A quick heads-up that Dr. Thomas M Brod MD is planning a conference on Charlie Kaufman films by psychoanalysts at UCLA April 24. The program’s being designed for students, the general public and clinicians.
From a post by Dr. Brod on the IMDB:
Mirrors, Mirrors in the Mind: Reflections on the Films of Charlie Kaufman:
The films of writer Charlie Kaufman – including Being John Malkovich), Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Synecdoche NY are entertainments that satisfy academic and psychoanalytic exploration. The subjects of consciousness, integrity and loss are common themes in these stylistically different films. These films raise questions about the creative process as defensive vs. growth-promoting mental activities; illustrate how we live with internal primitive mental states in a nuanced world of human relatedness; and explore themes of loss and memory, trauma and finitude. Charlie Kaufman’s films provide insight into the pain and projections that fly between people and create havoc in relationships. Clips from the films illustrate the morning talks; Synechdoche NY is screened and discussed in the afternoon.
Sponsored by New Center for Psychoanalysis
And Psychoanalytic Center of California
In cooperation with the Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences and the Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior at UCLA
Fee: $ 35 no CE credit; $ 80 with 6 CE/CME credits
call 310-478-6541 for advanced registration discount
Conference Schedule
9-9:30: Reflections-Comic and Poignant —Thomas M. Brod, MD
9:30-10 am Pain and Confusion and the Need to Get Rid of One's Mind--Jon Tabakin, PhD
10- 10:30 Trauma, Loss, and the Collapse of Time and Memory Julia M. Schwartz, MD
10:30-11 general discussion
11-11:15 break
11:15-11:45 Themes of Personal Agency and Selfhood--Jeffrey Trop, MD
11:45-noon general discussion
1:15-4 pm Part II: "Synecdoche NY"--A Dream of Self Passage
Introduction-Dr. Brod
Screening of the film with a break at midpoint.
Panel Discussion with Apuva Shah, MD, Janet K. Smith, PhD, Peter Wolson, PhD (moderated by Dr. Brod)
General Discussion ] (Source)
There is, as I expected, a lot of interest in this symposium. The page has been up for less than a week and gotten 31 confirmed invitees--with six weeks to go. We have a beautiful new auditorium, but it has, I believe, a capacity of only 150 people.
If any of you guys attend, give us a buzz and let us know how it went, hey?
Possibly you weren't in attendance when Charlie rocked up to the Rubin Museum of Art to talk physics and time and other craziness with Brian Greene. FEAR NOT, you lazy swine, Dave was there and returns with a couple of snippets and a couple of piccies. He speaks thusly:
The event was mind-blowing; Brian Greene did most of the talking, but Charlie made a number of interesting points. On the subjectivity of time, Charlie said the accelerating dates in "Synecdoche" were meant to show how time seems to move faster as we get older, as well as how when we do the same routine every day, after a while the days all meld together.
Dave found himself coincidentally seated next to Susan Orlean. (She of the orchid heist movie and book some years back. You may remember it.) Small world, people. Small world. But I wouldn't want to paint it.
Snaps were taken by Dave's friend:
Sorry about the lazy swine insult. If it makes you feel better, I'm even lazier than you.
You might remember a while back Araz in Iran sent along a Farsi translation of the Eternal Sunshine script, proving that Charlie is known all over the map. This week Araz brings the nifty news that two of CK’s screenplays have now been published -- in book form, with a cover and everything -- in Iran: Eternal Sunshine (the same translation by Araz, as seen on this here site) and Being John Malkovich (translated by Omid Nik Farjam, who’s one of the best in the translating biz, so I hear). See? Nifty! Here’s the cover of the Eternal translation:
Says Araz: "hope you like it and hope Charlie like it, too." Bet he will!
Charlie K. and physicist Brian Greene will be at the Rubin Museum of Art on Saturday, talking about time and how it passes us by. From the Rubin Museum site:
The creator of timewarping films Synecdoche, New York and The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind meets the famous proponent of string theory to understand how time passes us by. Greene is currently working on a cantata with Philip Glass and David Henry Hwang based on his children's book Icarus at the Edge of Time, to be premiered at this year's World Science Festival. (Source)
Unfortunately it appears to be sold out, though tickets may be available if you happen to be a Chairman Circle Member (more info at the link above). Brian Greene must be one popular dude. He sure has come a long way since Beverly Hills 90210.
