Saturday Evening with Thirteen
February 17, 2008For the past three Saturdays of February, I’ve been cuddling up with myself on my couch for Channel Thirteen’s Reel 13. I know, it’s so the scene from The Wedding Planner when J. Lo makes herself a dinner and cozies up to watch Antiques Roadshow. It’s totally fun and I’m loving it, so shush.
Thirteen runs this commercial that goes, “Thirteen has made Saturday the place to be,” to which I talk back to the television, “oh my god, totally the place to be”. The way it works is that at 9 PM, an old classic is shown. Then, there’s a short-film that is chosen by viewers on Thirteen’s website. Finally, there’s an independent film. All in all, I’m glued to my television for about four hours.
So far with the classics, I’ve seen Rebel Without a Cause and The Bad and the Beautiful. (Last night was Guys and Dolls, and puke, I hate the damn movie, but I didn’t mind giving it another chance. Nope, still hated it.) I saw clips of Rebel Without a Cause in my Social Psychology in Film class because the secondary character, Plato, is a stereotype for a homosexual, and not a current stereotype like a lisp, limp hand, Abercrombie wearing, love of musical theatre kind of thing. Plato’s totally hung up on James Dean’s character, looking for a father figure, unable to grow up, and yes, wears mismatching socks. Then, with The Bad and The Beautiful, I can finally say I’ve watched a Lana Turner movie. I have no idea who she is, but I know the name like Grace Kelly or Marlon Brando. The black and white flick was actually really interesting to me, as someone who is so saturated with crazy digital graphics and fast-paced story telling. While Kirk Douglas might be The Bad, his performance is really awesome.
The short films have been neat. Not much to say there except it’s totally cool that viewers can choose the winner. I love interactivity! And yes, animated shorts are there, too!
Now, the independent films—Oh My God. Fantastic, hands down, absolutely amazing! I’ve seen Manito, Things to Do, and Boesman and Lena. Manito was a day in the life story about a family in Washington Heights. I loved it so much. I believe that the actors weren’t professional actors either, so that made the story more real for me. Things to Do was so boring to me at first—two dudes making a list of things to do leftover from childhood. The guys behind it love Wes Anderson and it reeked of Wes’s stylized stuff, especially the fact that a (Luke and Owen) Wilson cousin is in it. I’m not a huge fan of Wes’s work (some shots in his films are really gorgeous), which is why I say, “reek,” but in the end, I enjoyed the movie for what it was. Plus, the main guy was cute. Finally, last night, was Boesman and Lena. Tear jerker! Danny Glover and Angela Bassett (AMAZING as Lena) play the title characters who are South Afrikaners that have been forced out of their homes because shit is just being bulldozed. It’s so sad that I know nothing about the racism that occurred in South Africa except for some scenes from The Real World: New Orleans when the cast goes to South Africa and they learn about the horrible events that went down, including towns being cleared out and ‘colored’ people forced to live in ghettos. Well, the couple goes through this whirlwind of shit out on this riverbank—yelling and laughing and crying and just trying to figure out what the fuck is going on in their lives. It is ridiculously amazing! The story was originally a play by Athol Fugard, and you can totally picture the couple on a stage with their dramatic monologues, which I love, but I know that sometimes bothers film people.
Anyway, that was my night! There’s only one more Reel 13 night! What am I going to do?! For full (and obviously totally better) descriptions of these movies, check out the Reel 13 website.
