April 11, 2005 - 12:37 PM

I'm Losing My Head

Disconcerting dream from this morning. I dreamt that I had my head and my gibbly bits cut completely off. I was still alive, because the serial decapitator who sliced me up (and did so admirably with one painless, swift stroke each) immediately put my head back on my neck, allowing my body to tenuously reattach itself. I spent some time wandering around, looking for help, looking for a hospital. I'm not sure, but I think I might have been driving around at one point, which would have been quite irresponsible of me, considering it was the dead of night and I couldn't see properly, what with my head not functioning properly.

It wasn't one of those dreams where you're realistically involved in the action, so I wasn't ferociously frozen in fear, with wracking waves of terror rippling through my nerves. There was a removed, slow-motion quality to the events (even though they happened at real-time speeds) that gave me the sense that not only was I experiencing this surreal horror in first person, but I was also watching it, like a movie. And I think that's where the dream came from, the movies I've watched recently. Specifically, Sin City and Kung Fu Hustle.

I saw Kung Fu Hustle with Nick at the Arclight Cinema on Saturday night, and enjoyed the shit out of it. A perfect blend of humor, well-choreographed (and not confusing) action sequences, storyline and plot points that made sense and held together (unlike most action movies, especially kung-fu movies), appropriate special fx, and likable characters on both sides of the coin. So far my favorite movie of the year, and I can foresee it holding onto a spot in the top 5, if not the top spot, by year's end. Go go go see it!

Sin City, on the other hand, didn't make me none too happy. Well, I liked it, but I also didn't. I read the first few series of the comics when they came out, and they disturbed me. It wasn't the fact that there was lots of violence in the story, but instead the TYPE of violence that turned my stomach. Cannibalism, amputations, torture, eye-gouging, and on and on. You'd think that Frank Miller had shown you a horrifically evil side of humanity, and a page later, something even darker and more sickening would appear. There was no moral ground for anyone to stand on, no heroes, so you just had to root for the least scummy of the scum, and when you did, that person would up and die on you. The movie faithfully and almost perfectly translated the comic book, panel for panel, word bubble for word bubble, to the screen. And because all the story elements that I couldn't stomach in the book were on gory display in the movie, I couldn't like the movie any more than I did the comic.

Sure, it was a visually slam-bang, stylized noir that dazzled the eyes with lurid blacks, slashing whites, pulpy reds, and sickening yellows. And there were a handful of very funny moments that I enjoyed. And the acting was keenly keyed into that hard-boiled tone, especially Mickey Rourke and Clive Owen, who were outstanding in their roles (even though there were numerous points where the actors spat out, with full conviction, laughable dialogue that hasn't been considered edgy or cool since the 50's). But all that couldn't make up for me the fact that I could not engage myself in the kind of story where moral decay is the main attraction.

Both movies had their fair shares of cranial violence, including decapitations, and both had good fun at damaging or totally removing male genitalia. Most of it was done in cartoonish ways so as to heighten the experience while also diminishing the horror. Hyper-reality and surreality? Jarring enough to stick in my head for a few days and screw with my dreams. I don't think there was meaning behind the dream. At least, I hope not. I'm not ready to be neutered.

Now Listening To : Inara George-All Rise (amazing record...absolutely amazing)
Random Thought : Still trying to remember what happened 3 weekends ago...and 2 weekends ago...and this past weekend.

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