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Antonioni's The Passenger (1975) is an odd sort of road movie that takes its main character (played by Jack Nicholson) on a journey dicated largely by a dead man's day planner. Why does he do it? Having assumed another's identitity, why does he insist on walking in the other man's shoes? Therein lies one mystery.
The ambience that permeates The Passenger feels like fate, like myth, like an inevitable time and place and outcome. What we see are detailed (and often beautiful) shots of people and buildings, vehicles, landscapes and skies set in, around and above North Africa, London, Germany and Spain.
The Passenger sticks with me like the memory of some strong dream; somewhere down the line it eventually conjured up in my comparative memory what could be seen as a companion film: Wim Wenders' Der Amerikanische Freund / The American Friend (1977), starring Dennis Hopper and Bruno Ganz. Both delve into identity and coincidence, fate and the big picture, and there be Germans.
Today's Rune: The Mystery Rune.
Another absorbing (and strange) film by Antonioni is The Passenger (1975), starring Jack Nicholson and Maria Schneider. In English and in color. Locations are as wide-ranging as in a Bond film, starting with Francophone Chad, the African nation just south of Libya. It's largely about identity, or social contructs if you prefer. And, preconceived notions of what makes people tick. The setup if this: Locke (Nicholson) is a BBC reporter covering Africa; he's made friends out in the field (at a desert inn, to be specific) with Roberston, a man with a heart condition, secret arms dealer by trade. When Locke finds Roberston dead of "natural causes," his immediate instinct is to switch identities. And then off he goes back into the world, leaving his wife in London a "widow." Much happens as a result of this decision.
Usually in movies, such identity swaps are played for laughs, but a similar dramatic switch forms the backdrop for Don Draper (Jon Hamm) in the AMC series Mad Men.
Today's Rune: Possessions.
If you're looking for adventure, have you heard of geocaching? It's almost mind-boggling, but there are tens of thousands of hidden "caches" to be found all over the world. To begin finding some of them and leaving your mark, one needs a certain amount of mobility and some sort of GPS device (including smartphones). Access to the internet helps. Check out a website for your area, see where the treasures are located, and -- depending on your starting point -- either "get out of Dodge" or "go to town." Specific examples can be found via this link: http://www.geocaching.com/
Today's Rune: Warrior.
Three indie-type films, all worthwhile in an offbeat kind of way: James Ponsoldt's Smashed (2012), Niall MacCormick's Albatross (2011) and Oren Moverman's Rampart (2011). Besides having one word titles, each flick showcases a major character effectively portrayed by a strong actor, and in each, the main actor is backed by a strong ensemble cast. I liked them all about equally.
In Smashed, Albatross and Rampart, family systems inform character development. At the outset of Smashed, Kate (North Carolina native Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is an alcoholic grade school teacher, married to a fellow drinker (Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad), daughter of a reclusive alcoholic (Mary Kay Place). With Albatross, Emelia Conan Doyle (Jessica Brown Findlay, Downton Abbey) is the hero (or heroine if you prefer). When the film begins, she is caring for her ailing grandparents, her mother committed suicide a while back, and she's an aspiring writer. The main collision comes when Emelia begins working for a nuclear family at their Bed and Breakfast, befriends a daughter her age (late teens), offends the "shrew" of the house and dallies with the father (a stalled out middle-aged writer), not necessarily in that order. In Rampart, LAPD cop Dave (Woody Harrelson as anti-hero) has extended family, work and personal problems. A cagey US-Vietnam War veteran, he's quite messed up and in dire need of psychiatric rehab, though he thinks he's the greatest "soldier cop" in the world. Imagine if Lance Armstrong joined the LAPD . . . The backdrop is the late 1990s as the Rampart Scandal begins to unfold. Sort of like Magnum Force, if Dirty Harry had taken a darker turn and had family around town. Smashed, Albatross and Rampart each has a certain quotient of alcohol and drugs, come to think of it.
Today's Rune: The Mystery Rune.
"You didn't have to . . ."
"My pleasure."
Approval.
One of the most impressive responses, upon meeting someone new, is a French one: "Enchanté."
Today's Rune: Joy.
"Thanks!" "You're welcome."
The above acknowledging rejoinder seems to date back to the 19th century.
How about the edgier response, "No problem?"
Or: "Not a problem."
These I like.
"No problem" sometimes comes after a "thanks" for service or favor rendered, but implicitly, it's a sly reminder that many social interactions are "a problem."
Pretty funny when you think about it.
Today's Rune: Wholeness.
"Attention must be paid" -- Arthur Miller (and Tennessee Williams, too, maybe).
The Buddha (paraphrase): Be mindfully aware before you leave this place and time.
Larry David, Curb Your Enthusiasm (paraphrase): Be mindful of some rules, or anarchy will prevail.
Today's guilty phrase, most hideous foul: "You're very welcome."
I've been noticing this popping up more and more. First I thought it was just in Texas, then I heard it in Arkansas, and now I'm supposing it's spread everywhere, like alien pods from Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
There's no hope for social graces if this contagion continues to spread.
When I was interning in London a while back, whenever someone bumped into another person, they'd quickly whisper, in a faux sincere tone, "Sorry!"
"Sorry," as in: I meant no deliberate insult, harm or provocation by my seeming clumsiness. We need not fight now.
"Sorry," as in, from a darkly British war movie: "Sorry, sir, I didn't see the white flag," said by a sergeant in Libya during World War Two, after he guns down surrendering weaponless Germans. (The twist: they're actually British soldiers who'd escaped through German lines after a secret mission -- shot by their own comrades).
In any case, what exactly does "You're very welcome" mean?
What, indeed, is the difference between saying "You're welcome" and "You're very welcome?"
Nothing, except for the unnecessary addition of the adjective "very," possibly intended as a (lame) intensifier.
Again, what does "You're very welcome" mean?
A. Nothing; or
B. Nothing on a literal level, but rather it serves as an implicit acknowledgement of some kind of social interaction (favor, gift given) or socioeconomic exchange (service for money, including perhaps a tip).
C. The person who says this really means it this time! Usually, without using adding "very," he or she is not being in the least sincere.
Verily, what say ye, dear readers? Meanwhile, You're very thank you!
Today's Irish-themed Rune: Signals.