One of BCK's regular correspondents will be there -- if anything spectacular goes down, I'll be sure to get all the info out of him.
I was awful at Physics in high school. Awful. The mathematics of it all was apparently beyond me. But I love reading about String Theory and quantum physics and the LHC (I particularly recommend Lisa Randall's Warped Passages), so this sounds right up my alley. PLUS. CHARLIE WILL BE THERE. He's up my alley too. That doesn't sound right.
You're in for a disappointment (or possibly relief) if you think this is about U2. The Edge was a short-lived sketch show in the 1990s and Charlie was a writer on the staff. He's mentioned it in a couple of interviews, but I can't remember if he said anything of his made it to air. I have a feeling it didn't. I could be wrong. I usually am.
Duane found some skits on YouTube and swears this one, about artificial hearts, has a decidely Kaufmanesque feel to it. What do you reckon?
There's a column over at the A.V. Club called "The New Cult Canon" and Synecdoche, New York is being featured at the mo'. The write-up on the film isn't dissimilar to stuff we've read before, but you might want to give it a look. A.V. writer Scott Tobias' opinion differs to his colleague Mike D’Angelo, who didn't entirely dig the film. Says Scott:
In Synecdoche, New York, the part is Charlie Kaufman and the whole is us. The film may play like a “Malkovich Malkovich feedback loop,” but it ultimately looks outward, extrapolating from one man’s problems a much broader and more philosophical assessment of what it means to be human. It may not be universally appealing, but its appeal is universal in that it applies to a broad spectrum of feelings and experiences that everyone goes through, not just brainy writers from New York. (Source)
Thanks to Tram and... somebody else, whose email seems to have disappeared on me. But you live on in my heart, if not my In box!
You might've heard of NaNoWriMo. It's a challenge to write the first draft of a novel in thirty days - those days falling between 1-30 November. There's a website where you can chat with other participants, give and find advice or other useful writerly tools and resources, and successful published authors - people you've actually heard of - sometimes pop in with words of encouragement. It costs nothing and is loads of fun. The worst that can happen is you discover you're a terrible writer, a disgrace to humanity, and slit your wrists. I kid.
The makers of NaNoWriMo are bringing the same basic set-up to scriptwriting. Script Frenzy goes down between 1-30 April (because it'd be insane to write both a novel AND a script in November), and the goal is to write 100 pages of script. Could be a film script, a TV episode, stage play, short film, graphic novel... All the info is available at http://scriptfrenzy.org if you think you might be interested. Like NaNo, it's totally free and not-for-profit.
Here's something different you guys might dig: The Dialogue Series, a collection of DVD interviews with some of the current leading screenwriters. Each disc contains a 90-minute interview with one writer (or one writing duo). Paul Haggis is in there, Jim Uhls (Fight Club), Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding), Scott Rosenberg (Beautiful Girls, High Fidelity), David Goyer and others. Alas, Charlie K. isn't in the collection yet. Mike De Luca is the interviewer -- he was President of New Line and these days produces stuff for Columbia. The discs aren't for the casual film-goer -- they're an in-depth discussion about the subject's writing process, his habits and methods, his experiences and thoughts on the film industry in general and screenwriting in particular. If you can't fork out the dough for a writing class (or if, like a certain curly-haired scribe, you think seminars are bullshit), or if you just have a strong interest in screenwriting, these are definitely worth a look. If you want juicy gossip about on-set shenanigans, or if it bores you to tears when you hear writers talk about writing, you can put these on your Do Not Want list.
There's a good line - one of many - in Synecdoche, New York that goes, "None of those people is an extra. They're all leads of their own stories. They have to be given their due." It reminded Jean-Philippe of "The Pitch," a short film by Canadian artist and filmmaker Mark Lewis. It's 4 minutes long and you can view it over thisaway.
Wedged between The Departed (#13) and Requiem For a Dream (#15), you'll find Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in the IMDB's Best 2000s titles, according to ratings given by users. The Dark Knight clocks in at #1. (Personally, I also like seeing Memento in there at #5 and Donnie Darko at #35.)
