Over the weekend I decided it was time to catch up on some missed films that have come out lately. I saw two, A Dirty Shame and The Forgotten. John Waters, of course, takes the cake as he would in any situation. His film is a rip roaring laugh a minute sex charged response to the overly suppressively constrictingly conservatism that is drowning our nation under the current political climate. If you haven't seen it and your not a republican, then by all means go. However, you want to remember to think about Water's film in the context of the era we are living in. On the surface it may seem like an over the top sex romp without any substance. But when you look a little deeper at the way conservatives and liberals are represented you begin to see the politics underlying the surface story. I believe Water's is responding to the conservative hysteria is recent years including such issues as the dissolution of human rights, the backlash on the homosexual community, and the warmongering against oppressed people. I think the most telling moment out of the film wasn't any of the visuals or sexual stunts but the slogan of the nueters group. "No more tolerance." In Water's films, it's an unreality that we can all laugh at but under the present administration it's all too real. If we don't make our stand against it this November, the next four years may be the death of the entire liberal party. Maybe that sounds extreme. Perhaps we would simply see the second civil war in America?
I also saw The Forgotten. Here's another film that is getting some press, mostly dismal. Admittedly, the film is held together predominantly by unusual special effects and some shocking moments. There was one scene where our heroine Julianne Moore (Telly) and her co-star Dominic West (Ash) are fleeing the feds in a Ash's car. The perspective (for this scene) shows the driver, Ash, in the foreground and Telly in the background. Outside her window you can see the headlights of a car that seems to be coming toward theirs at a leisurely rate of speed. Then, suddenly, they are smashed in the side and the airbags blow. It all happens so fast. I swear it was just like my accident I was in last Christmas. Very surreal moment for me. Anyway, what's interesting about this film is the premise that someone (some thing) could erase not only your memory but also everyone around you so that you effectively would forget a lost loved one. Once again, I see this film as an extreme response to the times. When we all saw Fahrenheit 9/11 (we all saw it, right?) and learned, or had it confirmed, that the Bush, his family, and his administration have been in bed with "the enemy" all along and then in this film we find out that the government is also passively working with the "enemy" (trying not to give anything away) suppossedly for the good of all. It's all so annoying what people will do for power and money.
I also baked a cake this weekend without any thought to politics in its making. Actually, I was thinking about my recent birthday and the fact that I never celebrate the occasion with cake anymore. So I made a buckwheat banana bundt cake. It turned out great! Although, I have found that if you are as frustrated by politics these days as I am and you are not currently a filmmaker, then try baking a cake from scratch. It's good old-fashioned fun, a little work, and the results are yummy! It's my response to ultra- conservatism.
