18 January 2010
I can’t really complain that I had a paid holiday today, but I guess that’s what I’m goin to do…
Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against the great Dr. King, but I’m just not sure what I’m supposed to do on this day off. I would much prefer having Election Day or even Halloween off, because at least on those days there’s something to do (something relating to the holiday, at least). And unlike Memorial Day and Labor Day, most of my friends and family don’t have the day off, so it’s not like I can hook up with any of them. But, like I said, maybe it’s a bit ungrateful to complain about this.
At any rate, the day was pretty great. We had a leisurely morning, followed by some errands-running. We played Uno in the evening (Owen makes us play Uno nearly every day) and I whipped up another five gallons of homebrew. There are now ten gallons of home-brewed beer in my home. Yee-hah!
19 January 2010
Last night, I watched the first half of the film Chaplin. Today, I watched the second half. It’s kind of funny to me that I had never watched this film before.
I am a big fan of Chaplin. I was first intorduce to him in a high school film class, where we watched The Gold Rush. Curious to see more, I rented more of his films. I’ve seen most of his ~70 short films, and I’ve seen seven of his ten feature films, even seeing Modern Times at the theater. I love his timing in comedy, which is endlessly copied now. He’s a bit sentimental in some of his films, which doesn’t play well with modern sensibilities, but at times, it still works powerfully (such as in The Kid and City Lights). Chaplin’s films took on many issues, a rarity of the time – in fact, he even released The Great Dictator, a film ciritcal of Hitler, in 1940 – well before such criticism became accepted in ‘neutral’ America. I also think it’s amazing that Chaplin managed to successfully remain in silent films for some 12 years after everyone else had gone to sound.
Anyway, when my interest in Chaplin was first rising, the aforementioned biopic was released. I couldn’t go see it at the theaters because it ws rated R (and that’s a no-no for Witnesses), but I did buy a t-shirt that said “Chaplin” and showed his silhouette. I wore the shirt to a party one day, prompting one girl to come over to me and say “I’m surprised you have the nerve to wear that shirt.” I told her I was wearing the shirt to honor the man – not the rated R movie.
I finally put the movie on my Netflix queue, but it wasn’t available until recently. It languished near the bottom of our queue for some time, but last night, I was looking for something to watch, and Jennifer said she had no interest in it. So I watched it alone.
I’m glad I saw it. I didn’t like the dialogue-heavy scenes with his editor that bracket the flashbacks (seems a tragedy to tell the story of Chaplin – someone so gifted at using visuals – by using poor dialogue transitions). But the lengthy flashbacks themselves were great. Robert Downey, Jr. does an impeccable impersonation. The film drops hints of how Chaplin came up with some of his film ideas, and traces his path from the Keystone Cops days (Dan Akyroyd plays a hilraious Mack Sennett) to his later films. The film’s style often paid homage to the silent-film era, such as iris transitions and sped-up chase scenes, though I wish the film would’ve shown more.
The best part of the film is the final segment in which an aging Chaplin is invited to America (after being banished for over 20 years) to accept a lifetime achievement award from the Academy. As old Charlie is wheeled out onto the stage, we see everyone, even stagehands, rushing to the sides to see the film montage. Walter Matthau offers a tribute to Charlie and then a long reel of his old films begins. In the days before Netflix or even VCRs, being treated to 10 minutes of old Chaplin films must’ve been a real treat for the audience. The film Chaplin shows the exact footage that was shown to the Academy on that day, nearly 40 years ago. I laughed along with the audience, and it nearly brought a tear to my eye to see such wonderful, poignant footage. All the while, Downey’s character is on the sidelines watching, and he cries, too. From reading about this event, I know that after the montage, Chaplin was given the longest standing ovation is Oscar history, and I was excited to see this moment in the film. However, as soon as the montage concluded, the words “The End” came on screen, and Chaplin was over. In retrospect, that was the perfect ending. Without a word, there ws nothing else to say. Chaplin was a good film about a great man who made beautiful films.