Subject
Fwd: Lolita (Alexis Dziena),exposes Don to the sort of Nabokov
titillation ...
titillation ...
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Date
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EDNOTE. If nothing else (and certainly nothing else) this shows the depth of
VN's penetration into popculture. Absolutely no book, film, or whatever that
includes older man and (sub-)pubescent can escape being labled (or libelled)
with word LOLITA.
-----------------------------------------------
----- Forwarded message from spklein52@hotmail.com -----
Date: Wed, 03 Aug 2005 08:13:56 -0400
From: "Sandy P. Klein" <spklein52@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: SPKlein52@HotMail.com
Subject: Lolita (Alexis Dziena), exposes Don to the sort of Nabokov
titillation ...
To: spklein52@hotmail.com
This message was originally submitted by spklein52@HOTMAIL.COM to the
NABOKV-Llist at LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU. If you simply forward it back to
the list, using amail command that generates "Resent-" fields (ask
your local user support orconsult the documentation of your mail
program if in doubt), it will bedistributed and the
explanations you are now reading will be
removedautomatically. If on the other hand you edit the contributions
you receive intoa digest, you will have to remove this paragraph
manually. Finally, you shouldbe able to contact the author of this
message by using the normal "reply"function of your mail
program.----------------- Message requiring your approval (39 lines)
------------------
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050802/NEWS1402/108020017/-1/CITIZEN[1]
At the Movies: `Broken Flowers'
Laconia Citizen, NH - Aug 2, 2005
... Loose and lively Laura (Stone), widow of a race-car driver, whose
daughter, Lolita (Alexis Dziena), exposes Don to the sort of NABOKOV
titillation her name ...
Tuesday, August 2, 2005At the Movies: `Broken Flowers'
By DAVID GERMAIN
AP Movie Writer
In "Broken Flowers," writer-director Jim Jarmusch again makes clear
that the journey, not the destination, is what matters to him. And in
Bill Murray, he has found an ideal traveling companion.
This strange, dream-like road trip is a near-perfect match of droll
director and droller star. Jarmusch has enlisted great stone faces in
the past: Johnny Depp in "Dead Man"; Forest Whitaker in "Ghost Dog:
The Way of the Samurai."
Yet with Murray, who hilariously starred in a segment of Jarmusch's
bull-sessions collection "Coffee and Cigarettes," the filmmaker finds
a peerless vessel for his aloof, minimalist style.
Despite a quest that should be fraught with emotion a man's visits
to old lovers in search of a son he never knew he had Murray
registers scarcely any expression beyond the apathetic
world-weariness fast becoming his trademark.
Balanced against more overt co-stars Sharon Stone, Jessica Lange,
Tilda Swinton, Julie Delpy, Frances Conroy and Jeffrey Wright, Murray
stands as a wondrous question mark just begging audiences to formulate
their own answers about what lies beneath his cryptic demeanor.
With such stars and a more accessible story than usual, Jarmusch has
created his most commercially appealing movie yet, without
sacrificing much of the inscrutable detachment his cult fan base
enjoys.
The movie's structure is typically episodic. Murray plays ladies man
Don Johnston, the classic Don Juan who knows his appeal is slipping
with age and may not really care, putting up only token resistance
when his current lover, Sherry (Delpy), leaves him.
Sherry's departure corresponds with the arrival of a pink letter from
an unidentified ex-flame, telling Don he has a 19-year-old son who may
be trying to contact his father.
Don seems unfazed, content to run out the clock in seclusion,
listening to music, watching TV and living off the wealth he gained
as a computer whiz (Don's disinterest runs so deep now that he
doesn't own a computer himself).
But his neighbor and buddy, family man Winston (Wright), steps in and
convinces Don to take an elaborate trek to visit the women who could
have given birth to his son in that time frame:
Loose and lively Laura (Stone), widow of a race-car driver, whose
daughter, Lolita (Alexis Dziena), exposes Don to the sort of Nabokov
titillation her name implies.
Dora (Conroy) is the flip side of Laura, living an antiseptic life
in one of the prefab luxury homes she and her hubby (Christopher
McDonald) sell for a living.
