A Few Impressions
Ambigu-Gus Van Sant
Gus Van Sant’s first film to be released in theaters was Mala Noche (1985), based on the memoir of the same title by Portland poet Walt Curtis. It depicts Walt as a gay convenience-store employee attracted to a Mexican migrant worker. His film...
Universalizing Art: 'The Disaster Artist' and 'The Room'
The Disaster Artist is a book about the making of a film called The Room, which came out in 2003 and has since achieved a glorified cult status as possibly one of the worst movies ever made; its director/lead actor/writer, Tommy Wiseau...
Spring Break: A Fever Dream
What is spring break today? In Spring Breakers, it is not the literal MTV-sponsored parties that take over and infect various beach locations across the American continent, although that version of spring break is certainly evoked for its...
J. D. Salinger's War
The Catcher in the Rye is Salinger’s war book. Although it’s masked as a coming-of-age novel, it is about a character dealing with PTSD. Holden is J. D. Salinger, working through his loss of faith in humanity and all of the atrocities he...
Jake Gyllenhaal Is the Perfect Gumshoe in ‘Prisoners’
Prisoners is awesome. I loved, loved, loved it. The atmosphere, the pacing, the framing, the acting, and the subject matter are all so good. I love that my man Jake Gyllenhaal is back as a hard-hitting actor. His detective Loki is mysterious...
Writing to Live in Hollywood
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Pat Hobby Stories and the Coen Brothers' Barton Fink are twisted, nightmarish takes on what happens when writers come to Hollywood—they're often crushed by the bureaucratic machinations of the small-minded...
Cormac McCarthy’s 'Child of God'
It is Cormac McCarthy’s m.o. to uncover the underbelly of American history and explore some of the most violent and immoral acts swept under the façade of progress and civilization. Child of God, a book which I adapted into a film, is no...
'Salò' Revisited
Pier Pasolini's 20th-century take on the Marquis de Sade's 18th-century masterwork of depravity might be stomach turning, but it's also staggeringly honest about the power and chaos of unchecked desires.
What We Talk About When We Talk About a Couple of Carver's Short Stories
Yesterday I got roasted for a Comedy Central program that will air on Labor Day. Naturally, that made me think of Raymond Carver, the American short story writer who's regarded as one of the masters of the form, even though he isn't all that funny.
Aspects of E. M. Forster’s 'Aspects of the Novel'
E. M. Forster opens up 'Aspects of the Novel' stating how difficult it is to classify novels because they are so different from one another. They should be fewer than 50,000 words—but other than that, how do you put such diverse things under the same...
Psycho, Psycho, Psycho
The story of Psycho began with Ed Gein, a real dude who lived in Wisconsin in the 50s. Gein was a sick bastard who liked going to the cemetery and digging up women whom he thought looked like his mother. But what is still vital about Psycho...