A Goodbye Letter to Andy Warhol – “Songs for Drella” by Lou Reed and John Cage

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So the Voices Aren’t Just in My Head? – My Review of FX’s “Legion” (Season 1)

FX’s Legion

 

A couple weeks ago, I started watching FX’s Legion as the entire first season just arrived on Hulu. I had heard that it was a something-something that was based on an X-Men character and was considered “good”. Anyway, it had something to do with superpowers and it seemed more interesting than watching more episodes of the Flash (please, no). 

So, mild spoilers here, it is about a young man named David who has spent the last 6 years in an insane asylum after being diagnosed with schizophrenia (often due to misunderstood waves of telepathy from those around him and less directly, massively uncontrolled bouts of telekinesis). Strangely, his drug-buddy Lenny (played by Aubrey Plaza) is also in the asylum with him as they eat red-vines and talk about the other patients. Then enters Sydney who has an aversion to touching and David starts a long, convoluted, violent path to love and freedom and world-breaking Psionic powers. 

I didn’t know anything about the character of David from the comic books, though 45min on YouTube seemed to solve that. As the son of Dr. X, the comic-book David is referred to as Legion as his consciousness can absorb other personalities (some good, some bad) that constantly war to take over the primary David’s self. David in the comic-book is a conflicted, unbalanced character constantly trying to find peace among the many pieces of himself. 

The series takes a more straightforward tact, focusing on the idea of David as mentally ill, even if those mental illnesses are really caused by latent superpowers (not necessarily an original concept). However, as the characters are adults, the discussion plays less as a adolescent drama about finding yourself (or coming out of the closet) and more a dialogue on a person’s purpose (or lack there of). A series plot-point revolves around series title of “Legion” but I’ll leave that for viewers. 

What really makes the series interesting is the way the filmmaking is handled. David is, for multiple reasons, an unreliable narrator. Therefore, what is real and what is a drug fantasy, hallucination, trip to the astral plane, hijacked personality, or discussion between multiple parts of the same consciousness often grows blurry. The series has a lot of fun with these ideas: continual genre shifts, an Indian dancing number, Jermaine Clement in a giant ice cube performing slam poetry. However, while the story sometimes seems to lose its thread, the acting is fantastic and the fact that it has been produced on FX allows it the flexibility to far more interesting than it would be as a prime-time show. 

The series has already started production for the second season. I hope they can keep the dynamic going some more. 

Maybe I’ll Have Another Drink – The Boozy Sleuthing of Nick and Nora Charles

When it comes writers that people think are cool, it gets a little thick with possibilities. Obviously, you can’t say “cool” without thinking of the Beats (Kerouac, Ginsberg, Burroughs, Kinsey, Watts, etc.). But, “cool” sometimes becomes merged with the literary transgressors of the 20th Century, such or the druggies and alcoholics (Thompson, Leary, Bukowski, Thomas), the sexually obsessed (Lawrence, Miller, Nin) and those obsessed with death (Plath, Hemingway)

The characters of Nick and Nora Charles, a high-society couple solving crimes between cocktails always struck me as a certain epitome of cool. Okay, first a caveat: within the novel “The Thin Man” by Dashiell Hammett, Nick drinks a small distillery worth of spirits during the course of each day. Most of the short scenes include characters making, drinking, refilling and re-refilling their drinks over a handful of conversations. Let alone solve a murder, I’m not really sure how they actually continue standing upright. 

Okay, with that out of the way, the central characters are wonderful. Nick Charles, former private detective, and his socialite wife Nora trade witty banter, host parties and, yes, solve crimes during their Christmas vacation. Nick can hold his own with criminals, talk tough with police detectives and seems to usually have a pretty clear view of what’s going on around him, even if he mixing his fourth scotch and soda. Likewise, Nora is game for adventure, sympathetic to the various victims and always ready with another witty comment when Charles is stumped or otherwise incapacitated. 

Myrna Low and William Powell as Nora and Nick Charles

“The Thin Man” was made into a movie with William Powell and Myrna Low in 1934. Though less “tough” than the Nick in the book, Powell made the character his own. As Roger Ebert one said, “William Powell is to dialogue as Fred Astaire is to dance.”  It was a huge success largely due to the chemistry of a Powell and Low and spawned six sequels, a TV show and countless imitators. I highly recommend “Beyond Belief” whose characters Frank and Sadie Doyle are a modern homage to Nick and Nora. 

Now, pass me my drink. 

Will Stop Playing Trumpet for Cocaine – a Review of “Miles Ahead (2015)”

I’m not sure when I first started listening to Miles Davis, though I think it was when I was in college. A girlfriend had introduced me to Davis’ “Sketches of Spain” in one late-night listening session, and I later bought copies of Davis’ “Kind of Blue” and John Coltraine’s “Blue Train”. It was like a class in Jazz 101 that I listened to over and over. 

In the movie “Miles Ahead” a jonesing Miles Davis agrees to sign copies of his records owned by a young drug dealer in exchange for a better deal for his quarter-ounce of cocaine. Looking at his records, nearly all which were similar to the ones I owned in college, he says “Man, I’ve made 15 albums since I made these” his raspy voice dripping with disgust. 

“Yeah, but these are the ones to get laid to” the dealer replies.

What happens when the world thinks you’re past your prime, an icon that is both revered and pitied at the same time? Worse yet, you’re not entirely sure they are wrong. In the late 1970’s, Miles Davis did go through a fallow period: addicted, burned-out, hounded by creditors and fans alike, isolated and searching for the next inspiration. 

Donald Cheadle’s “Miles Ahead” uses this period as a backdrop for the story of Davis’ introduction and adventures with a Rolling Stone writer looking for a story who breaks into his home and out of his isolation. Interspersed between the scenes are flashbacks to Davis’ past and his wooing, mistreatment and eventual loss of Ruby Davis (the love of his life).

Cheadle’s impression of Davis feels spot-on throughout, with both his cocky assured ness and crippling self-doubt. Emayatzy Corinealdi, who plays Ruby, is both gorgeous and carries the emotional heart of the film.  However, the general (largely apocryphal) plot which centers around a stolen session tape that Davis is determined to recover feels often ridiculous and over-wrought. At a certain point, I felt I understood why Davis may want to recover it, but almost entirely confused why nearly anyone would be willing to die in a firefight over it. 

The real Miles Davis had a storied career as both a musician, composer and criminal. While “Miles Ahead” captures some of the genius of one of jazz’s greatest innovators, one wishes they didn’t cheapen it with a story that feels so beneath its subject.