Spring/summer of 1998 was when I got my license and started driving an hour+ one way to Spokane to see movies at the little four-screen indie/art house multiplex. I never actually saw SLUMS then but the trailer is burned into my memory. I don't really appreciate all these movies I saw that year (BUFFALO '66, HENRY FOOL, HAPPINESS, etc) turning 25 and reminding me of my firm placement in middle age now.
That was really terrific time to discover independent film. That year also had Lebowski, Rushmore, Opposite of Sex, Pi, High Art, Zero Effect, Your Friends & Neighbors, and worst indie film me have ever seen, Lulu on Bridge.
And Babe: Pig In City, Fear and Loathting, Gods and Monsters, Pleasantville, Out of Sight... and terrible Matthew Broderick Godzilla, Uma Thurman/Ralph Fiennes Avengers, Night at Roxbury, Blues Brothers 2000, Patch Adams, and Shakespeare In Love winning Best Picture — it truly was best of times and worst of times!
Life is Beautiful is probably completely unbearable if you watch it as an "uplifting Holocaust comedy" or whatever the hell the ads said, but the movie I saw is one of the most disturbing, horrific, and brilliant things I've ever seen. I've always loved Mike D'Angelo's read, which is that Benigni's character simply has a complete psychotic break when they get to the camp and is in denial of the reality around him. He's not putting a show for his kid - this dude is basically Jack Nicholson in THE SHINING, completely out of his gourd. I haven't seen the movie since it opened, and am almost scared to revisit it in case my read of it at 13 was wrong----I'd rather let it live on as a misunderstood masterpiece in my brain than think it's some proto-JOJO RABBIT.
Was 13 when this came out and I caught it on like a 'Starz' trial - blew my mind it was so confident in its specifity. And yeah, have been a die-hard Krumholtz fan since then, of note here: the Luck Be A Lady scene
Thank you so much for highlighting this wonderfully warm, heartfelt, and at times zany picture. That gibberish scene between Tomei and Lyonne I still remember so well -- those subtitles! My only sadness is that Jenkins makes films so infrequently, but I can't complain of their quality. Here's to hoping we'll see her next film in 2029 (fingers crossed).
The Savages is one of my all-time favorites. A few months ago I caught Laura Linney in a play in NYC (with Jessica Hecht -- "Summer, 1976"), but I think of her first and foremost as the sister to Mark Ruffalo and Philip Seymour Hoffman, always.
That summer was the one between high school and college for me, and I can still feel the hot street we walked out onto after 54, when we stood there, looked up at the marquee, and bought tickets to whatever was playing next. It was this.
I haven't seen it since (I may have gone a second time in the theater, but I don't remember), but I remember every moment discussed in this article. I don't remember the movie affecting me too much then, as a dumb 18 year old, but clearly it was enough for me to still remember much of the movie after 25 years. What a good write up.
Spring/summer of 1998 was when I got my license and started driving an hour+ one way to Spokane to see movies at the little four-screen indie/art house multiplex. I never actually saw SLUMS then but the trailer is burned into my memory. I don't really appreciate all these movies I saw that year (BUFFALO '66, HENRY FOOL, HAPPINESS, etc) turning 25 and reminding me of my firm placement in middle age now.
That was really terrific time to discover independent film. That year also had Lebowski, Rushmore, Opposite of Sex, Pi, High Art, Zero Effect, Your Friends & Neighbors, and worst indie film me have ever seen, Lulu on Bridge.
Also great mainstream stuff! Saving Private Ryan, Thin Red Line, and uh....Life is Beautiful
And Babe: Pig In City, Fear and Loathting, Gods and Monsters, Pleasantville, Out of Sight... and terrible Matthew Broderick Godzilla, Uma Thurman/Ralph Fiennes Avengers, Night at Roxbury, Blues Brothers 2000, Patch Adams, and Shakespeare In Love winning Best Picture — it truly was best of times and worst of times!
And Simple Plan! How could me forget best movie of that year?
Life is Beautiful is probably completely unbearable if you watch it as an "uplifting Holocaust comedy" or whatever the hell the ads said, but the movie I saw is one of the most disturbing, horrific, and brilliant things I've ever seen. I've always loved Mike D'Angelo's read, which is that Benigni's character simply has a complete psychotic break when they get to the camp and is in denial of the reality around him. He's not putting a show for his kid - this dude is basically Jack Nicholson in THE SHINING, completely out of his gourd. I haven't seen the movie since it opened, and am almost scared to revisit it in case my read of it at 13 was wrong----I'd rather let it live on as a misunderstood masterpiece in my brain than think it's some proto-JOJO RABBIT.
Was 13 when this came out and I caught it on like a 'Starz' trial - blew my mind it was so confident in its specifity. And yeah, have been a die-hard Krumholtz fan since then, of note here: the Luck Be A Lady scene
Thank you so much for highlighting this wonderfully warm, heartfelt, and at times zany picture. That gibberish scene between Tomei and Lyonne I still remember so well -- those subtitles! My only sadness is that Jenkins makes films so infrequently, but I can't complain of their quality. Here's to hoping we'll see her next film in 2029 (fingers crossed).
The Savages is one of my all-time favorites. A few months ago I caught Laura Linney in a play in NYC (with Jessica Hecht -- "Summer, 1976"), but I think of her first and foremost as the sister to Mark Ruffalo and Philip Seymour Hoffman, always.
wait, this came out in 98? I always associate this with other films from the early 90s indie-boom
Private Life was a warm little indie gem, but I'm yet to see Jenkins' other work. Both this and The Savages look intriguing.
That summer was the one between high school and college for me, and I can still feel the hot street we walked out onto after 54, when we stood there, looked up at the marquee, and bought tickets to whatever was playing next. It was this.
I haven't seen it since (I may have gone a second time in the theater, but I don't remember), but I remember every moment discussed in this article. I don't remember the movie affecting me too much then, as a dumb 18 year old, but clearly it was enough for me to still remember much of the movie after 25 years. What a good write up.