Carmen (Lange) should be a space cadet given her profession, an
"animal communicator" who puts people in sync with their pets. Yet
she's a shrewd, passionately pragmatic woman who sends her old lover
packing with a brusque insight or two, her protective assistant
(Chloe Sevigny) adding to Don's discomfit.
Penny (Swinton) is a biker chick whose fierce and fleeting exchange
with Don works brilliantly as far as it goes, which is not very far,
the actress in and out of the movie in a flash.
Don devolves from welcomed surprise guest to interloper to outright
intruder, compounding his state of general confusion without offering
a shred of enlightenment.
His most comforting encounter is the most passive, at a dead lover's
grave. Don is at his least guarded here, the scene sweet, touching,
almost revealing of the tender heart that may have once beaten in his
chest, and may be beating there still.
Don seems resigned at the outset to slowly let go of life, and the
women from his past reveal nothing to convince him otherwise. Only
after one last unexpected encounter does Jarmusch hint that Don has
found something to care about, but the filmmaker parks his hero at
the crossroads, leaving audiences to ponder what that might be and
how Don might respond.
Murray has been playing subtle variations on the same sad-sack theme
for years now in "Rushmore," "Cradle Will Rock," "The Royal
Tenenbaums," "Lost in Translation" and "The Life Aquatic With Steve
Zissou."
Yet his schtick never grows tired it gets richer with each
incarnation. Murray is amassing a body of work in a comic-drama vein
to rival the madcap mania of his "Caddyshack," "Stripes" and
"Ghostbusters" years.
Wright's cheery optimism is a great complement to Murray's dourness,
while the actresses are tremendous foils, each an example of the
woman wronged, or at least dinged, by her relationship with Don.
The vague dissatisfaction he feels with his visits spreads to the
audience, making you long to know more of the back-story between Don
and the women, particularly Swinton's character.
But that would undermine Jarmusch's aim, to take people on a little
ride and let them crane their necks at what flits by, deciding for
themselves whatever it is they've seen.
"Broken Flowers," released by Universal's Focus Features, is rated R
for language, some graphic nudity and brief drug use. Running time:
105 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four.
Links:
------
[1]
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050802/NEWS1402/108020017/-1/CITIZEN
----- End forwarded message -----
VN's penetration into popculture. Absolutely no book, film, or whatever that
includes older man and (sub-)pubescent can escape being labled (or libelled)
with word LOLITA.
-----------------------------------------------
----- Forwarded message from spklein52@hotmail.com -----
Date: Wed, 03 Aug 2005 08:13:56 -0400
From: "Sandy P. Klein" <spklein52@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: SPKlein52@HotMail.com
Subject: Lolita (Alexis Dziena), exposes Don to the sort of Nabokov
titillation ...
To: spklein52@hotmail.com
This message was originally submitted by spklein52@HOTMAIL.COM to the
NABOKV-Llist at LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU. If you simply forward it back to
the list, using amail command that generates "Resent-" fields (ask
your local user support orconsult the documentation of your mail
program if in doubt), it will bedistributed and the
explanations you are now reading will be
removedautomatically. If on the other hand you edit the contributions
you receive intoa digest, you will have to remove this paragraph
manually. Finally, you shouldbe able to contact the author of this
message by using the normal "reply"function of your mail
program.----------------- Message requiring your approval (39 lines)
------------------
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050802/NEWS1402/108020017/-1/CITIZEN[1]
At the Movies: `Broken Flowers'
Laconia Citizen, NH - Aug 2, 2005
... Loose and lively Laura (Stone), widow of a race-car driver, whose
daughter, Lolita (Alexis Dziena), exposes Don to the sort of NABOKOV
titillation her name ...
Tuesday, August 2, 2005At the Movies: `Broken Flowers'
By DAVID GERMAIN
AP Movie Writer
In "Broken Flowers," writer-director Jim Jarmusch again makes clear
that the journey, not the destination, is what matters to him. And in
Bill Murray, he has found an ideal traveling companion.
This strange, dream-like road trip is a near-perfect match of droll
director and droller star. Jarmusch has enlisted great stone faces in
the past: Johnny Depp in "Dead Man"; Forest Whitaker in "Ghost Dog:
The Way of the Samurai."
