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bunny-lou · 2 years

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The Black Phone details, part 2

Warnings for a discussion of a film/short story called The Black Phone, which deals with a young boy being abducted and abused by a much older man. This response discusses the abuse toward the young boy.

My thoughts on The Black Phone, part 1

Just saw The Black Phone for the second time today and I brought in some paper and a pen to jot down all the little details we get and things to discuss.

I missed the baseball scene the first time I saw the film. I ended up walking in right as Bruce is riding his bike. I’m glad to catch it this time because it’s such a good opening scene

Intro to just how strong Finney is when he wants to be. He whips that ball hard.

Gwen is in the bleachers cheering him on, showing their good relationship from the very beginning. We also see her with a group of friends, showing that she is more social than her brother

I believe we see Terrence drinking in one shot at the game, but I can't be sure

Finney's jersey number is #3. The front of his jersey says 'Front Range' or maybe 'Front Ranger

We also get the iconic 'your arm is mint' line from Bruce

Gwen is a fan of Happy Days, she says one of her friends wants to marry Potsy, but she prefers Danny from The Partridge Family

Finney and Gwen's last name is Blake, not Shaw. I'm not sure where the last name 'Shaw' comes from. Even the movie synopsis lists Finney's last name is Shaw. I read some online articles that say it's the Grabber's last name, but I can't confirm it.

Several hints that Finney enjoys space. He sets off a rocket after his baseball game, they are learning about the layers of the earth in science, he doodles about NASA in his notebook, his pen is the shape of a rocket, he has space themed pajamas and he has rocket models on the dresser by his bed

There's also a poster for science club on the classroom door, but no indication if Finney is a part of it

The bullies use different insults at Finney, like 'noid' (which I think means 'geek) and 'dickweed'. They also use two homophobic slurs at him throughout the film. Finney ends up being taken by another man, but Finney himself has a crush on a girl, so I think this is just from the bullies being jerks.

Finney's line in the bathroom when Robin asks the bullies what's happening is 'keeping on keeping on'. Finney isn't about to admit he gets his ass kicked, even when it's so obvious. Also a parallel to how he and Gwen don’t tell anyone about their abusive father.

Gwen stays the night at Susie's every Friday, so Finney is left to take care of their dad, who drinks until he passes out

After he is done beating Gwen with a belt and she runs into the living room, the dad points at Finney and says 'the same goes for you'. We don't get clarification of this line, but I think it's to mean the dad is worried Finney has weird dreams/special abilities like Gwen does and Finney needs to learn he's not special.

When Finney is taken, he sees the black balloons in the van, but while we the audience know that black balloons are a sign of the Grabber, there's no scene that says Finney knows that. We see Gwen talking about the black balloons to police, but we don't see her mention it to Finney, which is why he doesn't run.

The Grabber says "nothing bad is gonna happen here, on that, I give my word, Johnny". The film never explains why he calls Finney 'Johnny', but John Finney is Finney's real name in the original short story, so I think it's an odd call back to that.

The mattress Finney has is bolted to the floor. Not only did the Grabber bring the mattress into the basement, he had the forethought to secure it to the floor.

Or one of the other boys tried to move it to the window to get help, like Finney did, so then the Grabber had to secure it

Finney wakes up to find the Grabber staring at him but the Grabber is facing his back, which is very odd. When Finney asks the Grabber why he's down there, the Grabber says 'just to look at you. I just wanted to look at you', but wasn't even able to see Finney's face from where he sat.

I think it’s a sign of how the Grabber wants some kind of ‘intimacy’ or for someone to be defenseless around him. If Finney sleeps with his back to him, the Grabber can convince himself that it’s because Finney isn’t scared of him.

Finney says he's hungry but the Grabber can't bring him food yet (because Max is upstairs). With the other boys, the Grabber likely didn't have that issue and could feed them when/if he wanted. It sounds like most of the boys, he killed right away and didn't have to worry about feeding them. Finney is being denied food when the other boys probably weren't. (We'll come back to the food issue.)

We later see Finney drinking out of the back of the toilet when he’s trying to bust through the wall. The Grabber didn’t have to provide constant drinks or water to the other boys, he doesn’t even think about it with Finney

The drink Finney is given is 'lemon sprite' in glass bottles. We never see Finney try to use the bottles as a weapon, even though Vance and his rage later shatters them against the wall

Gwen ends up taking a nap in the nurse's office and has a dream of Finney banging on the front door, which never actually happens. Later, we see her having a dream of Vance kicking the fence to the Grabber's house, which never actually happened. Her dreams aren't just visions of things that happen, but also like...metaphors I guess for what has happened. She knows Finney is locked away somewhere and she knows Vance wants revenge for his death

She's also taking a nap in a brightly lit room right by the nurse's desk. That can't be comfortable.

