| Title | Qt3 Movie Podcast: 3x3: gloves |
| Author | Tom Chick |
| Posted in | Movie podcasts |
| When | June 3, 2019 |
Before we handle a discussion of gloves in movies, let us tell you about an Arabic farce called It's Fine at 2:08 , the mountain climbing documentary Free Solo at 6:36, and the Superbadd-ish comedy Booksmart at 15:10..
What’s the intro music?
Holy Calamity by Handsome Boy Modeling School
Special Person Entering the World Egg Yolks.
Next week’s movie is, (heavy sigh) Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
That’s not toothpaste, Tom, it’s Deep Heat.
Just run Shazam at the beginning of every podcast!
So glad that @ChristienMurawski saw Free Solo. We saw it here at Cinema 21 as part of a special event where Alex Honnold was present to participate in a Q&A afterward. I found the relationship angle kind of tiresome as it has been done much better elsewhere and the “climbing girlfriend” thing is almost a genre in itself (c.f. Maria Coffey’s writings after the death of Joe Tasker on Everest) but Free Solo does redeem itself with the attention it pays to the technical aspects of how Honnold breaks down the route. Also, it does a great job of building the audience’s anxiety about the crux moves on the route by explaining and isolating them and reifying the risk, so that when you get to the actual climb, the tension is tremendous. My climbing partner said that when he watched that part of the movie, he was so tense his palms were sweaty and shaking. And he’s an accomplished neurosurgeon who goes through his own share of tension. I was very impressed with this part of the film.
Something the film touched on but could have done a lot more with (I think) was the technical challenge of filming this. They did address it somewhat by saying that the camerapeople were acutely award of not distracting Alex when he was in view of their positions, but I wish they had gone further into just how technically difficult it is to film climbing, because not only do you have to be in sometimes very awkward positions that you hold for long periods of time, but it’s not like you’re just sitting in a chair operating a dolly with a jib arm: you’re operating a camera and climbing, and while you may have lots of protection, you don’t just magically show up on the route. You have to first scout the vantage points, which requires climbing, and then reach them and stay there. These guys are all good climbers, and then they have to be cinematographers as well. Climbing cinematography to me is one of the most underappreciated parts of climbing filmmaking, at least from the standpoint of presentation. Everyone loves a good climbing shot. Few people learn about what was involved to get it.
One thing the Q&A brought out was the different attitudes Alex Honnold and Jimmy Chin (the director) had about what to do with the footage should Honnold be killed. Jimmy Chin (who was also present) said something quite moving about how the crew would have probably just burned everything to wipe out the memories of losing their friend, as well as being respectful of him, and got somewhat emotional about it. Honnold, in keeping with his clearly (as Dingus put it) “spectrum-y” personality, sort of off-handedly said, well, I wouldn’t have cared, because I would have been dead, so I mean just show the footage, I don’t care. I’m dead, right? I thought that exchange did more to illuminate Honnold’s personality in a short period than the movie did in a hundred minutes.
I wholeheartedly concur with Dingus’ endorsement of Meru. I liked it more than Free Solo. Jimmy Chin is pretty engaging, unlike Honnold, who is likable but not very relatable. In my opinion.
I went with Gerald’s Game over one of the greatest and most influential movies of all time. I’m dumb.
Le Samouraï
This whole post is excellent, @Brooski, and I should have highlighted that. The way he practiced and planned his route, and how they just made a simple graphic to convey it (it’s basically just a route line drawn on a rock map), and the decisions he had to make about the crucial moves, was fascinating to me. I’m not a climber, so I thought the movie set the scene and the stakes pretty well in that regard. Well put.
I guess because I’m not a climber, his personal situation, his goals, and his struggles with balancing a relationship, gave the movie an emotional context for me. So I didn’t find that stuff tiresome, rather I found it compelling. Like building an emotional history into a fictional character can do. But I do see what you’re saying.
I found myself holding my breath for many parts of the movie, I think partly because of this. Although…I have to say…while I liked her support and interest in this passion of his, him having her follow along on a climb was annoying. But you have to respect her willingness to take on what he loves, since she expects certain things of him.
This point is excellent, Bruce. I feel almost exactly the same way so I’m not going to retread on your paragraph other than to say I wondered how they did a lot of the shots, how much drone footage they used, and I loved how respectful they were of his space. The difficulty being, of course, that the observation of a thing changes that thing.
Great post, Bruce.
-xtien
“The big challenge is controlling your mind, I guess.”
I’m bummed I chose Fight Club. I honestly didn’t think anyone would pick that glove.
Here were a few of my runner-ups:
The Handmaiden: I love this moment where a gloved Lady Hideko reaches out to grab Sook-hee’s hand.
Aliens: Vazquez and Drake sharing a moment of camaraderie while wearing fingerless gloves
Johnnny WIck… I mean Johnny Mnemonic going online with his navigation gloves.
And finally, the gloves that Tyler is wearing when he gives the narrator the kiss.
It’s a shout-out to everyone who’s seen Booksmart, which isn’t some boring documentary about a guy who goes rock climbing.
-Tom
“The Dust Bowl can wait, bitch!”
Ha ha, he has to go find the cap for the vinegar while he’s wearing those things!
-Tom
-xtien
Dingus, you have a pretty good British accent, especially when talking about cow sex.
See, as long as Dingus and @marquac are around I can miss the deadline and know they got me covered.
Thank you sir. Plus and also, we should talk about Khan’s gloves and why he only takes one off – and then NEVER removes the other one or puts the original back on for the whole rest of the film.
Re: Mad Max, there’s a very real sense of things spiral out of control, but there’s still pockets of normalcy. It’s on it’s way to becoming The Rover, which is on its way to becoming The Road Warrior.