Yet with Murray, who hilariously starred in a segment of Jarmusch's
bull-sessions collection "Coffee and Cigarettes," the filmmaker finds
a peerless vessel for his aloof, minimalist style.
Despite a quest that should be fraught with emotion a man's visits
to old lovers in search of a son he never knew he had Murray
registers scarcely any expression beyond the apathetic
world-weariness fast becoming his trademark.
Balanced against more overt co-stars Sharon Stone, Jessica Lange,
Tilda Swinton, Julie Delpy, Frances Conroy and Jeffrey Wright, Murray
stands as a wondrous question mark just begging audiences to formulate
their own answers about what lies beneath his cryptic demeanor.
With such stars and a more accessible story than usual, Jarmusch has
created his most commercially appealing movie yet, without
sacrificing much of the inscrutable detachment his cult fan base
enjoys.
The movie's structure is typically episodic. Murray plays ladies man
Don Johnston, the classic Don Juan who knows his appeal is slipping
with age and may not really care, putting up only token resistance
when his current lover, Sherry (Delpy), leaves him.
Sherry's departure corresponds with the arrival of a pink letter from
an unidentified ex-flame, telling Don he has a 19-year-old son who may
be trying to contact his father.
Don seems unfazed, content to run out the clock in seclusion,
listening to music, watching TV and living off the wealth he gained
as a computer whiz (Don's disinterest runs so deep now that he
doesn't own a computer himself).
But his neighbor and buddy, family man Winston (Wright), steps in and
convinces Don to take an elaborate trek to visit the women who could
have given birth to his son in that time frame:
Loose and lively Laura (Stone), widow of a race-car driver, whose
daughter, Lolita (Alexis Dziena), exposes Don to the sort of Nabokov
titillation her name implies.
Dora (Conroy) is the flip side of Laura, living an antiseptic life
in one of the prefab luxury homes she and her hubby (Christopher
McDonald) sell for a living.
Carmen (Lange) should be a space cadet given her profession, an
"animal communicator" who puts people in sync with their pets. Yet
she's a shrewd, passionately pragmatic woman who sends her old lover
packing with a brusque insight or two, her protective assistant
(Chloe Sevigny) adding to Don's discomfit.
Penny (Swinton) is a biker chick whose fierce and fleeting exchange
with Don works brilliantly as far as it goes, which is not very far,
the actress in and out of the movie in a flash.
Don devolves from welcomed surprise guest to interloper to outright
intruder, compounding his state of general confusion without offering
a shred of enlightenment.
His most comforting encounter is the most passive, at a dead lover's
grave. Don is at his least guarded here, the scene sweet, touching,
almost revealing of the tender heart that may have once beaten in his
chest, and may be beating there still.
Don seems resigned at the outset to slowly let go of life, and the
women from his past reveal nothing to convince him otherwise. Only
after one last unexpected encounter does Jarmusch hint that Don has
found something to care about, but the filmmaker parks his hero at
the crossroads, leaving audiences to ponder what that might be and
how Don might respond.
Murray has been playing subtle variations on the same sad-sack theme
for years now in "Rushmore," "Cradle Will Rock," "The Royal
Tenenbaums," "Lost in Translation" and "The Life Aquatic With Steve
Zissou."
Yet his schtick never grows tired it gets richer with each
incarnation. Murray is amassing a body of work in a comic-drama vein
to rival the madcap mania of his "Caddyshack," "Stripes" and
"Ghostbusters" years.
Wright's cheery optimism is a great complement to Murray's dourness,
while the actresses are tremendous foils, each an example of the
woman wronged, or at least dinged, by her relationship with Don.
The vague dissatisfaction he feels with his visits spreads to the
audience, making you long to know more of the back-story between Don
and the women, particularly Swinton's character.
But that would undermine Jarmusch's aim, to take people on a little
ride and let them crane their necks at what flits by, deciding for
themselves whatever it is they've seen.
"Broken Flowers," released by Universal's Focus Features, is rated R
for language, some graphic nudity and brief drug use. Running time:
105 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four.
Links:
------
[1]
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050802/NEWS1402/108020017/-1/CITIZEN
----- End forwarded message -----