Later, when she talks to their father about their mother, Gwen is told her mother was 'special'. 'Special' is a term used to describe Finney in the movie as well, notably by the Grabber and I think Robin in one scene. Gwen is special because of her dreams. The specialness that Finney and Gwen have that allow them to survive seems to have come from the parent they lost.

Also, Gwen's line of how she loved her mom 'how she was' is so precious.

Finney has blood on his right hand his whole time he's in the basement, between his thumb and index finger. I'm not sure what it comes from, but it never goes away, so I'm thinking it's an injury, maybe a rug burn from the carpets or the cord he kept throwing.

The Grabber tells Finney he never knows the names of the boys he takes, but it doesn't matter because the newspaper gives him all the information, including 'what you boys like'. Not only does he know Finney's name, he probably knows about Gwen and his dead mother and his love of space and baseball

The fake name Finney gives the Grabber is 'Taylor Mullin'. I feel like that has to be a reference to something but I'm not sure

The Grabber punishes Finney for lying by dropping his food and depriving him of a meal. There are only two times we see the Grabber feed Finney and this is one of those times. Not only do the meals come randomly and sparingly, but now the food is used as a punishment for Finney disobeying. We later see Finney picking the food up off the ground (and presumably eating it) because he's so hungry

This is where we learn the game is called 'Naughty Boy' and the Grabber can't keep going if Finney doesn't play. I talked about it in one of my other ramblings, but the line of how the Grabber beats them until they pass out is significant, especially in this scene. This implies the Grabber doesn't try anything sexual until the boys are beaten and unconscious. He can't do the next part if Finney doesn't play the game and let the Grabber beat him until he passes out.

During this scene, some kid who was way too young to be watching this movie just goes 'oh no, that's not good'.

Finney finally participates in Naughty Boy when he tries to escape. That scene had me on edge a second time and the acting between Mason Thames and Ethan Hawke can not be overstated. The Grabber tackling Finney and his line about gutting him like a pig is chilling. He hits Finney in the head and says 'night night, naughty boy' because he can finally move on to the next part, but he doesn't get to beat Finney because of Max.

Also noteworthy is how the Grabber carries Finney this time around. He hauls Finney over his shoulder and tosses him on the bed, much less nice and caring than the first time he brings Finney to the basement

We get Vance's flashback and see Finney was present that day Vance got in a fight in the convenience story (why was there a pinball machine in the store as if it's an arcade anyway?), but he's also the one that holds the door open for the police as they drag Vance out. I didn't catch that the first time around.

The scene with Finney crying in the corner after he can’t break through the freezer...damn. Mason Thames was incredible. I felt so sorry for him and I already knew how the movie ended. He really sold this coming of age film and learning to stand up for yourself, but also the aspect of his character being an actual fucking child going through so much trauma at once. His mom kills herself, his dad is abusive, his best friend gets taken, he’s thrown in a basement and starved and he’s waiting to be killed. I just wanted to hug him.

Later, we get Finney's amazing phone call with Robin, where Robin says he has been with Finney the whole time. He knows Finn has been crying, even when he denies it. I imagine after defending Finn from bullies, he has seen Finn cry and Robin just knows.

We also learn Robin's father died in Vietnam and Robin can't leave his friend behind because of this.

As Max is beginning to piece things together, we see the Grabber buying supplies to kill Finney. He buys tarp from Floro Supply Store

It's a small moment, but we see Finney rubbing his arms in the basement to keep warm. It's raining outside as we can see from the window and he hasn't been getting fed properly, only twice over a few days. His strength is starting to go and he's losing weight and body heat. Another clue that the Grabber doesn't keep the boys very long, as he didn't have to provide blankets or warm clothing for the others.

We see a couple of time, especially towards the end, that it almost looks like the phone is breathing. It swells and shrinks certain times Finney looks at it. Maybe a hint that the phone is the last connection the dead boys have to the living world?

That fight scene is just as intense the second time around. Like, the whole movie built up to such a climatic ending.

The hole Finney dug was Bruce's idea, the grate at the bottom of the hole that breaks the Grabber's ankle was what Billy helped him get, the phone is Robin's plan, Vance's idea of breaking through the freezer is how Finney gets past the dog and he gets out the front door with the combination Griffin gave him.

After Finney escapes, the first word he says is 'basement' to the police. He can't even say anything to Gwen but hug her.

