Sometimes 'good' has to be good enough: Speed, Tsotsi and Hearts and Minds

As usual, my eyes were bigger than, well, my eyes. I had eight movies going into this weekend, and only got through three, although, to be fair, I also got through Season 1 of "Wallander". I don't know why I do that, it always seems like such a great idea to have a television series to break up the movies, but then I get sucked in, and have to watch the whole thing. That's okay, I still finished three movies, and did my laundry...a successful weekend. A friend of mine asked if I take notes when I'm watching the movies so I can use them in my write-ups. I do not, I sometimes think I should so I can capture some of my insightful observations, but I worry I would get too distracted. So, I rely on my memory, which is usually pretty good, at least for my impressions, if not always everything else. [this blog was interrupted by a serious case of writer's block]

11/22/13 Hearts and Minds, Best Documentary Feature, 1974

Hearts and Minds uses contemporaneous interviews and footage filmed around Vietnam. I always find it interesting to watch a documentary like this, that when it was originally was shown, was current and could have been a segment on the evening news, and to watch it now, it's actually 'history' or 'historical'. I have vague memories of watching the news (in the days before 24-hour cable channels, when watching the television news was kind of a family event, at least in our house) and seeing protests on television and the helicopters in Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War. I think it's safe to say that in the almost forty years since this documentary was released, there has been an evolution in the thought-process regarding the US involvement in the war, the feelings about the soldiers as well as those evading the draft, and the Vietnamese people themselves. Some of the people interviewed for the film express some very racist views of the 'Oriental' cultures in general and the Vietnamese people in particular. These opinions can actually be transported back in time to the Crusades and the views of Europeans about the Arabs, Americans and Europeans about the Japanese during the Second World War, and forward to the current wars/conflicts in the Middle East: non-Caucasians are identified as savages, backwards, illiterate, etc. In some cases this is just based on skin color, but then usually combined with their religious practices. That was forty years ago. Fast forward to today and the feelings that people have (had) for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the people of those countries. In some ways, things haven't changed that much, and in others, maybe they have. There seems to be a very distinct separation between the men and women fighting the war (defending our country) and the war itself. The question of whether we should have been in Vietnam at all and what was the rationale exists today. The answer in the 1950s - 1970s was to fight against Communism (there are some interesting interviews with North Vietnamese and anti-war protesters describing their fight as a war of independence, shaking of the colonial powers - sound familiar?); the answer for the current conflicts is to protect oil interests and fight terrorism. I don't think this is the best documentary I have ever seen, but I do think it is an interesting look back at watershed moment in US history. The film is very clearly slanted towards the anti-war camp and makes no real attempt at unbiased reporting, and I think as long as you know that, you can still get something out of it.

11/23/13 Speed, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, 1994

Once again, I am late to the party. This was the first time I have ever watched Speed (no, I was not under a rock). I have to say, after watching four hours of depressing, moping Kurt Wallander, this was a nice change of pace. There is nothing overly thought-provoking about this movie about a bus that is rigged to explode if the speed drops below fifty miles an hour. Dennis Hopper is the psychopathic demolition man who is bent on revenge against the police (I'm not giving anything away here); Keanu Reeves is the hero cop who doesn't have too much trouble bending or breaking the rules to save the citizens of Los Angeles; Sandra Bullock winds up driving the bus through the streets of Los Angeles. Like I said, this is not complicated. The reason it works is that it's fun: there are explosions; witty banter between the characters Jeff Daniels and Reeves; Reeves and Bullock; crazy driving skills; a great look at 1990s computer technology (gasp); and Dennis Hopper is nuts. The movie won for Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing, and after watching a few of these winners, it does seem that there is a lot of hard work that goes into making sure explosions and traffic sounds and gun shots all sync up to make the experience come through the speakers. I should note that (knock wood), I am watching the same television I bought in 1993, and it doesn't even know what surround sound or HDTV are, so I'm sure I am missing out on a lot. It wasn't a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

