To Watch...

The greatest series of pictures ever captured on celluloid.

Billy Wilder puts on a pair of fine white satin gloves, and shamelessly slaps Hollywood right across the face. What a classy, and respectable move.

What happens in this film, is a chain reaction of occurrences, that causes the glass of the mind's eye to overflow, and topple. Impressive, in countless ways.

Photography. The first evident sign of this little piece of magnificence.John F. Seitz, who is also responsible for Double Indemnity, provides us with the same dark, and smokey cinematography in Sunset Boulevard. Entire lifetimes flashing before your eyes with one detailed frame. From square one, opening scene, we have one of the most interesting and provocative shots in cinema history. A very difficult, and well-worth while set up that no modern day photographer would even bother with because of the difficulty to pull off.

The coolest aspect of Sunset Boulevard, was the irony of the characters, and their actual relationships with Hollywood at the time of the film.

Gloria Swanson WAS Norma Desmond. A once extremely popular silent film star, slowly fading out in modern times, like the end of a cigarette. Erich von Stroheim, who had directed, and thought to had both brought the rise and fall of Gloria's career, essentially plays himself. Fucking brilliant. The sets for Norma Desmond's house, were filled with actual photos of Gloria Swanson. There will never be a more accurate, and more realistic depiction of Hollywood.

There is a very poignant yet simple scene where Norma is playing bridge, with several other silent film stars, also forgotten, and considered washed up. The likes of Buster Keaton, Anna Q. Nilsson, and H. B. Warner. Also, the performance by Desmond from Chaplain's film "Masquerade". A powerful scene, yet so cute, and whimsical.

What happens here, is that Wilder bridges a gap between the end of the silent era and modern films with sound. As a way to pay homage, and deep respect, but to also show the dirty reflection back at the industry, as an example. A way of saying, don't forget where you came from you heartless swine; and without people like Gloria Swanson, you wouldn't be in business!

Norma says it best herself:

"There once was a time in this business when I had the eyes of the whole world! But that wasn't good enough for them, oh no! They had to have the ears of the whole world too. So they opened their big mouths and out came talk. Talk! TALK! "

It was not only the transition to sound that essentially phased-out the voices of these silent film stars, but also the every growing greed amongst Hollywood producers. Brilliantly exposed by Wilder, and thought to have been a direct betrayal of all of the producers that helped Wilder to even have such freedom to set up such an elaborate bitch-slap on the industry.

But listen to this......

It is reported that after a private Paramount screening of Sunset Boulevard, Barbra Stanwyck became so moved that she bowed and kissed the hem of Gloria Swanson's skirt. Wow...!! My god, imagine what a beautiful scene that would have been to witness. *tears*

I think that we all owe Norma Desmond the same level of respect. And remember, she will always be big, the real deal... as modern day pictures become smaller and smaller, and more and more detached.

Yes, if the ending was in 3-D, I would have shit my pants.

This is a terrible film, to say the least. A very cool idea, about witches, bastardized in the most glorious Hollywood kind of way.

Jack Nicholson is the only reason this film deserves even the tiniest shred of respect. His woman hating speech at the end is perfect Nicholson action, and is without question the highlight of the movie.

Otherwise, you might want to notice Cher, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Susan Sarandon sprawled out on the bed wearing lingerie. Now that's a Hollywood moment worth remembering.

An interesting dialogue-driven piece, with general anarchic overtones. Very thought provoking, depending on how you choose to view it. I think this film might disappoint without the right frame of mind.

There was a lot of contrast between all types of different people around the Austin area. I am partial to the setting, since I have aspirations of attending school in Austin. So in this aspect, it was very cool for me to get a tour of the city in the early 90s, and to travel around through different aspects of people's lives. The fashions, very cool to remember what was considered "hip" in those days. Ha!

The anarchism aspect I thought was interesting... this depicts a common theme amongst angsty youth, in a very rebellious time in America. For debate, I would like to bring up the fact that this is not by any means a form of true anarchism, and from what I know of Noam Chomsky's theory of "Pure Anarchism". There is no apparent oppressor. Of course, you could say that the government is the obvious influence, this is mostly portrayed through the act of thoughtless theft. In this aspect, I remember contributing to anarchism myself, in the form of petty theft, during the early 90s, although, it didn't achieve much ultimately. The same would apply to this film I would say, in a true anarchist viewpoint, it fails.

The dialogue, is something to really admire. It is not always the most intriguing.. and a little mundane or obvious at times, but everyday dialogue between non-actors is usually this way. This provides a more realistic atmosphere, something that is easier to relate to. One might automatically make correlations to movies such as "Waking Life", or maybe even something like "I Heart Huckabees"... which are both very surface-level films, in regards to existence, and dreams, and general outlook on life. Depending on what you are looking for, you could potentially get a lot out of this film. But chances are, it will merely bead up on the surface, and roll right off.

I found this to be a very interesting piece, which is the main reason I am rating so highly. I relate personally, and felt myself feeling similar in terms of thought process. Possibly due to the current stage i am in.. academically.

I will just say this, to wrap it up. If you thought that you enjoyed "Waking Life" at all, or found it intriguing, then it is highly recommended you check this one out, for perspective. You will see a lot of obvious influence.