Robin is the only person who calls Finney just 'Finn'. Finn's last line of the movie is 'call me Finn' as to show he has learnt to stand up for himself and more mature, it's also a nice callback to his friendship with Robin.

Ending with Donna also shows Finn is more confident in himself, he’s less shy. If he can survive a serial killer, he can talk to his crush.

#the black phone #the grabber #finney blake #gwen blake #robin arellano #vance hopper #bruce yamada #billy the black phone #billy scholt #griffin stagg

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juneisthin · 1 year

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• ° • welcome • ° •

• junie

• 21

• they / them / theirs

• potsie

• 5'9 / 175 cm

• i've had an ed for 6 years

• depression, anxiety, ocd, adhd, autistic, possible osdd

• this blog is for me and me alone. if you don't have an eating disorder, are recovering or are recovered please for the love of life block me. but please don't report.

• ° • goals • ° •

[ ] 325 lbs / 147 kg / 23 st

[ ] 300 lbs / 136 kg / 21 st

[ ] 275 lbs / 125 kg / 19 st

[ ] 250 lbs / 113 kg / 18 st

[ ] 225 lbs / 102 kg / 16 st

[ ] 200 lbs / 90 kg / 14 st

[ ] 175 lbs / 79 kg / 12 st

[ ] 150 lbs / 68 kg / 10 st

[ ] 125 lbs / 56 kg / 9 st

[ ] ✨ 99 lbs / 45 kg / 7 st ✨

• ° • my rules • ° •

• eating window is from 8 am - 8 pm

• drink 130 oz / 4 l water daily

• weigh in's daily

• eat no more than 1800 calories daily

• meals should be no more than 500 calories

• don't count fruits, vegetables, meds and vitamins

• no second's

• physical activity for 1 hour daily

•°• ana commandments •°•

• if you aren't thin you aren't attractive

• being thin is more important than being healthy

• you must buy clothes, cut your hair, take laxatives, starve yourself, do anything to make yourself look thinner

• thou shall not eat without feeling guilty

• thou shall not eat fattening food without punishing oneself afterwards

• thou shall count calories and restrict intake accordingly

• what the scale says is the most important thing

• losing weight is good/gaining weight is bad

• you can never be too thin

• being thin and not eating are signs of true will power and success

• ° • why • ° •

• for the thigh gap

• for the bones

• for the "have you lost weight?"

• for the dainty wrists

• for the size 0's and small's

• for the "your too skinny"

• for the self esteem

• to be the skinniest person in the room"

• for the better mood

• for the baggy clothes

• for every single person who bullied you for your weight

• so your asthma can improve

• so you can be carried by anyone

• so you won't feel guilty eating

• because food is nothing but fat

• ° • punishments • ° •

Varies by severity, from lightest to worst

• look at meanspo

• skip your next meal

• purge

• walk for one hour

• physical activity for an extra hour

• 18 hour water fast

• 24 hour water fast

• cut yourself

• 30 hour water fast

• 48 hour water fast

• ° • don't eat... • ° •

instead, do these

• go for a walk

• take a shower

• dance

• longboard / roller skate / bike

• workout

• clean something

• read a book

• browse tumblr

• drink water / tea / diet soda

• take a nap

• listen to music

• look at thinspo / sweetspo

• ° • movies • ° •

• to the bone - netflix

• starving in suburbia / thinspiration - tubi

• sharing the secret - tubi

• ° • playlist • ° •

🎼 again - crusher-p ft. gumi

🎼 are you satisfied - marina

🎼 body - mother mother

🎼 diet mountain dew - lana del ray

🎼 eyesore - maria mena

🎼 i go hungry - mother mother

🎼 please eat - nichole dollanganger

🎼 self-fulfilling prophecy - maria mena

🎼 decadence and disorder (the voice of anorexia) - elysian soul

🎼 skinny - edith backlund

🎼 unhealthy - small crush

🎼 oh ana - mother mother

🎼 never good enough - rachel ferguson

🎼 weightless - mi

🎼 prom queen - beach bunny

🎼 purge the poison - marina

🎼 alien blues - vundabar

🎼 just a waste - pinkpantheress

#june burns cals #actual goals

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greensparty · 1 year

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Remembering Lisa Loring, Gregory Allen Howard and Cindy Williams

Here is my combined remembrance of three entertainers we just lost:

Remembering Lisa Loring 1958-2023

Loring on The Addams Family

Actress Lisa Loring has died at 64. She was the original Wednesday Addams on The Addams Family (1964-1966 ABC-TV). It was one of those shows like The Munsters that I got into as a kid via syndication. She was cool as the daughter in the haunted family sitcom. She returned to the role for the 1977 TV movie Halloween with the New Addams Family. The Addams Family has been rebooted many times since the original in various movies, TV shows and animation. Look closely at Christina Ricco in the live action movies or Jenna Ortega in the recent Netflix series Wednesday and you can see the influence Loring had on their performances.

