From: Mark Toscano (email suppressed)
Date: Fri Jul 04 2008 - 01:28:05 PDT
I can't wait to see the complete Dialogues. The one episode (Why Do We Disrespect Our Genitals?) was only a taste of the larger piece, which apparently will contain anywhere between 36 and 50 short episodes (I've heard both numbers, so I don't know which is correct). Owen says it's 95% shot, with mainly just editing to deal with now. It's supposed to premiere in Bern, Switzerland in April. Anyhow, Adam described what happens in it pretty well, except he neglected to mention the Cat Stevens song, the bicycle/Harley race, and the eye-level table designed for providing a better view of the female protagonist's crotch.
Morgan Fisher told me (told to him by Owen) that another sequence apparently has Morgan as a character, and someone tells him he's a nerd. Morgan thought this was extremely funny.
I really like the idea of it being comprised of a bunch of multifarious parts that could be viewed as individual works, as well as in potentially different orderings to make up the complete whole. Although perhaps I agree somewhat with Adam that as a standalone piece, "...Genitals?" didn't completely blow me away, I nevertheless enjoyed it very much, and found its tone, humor, and approach decidedly Owen's, which was both refreshing and very exciting, to have him actively making films again, and without having lost his powerfully unique sensibilities.
I think Undesirables is basically the fragmentary, episodic piece that showed around a little bit, with the exception of the extra Wavelength sequence now making up its epilogue (?) Also, (Adam - correct me if I'm wrong), but there was also the pornographic sequence that accompanied the Wavelength bit - a woman somewhat relentlessly and dispassionately reading a pretty explicit text, over black. So I guess there are two sections that were not part of the already-circulated version of the piece.
Owen's on Frameworks sometimes. Owen, if you're reading this, I was a little unclear on one thing - the 'Undesirables (condensed version)' that you showed at Filmforum, is this as far as you plan to take this piece?
Mark T
p.s. Thought I'd share this too - On the previous Friday, George and Mike Kuchar were in town for a show at the LA Film Festival. I talked to George, and mentioned Owen's show, in case he was still going to be in town and would want to check it out. I told him one of the pieces was called "Why Do We Disrespect Our Genitals?", to which he responded, without pause, "I don't disrespect MY genitals."
--- On Thu, 7/3/08, Adam Hyman <email suppressed> wrote:
> From: Adam Hyman <email suppressed>
> Subject: Re: [FRAMEWORKS] Land's new works
> To: email suppressed
> Date: Thursday, July 3, 2008, 8:02 AM
> Yes, I¹d say Mark & me.
> They are funny & good, although rough and not really
> out put suitably for
> screenings yet.
> ³Undesirables² includes pastiches of a variety of classic
> avant-garde films,
> which for me work to differing degrees. The concluding
> one, pastiche of
> ³wavelength² not so much; earlier pieces, including
> pastiches of
> ³Thanatopsis² and ³Critical Mass² (which is why we
> included them) and
> ³<--->² more so, usually due to the play of
> language and performer and other
> tensions set up in the scenes, which were very different
> from the films
> being referenced. Very good.
>
> ³Why do we disrespect our genitals?¹ is a shorter amusing
> piece about the
> attraction & tension between a sexy motorcycle-riding
> woman and the devout
> restrained Christian man, with the script seen visually on
> screen. For me a
> more straightforward expression of that dialogue as he
> describes. I don¹t
> think this one is as essential, but it was fine.
> http://lafilmforum.wordpress.com/
>
> More reflection to come.
>
>
> On 7/2/08 9:42 PM, "andrew lampert"
> <email suppressed> wrote:
>
> > Just curious who on this list might have a brief
> review following the
> > screening at LA Film Forum. Adam Hyman? Mark Toscano?
> LA frameworkers?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > A.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> __________________________________________________________________
> For info on
> > FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at
> <email suppressed>.
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
> __________________________________________________________________
> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at
> <email suppressed>.
__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.