by James Jarvis
02/09/02
Watching Andrew Tarchovski's art film,
a dark film,
in Russian, with English subtitles,
a film that looks like there was no money in the budget
for a light man,
a film about gray people standing around in the dark
talking about the virtues of grief
and the hopelessness of hope . . .
good grief, this movie is not film noir;
it's life noir.
Good grief.
This dark, hopeless Russian movie
makes my worst day of American homelessness
(the day in the stolen port-o-john,
the day of the attack of the property owners)
look in comparison
like a day at Disneyland high on X.
Can't figure out what the Russian fascination
with maudlin grief is all about,
of course, because I am an American,
a man of action, any action . . .
any action is better than standing around
yakking about grief,
an American:
I've got the native son optimism
of Jon Voight's 'Manny'
in "Runaway Train", who said,
"You do what you have to do,
I'll do what I have to do.
Whatever happens, happens."
You tell 'em, Manny,
tell those grieving, philosophizing Russians
how we do it in America,
with or without subtitles.
Tags: viral video, vlogger, video blog, vlogging, poem, poetry, prose, poet, James Jarvis, Russian, Andrew Tarchovski, art film, dark film, gray people, marquisdejolie, virtues of grief, hopelessness of hope, film noir, life noir, Russian movie, homeless, homelessness, living on the street, street life, stolen port o john, Disneyland, ecstacy, yakking about grief, Jon Voight, Manny, Runaway Train, subtitles, factotum
No comments:
Post a Comment