11/24/13 Tsotsi, Best Foreign Language Film, 2005

I really wanted to love this movie, and I feel bad because I only liked it and even then, it took a while to get to like. Tsotsi is set in South Africa and follows a gang of kids, focusing on the leader, David (known as Tsotsi). David and his crew rob people, steal things, whatever they need to do to survive. After a series of events, Tsotsi shoots a woman, then steals her car, and discovers that her baby is in it. The overarching story is watching this tough kid (and they are kids) learn to deal with his past and open his heart to this little baby. That is some nice character development; it's not simple and straightforward, there are some zigs and zags in the road. Tsotsi forms an unexpected bond with the father of the baby and I wanted to see how that played out. South Africa is a complex country with a complex history (and present), and there is something about it that has intrigued me for a long time, and the movie captures a little of that. Things are not always black and white, cut and dried. There are circumstances. I can't put my finger on why I am struggling with this; I think it's because I was not interested in some of the peripheral characters, and found it hard to care. It was a little over halfway through that I found myself engaged. The movie was based on a book by Athol Fugard, so perhaps there is more in the book that I was looking for than was in the movie. I can't give this a big thumbs up, but I can't say don't see it. Perhaps it will resonate with you more than me. I am glad I saw it, and sometimes that's all you can hope for. I have 680 more movies to go, and I'm sure there are going to be movies I will encourage you to avoid; this isn't one of them.

On a side note, as you may know if you are a regular reader (thank you for that), I love documentaries. I would imagine that documentaries don't often get the big studio budgets that a comic book hero or a talking car get. That's where Kickstarter comes in; there are some good projects out there, and I am hoping that two of them come to fruition. Feel free to check them out (or the many others). One is about Magda, who was a Jewish spy during World War II; she's still around at 91 and this movie is telling her story. The other project is about The Wrecking Crew, studio musicians who played and supported an incredible number of acts like Simon and Garfunkle, The Beach Boys, and more. I love movies like this (if you have not seen Standing in the Shadows about the musicians who made up the Motown sound, you really should; it made me cry). I supported a project that was successfully funded a little while ago about the last surviving US veteran from World War I, called Pershing's Last Patriot. I'm usually ranting against social media and the participatory activities it spawns (no, the irony is not lost on me), but the idea of micro-funding/crowd-funding something that is of interest, is pretty cool.  It's a small way to support artists, designers, creators.

Ah, I think the writer's block is gone. Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Hanukkah.

You really should see these movies: Pride & Prejudice, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and 12 Years a Slave

It was a weekend of classics: a film based on a classic novel, a classic American film, and a film that I truly believe will be a classic.

11/6/13 Pride and Prejudice, Best Art Direction B&W, 1940

You really cannot go wrong with Jane Austen, well, I mean I suppose you could if you really tried, but under normal circumstances, Miss Austen is tried and true. 2013 was the bicentennial of the first publication of Pride and Prejudice, a fact of which I was unaware until ten minutes ago, otherwise, I would have celebrated much more fervently. A few months ago I was lucky enough to see Pride and Prejudice at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis (a gorgeous theater with a thrust stage), so the dialog and characters are fairly fresh, and Austen is nothing if not about the witty dialog and the memorable characters. The Bennett family, led by long-suffering patriarch, Mr. Bennett's life (Edmund Gwenn also known for being Santa in Miracle on 34th Street), is overflowing with women, some silly(including Mrs. Bennett), some serious, needs to get five daughters married to men of means since they are unable to inherit from their father. Edmund Gwenn is Mr. Bennett, Austen's lines just rolling off his tongue. Greer Garson (Mrs. Miniver) is Elizabeth (Lizzie) Bennett, the eldest and like most elder daughters, the brightest, funniest and most observant. Lizzie is an astutely cynical and social observer, although she is not without her own 'prejudices' as Mr. Darcy (Laurence Olivier) points out. Austen gives Lizzie some great lines, and like many of her leading characters, a strong, independent personality, and when you think that the story was set in the early 1800s (women could not vote and had virtually no 'power' outside of their own home, if there), that's pretty incredible. Olivier is Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth's very capable sparring partner, and he handles the role of straight man, prideful snob (per Lizzie) wonderfully. Olivier employs a playfulness that you don't often see when he is being Henry V or Heathcliffe. Being a movie and not the book, there are things that are omitted, changed, etc., I stopped getting hung up on that stuff a long time ago, as long as the movie is true to the idea and heart of the book, I'm fine with some minor tweaks; some things just are better written than in film, or you make a movie that's three hours long. If you want to hear the mellifluous sound of Austen's words being spoken by amazing orators like Olivier, Gwenn, Garson, Ann Rutherford and so many others, then definitely check out this movie. It won't take anything away from the book and you can read the book as well. You can watch this with the whole family, and it might be a nice move to watch over the coming holidays, maybe on Boxing Day.

