Of course.
Gummo and A Crackup At The Race Riots especially. Julien Donkey Boy not so much. I’m looking forward to Mister Lonely, but I’ve no idea if I’ll actually like it.
It’s not about specific pieces of work, of course – it’s about him. Him and his Unified Aesthetic.
Introduction to Collected Screenplays:
charles eames was most notably an architectural engineer, a furniture designer, a man of scientific theory, but most impressive to me were his films – films about toys, spinning tops, toy towns, toy soldiers, toy trains. he will be remembered first and foremost as a creator of chairs. he did not give philosophical credence to his own separate and varied modes of creation; in essence his chairs and his films were one and the same. the content was king, and thus developed a ‘unified aesthetic’ that brought the walls down and allowed him to work free of any of the self-imposed restraints that most artists suffer.
personally, i have published books of fiction, books of photos, displayed my art in many galleries and in many forms, made recordings of banjo music, written and directed films, composed a symphony using only the same three black keys on the right-hand side of the piano, and i most importantly am now trying to revive the tap-dance scene by developing an entirely new repertoire of semi-improvised, extremely technical, avant-garde dance structures. (please do not think i am joking; it would be of the deepest misunderstanding to interpret my intent, my dream, as somehow being an ironic display. i am admittedly not as advanced at the moment as i need to be before i showcase this next phase in my career. if my dream comes to fruition and i am capable of a total tap revolution, then i declare without any hesitation or pause a complete and total abandonment of my involvement in the cinema and all other areas of artistic contention. i need to go where i am most useful.)
the point being: everything from me had previously been deposited inside me. this is due to the force of a sacred entity whose identity i will take to my grave. this curse/blessing was bestowed upon my being without any previous knowledge and total disregard of personal choice in the matter, with no consent. and when i am dead, perhaps i too will be best remembered for a chair i once built.
Yes.
Mr Lonely is an absolutely amazing film, I saw it at MIFF this year. I’m a huge fan of Gummo, but I would rate Mr Lonely as being as good, although for entirely different reasons.