety: they have a four year life span. Sean Young plays Rachel, an android "geisha" Deckard falls for, who may be an even more advanced model than the Nexus. Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) leads the Nexus androids (including future star, Daryl Hannah), seeking to find out how long they have to left to live.

A major difference in both the 1992 and 2007 cuts, is a dream sequence which quietly infers that Deckard may be an android himself. Despite the inclusion of said sequence, the inference is weak at best. Another difference in both newer cuts is the exclusion of the narration. Ford gave a lackluster reading of the narration believing it felt a little too on-the-nose. Director Scott, known for his visual economy, also felt it unnecessary, preferring the cinematography to tell his story.

Admittedly, his vision is now fully realized in this 2007 cut in a way that even his 1992 could not achieve. The 2007 cut fixes many minor but important mistakes (the climactic shot of the dove's release being one of them) known to fans. Famously, actress Joanna Cassidy (android Zhora) was conspicuously replaced by a stunt double in one sequence. Either due to lack of time, or lack of budget, no effort was ever made to hide that the stunt double was a man dressed in a wig and bikini. The sound and picture has also been remastered without resorting to the flashy revisionism that Lucas' Star Wars movies fell prey to.

Still it is telling that it is the original cut that is on the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 films of all time. While the film has its cult following because of its still mesmerizing dystopic vision of the future, its underpinnings are rooted in the film noir of the 1940s. Film Noir is a genre with very specific qualities:

• There is traditionally a femme fatale, a woman the protagonist gets involved with to his detriment in the overall plot, as in Double Indemnity (1944). In this story it is obviously Rachel, but Zhora talks the hard-boiled talk of a traditional femme fatale in her one speaking scene.



• The protagonist moves the story forward, but he is hardly heroic. Usually a detective, he is rarely aware of the larger picture and clumsily drives the story forward through a series of reversals, as in Kiss Me Deadly (1955). Deckard is often one step behind Batty and his crew, generally piecing the puzzle together after getting beat up. In one case, he is facing certain death when he is saved by Rachel, a far less experienced character.



• The setting is usually one of urban decay where rain slicked neon-lit city streets are the norm, as in The Killers (1946). Much of 2019 Los Angeles appears like this in the movie. By the way, most film noirs take place in... you guessed it, Los Angeles.



• The characters are often dressed iconically in trenchcoats, just as Deckard, Batty, and most of the other males are, as in Out Of The Past (1947). Rachel's fashion is influenced heavily by 40s haute couture most evocative when she appears in silhouette.

But the number one thing that evokes the Chandleresque world of noir in films [Murder My Sweet (1944)] is the first-person narration of the main character. And Ford's laconic hard-boiled delivery, whether intentional or not, perfectly captures the feel of film noir. So to eliminate it is to gut the film tonally. And no visual is enough to overcome that feeling that the heart of the film is now missing.

So while the 2007 cut is a sight to behold in high definition, it is fortunate that this new DVD release includes the far superior 1982 cut. The original has not only influenced science fiction films since its release. It is a benchmark of the emerging neo-noir movement of the late 80s and 90s.

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