The link above is the obit from Hollywood Reporter.

Remembering Gregory Allen Howard 1952-2023

Howard

Screenwriter and producer Gregory Allen Howard has died at 70. He was a gifted writer, notably for biopics like Michael Mann’s Ali (Howard received Story credit) and Kasi Lemmons’ Harriet.

The link above is the obit from Hollywood Reporter.

Remembering Cindy Williams 1947-2023

Sad news that actress Cindy Williams has died at 75. Her greatest role was as Shirley Feeney, first appearing on some episodes of Happy Days, then getting her own show on Laverne & Shirley (ABC 1976-1983, though she was only on until 1982) and also on the animated Laverne & Shirley in the Army. L&S, about two friends looking for love in 1950s Milwaukee, was LOL funny. I got into it as a kid watching re-runs with my older sister. A lot of the humor went over my head, but the physical comedy was very funny and Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams made a great team. After Marshall died in 2018, David L. Lander (Squiggy) died in 2020, and Eddie Mekka (Carmine) died in 2021 this is super sad that so many cast members are now gone.

Cindy Williams in yellow with Potsie, Laverne and Richie on L&S

In addition to L&S, Williams also appeared in George Lucas’s American Graffiti. A few years later she auditions to be Princess Leia but lost to Carrie Fisher. She also had a small role in Francis Ford Coppola’s excellent The Conversation, and the sitcom Normal Life (1990 CBS) where she was the mother of Dweezil and Moon Unit Zappa. She was also the producer of the Father of the Bride movies as well.

The link above is the obit from Variety.

#lisa loring #rip #the addams family #halloween with the new addams family #gregory allen howard #ali #harriet #film geek #tv #cindy williams #laverne and shirley #happy days #american graffiti #George Lucas #the conversation #francis ford coppola #normal life

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motownfiction · 2 years

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jealous guy

Daniel looks up at Charlie, still with a furrowed brow.

“What do you mean, you think Carrie’s into Sam?” he asks. “Everybody knows she’s been in love with you since before you even knew what love was. Doesn’t sound like her to turn on a dime like that.”

“Dimes, quarters, those Susan B. Anthony dollars they don’t make anymore, she’s flipped on something,” Charlie says. “It’s the way she looks at him. It’s different from the way she looked at him before.”

“Well, then, how do you mean?”

Charlie sighs like the question annoys him – like he’s not the one who brought it up. Daniel bites his tongue and keeps quiet, which is what he’s best at. What he really wants to do is shake Charlie for always bringing up an issue and then getting embarrassed when Daniel really wants to talk to him about it. But that’s Charlie for you. He’s always had his cake and eaten it, too. Maggie spoons it into his mouth.

“I think it started late last year, around Christmas,” Charlie says. “He was hoarding her copy of The Myth of Sisyphus, so he bought her a new one.”

“Just sounds considerate to me,” Daniel says.

“I’m not done. He also got her a copy of this record by The Band.”

“The one with Richie and Potsie? Or the one with Robbie Robertson?”

“Robbie Robertson. Why ask questions you know the answers to?”

“It’s a joke, Charlie. Sometimes, friends tell them to each other.”

Charlie crosses his arms and frowns. Daniel’s usually too serious to tell jokes. At least, that’s what Charlie thinks of him.

“Anyway,” Charlie says hotly, “they sing to each other now.”

“Sing to each other?” Daniel repeats.

“That’s what I said.”

“Like … like Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, sing to each other?”

“I mean, sort of. God! Do you have to sound exactly like Sam? Or do the people I know really just not have thoughts of their own?”

Daniel bites his tongue again. Can’t show Charlie when he’s hurt. Can’t show him at all. Charlie will just find a way to trip over himself, and Daniel will forget why he was ever offended in the first place. He sighs, but not loudly enough for Charlie to hear it.

“It’s like they’re connected by their music or something,” Charlie continues. “First, it was all ‘Ophelia.’ Now, they’re singing to each other in Joni Mitchell and Neil Young, and I don’t know what to do.”

“Joni Mitchell and Neil Young,” Daniel says. “I didn’t know Carrie was into folk.”

