I’m not going to offer any argument in the debate over Roman Polanski, who was arrested in Zurich Saturday for a crime that’s older than I am (by 10 days). I’m just going to let this be a straight roundup of blog commentary related to the case, particularly to the divisiveness of support and anger sparked by the arrest and threat of extradition. It was enough that everyone had an opinion on the web yesterday concerning the topic, now it’s time for everyone to lash out against those who disagree with them, especially against the many film industry heavies who’ve signed a petition (and others rallied by the journal La Règle du jeu) asking for Polanski’s release.
Feel free to comment with your own arguments below, but only if you’ve seen the documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired. See the film even if you don’t wish to share your opinion, though, especially since there’s now a very good possibility we’ll be getting at least one sequel to the doc in the future.
Check out the film blog responses to the Polanski “culture war”* after the jump:
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In Woody Allen’s Whatever Works, Larry David plays what most people refer to as “the Woody Role.” This means that he’s filling in for Allen, who for whatever reason is showing up less and less in his films these days. But the Woody Role isn’t merely about a substitute actor starring in place of Allen, it’s often also about that performer channeling the Woody character, that neurotic persona that too many viewers believe is Allen’s true self (as if he’s simply playing himself onscreen in what are also believed to be generally autobiographical works).
David’s performance as “Boris Yelnikoff” in Whatever is not completely Woodyesque, but only because David has his own familiar neurotic onscreen persona that is very separate from — though sometimes complimentary to — Allen’s. And yet he does still come across as a Woody proxy due to the fact that he’s speaking (ranting) dialogue written by Allen rather than improvised (as in Curb Your Enthusiasm).
A number of other actors have served as Woody surrogates, some better and some worse, including a few unofficial proxies in films/series not written or directed by Allen. We list them in order from bad to best after the jump.
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It’s super-old news that Michel Gondry has published a comic book called We Lost the War But Not the Battle. In fact, Vulture published frames from the book almost a month ago –– which, ironically, we missed while we were at Comic-Con. But due to a confluence of forces through which you probably don’t hare to hear about, today I stumbled on Jog The Blog’s review of the book, which very much piqued my interest. An excerpt:
There’s certainly a winsome appeal to Gondry’s curly graphics, and anyone who draws their own back-of-issue merchandise ad gets a smile from me. The story, however, is also about what I’ve come to expect from the solo Gondry (more solo than usual, this being a comic), chock-full of knotty thematic threads and some determined immaturity, this time with an added splash of over-the-top misogyny, underplayed narratively so as to become disquieting nonetheless.
A bit of a surprising “splash”, considering I’ve always found Gondry’s work to be rather worshipful of women, even if it’s always really about adolescent boys. The the rest of the post basically spoils the plot of the book, but it’s a great read. Suffice it to say, “blood is spilled, sexual organs are unveiled, and Mia Farrow appears to fuck the main character, which I think is funny?” if you’re still interested (or, more interested?) you could buy We Lost The War here for $5.99.