11/16/13 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Best Writing, Original Story, 1939

1939 was quite a year for movies: Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind as just two examples, so it's not totally surprising that Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, which was nominated for a total of eleven awards, only won one, for Best Original Story (since Gone with the Wind, Wizard of Oz and Goodbye, Mr. Chips,were based on books, that kind of helped in this category). I was telling a few people, some of whom have seen Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and some who have, that Mr. Smith Goes to Washington should be required viewing for all members of elected government. It should be required viewing for everyone, really, not as a civics lesson necessarily, but to remind people that we have a participatory system and we need to participate. Frank Capra, the director (Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and It's a Wonderful Life) and Sidney Buchman, the screenwriter, do not try to develop the complexities that are inherent in politics or real life, they paint a fairly black and white situation, the good guy is good to the core, the bad guys will stop at nothing to win. I don't have a problem with that, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a morality tale, and the moral of the story is that the good guy can win if he stays true to himself and his cause, to clutter that up with wavering or a character flaw would have muted some of the effect, in this case. I think Capra knows his audience, and knows they want they want their hero, Jefferson Smith (a patriotic first name with the everyman last name) played by American Icon, Jimmy Stewart, to triumph. Claude Rains (The Invisible Man, Casablanca) plays Senator Joe Paine, senior Senator from the same state as Stewart's Jeff Smith, is the direct antagonist to Smith, is eloquent and deceptively fatherly to Smith. Jeff Smith is a hero to all the boys of his unnamed state because of his 'Daniel Boone/Davy Crockett' persona, and appointed to the recently vacant senatorial seat because the political machine of his state thinks he will be a patsy for their projects. Smith is 'guided' by his wiseguy secretary, Saunders, played by Jean Arthur. Arthur also played a similar character in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town with Gary Cooper. Arthur holds her own as the main female character in an otherwise male-dominated story (politics was very much a man's world, except, Saunders does show she knows the game better than most). She was great, smart, cynical, beautiful, and convinced her new boss is the biggest chump in the world until she realizes how absolutely sincere and earnest he is, and then she uses her knowledge of Senate rules and the Senate to help him (it's not that easy of course, because the course of true love never ran straight or something like that). There is not a question of this being the most accurate portrayal of politics, but I would question anyone who gets too indignant over the scandalous depiction of the politicians, and ask if they have checked Congress's approval ratings lately. Stewart gives a wonderful portrayal of the naive, young senator, and his filibuster attempt is one of movie lore. I found myself fist-pumping as you feel the tide turn in his favor (another reason I watch movies by myself). Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a good movie to start a conversation about all kinds of things: politics, the political process, and movie making. It is on the American Film Institute's list of 100 Best American films. This is also a good family friendly film (there's some drinking and smoking).