“That’s it, though,” Charlie says. “Neither did she! Before Christmas, she was totally happy to listen to two things: the jazz I played for her and whatever was popular on the radio. But now … now it’s like she has a thing. You know she’s into Cat Stevens now? Cat Stevens!”

Daniel shrugs.

“I don’t understand what’s so bad about that,” he says. “You got into jazz when you were a baby; I got into The Cure in high school. Carrie’s getting into folk now that she’s starting college. Sometimes, it just takes people a little longer to find their taste. You know that.”

“Yeah, sure,” Charlie says. “But couldn’t she have asked me to help her find her taste? I’m her boyfriend. Why’d she have to go to my brother?”

“She didn’t. Sam came to her.”

The look in Charlie’s eye would be haunting if Daniel had the nerve to look at it that way.

“Did you ever buy Carrie a record, Charlie?” Daniel asks. “Something other than jazz?”

“Well, no,” Charlie says. “But I didn’t think she liked music before. I thought she just liked books.”

“People can like more than one thing, man. Look at us. During the movie, we had Coke; now, we’re in line for coffee. Maybe tonight, I’ll have a cheeseburger.”

Charlie rolls his eyes while Daniel chuckles under his breath. He’s not sure he’s ever let himself be this sharp before – not in front of dear, sweet Charlie, anyway. It’s fun. Charlie’s got to learn how to handle it. Otherwise, he’s going to come out of life looking like a bruise.

“I just don’t like the way Carrie smiles at Sam now,” he says. “And he smiles back at her like … like she’s pretty or something.”

“She is pretty, Charlie,” Daniel says. “Would you be going out with her if you didn’t think she was nice to look at?”

Charlie frowns like a child.

“Well, no,” he says. “But that doesn’t mean Sam’s allowed to think she’s pretty.”

“Doesn’t work that way. I think Carrie’s pretty. Really pretty. But I’m not about to break up with Sadie over it.”

“Go ahead. With your record, I don’t think she’d be surprised.”

Daniel bites his tongue so hard, he’s surprised that a bit of it doesn’t fly off and land under his shoe – or, more preferably, Charlie’s.

“Dude, you’re just being paranoid,” Daniel says. “Carrie couldn’t ever feel that way about anybody but you. She must’ve said so a million times before you started going together. You know that. C’mon.”

“Sure, on the one hand, I know it,” Charlie says. “But then, see, then there’s the other hand. The hand that I write with. And that hand, which is the smarter of the two, says that it was only a matter of time before my girlfriend preferred Sam over me. Everybody prefers Sam over me. He’s outgoing, he’s fun, and I hate to admit it, but he does a really good impression of Neil Young. Plus, we know he’s got a thing for Sullivans. He hooked up with Andie last year.”

“No, he didn’t.”

“What do you mean? Yes, he did.”

“No, Sam spent all of last year crying after he broke up with Steph. You’re thinking of me. I hooked up with Andie Sullivan in ‘84, before I started going out with Sadie.”

Charlie turns pink.

“Oh,” he says. It’s all he can manage.

“Yeah,” Daniel says sharply. “Thought you’d have already known that since, you know. You seemed real interested in my record.”

Charlie sticks his tongue in his cheek and forgets most of the English language (plus all the basic French grammar he learned for two years in high school). He thinks he feels bad for what he said to Daniel. But in the end, he thinks he just feels worse for Sadie. She’s never said anything to him, but he gets the feeling she’s a little jealous of all the girls Daniel pretended to love before. Jealousy runs in the Doyle family.

“Listen,” Charlie says, but Daniel waves a dismissive hand over him.

“You don’t have to,” he says. “I get it.”

Charlie thinks maybe, just for a moment, Daniel feels kind of bad for Sadie, too.

The coffee line moves two more paces forward, and they take their steps in silence.

#drabble #writeblr #ch: charlie doyle #ch: daniel deluca #year: 1987 #series: hot blooded #charlie is the best worst villain i hate love it

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tvguidancecounselor · 2 years

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TV Guidance Counselor Episode 530: Anne-Marie Johnson

This week Ken welcomes actor, producer, director and form VP of the Screen Actors Guild, Anne-Marie Johnson to the show.

