THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE
via Susanne Bier & Dogme 95
Playing hooky to watch “Sunset Boulevard”!
Seal hater!
Baby Hitchcock over here.
I’m just here to deliver the offer.
You don’t like mimes?
They scare you?
R2D2 is more accessible?
It wasn’t meant for you to have that moment
inside a movie, kissed by God.
Chase that feeling.
Barry Alpert / Silver Spring, MD US / 10-31-07 (10:11 AM)
My personal lawyer & friend called me up one morning recently, wanting me
to escort her to a film. Nothing in particular was screening that I felt I
had to see, but she did mention one I hadn’t really registered, directed by
a Danish woman. I assumed there was a connection to a context of
continuing interest to me, Dogme 95:
www.dogme95.dk/
Indeed, Susanne Bier had directed at least one official Dogme 95 film, so I
agreed to go, even though I knew this was her first Hollywood film, and it
was playing at my least favorite multiplex. Turned out better than
expected, & I’d even recommend it, with reservations. How Bier managed to
include her characteristic abstract focus on portions of the actors’
anatomy without those lengthy passages being edited away by the producers
remains unclear to me. You can read about her experience making the film at
www.cinematical.com/2007/10/19/-interview-susanne-bier-director-of-things-
we-lost-in-the-fire/
Of course, considering that I lost my life & the archive for my magazine
VORT in a fire set by an insane Republican arsonist with a Molotov
cocktail, I was naturally intrigued by the film’s title. The filmic family
lost the contents of their garage. I would have been more interested if
there had been burn scar footage.
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