11/17/13 Twelve Years a Slave, not yet nominated 2013

Breakfast and a movie with a friend, what better way to spend a Sunday morning? My friend and I both wanted to see Twelve Years a Slave, because we heard really good things, and I was feeling terribly guilty about not seeing more current movies (I mean Two Guns and Bad Grandpa were entertaining, but I'm not thinking they're going to win any Oscars). The movie was directed by Steve McQueen, who also directed Hunger about the Irish Hunger Strikes in the 1980s, clearly he doesn't shy away from difficult topics. That was a powerful film and starred Michael Fassbender as Bobby Sands. If you can get this from Netflix, I totally recommend it. Chiwetel Eijofor (Kinky Boots, which if you have not seen, you should) plays Solomon Northup, a free black man from Saratoga Springs, New York, who is kidnapped and sold as a slave; Michael Fassbender, appearing in his third Steve McQueen film, is the crazed, slave owner, Edwin Epps (he reminded me a little of John Hurt as Caligula in I, Claudius) and he is magnificent (if that doesn't sound too twisted); Benedict Cumberpatch is the kindly plantation owner, William Ford who really does not want to own slaves, it's just the circumstances of the times and the place. Lupita Nyong'o, who is a newcomer to American cinema, plays Patsey, a slave who has mesmerized Epps, and is despised by his wife (Sarah Paulsen). Patsey is a pivotal role, with actually very little dialog, and I was blown away by Nyong'o. Actually, I'm not going to lie, I was pretty much blown away by the whole film: the direction, the acting (the cast is superb), the cinematography, the use of music, everything. Usually I'm pretty skeptical about movies that everyone 'loves' or that leaves everyone in tears, or whatever, I often wonder if people just don't want to say, ugh, it was horrible. But in this case, everyone I have talked to about this, I am telling them to see it. This is another movie that everyone (every American) should see, in part because of the subject matter, slavery, which is always seems so hard to talk about, even 150 years after it's been abolished in the U.S., but also because it is a beautiful bit of film making. I don't want to sound too 'professorial', because I'm not a film student, but one of the things I loved about the movie was space that McQueen left between the delivery of lines, or the transition between scenes; he's not afraid to just let the audience and the characters 'be', and have atmospheric/ambience music in the background. Terrence Malick did this to the extreme in Tree of Life and I almost cried from boredom, McQueen did this to great effect. He would go in for a closeup and just stay there and let the character's eyes tell the story. I was comparing it to Django Unchained where you, as a viewer, went from violent scene to aggressive scene and you almost couldn't catch your breath. Here, you might have a super violent scene, a whipping or beating and then you have five to seven minutes where the characters take minute to contemplate, breathe (I'm overusing that word, but that's the only thing that I can really think of) and move on. There's a balance, and while the movie definitely has disturbing moments, as a viewer you don't get a) immune to it and b) you don't get drowned by it, I feel like you give it the importance and the weight it deserves. Eijofor as Northrup is so good, he makes Northup (who was a real person) well-rounded as a character, he's not too good, too perfect, he is flawed, he is trying to survive while maintaining his dignity and humanity. I've read/seen other stories like this about Holocaust survivors. These are not black and white situations (irony not intended), these are survival situations. Brad Pitt plays Samuel Bass, a traveling carpenter from Canada, who has a negative view of slavery which he shares with Epps, befriends Northup, but even he has trepidation about helping Northup get out of his situation, he says he fears for his life if he helps. That is just one example of the ambiguity that people felt; Alfre Woodard plays the 'wife' of a white plantation owner, and she tells Patsey (essentially) it's all about surviving. This certainly isn't a 'family-friendly' movie, but after you see it, you may want to watch it with your older teenage kids, so you can have the discussions, answer questions. I remember watching Roots and The Holocaust when they were originally on television in the 1970s and early 1980s, and that was tough television, but so important to help advance the conversations around some really hard historical topics. And it's so well done.

Blogger's note: I've actually done more post-publication editing on this entry than others (which is usually none), but that's what happens when you stay up past your bedtime, you leave half-completed thoughts. My apologies...the thoughts may be wonky, but the intent should be clear...good movie watching to be had.

A weekend smorgasbord: Thor, Little Women, The Motorcycle Diaries, The Official Story and more

Oh, what a weekend this is going to be (it's Saturday as I write this), especially as I totally crapped out on movies last weekend. I don't like gorging myself on movies, I'm fairly certain a lot of brain cells can be hurt in the process, even if the movies are great. But, here I am, with overdue notices staring me in the face, and Thor: The Dark World opening this weekend, so gorge it is.

