It's bizarre and somewhat disturbing that Lars Von Trier's new movie, Dogville, has yet to get a release in the U.S., when for fuck's sake - it's already out on DVD in Korea. Shamefully, it seems to be scheduled to only open in New York and Los Angeles and not until late March, when this is exactly the kind of movie that's sorely missing on the current scene. All I can say is, I'm grateful 2003 was the year that I finally splurged for an all region DVD player.

Every movie by Von Trier is challenging and audacious, but Dogville goes more than a little further than all his previous work. I don't want to say too much because I don't want to spoil it for anybody, but cross Our Town, with Samuel Beckett / Franz Kafka and Clint Eastwood's High Plains Drifter (you know, the one where he paints the town red) and you get the idea. The cast is great, lots of nice little parts for favorites like Ben Gazzara, Philip Baker Hall and Udo Kier (as the man in the coat, according to allmovie.com). I must even give props to Nicole Kidman, who I've never felt much for before, but really shines here, especially in the movie's second half. At just under three hours, stepping into Dogville is a serious investment, but I never felt it dragged. I was always wondering what was going to happen next, I was always engaged, always challenged. Finally a new movie worth thinking about. 10:02 PM >>> 0 comments

Red Beard is not your typical Akira Kurosawa film, although it shares many of the same concerns that flow throughout most of them. Here though, I felt like he digs into them a little too directly, sometimes making the movie feel a little too much like a lecture on the correct way to live your life. Set in the early 1800's, and centered around a small, local hospital for the poor - Red Beard is too episodic and too long (185 minutes). The liner notes for the immaculate Criterion DVD transfer even mention that shooting the actual movie took two years. And it feels like it - though around the two hour mark, after the intermission, things do start to pick up a bit as the movie leaves behind it's early, episodic approach and seems to find it's focus. On the plus side - it's (of course) a beautifully shot movie, and like always, Toshiro Mifune is a true delight whenever he's onscreen (which unfortunately isn't often enough). It was a bit of a slog. 8:56 PM >>> 0 comments

Reading Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon over the last couple of days, I was very surprised and a little disappointed to discover exactly how faithful the John Huston / Humphrey Bogart movie was to the book. I felt like they were so similar, I was almost wasting my time by revisiting the same material, material I was already maybe too familiar with. The supporting cast seems especially true to the book - I couldn't help picturing them. Peter Lorre's dialog must have been almost word for word ripped from the pages. The one strange thing is, I don't think I ever pictured Bogart as Sam Spade - in the book, he's the one character with a much heavier, more menacing presence. I like Bogart, but I can't think of a role he ever played that seemed really menacing. Anyhow, it was sill a fine read, but I think in the future I'll remember to try a little harder to stay away from the deadly book/movie combo. 2:17 PM >>> 0 comments

Rubicon Beach is somehow the fourth book by Steve Erickson I've read in the last year. Considering that there are only a handful (or two) of authors who I've even read that many books by in my entire life, I think that really says something. There's always a lot in these books that I really identify with. In Rubicon Beach, it's especially in the first third - even though it's almost impossible to describe. Even when it's impossible to tell what Erickson is really going on about, I often feel like I'm reading my own biography in his words (especially in Amnesiascope, still my favorite). His books circle around and back on themselves like nothing else I've ever read. His books sometimes remind me more of favorite pieces of music, than other books. Images terrifying, beautiful and mysterious. Books to get lost in. 6:00 PM >>> 0 comments

Wheel of Time, Werner Herzog's latest "documentary" is another visual and mental stunner. An intimate peek into the world of modern Buddhism, it includes some brief interviews with the Dalai Lama, but the real highlights are the vistas of ordinary pilgrims and practitioners in Bodh Gaya, India and Mount Kailash in Tibet. It's very compelling to get to look into these lives and to see a whole different way of moving through the world, a whole different way of living and thinking about life. It was strange to watch people of such devotion, prostrating their way inch by inch across the harshest environments, and then to step back out onto Hollywood Blvd amongst the people on their own pilgrimages to take pictures of their favorite stars on the walk of fame. Even so, the movie is complicated too, by scenes of a short (money making?) visit to Austria by the DL and friends, to build a Kalachakra sand mandala and spread the world. Wheel of Time provides no answers, but I'm grateful for it's images, sounds, and the thoughts it provoked about my own way of life. 9:26 PM >>> 0 comments

Probably my favorite thing about this time of year, other than the extra days off work, is reading everybody's top ten lists - and finding out about things I missed that I wished I hadn't - mostly finding new music to hear. One album I'd missed that I suddenly noticed a lot of people were mentioning was Sylvie Courvoisier's Abaton, with Mark Feldman and Eric Friedlander, so I sent off for it, and agree it's a real gem. I was lucky enough to see Feldman and Friedlander (with Greg Cohen) in May, doing John Zorn's Masada String Trio thing - which was one of the real highlights of this year's Vision Festival. On Abaton the approach is generally more subdued, but just as beautiful - working the middle ground between erm... jazz and contemporary classical. In fact, the first disc features four lengthy Courvoisier compositions, and the second disc features 19 short group improvisations - creating a nice contrast, and a double album with enough variety to keep your attention. So perhaps it'll even make my own top ten list - which I'll try to post in the coming weeks. 10:06 PM >>> 0 comments

Favorite things. Friday night. Just home from work. Got my sandwich and a six pack. The games about to start. What more could one want? 6:01 PM >>> 0 comments