Hurrah for Karamazov!

Two of my favorite films of all time are completely frickin' unavailable in the US.

One is The Brothers Karamazov, a worthy adaptation of my favorite book of all time. Purists might balk at that assessment, since it does away with most of the explicit existentialist theological philosophy (for some, the main purpose of the book), stripping it down to its main familial plot elements and murder mystery storyline. But I love stories of fucked-up families and relationships between flawed, humane characters with an ultimately hopeful conclusion, so I loved the movie so very, very much.





True Hollywood Story: according to Robert Osborne (can you guess where I first saw the film?), the film got made thanks to Marylin Monroe, who inadvertently popularized the idea of a Brothers Karamazov film when she expressed an interest in playing Grushenka. She was mocked, of course, but anyone who'd actually READ the book would tell that she'd have been fucking brilliant in the role. As it is, we have Maria Schell instead, but I ain't complaining. When I showed the film to my Dad nearly a decade ago, he said that Ms. Schell had a smile that just made a man melt. She certainly has that effect on me, even if apparently no one else sees the attraction.

Besides Schell, we have an all-somebody cast of Yul Brenner, Lee J. Cobb, Richard Baseheart, Albert Salmi, Claire Bloom, and an absolutely adorable William Shatner, all of whom absolutely rock the house. This is a three-hour film which I found completely engrossing each of the four times I watched it as a teenager, and I've been anxious to revisit it with Henchgirl, but it's been nowhere.

Recently, I found it all on YouTube, with Romanian subtitles, split in 22 parts:

... but it just isn't the same. It needs to be seen on a bigger screen, if not on the Big Screen (and why it doesn't get play at the AFI alongside other epics of the era is beyond me, as I'd much rather see this than Lawrence of Arabia).

Finally, I started thinking like a human being of the late 90's and went, hey, why not check eBay? Lo and behold, there's a decently-priced Korean version. Victory shall be mine. Soon, I shall sit down Henchgirl with some vodka and we'll have ourselves a grand movie night in.

Unfortunately, the other favorite film continues to elude me. I'll give that one its own post.

Thou'lt come no more, Never, never, never, never, never.

That other favorite film not even available on eBay is the 1971 King Lear, directed by Peter Brook and starring Paul Scofield.





Lear is my favorite Shakespeare play, and as anybody who has a deep abiding love for a particular Shakespeare play knows, I'm incredibly picky about which version I think is the best. The Olivier version is good but a bit too over-the-top and formal. The Ian Holm version pain stinks. The Ian McKellen version is pretty excellent, except for the fact that they apparently cast Dr. Byron Orpheus as Kent.

But by and large, I think everyone can agree that the greatest Lear in film is Kurosawa's Ran, a film that perfectly captures the scope, spirit, and heartrending power of the story while bittersweetly having not a shred of actual Shakespeare writing.

But the Brook/Scofield King Lear... this is side by side with Kurosawa's Ran for the greatest Lear I've ever seen. Even if it's only about 1/3rd of the actual text, all told. I should hate any version that slashes Shakespeare's beautiful text to its barest minimum. and in most cases that would be a disaster.

But Peter Brook is brilliant, and it takes a play so often done with overblown bombast and reduces it to a harrowing whisper. Scofield's Lear barely raises his voice, but he never needs to. I've never heard the "serpent's tooth" speech delivered with such quiet, ferociously chilling venom.

I saw this one more like fifteen years ago, on an old-ass VHS from my video store. I should have thought to buy it from them when they were phasing out tapes. It never occurred to me that they'd never make the DVD available for all regions, and I don't wanna shell out for a region-free player just to watch one film. Even if it is one of my favorite movies of all time. Even if it is the greatest version I've ever seen of my favorite play of all time. No, that'd just be silly.

In the meantime, I'll have to make do with this version with Spanish subtitles, which I hope and pray won't detract too much from the horrific minimalism of this film:

Oh yeah. Definitely making a date night with this and the Henchgirl sometime soon. Because I'm an idiot like that.

.elyts ni kcab emoc ot gniog si ekil uoy mug tahT !swen doog tog ev'I

Now that Devin Faraci's left chud.com, the only reason left to visit that site is to read M Morse's retrospectives on every single episode of Twin Peaks. Morse previously analyzed all of Lost in a way that enhanced my enjoyment of the show more than any other critic or blogger, so it's a pleasure to read his insights on Lynch.

Morse does what all best critics do, which is to articulate the artistic experience, which thus lets me look at art a different way. I already loved this show, but Morse's insights are so good (I actually got chills from his review of the episode where Laura's killer was revealed) that they've made me want to revisit the entire series. And of course, I'm trying to draft Henchgirl into watching it with me. Because what's the point if you can't show it to someone who hasn't seen it before, and doesn't know what's waiting for them?

I'm not sure it's clicking with her yet, but anyone remembers those first few episodes might understand why. Even by the game-changing second episode, I'm not quite sure what anybody watching this show for the first time might make of Leland's dance:

Henchgirl's reaction: "So were these two ever able to find work after this show?" I admit, I was a bit thrown by this reaction, while at the same time completely understanding why she'd say that. Looking at this scene, it should feel like overwrought melodramatic crap, the kind of bizarre overacting that would go on a YouTube video compilation alongside Troll 2 clips.

The scene itself veers on unwatchable, but something about it hints that it's unwatchable not because it's bad, but because there's something much more disturbing, raw, and just plain horrifying happening underneath the nervous-laughter-inducing weirdness of The Unstoppable Spinning Leland moaning with every rotation.

Which, of course, immediately gives way to one of the greatest scenes in television history: a seven-minute sequence that I still can't believe was actually aired on primetime TV, much less was embraced by the public at large.

Speaking for the TV viewers of 1991, Henchgirl shouted, "WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST WATCH?!" Which, of course, is the appropriate response.

God, I just wanna blaze through the whole show right now. But she's asleep, and didn't I already wanna subject her to Brook's King Lear? Argh! Stupid Wilmington Fringe Festival, why must you be this weekend, when I'll be performing The Road to Nowhere on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday?

Be there. Or I'll catch you with my death-bag.