Box Count: Ten

We have reached a point in this project where we have a real stride in our step! With ten boxes completed, and only a few small piles of musical photographs left to file and archive, we will be a third of the way done with the this leg of the process. 

It's pretty incredible to see the breadth of the collection, and even this early in the process, my brain is starting to pull images that might work together for an exhibition. Repeated themes and patterns are starting to make themselves apparent in the most unlikely of ways. Images of food and dining are working their way into photographs of musicians performing and hanging out. From Tom Waits smoking cigarettes in a diner to Muddy Waters drinking from a pewter mug in his lobster wall-papered kitchen. Additionally, fashion is an ever present force in the collection. Afros, frenetic patterns, men in heels, aviator sunglasses and turtlenecks, if you can imagine it, they probably wore it. Not to mention images of long-lost hotels and boarded up night clubs, all nothing more than a memory, a moment in time. 

Once we wipe our hands of the musical photographs, we will move on to the "travel" category, which I am really quite eager for. India, Mexico, and Montana are all parts of a whole. It will be interesting to see the commonalities and themes that make themselves known as we review these works in a unified way.

Some other news, Herb discovered one of his photographs is up for auction at Kodner Galleries Inc. We're not quite sure how his work ended up in Florida, but he's in good company alongside Abe Morell, Ansel Adams, and Toulouse Lautrec (to name just a few). If you're interested in buying some of his work not from Kodner Galleries, feel free to reach out to me or Herb directly!

Box Count: Eight

What do photographs of unnamed groupies, the Velvet Underground, and pastries from Floriole have in common? Oh, just that they were my favorite things from last weekend, hands down. We plowed through another 150 photographs on Saturday, and the stack of music performing photographs grew smaller as we worked our way down the table. We even refiled some images and put my filing system to work... spoiler alert, everything was organized, easy to find, and now I know what Muhal Richard Abrams looks like. And all of this while munching on delicious treats from my favorite Chicago bakery and listening to the Velvet Underground discography - not too shabby! That said I'm really proud of the work we've done so far, and looking forward to Saturday! And every photograph has a story attached to it, some of which haven't been told for years, I am so darn lucky to take the richness of it all in.

The Future

Last Monday I met up with a few gal friends at The Music Box Theater to see Miranda July's The Future, and damn was it good. MJ has gotten a lot of press about this movie, some of which has been less than complimentary. It seems as though she has been lumped into the twee and indiexcore of film making, and after the acclaim that Me and You and Everyone We Know recieved, it seemed inevitable that critics and filmgoers alike would have impossibly high expectations.

I read every article, every blog, and every review I possibly could before seeing this movie which prepped me emotionally, if you will. A lot of reviewers were turned off by how serious this film was, excpecting something light, humorous, and full of the kind of whimsy that we associate with July's films. But as an avid supporter of her work, I was excited for July to take her film making, directing, writing, and acting in a completely different direction.

What I loved about this movie were the subtle differences and choices that July made in relation to Me and You and Everyone We Know. I know, as a critic, doing the good 'ol fashioned compare and contrast is a total copout - but seriosuly, after giving this movie a week of marinating in my analytic brain, I found some really interesting connections.

1) The Bildungsroman ie Coming of Age Story - Where Me and You and Everyone We Know was a coming of age story from the perspective of an aspiring artist, a separated single parent, a teenage boy, and a young child - The Future was also a coming of age story. A couple finds an injured stray cat, lovingly named Paw Paw.  They bring it to the vet, and then decide to keep him, knowing that he probably won't live very long. They go to get Paw Paw, and the vet tells them it needs to stay for a month - but following the wait, the cat could probably live for 5 years plus. This deadline of five years jolts the couple into asking questions such as "Where am I now?" and "Who will I be in five years?" - with an especially poignant line in which Jason, played by Hamish Linklater says, "I thought I'd be smarter".

Jason and Sophie then embark upon an exciting and nearly impossible goal to get out of their mid-thirties malaise and achieve endless goals over the course of the next month until they pick up Paw Paw, whose voice is played by July. Sophie and Jason quit their jobs. Sophie chooses to try to choreograph 30 dances in 30 days, Jason tried to save the planet, canvasing with the message the the world can be made better one tree at a time. Over the journey of the film, Sophie and Jason discover things about themselves and their future finding that their expectations and goals have not been met in fulfilling or satisfying ways. This Bildungsroman is a sadder one than that of the precurser film, but important nonetheless.

2) The Moon - Where Me and You and Everyone We Know is very much about the Sun and daytime, this film focuses centrally on the Moon and nighttime. The moon in fact plays a central character for a portion of the film, offering wisdom and solidarity to Jason in a time of need.

3) The Colors - Me You and Everyone We Know features bright bubblegummy neons that are so sweet you can almost taste them - total and complete eyecandy. July made a conscious effort to pick a completely different color palette for this film, picking rich ochres and jewel tones. The previous movie is light and hot, whereas this one is dark and cool. Interesting how something as simple as color can be so effective at setting up a mood for an entire film. Fun fact: Miranda July picked out the palette for The Future by laying out a set of pens from the Muji store and picking out the colors she was drawn to. Read about it here.

from Me and You and Everyone We Know
 

Picking out colors for The Future

 

The Future is currently screening at The Music Box Theater and will be opening at locations today all over the country. If you want to see a serious, thoughtful, and beautifully made film, I urge you to check this one out. I might even try to see it a second time while it's still playing on the big screen.