TCM screens The Earrings of Madame de… (Max Ophüls, 1954) on January 26th. As an every-other-week Morlock poster I’d ideally save any Ophüls-related piece for Jan. 25th. But I’m skipping that date to attend Sundance and, more importantly, last Friday night I found myself aboard an official party bus loaded with… how to describe them? Most of them were contest winners, most of them were stoners, most were drinkers – and absolutely all them were hard-core cinephiles (some with tattoos to prove it). They were there to hitch a ride with director Paul Thomas Anderson and one unexpected guest; Alamo Drafthouse-impresario Tim League. The standing-room only group of over 40 people were there to share an hour-long shuttle as it zig-zagged across Denver towards a 35mm screening of Anderson’s latest film. Inherent Vice has topped many critics list for best films of 2014 and was screening that night at the Alamo in Littleton, Colorado.
If you’re a P.T. Anderson fan, you owe it to yourself to check out the work of Max Ophüls. Apples and oranges, in one sense, but they’re clearly linked together if you geek out on camera work. Ophüls was a master, and not just a huge influence on the likes of P.T. Anderson but a huge influence on other big name directors as well – exhibit a: Stanley Kubrick, who once named Ophüls Le Plaisir (1952) his favorite film. Think: steady and gliding camera-work that dances around (or through) walls, including also nice, long static shots that let viewers soak in the interactions between actors. Here’s Anderson’s introduction to the Criterion disk of The Earrings of Madame de…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oumV7GgPyfE
Last Friday night will probably be the closest I get to feeling like a merry prankster aboard Ken Kesey’s psychadelic school bus of yore. In my case there was no LSD (that I know of) and instead of trippy interior decor this particular party bus was a tinted-window affair stocked with two particular items: zombie drinks and chocolate-dipped frozen bananas-on-a-stick. These should be familiar to any reader of Thomas Pynchon’s Inherent Vice (published 2009), where the powerful Tequila-fueled concoction and the Freudian-tinged dessert both dutifully make appearances. It’s probably safe to say that fans of There Will Be Blood (2007), and Daniel Day-Lewis’ iconic “I… drink… your… milkshake!” line, will not be disappointed in Anderson’s ongoing abilities to give memorable cameos to unique snack items.
The party bus made a few stops. First was a marijuana dispensary where lots of folks (especially those from out-of-state) loaded up on goodies. Next we picked up a contest winner that had flown in from L.A. and gotten lost. Last to board were P.T. Anderson and Tim League, who would have met up with us at the dispensary if not for a delayed flight. Then: an unexpected stop at a local Denver watering hole, the Hi-Dive. The last time I was there I saw Grant Hart of Hüsker Dü fame play a blistering solo before he walked himself to the curb to load his equipment into a beat-up car. Yes, that kind of perfect place. Tim League bought everyone a round of drinks before loading everyone up on the bus to make the film screening.
Once inside the theater we had all the familiar trappings known to anyone who has ever been at an Alamo Drafthouse. Comfortable seating, top-notch beers, food, etc. I’ll admit to wondering if this was part of a bigger more nefarious plan to hijack a bus-load of stoners, let their craving for munchies hit critical mass, and then drop them into an auditorium with an extensive menu full of appetizer, food, and beer options. Genius, right? My conspiracy theories, however, evaporated when a plate stacked high with pancakes was placed in front of me as the server whispered “on the house.” And not just me, everyone in the packed auditorium got free pancakes. Why pancakes? Another motif from the book: one that Josh Brolin gives voice to in the film when he says: “Chotto, Kenichiro, Dozo! Motto panukeiku… motto panukeiku! MOTTO PANUKEIKU!” Brolin plays the part of Bigfoot, and Bigfoot is into pancakes. Who orders up a stack of free pancakes for over 200 people? These were compliments of Dave Kennedy and Tom DeFrancia, who own the Alamo Drafthouse in Littleton.
The best part? Inherent Vice was being screened on film proper, registering all the rich colors and beautiful contrasts that still evade most digitally-projected screenings. P.T. Anderson is one of only a few notable high-profile projectors (such as Christopher Nolan and Quentin Tarantino) who are still championing shooting on film. I’m not sure how many modern cinema patrons even notice the difference anymore, but to my eyes it still makes a world of difference. As to the narrative itself for Inherent Vice, if Ophüls were still alive he’d probably be somewhat bewildered by the whole thing, as I’m pretty sure he wasn’t much of a pot-head. But he surely would have loved the vibrant flicker of the film itself, still working its magic well over 100 years after its inception, as well as the elegant and patient work behind the cinematography.