For the record, The Maize 2: Forever Yours, Dead at the Box Office and Yyyreek!!! Kosmiczna nominacja are the least popular. Perhaps the titles have something to do with it.
Roger Ebert must have Charlie on the brain, because aside from naming Synecdoche, New York the best film of the decade, his latest "Great Movie" entry is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Visiting an old people's home, I walked down a corridor on the floor
given over to advanced Alzheimer's parents. Some seemed anxious. Some
were angry. Some simply sat there. Knowing nothing of what was
happening in their minds, I wondered if the anxious and angry ones had
some notion of who they were and that something was wrong. I was
reminded of the passive ones while watching "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." Wiped free of memory, they exist always in the moment, which they accept because it is everything. (Source)
He's written at length, more than once, about his love for Synecdoche, New York, so it's probably not a big surprise that Roger Ebert has named it the Best Film of the Decade. (And he writes about it at length again.)
"Synecdoche, New York" is the best film of the decade. It intends no
less than to evoke the strategies we use to live our lives. After
beginning my first viewing in confusion, I began to glimpse its purpose
and by the end was eager to see it again, then once again, and I am not
finished. Charlie Kaufman understands how I live my life, and I suppose
his own, and I suspect most of us. Faced with the bewildering demands
of time, space, emotion, morality, lust, greed, hope, dreams, dreads
and faiths, we build compartments in our minds. It is a way of seeming
sane. (Source)
The Hurt Locker, Monster, Juno and Me and You and Everyone We Know round out his top 5.
How 'bout you folks? Got a top 5 of the decade? Or top 10? And shouldn't December 2010 be the end of the decade...?
Why are two people known mainly as writers sharing the top slot on this list of the decade's most important directors?
They're
here because they spent the decade working within the same
entertainment industry that otherwise prizes reassuring clichés and
flashy stupidity, and produced work that was more compelling and
unified than the work of all but a handful of full-time movie
directors. They're here because their visions kicked down the doors of
the audience's and the industry's preconceptions and showed them what's
possible. They're here because their insights into human nature (not
coincidentally the title of one of Kaufman's scripts) are so sharp and
evocative that when we want to remember what it meant to be alive in
the aughts, we'll only need to watch an episode of "The Sopranos" or a
movie written by Kaufman and it will all come flooding back. (Source)
But if you really want a great TV drama that doesn't peter out halfway through, I highly, highly recommend The Wire and The Shield.
Big thanks to Tim S. for the news! And Happy New Year, folks. I owe emails to a few people - I've been slacking off over X-Mas. (Actually I've been slacking off over 2009, but don't tell anyone.)
Our Aussie correspondent (ie. me) has just discovered that Synecdoche, New York was released here on DVD in October. It's going for $13.95 over at Atlantic DVD (plus $1.75 shipping). It's also on sale at Target. And while I'm here, I recommend the price comparison site DVD Plaza. (And, if you're a reader, Book Depository, who tend to be much cheaper than anywhere.)
The New York Times has a long profile of Nancy Meyers, writer/director/producer of films such as What Women Want and Something's
Gotta Give. It's an interesting read, if you want to compare Charlie's film-making philosophies with those of someone who's strictly - and proudly - mainstream. Also, her movies have grossed about sixty squillion dollars. (Approximately fifty-nine-point-nine-nine squillion more than Charlie's. *sigh*)
The more I talked to Meyers the more I realize that she prefers for her
movies — for life itself — to have a rosy, unconflicted presentation.
My sense is that whatever warts exist, she airbrushes out, the better
to come away with a happy ending. (Her friends warn her off films that
are too bleak. “People are always protective of me when they give me
movies to see,” she said. “They think I’m going to break.”) At worst,
her films can give off an air of tidy unreality — and it is this
unexamined aspect, I think, this failure to even hint at darkness, that
most fuels critical ire. Richard Schickel condemns Meyers with faint
praise, hinting that she and the studios have struck a devil’s pact of
sorts. “Clearly there is an audience for sweet little middle-class
romances of the kind she makes, and it pleases the studios to indulge a
woman, whom they would not trust with more vigorous projects. It’s as
if they’re trying to say: ‘Hey, we’re not sexists. We make Nancy Meyers
movies.’ ” (Source)
