Look, we’re branching out even further from sci-fi! My Dinner with Andre has become a bit of a punchline, which is unfortuate, as it’s a deeply moving and intellectually stimulating movie with a lot to say. Welcome to Trekabout Presents My Dinner with Andre.
Trekabout Presents My Dinner with Andre
Lev
-“What?! You don’t like Dan Harmon? What’s wrong with you? How can you not like him? [Community quote]” — The Internet
Kidding aside, I did see the episode of Community in question, and I’d say it was a respectful take on the material, and the episode is explicitly about a character using performance to express his feelings (though in a meta way by staging an intimate chat like My Dinner With Andre), so it got the source material correct I’d say.
I will quibble a bit about the characterization of Stanley Kubrick’s work–a lot of his best-known films are emotionally chilly, but he changed it up from time to time, way more often than he’s given credit for. Barry Lyndon and Full Metal Jacket aren’t like that in parts, and his earlier stuff–The Killing and Paths of Glory–definitely isn’t. There’s a death scene in Barry Lyndon that may just be the most devastating thing I’ve ever seen–it’s the sort of thing that could have felt excessive or manipulative in lesser hands but it absolutely isn’t. Actually I’d recommend covering that movie for this podcast if/when you get to Kubrick–it’s a very underexamined Kubrick film, in part because it was a box office bomb, in part because it’s long and in part because it’s not one of his iconic films. A lot of people hate it for reasons I don’t get. But it’s by far his most beautiful film and definitely among his most interesting. Plus, he shot it all with natural light, including interiors, which is insane.
Eric Brasure
-Whoa, he shot Barry Lyndon with all natural light? I had no idea. I thought Days of Heaven was it! Well, not it, but so unusual as to almost be it.
I think we will do Kubrick at some point, at least a selection. I’ve seen Dr. Strangelove, 2001, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, and A.I., which is less than I thought. He’s one of those directors whose films I love but whose films I find extremely intimidating.
Richard
-Actually I saw Paths of Glory in high school–saw The Shining and Clockwork Orange during that time and didn’t really care for them–and although I don’t remember much about it, I do remember liking it. If I remember right, it’s a tense military courtroom drama right?
And even *I* know about Dogme 95 which loved it some natural light. Maybe we can do some Lars von Trier films. By the end of the season the podcast will consist solely of us mumbling vaguely at each other.
Eric Brasure
-Oh yeah, Dogme 95. I always forget about Dogme 95 because it reminds me of Dogma by Kevin Smith.
Richard
-There’s our season right there, three Dogme95 films and Dogma.