Ken and Anne-Marie discuss L.A. rain, droughts, growing up in L.A., being a second generation Angelino, landlines, covenants, helping others, how things are better now, Boston's weird racism and unfriendlyness, Spenser for Hire, Roots, teamster shake downs, A Man Called Hawk, In the Heat of the Night, having supportive parents, Carol Burnett, I Love Lucy, musical theater, sitcoms, Diff'rent Strokes, Double Trouble, first encounters with Scientology, High School USA, movie actors vs TV actors, social media, Robert Townsend, Hollywood Shuffle, I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, What's Happening Now?, The Decline of the American Empire, representation, NBC, the era of true broadcasting, cross over stars, The Fresh Prince of Bell Air, the horror of "paint down", diversity, Good Times, The Jeffersons, Room 222, the magic of multi-cam sitcoms in front of live audiences, dating a comic, seeing yourself on TCM, watching them film Knight Rider, lying so you can interview Carol Burnett in high school, going to John Marshall High School the high school from EVERYTHING, the difficulty of being a background actor, stand ins, Dream Date, the other side of the Potsie/Paul Shore incident, being called by your character name, enjoying the anonymity of wearing masks, The Comedy Act Theater, Shriley Hemphill's advice, standing up for yourself, being a Sparkle Girl, getting fired as a tour guide at Universal Studios, Tommy Davidson, In Living Color, loving working with Jim Carrey, the brutality of the SNL model, not supporting meanness, how the problems of America are not new, access to information, being particularly proud of T.E.A.R.S: The Event Against Racism and Stereotyping, exploring the relationship between the African American Community and the LAPD as the daughter of an LAPD officer, the quality of network TV and the pathetic amounts on residual checks.

Check out this episode!

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potsiespoons · 5 years

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[Comic of Aragorn saying, “You have my electrolytes!” Legolas, in a cool wheelchair, says, “And my wheels!” Gimli, holding up a pillow, screams, “AND MY NAPS!” Potsie, dressed as Frodo, holds a spoon and giggles. They are...THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE SPOON.]

Happy Dysautonomia Awareness month, everyone! I’ve been doing a little “spoonie spoof” series over on Instagram and, per the norm, have completely forgotten to post it here.

I’m going to try to remember to post more comics on Tumblr, but it’s just really difficult for me to remember it these days--so if you’d like to stay a little more up-to-date with my comics, I post them all first on my Instagram.

Thanks so much for sticking with me, everybody!

#lord of the rings #fellowship of the ring #spoonie #chronic illness #lotr #lotr fanart #lotr memes #chronic illness memes #Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome #POTS #dysautonomia #disability #Potsie at the Movies

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moviemosaics · 2 years

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Old Henry

directed by Potsy Ponciroli, 2021

#Old Henry #Potsy Ponciroli #movie mosaics #Tim Blake Nelson #Gavin Lewis #Trace Adkins #Scott Haze #Stephen Dorff #Max Arciniega

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moviesandmania · 2 years

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OLD HENRY (2021) Reviews and overview of Western

‘You can’t bury the past.’ Old Henry is a 2021 American Western film about a grizzled farmer who takes in an injured young man… plus his satchel of cash. When a posse comes for the money, he must decide who to trust. Defending a siege, he reveals a gunslinging talent calling his true identity into question. Written and directed by Potsy Ponciroli (Colt Ford: Crank It Up, Live at Wild Adventures;…

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#2021 #Action #Gavin Lewis #movie film #Old Henry #Potsy Ponciroli #review reviews #Scott Haze #Stephen Dorff #Tim Blake Nelson #Trace Adkins #western

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impotsiblelife · 6 years

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Does anybody else hate when ads for scary movies pop up on your TV? I didn't ask for that loud, scary sensory experience, or the heart palpitations it gave me.

#scary movie #tv #pots #postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome #potsie #scary #ad #dysautonomia #spoonie problems

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letterboxd · 3 years

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Work Horse.

Taking on a rare leading role in his decades-spanning career, national treasure Tim Blake Nelson speaks with Mitchell Beaupre about demystifying heroes, reinventing genres and something called a quiche Western.

“This film is unapologetic about all the tropes that it’s deploying in service of telling the story... You’ve got a satchel full of cash. You’ve got gunslinging, physical violence, and feeding somebody to the pigs.” —Tim Blake Nelson

Described by Letterboxd members as “a national treasure” who “makes everything better”, Tim Blake Nelson is a journeyman actor who has tapped into practically every side of the industry since making his feature debut in Nora Ephron’s This Is My Life back in 1992. Whether you are a Marvel fanatic, a history buff or a parent trying to get through the day, the actor’s distinctive presence is a charming sight that’s always welcome on the screen.

Tim Blake Nelson is one of those rare actors who unites all filmgoers, a man genuinely impossible not to love, which certainly seems to be the case for Hollywood. Checking off working relationships with directors ranging from Terrence Malick and Ang Lee to Hal Hartley and Guillermo Del Toro, Nelson has covered the boards, even crossing over into directing and writing, both in films and on the stage.