11/9/13 Thor: The Dark World

I don't know what excited me more, seeing Thor or seeing the previews for Captain America: Winter Soldier  (filmed in Cleveland this past summer) or X-Men: Days of Future Past. I did a little happy dance for both. But getting back to Thor (without giving away too much), I did like it, I thought the dialogue had the proper balance of seriousness and comedic lines and the effects were top notch (potential nominee for editing and visual effects). We did not see it in 3-D because I am still not convinced it's really worth the extra money. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and his cohorts start off the movie by trying to get the worlds re-aligned and set right; Thor still holds a torch (or a hammer) for Jane Porter (Natalie Portman). Jane is still researching the astronomical anomalies, this time she's in London. Stellan Skarsgard returns as Dr. Erik Selvig, who has some crazy moments interspersed with lucidity. Jane's intern is wise-cracking Darcy (Kat Denning) and I must admit, I looked forward to what she was going to say next. The Asgardians are represented by Odin (Sir Anthony Hopkins who could make a reading of the Yellow Pages entrancing) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) who is locked up for his demolition of New York (The Avengers). The nine worlds are about to begin a very rare convergence which will let loose the Aether, and Malekith, the leader of the Dark Elves longs to possess it. There is massive devastation in Asgard as well as Greenwich, England. Personally, I prefer a lot of action in my superhero movies, I don't need a lot of moralizing or philosophizing and that works out just fine here. And I'll let you take it from there, or just go see it. Make sure to stay until through the credits.

11/8/13 Little Women, Best Adapted Screenplay, 1933

There have been several film versions of Little Women, based on the book by Louisa May Alcott. This one stars Katherine Hepburn as Jo March, the aspiring writer in the family and Joan Bennett as Amy March, the youngest sister. The story is set during and after the American Civil War, and Mr. March has gone off to fight, leaving his family behind, struggling financially and socially. Oldest sister, Meg, works as a seamstress and Beth is the musical talent in the family. Their mother, fondly called 'Marmee' goes about town doing good deeds for others less fortunate than her family, even asking the girls to sacrifice their Christmas breakfast for another family, which they do. Laurie is the grandson of the Marches' wealthy neighbor who has a very obvious crush on Jo, but she is too devoted to her writing. Meg marries Mr. Brooke, Laurie's tutor. Circumstances force Jo to go New York to live in a boarding house and work on her writing; Amy goes to live with their crabby Aunt March. Little Women was one of Katherine Hepburn's first films, and you can see some of the traits that made her such a film icon. She is self-assured, bold and not afraid to infuse physicality into the role. She won the Oscar for Best Actress for another movie that year, Morning Glory. George Cukor directed the movie, he also directed Hepburn in several other films, including The Philadelphia Story and Adam's Rib. The movie may seem very tame eighty years later, and it really is, but I don't think stories like Little Women and Pride and Prejudice are meant to be wild and crazy and risque. They capture the charm of a less complicated era which is what appealed to the audiences at the time. The country was four years into the Great Depression and a movie about a close family, getting by on love and supporting each other, which sounds corny in this jaded century, must have been comforting. I don't think this is the greatest movie, and certainly not the best work of Cukor or Hepburn, but it is a chance to see Hepburn in an early role, and if you like movies based on Jane Austen's books, you may also enjoy this one.

11/9/13 The Motorcycle Diaries, Best Original Song, 2004

Seriously, I had no idea, I assumed this would have won for Best Foreign Language Film, but it did not, it was not even nominated in that category. It won for the Best Original Song "Al otro lado del río". The Motorcycle Diaries is a biopic about Ernesto Che Guevera and his friend, Alberto Granado as they take a motorcycle journey throughout South America in 1952. Guevera and Granado are both in the medical field and want to visit a leper colony in Peru. This trip is life-changing as Guevera and Granado encounter the kindness of strangers, the poverty of the indigenous people and strengthen their commitment to socialism and a united 'America' (in this case Guevera means the countries of South America as well). Gael Garcia Bernal as Guevera (he was also in Babel and No) conveys a compassion and commitment that made Guevera a lasting political and social icon. The movie soft-peddles the socialist/communist ideology, it starts out as a travelogue of 1950s South America, showing the countryside of Argentina, Chile and Peru; I felt it guided you to certain conclusions, but it didn't feel heavy-handed to me. You could see how much the people he met meant to him. There is a running storyline about fifteen US dollars that Guevera's girlfriend gives him to buy a bathing suit for her; Granado keeps asking for the money for various things, food, shelter, and even a prostitute, but Guevera refuses to give him the money. He later tells Alberto he has given the money to a poor couple in Chile. When they get to the leper colony, they refuse to follow the rule of wearing gloves (if someone is being treated for leprosy, then they are not contagious, and since the people in the colony were being treated, the disease could not be passed on, but the Mother Superior insisted on the gloves). They even shake hands with the people and play football, treating them with humanity. There haven't been a lot of movies about Guevera, which seems odd to me, so I feel like I learned a lot and want to learn more about him. At the time the movie was made, Granado was still alive and even went back to the leper colony in Peru where some of the people were still there.

