I know, I know, you’re probably sick to death of the current one-stop-shopping-for-all-your-Girlfriend-Experience-needs tack this blog seems to have taken, but put yourself in my position, will ya? I got a movie to promote; doesn’t happen every day. So. Over at Green Cine Daily, my close personal friend Aaron Hillis has posted a podcast of a friendly little chat we had the other day.
“The guy…gave me my start in film journalism, damn him,” Hillis notes in his intro. I know, I know; I’m kind of shocked he still speaks to me. It’s kind of a funny story. Hillis and I both used to hang out in what was no doubt a karmically tainted Carroll Gardens watering hole called Finn, and were carousing buddies before we were each redeemed by the Love of a Good Woman. (Not the same Good Woman. Two different Good Women. Anyway, Our Lovely Wives are pals now too.) Aaron worked at this video store around the corner, where he made hilarious poster collages and put up cards containing really quite ingenious movie synopses/critiques of selected titles. It was on the strength of those, I believe, that I gave him his assignments writing DVD reviews for Première. But somehow the story got out that “Glenn is giving freelance work to some guy he met at a bar,” which doesn’t sound at all good. I can actually see myself, slumping on a stool, saying to someone, “Hic! Yer funny. Ya onna write…fer ma magazine?”
In other news, I knocked off Rossellini’s The Age of Medici and Tarr’s Satantango, which leaves Berlin Alexanderplatz for the long Memorial Day weekend. I was impressed with Medici and will share something amusing about it with you shortly. I loved Satantango, especially all the many different parts where nothing happens, and fully understand why Susan Sontag said she could happily watch the whole thing once a year forever. Although I’m not sure how much I could stand the bit with that poor cat.
But now, before I do anything else, it’s off to the gym. This week alone I’ve been referred to in print as “gelatinous,”* and compared to Sydney Greenstreet, Shrek, and poor Orson Welles. That’s what I call motivation…
*(by a fellow I do karaōke with, no less!)
If someone compared me to Orson Welles, I would just say, “I choose to interpret that in my own way!” And then walk off, feeling awfully flattered.
@bill
Being compared to Greenstreet’s not so bad, either. We get some Charles Laughton in there, you’ve got the flattering trifecta.
Shrek is hot!
“Although I’m not sure how much I could stand the bit with that poor cat.”
That’s one thing that’s kept me from this film for so long (though it’s certainly not the only thing). I’ve read that Tarr has a vet on set the whole time, and the cat was never actually being hurt, AND that Tarr later adopted the cat. But I’ve heard the scene is pretty harrowing, so I don’t know how far I can trust those claims.
Yeah, that cat sequence is like the best Harmony Korine film Harmony never made. (Well, maybe besides Hara’s GOODBYE CP.)
Just wanted to check in and say I saw The Girlfriend Experience and it was great. Ok, bye.
Don’t bogart that Q‑tip…
Sweet–I hope to see/blog about it soon (and I need to get around to Zoncka/Assayas blogging.) However, I prefer 11 Tracks of Whack…
@Bill— I have no reason to believe that the cat didn’t come out of it okay. I interviewed Tarr last time I was in Toronto, and he struck me as what you’d call a very gentle soul. Not someone to countenance cruelty. That said, the roughness of the cat scene DOES make it a very tough sit indeed, regardless of what you know about the kittie’s real-life fate.
It IS flattering to be compared to Greenstreet and Welles, absolutely, and A.O. Scott’s evocation of self-disgust is very sharp, at least from my perspective, because it was something I very consciously brought to the character. I also think my physicality works for the character—that kind of looming, hulking presence, particularly in contrast to the very petite Sasha, is pretty effective. That said, Greenstreet and Welles may be admirable artistic models, but in certain respects they’re poor life models. I sleep better and feel better all around having lost some 20 pounds recently, and I intend to keep it up, even if it means losing out on roles for heavy-set heavies!
I think “Goodbye CP” is a little too non-ironic for Korine. He’d give them all mullets or something.
Best of luck on your weight loss. I’m not exactly Roseanne but I have let myself go a little bit in this past semester, lots of work, not enough sleep. It was the “thirs-year” fifteen. Looking to get back into the swing of things. It’s all about forging and maintaining habits.
Wow, Glenn! I feel very close to you right now – no one, and I mean no one, seems to have heard Circus Money or at least appreciated it for the great album it is.
Good luck with the Fassbinder and the weight loss.
Saw Girlfriend Experience today and I noticed that a band I interviewed a couple of months back (the two folk singers) were in it. Check out the interview at my site http://www.greatincantations.wordpress.com. They are called “Freedom Tickler”. Hope you like it!!!
I have not seen The Girlfriend Experience, but already I have been entertained by reading your account, and discovering your blog. It sounds like you gave the director exactly what he wanted. I love the touch you added where you called the furniture store owner “dad.” I can’t wait to see this movie. Your distress over what your wife, your mother, and others would think was priceless. I even got a sense that you were kind of hoping Sasha/Chelsea would agree to your offer. And also dreading that it would be documented on film. Imagine the reviews if that had happened.
Owen G. made a compelling case that Soderbergh planned the whole episode as a slap back to critics of his films. Your experience is very funny, as he turned the tables on you. You can dish it out, but can you take it?
Still, you got good reviews not only for your acting, but for your writing as well. I would not be surprised if you got a call from Sasha asking you out to see an art film, and afterwards have a capaccino and discuss existentialism. Or maybe come up to her place for “coffee.” Remember, don’t do what George Costanza did, and assume that “coffee” means “coffee” and turn it down, complaining that it keeps you up.