“‘What I want,’ a young Luis Buñuel announced to the audience at an early screening of his first film, Un Chien Andalou (1929), ‘is for you not to like the film … I’d be sorry if it pleased you.’ The film’s opening scene, which culminates in a close-up of a straight-edge razor being drawn through a woman’s eyeball, is often taken as the epitome of cinema’s potential to do violence to its audience…Horror movies frighten us; violent thrillers agitate us; sentimental stories make us cry. Suffering is often part of our enjoyment. Within limits, however: we are not to be so displeased that we are not pleased. Buñuel deliberately went beyond the limits of permissible displeasure. And so, in his own way, does the Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke.”
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Happy Baby Shower
The Rumpus’s Stephen Elliott is using Kickstarter to raise money for the film adaptation of his novel Happy Baby. However you could also fund the project in a more three dimensional plane by attending November 29th’s Fundraising Party (which we’re co-sponsoring!). The party will include comedy by Eugene Mirman and readings by Jami Attenberg and Rick Moody.
Tale of a Giraffe
Today in New Zealand: Granta published a Kiwi short story in partnership with Commonwealth Writers.
A Little Bit Groupon
Last week, I relayed the news that The Circle, the upcoming novel by Dave Eggers, casts its eye on the cultish workings of a Google-esque company in California. But how Google-esque will the company be, exactly? Nick Clark takes a look at the evidence.
From Wharton to Woolf
Did Virginia Woolf learn a bit of her modernism from Edith Wharton? John Colapinto argues so in The New Yorker, pointing out that the famous middle section of To the Lighthouse seems to mirror the innovative end of The Age of Innocence.
What Is Grief?
“Is grief a condition of love? Does grief prevent us from making peace within ourselves and with each other?” For the Kenyon Review, Rosebud Ben-Oni writes on grief as waiting. Pair with Lidia Yuknavitch’s Millions essay on grief and art.
So wait, the really rich are getting richer and richer?
There was an interesting piece on the intangible economics of fine art in this weekend’s NYT Magazine that explains the difference between the markets for art and other luxury goods (like gold and property): “Because the art market isn’t regulated like financial securities, insider dealing is generally not illegal.”
Shirley Clarke Project Commences
Shirley Clarke, older sister of Elaine Dundy (who wrote Millions favorite The Dud Avocado), was an Academy Award-winning filmmaker. If you’re curious about her work, you’ll be happy to learn that Milestone Films will soon begin their Shirley Clarke Project by releasing her restored documentaries, and on Friday, May 4th, they’ll be releasing her first film, The Connection. You can check out a trailer here. (via)