Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Dark Comedy
I finally saw Grizzly Man. I'd heard some things, but nobody told me it was a comedy. I mean, sure. It's hard not to see Timothy Treadwell
as a kind of tragic hero with a tragic flaw, or at the very least, as a really passionate, mixed up guy. But the whole time I couldn't help thinking that Grizzly Man was a Christopher Guest movie. Treadwell scolds bears like children, befriends a fox, hosts a TV show on his video camera, and wonders why girls don't like him because he's really good in bed, even though it'd be easier to be gay "because gay guys just meet in truck stops and do it, but nope, not gay, not me -- sorry!". He's almost a real-life Corky St. Clair.
And then there's the Harry Shearers and Eugene Levys -- the guy with the droopy moustache, the coroner, the pilot who thought Treadwell "got what we deserved" (he was mauled by a bear, if you didn't know -- you find that out right away.) I'd even say this movie is actually better than a mockumentary, because of Werner Herzog's narration. I don't know much about Herzog. Apparently, he is from the same country as our governor.
In voice over, he narrates the documentary with insights and opinions that only sounded like a more gentle Terminator.
Yeah, so I'm probably a jerk. It's cool. My sense of decency was checked by the other movie I saw over the weekend, Hard Candy. It's not that it wasn't "good". The acting was incredible (this girl will go really far), the script was really good to a point, and the directing, save for a shakey camera at times, was also great. But that movie is f'd up. I'm all for f'd up as long as there is a good reason for the f'd up. I actually recommend seeing it. It will certainly be good fodder for conversation and/or venting.
I finally saw Grizzly Man. I'd heard some things, but nobody told me it was a comedy. I mean, sure. It's hard not to see Timothy Treadwell
as a kind of tragic hero with a tragic flaw, or at the very least, as a really passionate, mixed up guy. But the whole time I couldn't help thinking that Grizzly Man was a Christopher Guest movie. Treadwell scolds bears like children, befriends a fox, hosts a TV show on his video camera, and wonders why girls don't like him because he's really good in bed, even though it'd be easier to be gay "because gay guys just meet in truck stops and do it, but nope, not gay, not me -- sorry!". He's almost a real-life Corky St. Clair.
And then there's the Harry Shearers and Eugene Levys -- the guy with the droopy moustache, the coroner, the pilot who thought Treadwell "got what we deserved" (he was mauled by a bear, if you didn't know -- you find that out right away.) I'd even say this movie is actually better than a mockumentary, because of Werner Herzog's narration. I don't know much about Herzog. Apparently, he is from the same country as our governor.
In voice over, he narrates the documentary with insights and opinions that only sounded like a more gentle Terminator.
Yeah, so I'm probably a jerk. It's cool. My sense of decency was checked by the other movie I saw over the weekend, Hard Candy. It's not that it wasn't "good". The acting was incredible (this girl will go really far), the script was really good to a point, and the directing, save for a shakey camera at times, was also great. But that movie is f'd up. I'm all for f'd up as long as there is a good reason for the f'd up. I actually recommend seeing it. It will certainly be good fodder for conversation and/or venting.
