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This morning Andrew had the last of his assessment video interviews with the CAMH doctor. Her advice: tweak his meds (comparatively easy, with her say-so); try and get him more social interaction (trickier), and psychotherapy (she’s going to get us a list of psychotherapists covered by OHIP, and with video sessions becoming the norm, this may be easier).
Afterwards I walked up to Bloor and Runnymede to do some grocery shopping, only to discover the area closed off and evacuated due to a bomb threat at the local TD bank branch. Had to walk back down and take a bus to the Sobey’s near the Humber Loop. Decided that after all that we deserved pre-cooked sweet-and-sour pork and lemon chicken from the deli there, which wasn’t superlative, but it was a meal I didn’t have to prepare.
Yesterday I continued my current David Lynch hyperfixation by rewatching Blue Velvet; it was only the second time I’ve seen it, and the first time was back in the ‘90s for a Cinema Studies course. One thing that struck me this time is that most recent takes I’ve seen on the “idyllic small town has a seamy underside” trope really overplay the initial “idyllic”impression, often to the point where it’s scarier than the eventual reveal— the manicured lawns and identical colour-coordinated houses owe more to gated suburbs and tv advertising than they do to Norman Rockwell.
Meanwhile Lynch and his crew, by the looks of it, go find real small towns and do location shoots without exaggerating or prettying things up. Those famous opening shots of “Lumberton” show a sunny neighbourhood, but also one that looks genuinely lived-in, and despite the soundtrack it’s very definitely the 1980s, not the 1950s— the school crossing guard is an older woman in a hi-vis vest; she, the kids, and the fireman waving from his engine are probably actual local locals hired as extras. As a result I kept having flashbacks to my late-childhood/early-teens memories of Sackville, New Brunswick and Amherst, Nova Scotia, which was likely not the intended effect, but then with Lynch you never know.
I also found a pdf online of what’s said to be the original script, which differs from the finished movie in giving a lot more backstory and explanation. I think Lynch was right to pare this down (we all know by now he’s more interested in the mystery and atmosphere than the explanations), but I was sorry he didn’t leave in this bit:
Jeffrey leaves and Aunt Barbara moves about tapping on the walls. She moves into a dark area and taps. Something falls. She reaches down.
In EXTREME CLOSEUP we see a termite walking by her shoe on the thick carpet. Then in EXTREME CLOSEUP we see Aunt Barbara's fingers pinch the termite and bring it up in front of her thick glasses for a look. She looks at the termite, then looks back at the walls.
and this:
The house is very dark and quiet. Jeffrey finds a note by the one table light is on.
The note is from his mother. It reads, "Jeffrey hope you enjoyed yourself. See you at breakfast. Love Mom." A postscript is written on the note by Aunt Barbara. "Jeffrey, honey, I found these. Love, Aunt Barbara."
Jeffrey sees that Aunt Barbara has left him two dead termites. He picks one up and studies it.
Again we see a huge CLOSEUP of a termite in the half-light. Jeffrey shakes his head in amusement.
because not only would it have fit in thematically, it would have made Aunt Barbara’s line “I could never do that. Eat a bug, I mean,” while looking at the robin even funnier and weirder. (As it is, it turns out my takeaway from the movie and its ending is basically “You CAN and SHOULD Eat Bugs” and I’ve been smiling at that.)
Afterwards I walked up to Bloor and Runnymede to do some grocery shopping, only to discover the area closed off and evacuated due to a bomb threat at the local TD bank branch. Had to walk back down and take a bus to the Sobey’s near the Humber Loop. Decided that after all that we deserved pre-cooked sweet-and-sour pork and lemon chicken from the deli there, which wasn’t superlative, but it was a meal I didn’t have to prepare.
Yesterday I continued my current David Lynch hyperfixation by rewatching Blue Velvet; it was only the second time I’ve seen it, and the first time was back in the ‘90s for a Cinema Studies course. One thing that struck me this time is that most recent takes I’ve seen on the “idyllic small town has a seamy underside” trope really overplay the initial “idyllic”impression, often to the point where it’s scarier than the eventual reveal— the manicured lawns and identical colour-coordinated houses owe more to gated suburbs and tv advertising than they do to Norman Rockwell.
