"The Junky's Christmas"
I have to admit that I wasn't really a fan of "The
Junky's Christmas" short film. For some reason, I assumed this was a
live-action film, so I was in for a surprise when the claymation began. Based
on the story, it seemed an odd choice to use animation and a disembodied
narrator rather than actors. Burroughs' story was very much centered on human
action, responses between characters, and emotional communication through
facial expressions and movement, all of which are elements that I think were
lost in the translation to film. I imagined Danny to be a relatively young man,
so the choice of an elderly narrator didn't synch with my image of the
character. Also, the use of a narrator to play both parts of a conversation (such
as Danny's encounter with The Buyer) was distracting. There was also little
contrast between Danny and Joey, a junky who seems infinitely more damaged and
hopeless. Burroughs' story seemed to be very centered on exploring desires and
humanity, but the clay figures were not sculpted realistically, which I think
undermined the themes of the work. Unlike when I read the story, I didn't
really believe the film, and I didn't feel the same sort of empathy toward the
characters.
Another source of my dislike for the film was the incorporation
of music. From the beginning, the choir singing over the opening scene felt
very religious, and I don't think Burroughs' story emphasized the policy of
everything being holy. When Danny went back to his hotel room to get his fix,
there was a bass-heavy track playing that sounded like a "funky" song
from a bad 1970s police movie. I think this was the director's attempt at
making drug use seem gritty and cool, which contradicts Burroughs' stance on
simply portraying the life of a junky rather than glorifying drug use. When
Danny receives his "immaculate fix" the scene was set to "Hark!
the Herald Angels Sing," which reinforced a religious/divine reading of
the text, as Danny floated in the air as golden light shone into the room.
Again, I think this cast Danny's drug use in a positive light, rather than the
sparse imagery of his body going "slack" and his head "falling
forward."
Finally, I didn't understand the significance of the old man
reading the story in the beginning and his Christmas celebration at the end--but
maybe that was just me. Other than this being a framing device, I'm not quite
sure why it was included. Personally, I though the ending would have been more
solid if it cut straight from Danny to the credits. The use of "Dance of
the Sugar Plum Fairies" from Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker" would
have concluded the film on a mysterious and slightly eerie note.
"Pull My Daisy"
I enjoyed this film more, perhaps because the narration
seemed to mesh quite well with the story. Kerouac's voice gave the story an
authentic quality, especially since parts seemed improvised and spontaneous. Overall,
I think the film could be described as a subdued version of On the Road. The situation itself was
humorous and ridiculous, as a bishop came to dinner with the expectations of a
refined evening, only to find out that his dinner party was crashed by a bunch
of Beat poets. However, this concept was entertaining and didn't seem contrived,
but rather a normal day in the lives of these Beats. It was almost as if
Kerouac was making a British naturalist documentary, but in a truly impulsive
and humorous fashion. The film didn't seemed forced, and the production design
and lack of embellishment reinforced the simple image of a group of friends
gathering in an apartment and conversing. The conversation was sometimes calm,
but frantic and deep at other moments. One of the guests at the house defines
"goofing" as playing around with words, which seemed to be the
exercise of the film. One moment there was an insightful conversation about
Buddhism or "angels and ministers," then a dancing montage set to
jazz. The film also seemed to be truthful to Ginsberg's poetry, especially in
the similarity to "Footnote to Howl,"
as a discussion of the holiness of glasses and baseball takes place.
No comments:
Post a Comment