POP ART: Episode 45, True Romance/Pierrot le Fou

THE COURSE OF TRUE LOVE NEVER DID RUN SMOOTH: “Okie, dokey, doggie daddy.” We’ve all been there, done that. We meet someone. Fall in love. Pledge our lives to each other. Then, as so often happens, we kill someone or rob someone of drugs or money and have to go on the run. Who hasn’t found themselves in that situation? Sounds like it’s time for Episode 45 of Pop Art, the podcast where my guest chooses a movie from popular culture and I’ll select a film from the more art/classic side of cinema with a connection to it. This time, I am happy to welcome fellow podcaster Jarrett Galante, aka Clark F. Gable, who has chosen the Tony Scott/Quentin Tarantino neo-noir, True Romance, and I have chosen the quite different Jean Luc Godard French film classic, Pierrot le Fou, both about lovers on the run.

And in this episode, we answer such questions as: What did Tarantino do to raise money to make Reservoir Dogs and how does Elvis fit in? Are Tarantino and Godard post-modern or post-post-modern? How does the movie Pineapple Express fit in? Who is Sam Fuller and would you want to be one? Where did the Sicilian story come from in True Romance? Where does Godard stand in the pantheon of directors? Where does Tarantino? What are the differences between the original screenplay and the final one in True Romance and what did Tarantino think about it? Where did the True Romance theme come from?

Meanwhile check out Jarrett’s podcast The REAL Short Box at https://www.facebook.com/therealshortbox/

And Jarrett’s IDMB profile at https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1445425/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

IT’S A JUNGLE OUT THERE: Movie Reviews of Demolition and The Jungle Book by Howard Casner

First, a word from our sponsors: I am now offering a new service: so much emphasis has been given lately to the importance of the opening of your screenplay, I now offer coverage for the first twenty pages at the cost of $20.00.  For those who don’t want to have full coverage on their screenplay at this time, but want to know how well their script is working with the opening pages, this is perfect for you.  I’ll help you not lose the reader on page one.

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Warning: SPOILERS

For the first third of the new drama Demolition, Jake Gyllenhaal plays Davis,  a man whose wife recently died in a traumatic car crash, one which he witnessed (he was in the passenger seat beside her).

After the accident, he starts acting, well, somewhat odd.  He doesn’t seem to show any emotion or even grieve in any way.  He returns to work earlier than expected.  He distances himself from a scholarship his father-in-law wants to create in his daughter’s name.

But most important, at least in terms of the story, after a candy machine refuses to give him his order, he starts writing to the customer service department of the manufacturer.  However, he doesn’t just air his grievance, he also spills his real feelings about his wife and what is happening to him.

REAL LIFE, REEL LIFE, STILL LIFE: The Last Sentence and Jersey Boys

First, a word from our sponsors. Ever wonder what a reader for a contest or agency thinks when he reads your screenplay? Check out my new e-book published on Amazon: Rantings and Ravings of a Screenplay Reader, including my series of essays, What I Learned Reading for Contests This Year, and my film reviews of 2013. Only $2.99. http://ow.ly/xN31r

Warning: SPOILERS

If you’ve seen the previews or read about the new Swedish film The Last Sentence, you will most probably come to the conclusion that the movie is about a brave man, one Torgny Segerstadt, who spent his later years as a newspaper editor fighting against fascism in the 1930’s during the rise of Nazism.

But if you actually see the movie, you quickly discover that this is only a small part of the story, and that the film is really about Segerstadt’s relationship with three women: his mother who died when he was young and whose death haunted him the rest of his life; his disintegrating marriage to a woman who spiraled into a depression after the death of one of their sons and for whom he has lost all affection; and his love affair with the Jewish owner of the newspaper he runs, a drug addict whose husband knows about the affair and who is not particularly bothered by it.