Meanwhile Lynch and his crew, by the looks of it, go find real small towns and do location shoots without exaggerating or prettying things up. Those famous opening shots of “Lumberton” show a sunny neighbourhood, but also one that looks genuinely lived-in, and despite the soundtrack it’s very definitely the 1980s, not the 1950s— the school crossing guard is an older woman in a hi-vis vest; she, the kids, and the fireman waving from his engine are probably actual local locals hired as extras. As a result I kept having flashbacks to my late-childhood/early-teens memories of Sackville, New Brunswick and Amherst, Nova Scotia, which was likely not the intended effect, but then with Lynch you never know.
I also found a pdf online of what’s said to be the original script, which differs from the finished movie in giving a lot more backstory and explanation. I think Lynch was right to pare this down (we all know by now he’s more interested in the mystery and atmosphere than the explanations), but I was sorry he didn’t leave in this bit:
Jeffrey leaves and Aunt Barbara moves about tapping on the walls. She moves into a dark area and taps. Something falls. She reaches down.
In EXTREME CLOSEUP we see a termite walking by her shoe on the thick carpet. Then in EXTREME CLOSEUP we see Aunt Barbara's fingers pinch the termite and bring it up in front of her thick glasses for a look. She looks at the termite, then looks back at the walls.
and this:
The house is very dark and quiet. Jeffrey finds a note by the one table light is on.
The note is from his mother. It reads, "Jeffrey hope you enjoyed yourself. See you at breakfast. Love Mom." A postscript is written on the note by Aunt Barbara. "Jeffrey, honey, I found these. Love, Aunt Barbara."
Jeffrey sees that Aunt Barbara has left him two dead termites. He picks one up and studies it.
Again we see a huge CLOSEUP of a termite in the half-light. Jeffrey shakes his head in amusement.
because not only would it have fit in thematically, it would have made Aunt Barbara’s line “I could never do that. Eat a bug, I mean,” while looking at the robin even funnier and weirder. (As it is, it turns out my takeaway from the movie and its ending is basically “You CAN and SHOULD Eat Bugs” and I’ve been smiling at that.)
no subject
Date: 2021-06-01 07:03 pm (UTC)From:(Fire Walk With Me is still my fave of his, tho. It's been kind of amusing to see the TOTAL pendulum swing on that movie, from "laughworthy self-indulgent flop" to "amazing piece of art." It's gorgeous.)
no subject
Date: 2021-06-01 07:18 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2021-06-01 07:30 pm (UTC)From:Blue Velvet was filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina at the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG) Studios with outdoor shots being filmed in the town itself. Apparently some of the townsfolk didn't realize the nature of the film being shot in their town. The night of the shooting of the climatic scene where Dorothy appears to Jeffrey and Sandy, almost the entire town had shown up to watch. Rossellini remembers, "People came out with blankets and picnic baskets, with their grandmothers and small children. I begged the assistant director to warn them that it was going to be a tough scene, that I was going to be totally naked, but they stayed anyway...I apologized to them in a loud voice, knowing they were going to be upset, and concentrated on my scene...Once David called, 'Cut -- we have it,' someone came with a robe for me to wear and my attention returned to our surroundings. Everybody had left. The next day a notice from the police told us we would not be given any more permits to shoot in the streets of Wilmington, North Carolina."
no subject
Date: 2021-06-01 07:43 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2021-06-01 09:33 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2021-06-03 02:24 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2021-06-03 11:45 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2021-06-03 04:35 pm (UTC)From:(Also, the example of the genre that leaps to my mind is The Woman In White, which involves doppelgängers and identity and a smart brunette investigating the death of her blonde half-sister— I’m amazed nobody’s rewritten up a Twin Peaks Victorian AU.)
no subject
Date: 2021-06-03 05:57 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2021-06-03 06:05 pm (UTC)From: