Dogs Bark

Either Wear It Or Be It - - A Star Is Born (2018, USA, Color, 136 min) - - 23 November 2018

Recommended. Melodrama is not for the faint of heart. One must jump in with both feet. The ironic need not apply. This is why the casting of Lady Gaga (Machete Kills) - - the millennial queen of camp, according to MOMA - - seems like such an odd choice for the Star in this, the ultimate weepy. But if you caught her elevator duets with Tony Bennett . . . . perhaps she has always been “Lady Gaga.” Who really cares? In her first tongue-out-of-cheek role, Ms. Gaga does just fine, thank you. Bradley Cooper’s (Silver Linings Playbook) first direction is serviceable and Sam Elliott (Tombstone), who is excellent as Cooper’s long-suffering older brother, might just get a tip of Oscar’s Stetson. Like most serious movie fans, my preference of the four Stars is the Garland/Mason version. This one, however, takes a slightly more realistic (ugly) look at addiction and alcoholism. So get over yourself. Take a look.

Well, A Life Lived - - Finding Vivian Meier (2013, USA, Color, 84 min) - - 10 November 2018

Recommended. While watching Finding Vivian Meier, I returned repeatedly to my sister-in-law who died alone in her house last summer, packed to the roof with the elements of her life. For Vivian Meier, these elements were 100’s of thousands of photographic negatives taken of street scenes in Chicago. Until the film’s writer/director John Maloof found them at a storage auction, the uniqueness of her eye was unknown. During her lifetime, she was unrecognized, made a meager living in domestic service, and died in obscurity. The Oscar-nominated film prints a skilled image of both her eccentricity and true artistry. As a story, it’s a tad long . . . but she deserves a full portrait. Her life may seem sad and lonely but it’s composed in her own style. As my daughter pointed out about her aunt, to assume another’s path to be poignant because you wouldn’t walk it is the essence of arrogance. https://www.vivianmaier.com/gallery/street-1/