A.B.C. Always Be Closing. David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross, 1992. I was working at the video store at an art-house film theater in Vermont when a customer, a doughy, middle-aged, lavender-fleece-wearing kind of woman, asked me if this film was good. I was like, "Well, it's a *Mamet* film. Vermont playwright? Lives in Cabot? It's brutal, cruel, depressing. Naturalistic dialog. Unusual style of line reading. Incredible cast. Amazing film."
She took it, and about twenty minutes later came back, infuriated. "I cannot believe you would recommend this film to me! It was obscenely abusive!"
I thought I'd been fairly clear on that point.
Lemmon's cornered animal in this film always resonates with me, especially when I am job hunting. Everything about salesmanship feels artificial to me, and the abject quality of desperation that soaks in here, through the rain and the rancid oil in the Chinese restaurant, becomes everything in return. It's a world in which back stabbing is the rule.
This is a rare comic in which the Pharm Life frame, usually improvised with satisfying results, was botched. Not happy with that Kevin Spacey pill back there.
The Art quote is from a video advertisement making the Internet rounds featuring Werner Herzog pitching an online film school. It's an ad that suits him; he's earnestly making pithy statements in a way that feels slightly disorienting. Obviously, this line spoke to me.
So, snapshot: playing the game feels brutal and fake, what is real will come from deep within.
A.B.C. Always Be Closing. David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross, 1992. I was working at the video store at an art-house film theater in Vermont when a customer, a doughy, middle-aged, lavender-fleece-wearing kind of woman, asked me if this film was good. I was like, "Well, it's a *Mamet* film. Vermont playwright? Lives in Cabot? It's brutal, cruel, depressing. Naturalistic dialog. Unusual style of line reading. Incredible cast. Amazing film."
ReplyDeleteShe took it, and about twenty minutes later came back, infuriated. "I cannot believe you would recommend this film to me! It was obscenely abusive!"
I thought I'd been fairly clear on that point.
Lemmon's cornered animal in this film always resonates with me, especially when I am job hunting. Everything about salesmanship feels artificial to me, and the abject quality of desperation that soaks in here, through the rain and the rancid oil in the Chinese restaurant, becomes everything in return. It's a world in which back stabbing is the rule.
This is a rare comic in which the Pharm Life frame, usually improvised with satisfying results, was botched. Not happy with that Kevin Spacey pill back there.
The Art quote is from a video advertisement making the Internet rounds featuring Werner Herzog pitching an online film school. It's an ad that suits him; he's earnestly making pithy statements in a way that feels slightly disorienting. Obviously, this line spoke to me.
So, snapshot: playing the game feels brutal and fake, what is real will come from deep within.
Guy holds Alec Baldwin's brass balls.