ThisFilmIsOn

In what we at ‘thisfilmison’ hope to be a continuing series, we find people that we think are just the bees knees and ask them all about movies and such. Then we copy and paste their answers for you to read. Because we’re nice like that.

Name In Your Pants
Calvin Klein. Well, you asked for it. Haven’t you ever seen Back To The Future? OK, beneath Calvin Klein it says Adam Buxton in big gold letters that my Mum embroidered.

Occupation
Sometimes half of Adam & Joe. Used to do The Adam & Joe Show (homemade programme that looked liked You Tube before You Tube existed) on Channel 4 in the late 90’s, early Noughties, did radio show with Joe on BBC 6 Music (currently on hiatus), make videos for the internet, host BUG at the BFI Southbank where we show music videos and I talk balls between. Also I do some acting once in a while and pick up litter.

Bank Details
Dr A Buckles, Bank Of Nigeria, Exciting Opportunity dept. Account number: 55500769

What is your Most Favourite Bestest Film In The Whole Wide World?
The problem with picking a favourite film is that people tend to define you by your choice which I appreciate is also the point. All too often however, you end up being dismissed either as pretentious if you pick something obscure or European, thick if you pick something very mainstream or a genius if you happen to pick the favourite film of the person you’re talking to. Or maybe that’s just the judgemental prats I know. The other problem is that most people’s favourites change fairly often if they see enough films. I mean, if your favourite ever film is Avatar then the chances are you have probably only ever seen Avatar, Titanic, Ice Age 2 and Things To Do In Denver When You’re Dead. Anyway, I’ll try to stop being a dick for a moment and answer the question…

A film I keep coming back to is Crimes and Misdemeanors directed by Woody Allen. I know most Woody Allen fans would probably chose Cassandra’s Dream starring Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell but I’m unpredictable that way. My relationship with Woodles began when I stumbled across Annie Hall on TV in one of those teenage years when every bit of culture you enjoy seems to become a fundamental part of you thereafter. I was impressed by a scene in which Woody magically produces the writer Marshall McLuhan to back him up in an argument he’s having about Marshall McLuhan in a cinema queue. I’d never seen that kind of post modern flourish in a film before and it blew my teeny mind. I consumed as many of his films as I could over the next few months and the best ones seemed to marry these kinds of clever ideas with scenes that were funny and genuinely moving in equal measure. How easy he made it look!

Crime and Misdemeanors features a couple of narratives that run parallel. In the serious one Martin Landau plays Judah Rosenthal, a wealthy optometrist (told by his father as a boy that ‘the eyes of God are upon us always”!) who resorts to drastic measures when an affair with super needy Dolores (Angelica Houston) threatens to unravel his comfortable family life.

The funnier, but still pretty tragic narrative features Woody as Cliff Stern, a documentarian who’s marriage is in its final stages, struggling to find the money to complete a film about an inspirational (fictional) philosopher called Louis Levy. Reluctantly Cliff resorts to earning some cash by doing a fawning profile of his arrogant twat brother in law Lester, a millionaire TV comedy producer played to unctuous perfection by Alan Alda. The scenes with Lester spouting his pompous and superficial comedy scientist theories are some of my faves. “If it bends, it’s funny, if it breaks it’s not funny!” he drivels for the documentary crew as Woody looks around in vain for someone to share his contempt. Finally we see Lester sit open mouthed through a rough cut of the profile in which Cliff with kamikaze glee, has juxtaposed the footage of his subject pontificating with shots of donkeys braying and Mussolini looking self satisfied. It’s a good example of a scene that doesn’t feel particularly realistic but is enjoyable nevertheless.

Similarly a scene in which Judah discusses faith and morality with his rabbi friend Ben is comforting precisely because it’s not naturalistic. With none of the inarticulate stumbles and shaky convictions that characterize most real conversations of this kind
Judah outlines his view of the world as harsh, empty of values and with a pitiless moral structure, while the rabbi sees meaning and forgiveness and a higher power (I nicked the last part of that sentence from a review on Amazon). Woody even piles on the layers of irony and meaning by afflicting the rabbi character with failing sight, hence his visit to the optometrist. Is his faith blinding him to the truth of a Godless universe or is he the one who can truly see despite his encroaching blindness?! I made up that sentence myself but plan to post it on Amazon later today.

It’s a film in which the guilty go unpunished and the righteous go unrewarded but as Judah points out, that’s real life in all its crapness. “If you want happy endings, go and see a Hollywood movie” he says when he and Cliff meet for the first time at the end of the film. Still there’s enough insight, optimism and bleak chuckles in Crimes & Misdemeanours that you’re left feeling thoroughly uplifted; something I can’t say for a most films that rub life’s injustices in your face in the name of integrity.

