Dream with the Coens

The final scene of NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN has been a contentious one. Some dismiss it, others feel the weight of the film depends on it. Whatever your take on it, it's worth watching again.

Dreaming is a recurring element of the COEN BROTHERS' films. One scene that's stuck with me is from an early COEN BROS. farce that I first saw as a young man on TV. For some reason, the image of the football player's highly stylized rush to the endzone has stayed with me. Comical as it is, RAISING ARIZONA actually has a lot in common with NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. But that might just be a fact COEN BROS. recurring territory.

France, circa 1967

The 2008 film SILENT LIGHT by Mexican filmmaker CARLOS REYGADAS features a unique cameo appearance by French chanteur JACQUES BREL.

In an intially portentious scene, a father finds his children in the back of a Mexican vagrant's van. What could have been a cheaply suspenseful scene, turns into one of odd merrymaking, as the kids are watching a small television broadcasting the above performance from French television, 1967. The sweaty grotesqueries of the performance bring the children—as well as the audience watching the film—a rare form of delight...

The same day I sought out this footage on YouTube, a friend shared this clip with me, of FRANCOISE HARDY, also from 1967. Rare, indeed, and a fitting counterpart.

Spiegel Im Spiegel

Tonight at New York's LE POISSON ROUGE, I will be seeing the WORDLESS MUSIC SERIES, featuring TIM HECKER. Also performing will be the WORDLESS MUSIC ORCHESTRA, who will be playing work by ARVO PÄRT, among others.

The "sarcred minimalism" of ARVO PÄRT's music was a big part of GUS VAN SANT's film GERRY, which used SPIEGEL IM SPIEGEL in the above scene.