Deadpan Alley

Now that we've all absorbed the meta smorgasbord that was the previous post (and scratched our heads and concluded that the Saunders article is great at least which is all I was really hoping for), I'll return to some more tangential fare. First, ABBA!

1) ABBA News: There are three dates to remember for rabid ABBA fans (rababbas?), a group that now includes me. I'm guessing this obsession will last longer than my one-week Afropop "phase," which I abandoned after realizing how much music there was to process and how embarrassingly little I was actually committed to processing it. I did find this blog, though, Benn loxo du taccu, with frequent mp3s from the world of contemporary African music.

*This month (that's August for anyone who doesn't keep up with these things so much... hi, Matt!), the three of Agnetha Faltskog's solo releases for Polar will be reissued on CD. I still highly recommend Tio Ar Med Agnetha for a general overview of her work, and will post a track from that compilation later today.

*On September 26th, the ABBA 1977 concert/tour film ABBA: The Movie will be released on DVD.

*In November, the most extensive compilation of ABBA material ever collected will be released. This includes nine CDs of the band's entire studio output and two DVDs of music videos (I'm pretty sure it's all of them) and concert footage.

2) I saw Broken Flowers the other night and was incredibly disappointed. I won't go too into detail, particularly as most people probably haven't seen it yet and I don't want to give away the plot, but I will outline my biggest problem with the film.

I'm a big Bill Murray fan, though I've remained critical of some of the work that he's been good in (I'm not sure he's ever given a bad performance, at least I'm not aware of one). I dislike most of Wes Anderson's films, and truthfully could do without Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic, although I do enjoy Rushmore, if only for Murray's performance. Further background: Loved Lost in Translation, loved Murray in Coffee and Cigarettes, love most of the Jarmusch films I've seen.

Broken Flowers doesn't work for me because Jarmusch has taken Murray's trademark deadpan and systematically pared it down to just about nothing. This kind of solemn facelessness has worked for more effusive personalities; I think that Jack Nicholson's work in About Schmidt exemplifies the stripped-down aging actor performance. But this approach doesn't work for Murray because when he's really good, he's about an inch away from complete blankness already. What's so exhilirating about Lost in Translation, for me, is how much life Murray finds in the smallest gestures, facial tics, and slight expressions. Broken Flowers even strips Murray of (most of) those small mannerisms, and instead of further realizing a bittersweet but uncompromisingly sad depiction of middle age, Murray's performance, for one of the only times I can even recall, seems completely false. He feels uncomfortable not only as his character (which is to be expected), but with his character. It feels like Murray doesn't know who Don really is -- he doesn't inhabit Don as effortlessly as his Anderson and Coppola precursors, and the film slowly breaks down and unravels because of it.

If this were explicitly the "point" of the film (and indeed themes of regret and confrontation are clear, but never satisfyingly explored), the performance might work. But Broken Flowers is evasive and oblique where it should be evocative, and frustratingly cryptic where it should be merely ambiguous. The actors simply aren't given enough to work with, though they admittedly do all they can with a script that feels spare to the point of total barrenness. Jarmusch wanted to work with Murray, and even had him signed on for a completely different project before realizing it was a dead end. Instead they pursued what became Broken Flowers, a film that began its life as two scene sketches Jarmusch had been kicking around for a while. The haphazard and impulsive writing process shines through, and the film as a whole feels unfinished and unsure of itself.

I hope the two collaborate in the future, because I was intrigued enough by the few moments of Broken Flowers that seemed to rise above the overwhelming bleakness and obscurity to think a future Murray/Jarmusch pairing could yield something more substantial.

Also, I obviously don't blame anyone involved in the film for this, but the press for Broken Flowers is one of the most misguided newspaper/magazine/online hype campaigns of recent memory (OK, not as bad as Million Dollar Baby), and the general critical consensus on this film will likely do a major disservice to anyone interested in seeing it based on these reviews and fluff pieces. The most blatant offenses: To say Broken Flowers is even remotely related to Lost in Translation in any way except Murray's involvement is just plain lazy, and to suggest that this film is "accessible," even by Jarmusch's standards, is also ridiculous. If anything, this is one of the least accessible Jarmusch films I've ever seen -- I have no idea what to do with Murray's performance, and I get the sneaking suspicion that neither did the director or the actor. And no way in hell will Murray be considered for an Oscar for this performance, even as an "apology" for Lost in Translation, not that that's really important.

All in all a major disappointment, but still provocative enough to be worth seeing, especially for diehards of Murray or Jarmusch. Take my snark with a grain of salt and go see it anyway -- also, it has the distinction of being one of three films made in 2005 in which Morgan Freeman was in no way involved, although at least two of the previews will feature him if you needed a fix.

3) Speaking of movies, here's a bad one, as opposed to a compelling but disappointing one. A record low on the Tomatometer! This is the funniest thing I've read all week...these blurbs are like poetry. I will not be seeing this film, even accidentally.

4) Speaking of things that make me smile...free Arcade Fire show in Central Park!!! I'm so there.

Agnetha Faltskog - "Fram för svenska sommaren"

The Arcade Fire - "Laika" ringtone 1 (complete), "Laika" ringtone 2 (chorus) [courtesy this post at Us Kids Know, the AF fansite...also, this is cool.]