Yet, despite being a renowned talent who can take a smaller supporting role in a massive Steven Spielberg blockbuster starring Tom Cruise and carry the film, Nelson-as-leading-man sightings have been few and far between. In fact, it’s quite a struggle to find a film with Nelson in a leading role, as even playing the titular role for directors who understand his greatness still results in him only appearing in the opening section of an anthology feature.

At last, the leading role Nelson fans were in need of has arrived in the form of Old Henry, a new Western from writer/director Potsy Ponciroli. Nelson plays the eponymous Henry, a widowed farmer with a mysterious past who makes a meager living with his son (Gavin Lewis), doing his best to leave his old life behind and hide away from the world. Things get complicated when Henry stumbles upon a satchel of cash and a wounded stranger (Scott Haze), bringing them both into his home. Soon, a dangerous posse led by an intimidating Stephen Dorff comes calling, setting the stage for an old-fashioned throwdown in this twisty Western siege thriller.

Premiering at the Venice Film Festival, Old Henry has been warmly received on Letterboxd. “Old Henry feels like the culmination of Tim Blake Nelson’s twenty-plus-year career, but from another dimension, where he’s highly regarded as a leading man”, writes Noah, speaking not only to the strength of Nelson’s performance, but also to the fact that this leading role shouldn’t be such a rarity. Todd awards Nelson the prize for “Best Facial Hair in a 2021 film”, before applauding the actor for pouring “every emotion in his body to play Henry”.

Letterboxd’s East Coast editor Mitchell Beaupre saddled up for a chat with Nelson about the intentional hokiness of the Westerns that made him fall in love with filmmaking, how the Coen brothers put other directors on notice, and the fatherly joy of keeping it all in the family.

I’ve seen a lot of interviews with you discussing your career as an actor, a writer, and a director. You always speak with such reverence for the art. Where does that passion come from for you? What made you want to pursue this field? Tim Blake Nelson: It’s funny, doing these interviews for Old Henry has been reminding me of my introduction to filmmaking as an art. I’ve realized that I had never quite located it, but it really started with the Sergio Leone Westerns, which I would see on television when I was growing up in Oklahoma in the ’70s. Before that, going to the cinema was always invariably a treat, no matter what the film, but I would just be following the story and the dialogue.

The Sergio Leone movies were the first ones that exposed subjectivity in telling stories on film to me. That was where I became aware of the difference between a closeup and an extreme closeup, or how you could build tension through a combination of the angle on a character with the editorial rhythm, with the lens size, with the music in addition to the dialogue and the story.

How old were you when this shift in your understanding of cinema was happening? I think it was across the ages of ten and eighteen, where I suddenly realized that this was an auteur here, Leone. There was a guy behind all these movies I was seeing—and in Oklahoma, you could see a Sergio Leone movie every weekend. This was a man making deliberate and intelligent decisions in everything that I was seeing.

I started noticing that a character was in a duster that goes all the way down to his boots, even though that’s not necessarily accurate to the Old West. That’s something else. Also, why is he wearing it in the desert? Would that have been very practical? And look at that cigar Clint Eastwood is smoking. It’s not smooth, it looks like it was a piece of tree root. Then later I learned it’s a particular kind of Italian cigar, but somehow it was defining this genre of Western. I marveled at that, and found it unbelievably thrilling to discover. I loved the stories and the dialogue and the intentional hokiness of it all. All of it was conspiring to teach me to venerate this form.

Sergio Leone, his daughters, and Clint Eastwood on the set of ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ (1966).

The connection there is interesting between the Leone Westerns to where Old Henry is at now. You’ve talked before about how the Western genre is one that is reinvented over and over throughout the years— Oh, you do your homework!

I try my best! What would you say defines the current era of Westerns that we’re seeing, and how the genre is being reinvented? Well, Joel and Ethan [Coen] did a lot of mischief, in a good way, with The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. Genres are always about genres, in addition to their story. So, I would say that Buster Scruggs is the quintessential postmodern Western, if you look at it as one movie instead of as an anthology, because it celebrates the history of the form. The magic of that movie is that it engages you in each story while also being a meditation on death. That’s what connects each one of those tales, and then it’s also a meditation on storytelling to boot. In the final chapter, you have a character talking about why we love stories, and he’s telling it to a bunch of people who you’ll learn are all dead.

The stories are a way of delaying the inevitable mortality. I mean, look at that. It’s such an accomplishment. With that movie, I think Joel and Ethan put filmmakers on notice that Westerns had better always be also about Westerns, because whether you like it or not, they are. I think they probably came to understand that when they were making True Grit, although knowing the two of them they probably understood it already.

