Thursday, February 2, 2023

King Darren & Baz Jazz Hands

Busy January, busy February.

And busy April, June, August, October and December.

In 2022, I cut down to just one bi-monthly series so as not to have too many movies that were a recurring obligation. That worked out well in a year in which I also rewatched all 26 of my previous #1s.

Apparently I've got space on my schedule in 2023, because I'm not only going back to two bi-monthly series -- I'm going up to three. 

Three bi-monthly series, Vance? What do you think there are, 18 months in a calendar year?

Nope I don't. I'll just have to do two of them in the same six months.

When I saw Elvis last June, and enjoyed it as much as I did (ultimately naming it my #7 of the year), it occurred to me -- not for the first time -- that I just plain like Baz Luhrmann. None of his films are failures to me, even Australia. I owned it with pride: I'm a Baz Luhrmann fan.

And because he doesn't make movies all that often, it also occurred to me that he has exactly six features to his name.

Then and there I decided that in 2023, I would rewatch Strictly Ballroom, William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge!, Australia, The Great Gatsby and Elvis, having seen only Moulin Rouge! and The Great Gatsby more than once.

Since it's been more than 20 years since I saw Romeo + Juliet, which I didn't love at the time, that one in particular is one I'm interested in revisiting through the prism of being a confirmed Luhrmann fan, to see my potentially differing perspective on it now. 

That would have been all done and dusted -- to use the appropriately Australian term in a discussion of Baz Luhrmann -- until Darren Aronofsky came along.

When Aronofsky became the first director to ever direct two films I named #1, I knew I had to appreciate him in some way the following year.

Now, Aronofsky does not have exactly six feature films. He has eight. 

But two of those are movies I've seen quite recently. I of course rewatched The Wrestler last June for the project of revisiting all my #1s -- only five days before Elvis, in fact. And The Fountain wasn't long before that in February of 2021.

So I'll skip those two and watch Pi, Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan, Noah, mother! and The Whale -- the latter of which finally opens in Australian cinemas today (you can read my review, at long last, here). 

There's a similarity with Luhrmann in that only two of the six I'm watching are films I've seen more than once, those being Requiem and mother! But I am pretty familiar with those, having seen mother! three times and Requiem at least three, probably four. 

My third mother! viewing was in late 2019, so after this series I will have seen all eight of Aronofsky's films in the 2020s, and will have a good up-to-the-moment grasp of his full filmography, to better assess just how much his work means to me. If two of his films have climbed all the way up the charts, it may be that there are things in the movies of his I appreciated less that I should be appreciating more. (Though given my love for the two #1s and the two I've seen at least three times, there's already a lot of love for Darren Aronofsky going around.)

I considered combining these two series into one monthly post, but I think I'll handle them separately, so I won't be forced to watch them in close proximity to give you my freshest possible thoughts. I'll call one series "King Darren," because Aronofsky has now proven himself through the stats, and I'll call the other series "Baz Jazz Hands," because there's no better metaphor for Luhrmann's filmmaking style than jazz hands.

Though of course there are things the men have in common, other than me liking their work. They're both men who make big choices that could be considered confrontational, whether that's on the aggressive side (rubbing your nose in the harrowing effects of drug addition) or the playful side (injecting modern pop songs into 1899 Paris). Neither is content to play it safe. 

Meanwhile, I will of course still be watching the films I haven't seen of Jane Campion and Kathryn Bigelow in my other bi-monthly series, Campion Champion & Bigelow Pro, which will be running as normally scheduled in January, March, May, July, September and November. 

So if you need anything from me in February, April, June, August, October and December, and I snap at you, just remember: I've got a lot of movies to watch. 

Starting with Pi and Strictly Ballroom this month. 

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