the awesome/terrifying freedom

went to see the cremaster exhibit at the guggenheim this weekend, which was a fascinating trip into the mind of matthew barney - a sort of melding of the aesthetics of prada with the creepiness of david lynch and the fleshy sexual dysmorphia of david cronenberg. we only had time to see 'cremaster 5,' the last in his 5 film cycle, which i found interesting but not as cool or involving as the actual sculptural exhibit which inhabits the entire guggenheim. i stand in awe of any artist who can create their own vocabulary (visual, aural, tactical, or literary), and then execute a 'great work' using it.

'angels in america' comes to mind.. even tori amos' 'scarlet's walk,' 'the lord of the rings'.. these may be more accessible than barney's work which reads like egyptian heyroglypics - undeniably beautiful, beyond comprehension, but breathing with an internal logic that holds it's rosetta stone just out of reach.

the exhibit also reminded me of the power of silent film - the searing force of image, and how many of the film clips, especially those from 'cremaster 3' reminded me of 'metropolis.' the use of the chrysler building mimics 'metropolis'' new tower of babel, right down to the 1930's setting, art deco sensibility, and the creepy, mannered acting style of his performers with virtually no dialogue.

in other news, i am in shock and awe to discover that the smarmy film 'alex and emma,' which looks like 'adaptation-lite' in it's cheezy trailer is actually based on the dostoevsky novella 'the gambler,' in which dostoevsky himself made a bet that he could churn out a novel in less than a month - so he dictates it to a young russian girl, has conflicts with her over the novel's content, then marries her when it's all over. wow. dostoevky becomes a movie with luke wilson and kate hudson. what's next? 'brothers karamazov' with kieran, macaulay and rory? jesus, some hollywood exec just read that and thought 'hey.. julie! get me this dusty-evsky guy on the phone!'