11/9/13 The Official Story, Best Foreign Language Film, 1985

I really wanted to like this movie, I really did, but all I could think of was time stopped, and not in a good way. The Official Story is a film from Argentina set after the time of the last junta (dictatorship); during the junta, children were taken from their parents who were opposed to the government. Alicia is a history teacher and Roberto is a successful businessman who seems to have powerful government connections. Alicia and Roberto are the parents of Gaby, a little girl they adopted under less than normal circumstances. Around Gaby's 5th birthday, Alicia begins to ask Roberto questions about the adoption, wondering about her grandparents. As Alicia looks into Gaby's records, she and Roberto quarrel; clearly there is something he does not want to tell her. I was hoping for something like The Secrets in Their Eyes, another movie about the "Dirty War" period in Argentina, with taut story-telling and compelling characters. It wasn't there for me; perhaps because it was made so soon after the junta ended and the writer and director just wanted to get the story out, I don't know. I want to learn more about this period in history, but I will have to do that elsewhere.

11/10/13 City Lights, 1931 American Film Institute 100 Best Films, #11

The Little Tramp strikes again. I enjoyed this film much more than Gold Rush and a little more than Modern Times. There is so much going on this movie: physical comedy, sight gags (no pun intended), a musical score that acts as another character. By 1931, most films were being made with sound, but Chaplin (and I think many other silent film stars) did not think that sound pictures would last very long. The Little Tramp was a character known around the world, mainly because his stories could be told without sound they were universal, he could be English, American, Italian or French. The movie opens with the unveiling of a statue with Chaplin sleeping in the arms of one of the figures. The Tramp later meets a blind flower girl, played by Virginia Cherrill, with whom the Little Tramp becomes infatuated. She mistakes him for a millionaire (the movie is full of 'mistaken identity' gags), and he does not want to disappoint her. The Tramp finds a real millionaire on the brink of committing suicide and saves him from himself. This scene is just one of many that show what a good choreographer Chaplin was (among so many things). The millionaire (he has no name like the other characters in the film) is very grateful and brings the Tramp back to his house where they proceed to get very intoxicated. The Tramp and the millionaire have an on-again off-again relationship through the movie, depending on the sobriety of the millionaire (the drunker the better), which makes for many of the comedic moments. The Tramp wants to take care of the blind girl and goes to great lengths to do so, even taking a job as a street sweeper to earn money, and when he gets fired from that, he agrees to fight in a boxing match that he believes will be rigged so he doesn't get hurt. The boxing scene is so well staged, it's like a ballet. The end of the movie is really wonderful, masterfully understated. Chaplin's Tramp embodies the full range of human emotions from delight to despair, all silently. The DVD I borrowed from the library had a bonus DVD that provides some insight into the making of the movie and Chaplin's motivation behind some of his decisions. This is a great family movie, the kids might really enjoy some of the antics (the Tramp accidentally swallows a whistle and the ensuing scene is pretty funny, as well as his spaghetti eating scene).

Imperial War Museum, London 2006

In honor of Veteran's Day tomorrow, here are some Oscar-winning military films (and nominated documentaries):
World War I All Quiet on the Western Front, Wings
World War II Patton, The Dirty Dozen, Pearl Harbor
Korean War M.A.S.H.
Vietnam War Platoon
Iraq/Afghanistan War Hell and Back Again - documentary
Women in the Military The Invisible War - documentary

Redemption - National Public Radio's A Prairie Home Companion

11/4/13 Blogger's note: in over 120 posts, I have never fretted about an entry once it's posted until last night. I turned off the computer, went to bed and had a panic attack about what I wrote. Did I leave sentences unfinished? How and why did I use 'automaton'? Did I write anything about the show? I'm going to blame it on the time change. I have re-read the post and only changed one word, so any flaws are still intact. Cheers and happy Monday.