Do you feel there’s a direct correlation between a movie like Buster Scruggs and Old Henry, in this era of postmodern, revisionist Westerns? How it impacts a movie like Old Henry is that you have Potsy embracing the Western-ness of the movie. This film is unapologetic about all the tropes that it’s deploying in service of telling the story. You’ve got the cantankerous old man hiding a past, who’s a maverick who wants to keep the law and the bad guys off his property. He wants to be left alone. You’ve got a satchel full of cash. You’ve got gunslinging, physical violence, and feeding somebody to the pigs. Yet, it’s all accomplished without irony in a very straightforward way that is utterly confident, and in love with the genre.

I think ultimately that’s why the movie works, because it’s very front-footed. It’s not hiding from you. It’s not deceiving you and trying to tell you it’s something that it isn’t. It’s a good, straightforward Western.

Tim Blake Nelson as the titular singer in ‘The Ballad of Buster Scruggs’ (2018).

That’s a bit different from those Leone Westerns, with all of their anachronisms. I remember when the movie Silverado came out when I was growing up, and people were calling it a “quiche Western”, which was funny. That was what they would call it in Oklahoma because it had a bunch of movie stars in it, who weren’t known for being in Westerns. It was the Sergio Leone crowd calling it that. I went and saw it, wondering, “Well, if it’s a quiche Western, then why is everybody talking about it?” I saw it, and I loved it. Those folks putting it down like that were wrong. It’s actually a straightforward, hard-boiled, hardcore unapologetic Western. You don’t like some of the movie stars in it, but get over it. The reason that movie works is because it’s straight-ahead and well-told, and I think that movie holds up.

Old Henry is the same kind of animal. It’s more in the tradition of Sergio Leone—or, actually, I would say more in the tradition of Unforgiven. That was a big influence on Potsy.

Unforgiven was marvelous in the way it demystified that old black hat/white hat mentality of Westerns, opening up a more multi-dimensional understanding. You’re no stranger to that. A series like Watchmen takes that approach with superheroes, who in a sense hold the position now that Western heroes used to hold culturally. Do you find there’s more of a demand these days to challenge those archetypes who used to be put on pedestals—be they superheroes, cowboys, police—and provide a deeper analysis? Absolutely, yes. At the same time, I think the demystified Western hero goes back to John Wayne in The Searchers. I think it really started with that character, one of the greatest characters ever in a Western. There’s One-Eyed Jacks, with Marlon Brando, which was made just after The Searchers, and again embracing this concept of an extremely complicated man. I don’t think you get the Sergio Leone movies without that.

I always think of McCabe & Mrs. Miller as a Western that was doing something totally different than anything I had seen before. That’s another one, with that final image with the character smoking opium, going into oblivion after the demise of Warren Beatty’s very flawed character, after you’ve watched what it has taken to really build that town. You have a director, Robert Altman, making the deliberate choice to shoot in order so that they can build the town while they’re shooting the movie, and you really get the cost of it. I think there’s a lot of history to get to a place where a movie like Unforgiven can happen. Then Clint comes along and, as he often does, moves it forward even more.

Gavin Lewis as Henry’s son Wyatt in ‘Old Henry’.

That’s a film that tackles legacy, as does Old Henry, which at its core is ultimately about the relationship between a father and his son. You got to work on this film with your own son, coincidentally named Henry, who was part of the art department. What is that experience like, getting to share your passion with your son on a project together? Well, I think something that is true for the character of Henry and for myself, and perhaps all of us, is that we all want our kids to have better lives than ours. I want that to be true in every respect. Mostly, I want them to be more fulfilled than I have been. My kids look at me when I say that and say, “Thanks a lot Dad for raising that bar”, because they see that I have a pretty good life. Which I do, but I still think they can be more fulfilled than I am, and I want that for them. One of the great privileges of this movie was to watch my son—who was the on-set decorator—work his ass off.

Those are the words of an incredibly proud father. He’s a work horse, and he’s learning about filmmaking, and I think on his current trajectory he will go beyond where I’ve gone as a filmmaker, directing more movies than I’ve been able to direct. Do a better job at it, too. He’s also a singer-songwriter, and I think he can have a venerable career doing that if he wants, but he wants to make movies too, and I hope that’s going to happen for him. It was a thrill to watch him do the work, the twelve- and fourteen-hour days, and after every take resetting and making sure everything was right. It felt like an accomplishment to see him take on that responsibility and do the real work every day.