What’s Your Favourite Line From A Film?
There’s a lot of great lines in Crimes & Misdemeanours but I’m going to cheat and pick a line from another favourite Woody Allen film, Hannah & Her Sisters, that sums up a lot of what I love about his stuff: “How should I know why there were Nazis? I don’t even know how the can opener works”

What’s The First Film You Remember?
Possibly The Wizard Of Oz which used to get shown at Christmas every year when I was growing up in the 70’s so to me it was always imbued with a very magical sense of special occasionalism. Thanks to my Dad’s job as a travel writer we used to travel to the US once a year when I was little and whether it was Christmas or not, The Wizard Of Oz always seemed to be showing on at least one channel whenever you turned on an American TV. In the days before you could choose to watch something whenever you wished, that was quite something. There’s so much to love about the film itself it’s hard to know where to start, but I guess the shift from black and white to colour when Dorothy awakes in Oz was the first thing that struck me. It so brilliantly tapped in to the distrust that many young children have for anything black and white and to be rewarded for struggling through the comparatively dull first few minutes with the outrageously colourful world of Oz was very satisfying. Then I couldn’t get over the munchkins! I’d never seen a person that size in real life so to me they were 100% enchanting and other-worldly. Finally to find out the scary wizard was just a little man behind a curtain! Holy shit!! Once you’ve hoisted that piece of info on board, you’re ready for the world!

What’s The Last Film You Saw?
The last film I genuinely saw was Alvin & The Chipmunks 2, The Squeakquel but that was primarily because my sons wanted to see it so I won’t give a full account of my response, suffice to say that I’m still trying to deal with how they can get chipmunks not just to sing, but to sing so well! Also I found the brunette lady chipmunk with glasses sexually attractive which is troubling.

A film I saw recently that came out a while back was Dean Spanley about a priest who, when drinking a certain kind of sweet wine, channels the spirit of a much loved, long lost dog belonging to a curmudgeonly Peter O Toole who’s been miserable since his son died in the war. I know, not another drunk-priest-dog-channeling-curmudgeonly-bereaved-Dad movie, but I loved it. It was beautifully lit. I had read in a review that it was beautifully lit before I saw it, and sure enough it really was beautifully lit. With each successive scene I found myself thinking, ‘gosh look how beautifully lit that is!’ Thematically it features two of my favourite things: Grumpy Dads and Reincarnation. Also Peter O Toole is very good and Bryan Brown is dependably Brownish and Australian as he was so memorably in Cocktail, a film I have an indefensible soft spot for.

What’s The Worst Film You’ve Ever Seen
Worsties eh? Hmmm, this is fraught with as many problems as picking faves but I’m going to throw myself into this one and go with a totally emotional response to quite a cerebral film beloved not only of my friend Joe (Cornish) but many other highly intelligent cineastes who may well hunt me down after reading this and beat me ironically to death with copies of Sight & Sound. It’s Michael Haneke’s original 1997 version of Funny Games. I haven’t seen his 2008 version but I understand it’s nearly identical so I’m sure I’d dislike it just as much.

It’s about a family that is tortured and murdered by a couple of annoying smirky men in order that we the audience can ask ourselves questions about violence and the media. My problem was that I kept thinking about how sad it would be for a family to be tortured to death in front of eachother and that got in the way of my question asking. Friends have told me I’m thick and missed the point but I feel as if I was familiar with the point before seeing the film so all I was left with was some upsetting murder and a bit of tinkering with the fourth wall by men in tennis whites. But maybe all that was the point. In a cinematic world where Michael Bay is a powerful and important figure, I suppose it’s a good thing that Michael Haneke is out there as long as he stays out there and doesn’t come round to borrow eggs. I also thought Wanted with Angelina Jolie was pretty fucking rubbish.

What Do You Love About Movies?
Being transported and Revels, the Russian Roulette style chocolate treatbag sweets.

PS. I’m ashamed to admit I hadn’t actually seen Avatar when I wrote these replies for Owen. I was being snobbish. I’ve seen it now and it’s fricken amazing!

Mr. Adam Buxton is one half of the Adam and Joe Show on BBC6, has a new BBC2 comedy show entitled The Persuasionists and has featured in Hot Fuzz, Stardust and Son Of Rambow. He is currently touring ‘Bug’ for details go to http://adam-buxton.co.uk/ad/
He’s also a bloody lovely chap.

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