Sorry to have been out of touch--we had a holiday (ANZAC day--like veterans day, really)--and I couldn't remember the web address for my new (used) computer at home.
About Film: a) I was being "straight" about the plot of A Taste of Cherry--peculiar and slow, yes, but transcendent themes and emotions arise from that odd set of circumstances/constraints; b) I suppose I sometimes put "style" over "substance" in my thinking of film as an artform ("THE" most significant artform of the 20th century, methinks) and that isn't to everyone's taste; c) I recognize that film serves different purposes for different individuals and, Mike, it's perfectly okay to dislike certain categories of film (e.g., Arthouse), but I wouldn't dismiss the entire medium out of hand (so in other words, it's okay to say most recent French films suck, which is my impression, but I wouldn't go so far as to say all foreign films suck--some are quite good, but depends upon what you are looking for--which is a long way of saying that I agree with Bill that much of the euro-arthouse fare that is promoted in trailers looks pretty dire, that is, I caught the sarcasm); d) ultimately, I take a subjectivist position on film criticism--if it works for me and I can say why, then that's good enough for me and others might not agree (that is, I'm not sure there is a Platonic ideal against which to measure film).
Does that address any of what we've been talking about?
About London: I visited twice in the last year--stayed at a place called the Columbia Hotel, on Bayswater, which was convenient with regard to the tube, walking distance to Notting Hill, and (reasonably) cheap--if "cheapness" exists in London lodging; might be good to get a reservation but I forced myself in the second time without one and didn't need one the first time. The Tate Modern hadn't yet opened--I was drooling to go there and missed it by ONE week--so I highly recommend it as a place I would have liked to go. I did make it to the Hayward Gallery (also on Southbank) and it had a great exhibition of "sound art" and seems to usually have interesting outre kind of stuff. But mostly I just walked around and took it all in (and saw a bunch of good older British films in revival: Kes and The Long Good Friday, both excellent--if you like film, that is). Oh yeah, I went to some "clubs" and would recommend figuring out which are the best places to go and being prepared to wait on insanely long lines, if that is what you are into--the places I randomly chose with the shortest lines turned out to rather suck.
Posted by at April 26, 2001 12:38 AM