11/2/13 A Prairie Home Companion, live from The State Theater in Minneapolis

After seeing Bad Grandpa last week, I felt like I needed some intellectual redemption. Don't get me wrong, as I mentioned, we laughed until we cried, but having people tell me they never thought I would see it kind of made me feel like I let them down. Or, I suppose, conversely, perhaps it made me seem more human and less like an automaton (a big thanks to my co-worker for using one of my favorite words, it made my day). Anyway, I bought the tickets for A Prairie Home Companion (APHC) long before I knew I was going to see Bad Grandpa, so the timing was just fortuitous.

I have listened to APHC on and off for years, taking pleasure in the fact that its home-base is here in St. Paul, and Lake Wobegon is a fictional town in Minnesota. I was delighted that when Robert Altman made his film based on the radio show, he filmed a lot of it locally, including at The Fitzgerald Theater. (I'm a Buckeye, but when the opportunity arises, I'll gladly fly Minnesota colors.) The chance to see APHC live seems to come and go so quickly, by the time I hear about it the dates, I've missed them. Also, driving to St. Paul still scares me, although I have perfected my route to the Fitz, but this time, the troupe was performing in Minneapolis at the State Theater, so I took the light rail downtown. The seats were in the second balcony, but at center stage, so I was pretty happy. It's not like there's a lot to see because it's a radio show, but at the same time, it was really cool to watch the band and the cast getting in place, and there are a couple of set pieces.

There is a part of me that assumed a Public Radio audience would be a little more sophisticated and informed about behavior in a theater. Well, shoot that stereotype right down the toilet. Apparently having a smartphone (which I do not) requires you to take flash photos during the performance and turn it on to check the time every fifteen minutes, oh and not get in your seats until 4:47 when the show starts at 4:45. Oh, I feel better now. At 4:45 the Guy's All-Star Shoe Band came on (led by the ever-present Rich Dworsky on piano) and began playing some bluegrassy music, after 7 minutes or so (times are estimates because I don't have a smartphone and cannot read my watch in the dark) Garrison Keillor came onstage to great applause, for some reason I thought that the show was starting right then as Garrison launched into a welcome and some Minnesota-centric jokes and observations, but then close to the 5:00 hour he said the show was going live in 15 seconds. Dang, nobody else was going to hear the about how modest Minnesotans are (actually, some of that did come up during the live show). The red light went on and we were LIVE from Minneapolis. The regular cast of characters appeared with Sue Scott, Tim Russell, Fred Newman doing multiple voices and effects (watching them work to see how some of the sounds were made was really cool - cue the geek music). A young singer names Hilary Thavis sang bits I can only guess were written by Garrison; she was very good, and a Twin Cities-based choral group called Cantus also sang a few songs written by Garrison and a few by other composers. I am not always familiar with the talent that appears on the show, but I find that my horizons are expanded on a regular basis. The skits included a commercial for POEM - Professional Organization of English Majors, a Guy Noir episode (which was not my favorite, sometimes those are hit or miss) and a story from Lake Wobegon. Keillor sang a bit as well. A treat for me (again, expanding horizons) was having Billy Collins read several of his poems. Billy Collins was twice US Poet Laureate (I didn't know that until the performance); I'm not big into late 20th/21st century poetry; I much prefer Blake, Coleridge and Wordsworth. But, I may be a convert to Mr. Collins. Many of the poems he read were very accessible and had a humorous twist; they almost gave you a sense that you could have written them if you tried. I don't mean that in a negative way, I just mean they captured every day life in language that you could understand even if you wren't an English major. "The Revenant" is a poem written in the voice of a dog's ghost; "The Suggestion Box" is about all the ideas that people like to give poets about topics for poems, which apparently happens all the time. Mr. Collins came out several times during the show, so it wasn't like one long poetry reading.

I wasn't ready for the show to be over. I wanted more: more skits, more music, more of Garrison Keillor's thoughts on the humility of Minnesotans and the history of Minneapolis. I thought this would be one thing crossed off my bucket list and move on, but I have to say that when the show returns to the Twin Cities, I will be doing my best to get a ticket and have my mind expanded. Skol!