Because Really I Just Don't BUY Enough Stuff

After getting my DVD shelves up on the wall last week, I was alarmed & saddened to discover that I have far, far fewer DVDs than I had imagined. Apparently the attrition rate during the war was much higher than it looked when the DVDs were in boxes.

Although I was glad to see that the frivolous titles have been kept to a minimum (meaning that of the DVDs I own, the majority are ones which I truly love), & I am happy that in April-land Clueless sits next to The Conformist, as Mean Girls sidles up alongside Mulholland Drive, I realized also how very very few of my actual favorite movies I own. Not that I don't absolutely adore the ones I do own, but I'm talking about the ones that I respond to most on an emotional basis. The special ones. For me, there's a fine but clear delineation betwixt films that touch my head & films that go beyond & take up residence in my heart. I mean, I admire Citizen Kane twelve ways to Sunday, but I don't love it. I've got a few of 'em on hand, to be sure - Wings of Desire. Au Hasard Balthazar. A Little Princess (want early evidence of Alfonso Cuaron's cinematic talents? Skip the tepid Great Expectations adaptation & start here. Damn thing makes me bawl like a baby every time I see it & it's deathly gorgeous to boot).

Thanks to evil Amazon & my temporary delusion of disposable cash, I have attempted to remedy this situation in my own small way.


First: I finally broke down & bought the Criterion Collection release of Naked. Seeing as I was moved to actually email them the title as a suggestion several years ago, I figured since they lived up to their end of things by actually releasing it, I'd better pony up & buy the damn thing already. Out of all the trenchant & cutting things said in that film, this is my favorite, courtesy of Johnny:

"Was I bored? No, I wasn't fuckin' bored. I'm never bored. That's the trouble with everybody - you're all so bored. You've had nature explained to you and you're bored with it, you've had the living body explained to you and you're bored with it, you've had the universe explained to you and you're bored with it, so now you just want cheap thrills and like plenty of them, and it don't matter how tawdry or vacuous they are, as long as it's new, as long as it's new, as long as it flashes and fuckin' bleeps in forty fuckin' different colors. So whatever else you can say about me, I'm not fuckin' bored. "

Words to live by.


Second: Yay! It Happened One Night! Yay! One of my all-time most favoritest movies ever. The film that killed off men's undershirt sales because of the scene pictured above. The first film to sweep the Big 5 at the Oscars (picture, director, screenplay, actor & actress- only One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest & The Silence of the Lambs have done it since). The movie no one wanted to make at the studio for which no one wanted to work - the two leads were forced into it. Featuring the lovely Claudette Colbert. Also Clark Gable (no especial favorite of mine, truth be told). Frank Capra at his finest. I've adored this film madly ever since I was 16, so it's about time I actually had it at my permanent disposal.


Third: Oh, those Germans. It was bothering me that insofar as (1) I love Werner Herzog & (2) I spent an inordinate amount of time watching his films in college, the only title I actually owned of his was Grizzly Man. A most excellent film indeed, but hardly the one upon which his international renown was built. I remembered that there exists a boxed set of all the work Mr. Herzog did with Klaus Kinski (& if you don't know anything about their relationship, well, I heartily recommend delving into it. Kinski on Herzog: "I wish he would catch the plague, more than ever." Herzog on Kinski: "We had mutual respect for each other, even as we both planned each other's murder". More quote fun here.). Amazon's got it for 50% off list price - that's six titles for $45 - what works out to $7.50 each. And being a compendium of his work with Kinski, of course it's some of his absolute finest stuff - Aguirre, the Wrath of God (although I think the German title is far more fierce-sounding: Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes); Fitzcarraldo; Woyzeck; Nosferatu the Vampyre; Cobra Verde; and the nonfiction film Herzog made about Kinski, called My Best Fiend. I think I'm most excited about revisiting Fitzcarraldo, although I think Murnau's Nosferatu: A Symphony of Terror & Herzog's "re-imagining" make for a spectacular double feature - every time I see either of them, my admiration for the actor portraying the title character (Max Shreck in the former; Kinski, naturally, in the latter) grows leaps & bounds. They're both absolutely astonishing.


Fourth: My neighbor Totoro, To-to-ro. Totoro, To-to-ro. Heh! I waited a long while for My Neighbor Totoro to be released as it deserves: wide-screen, with the original Japanese audio track. Previously it was available only in a full-screen English-dubbed version. Now, finally, it comes back to my lovin' arms, more glorious than ever.