Todd Haynes

[rustinglass]

Just saw Velvet Goldmine for the first time yesterday. Loved it, it's a really fantastic film.

I've been reading this whole thread and I'd like to add that I think that Blow-Up was also a huge influence to him. And there are a few shots in the movie straight out of Clockwork Orange  (credits included). Man, I love these London 70's films with all their colours and shit. Can I get some recommendations? What other good films have this colourful look and excentric wardrobe?

I guess I must see SAFE too, right?

[godardian]

Just saw Velvet Goldmine for the first time yesterday. Loved it, it's a really fantastic film.

I've been reading this whole thread and I'd like to add that I think that Blow-Up was also a huge influence to him. And there are a few shots in the movie straight out of Clockwork Orange  (credits included). Man, I love these London 70's films with all their colours and shit. Can I get some recommendations? What other good films have this colourful look and excentric wardrobe?

I guess I must see SAFE too, right?

Safe is more 2001 than Clockwork, but since you seem to have so much insight into the whys and wherefores of Velvet Goldmine, I predict you'll like it. Enjoy!!

[modage]

godardian, where have you been?  go listen to the thrills album!

[godardian]

godardian, where have you been?  go listen to the thrills album!

I've been listening to it... it's really good! Love "Curse of Comfort" the most so far, but it's bound to be high in my top ten of '04.

[bonanzataz]

i'm falling in love w/ todd haynes. safe is great, i just saw the karen carpenter story, and i used to not like far from heaven but now i do! i think i have to rewatch velvet goldmine, b/c i disliked that movie when i first saw it.

i actually just really liked safe. that was an awesome movie.

[godardian]

i'm falling in love w/ todd haynes. safe is great, i just saw the karen carpenter story, and i used to not like far from heaven but now i do! i think i have to rewatch velvet goldmine, b/c i disliked that movie when i first saw it.

i actually just really liked safe. that was an awesome movie.

If only there were an emoticon for "squealing with enraptured glee..."

Every time someone else appreciates Safe's brilliance, another godardian gets his wings... So glat you're into it, bonanzataz.

I will say that Velvet Goldmine, as truly fantastic and accomplished as parts of it are, is probably Haynes's weakest film overall. Particularly if you don't already know something about oscar Wilde, David Bowie, and the cultural transitions between the '60s and the '70s (and the '80s), it's really not very self-explanatory or involving. As "energetic" as it is, it still probably has the narrowest appeal of all his films, and more for the reasons I mentioned above than for the more blatant pansexuality of the content.

[Ghostboy]

Welcome back, Godardian!

[rustinglass]

Velvet Goldmine is his weakest film?!! I better see all of them soon, maybe it will get better and better and Todd Haynes will become my new favourite director. But I doubt it.
Alright, again, I was totally blown away by this film and frankly I'm surprised that so many people disliked it over here. It might be because of what Godardian is sating, that if you don't get the David Bowie-Iggy Pop- Lou Reed references, it might be sort of an empty experience to you. But still you've got to admire the energy, the production design, the rythm of the whole thing, They set an example.

[MacGuffin]

I will say that Velvet Goldmine, as truly fantastic and accomplished as parts of it are, is probably Haynes's weakest film overall. Particularly if you don't already know something about oscar Wilde, David Bowie, and the cultural transitions between the '60s and the '70s (and the '80s), it's really not very self-explanatory or involving. As "energetic" as it is, it still probably has the narrowest appeal of all his films, and more for the reasons I mentioned above than for the more blatant pansexuality of the content.

I'll agree with that. I just rewatched it after not having seen it since it first came out. But the only problem I had with it was the structure. While it works perfectly in "Citizen Kane," I felt it didn't work well enough to get a better grasp of who the characters are and a better sense of 'story'. And yet, if the film had a linear structure, I think the film would have completely lost the charm that makes the film appealing. I wanted to like this film more because of the music and 'history' of glam rock, and Haynes really captured the look and feel of an authentic 'British' film and that era, but that's what the film feels like, rather than a overall story on Brian Slade.

godardian, who, if anyone, was Jack Fairy supposed to be based on?

[godardian]

I will say that Velvet Goldmine, as truly fantastic and accomplished as parts of it are, is probably Haynes's weakest film overall. Particularly if you don't already know something about oscar Wilde, David Bowie, and the cultural transitions between the '60s and the '70s (and the '80s), it's really not very self-explanatory or involving. As "energetic" as it is, it still probably has the narrowest appeal of all his films, and more for the reasons I mentioned above than for the more blatant pansexuality of the content.

I'll agree with that. I just rewatched it after not having seen it since it first came out. But the only problem I had with it was the structure. While it works perfectly in "Citizen Kane," I felt it didn't work well enough to get a better grasp of who the characters are and a better sense of 'story'. And yet, if the film had a linear structure, I think the film would have completely lost the charm that makes the film appealing. I wanted to like this film more because of the music and 'history' of glam rock, and Haynes really captured the look and feel of an authentic 'British' film and that era, but that's what the film feels like, rather than a overall story on Brian Slade.

godardian, who, if anyone, was Jack Fairy supposed to be based on?

I think Jack Fairy was supposed to represent the truly underground, bubbling under late-'60s metropolitan queer subculture that was then celebrated/appropriated and brought out into the mainstream by '70s glam rock. New York filmmaker Jack Smith (Flaming Creatures), who was a sort of theorist of that period (you can read a snippet of his film writing in the liner notes of the Criterion Scarlet Empress), is often brought up as a real-life Jack Fairy figure, as are the Warhol drag queens. Basically, the one who came up with the very vanguardish, even "dangerous," ideas and then had other people "get" them, celebrate them, run with them, and take them to the masses, for better and for worse.

Speaking of Mr. Haynes, a new DVD release I'm pretty excited about:



..I've never seen it, but it looks/sounds fascinating.

[godardian]

A friend e-mails me this:

Conversation with Gus Vant Sant and Todd Haynes to Appear on My Own Private Idaho



A wide-ranging new audio conversation between director Gus Van Sant and acclaimed filmmaker Todd Haynes (Safe, Velvet Goldmine, Far From Heaven) and will be included on Criterion’s upcoming release of My Own Private Idaho. Also included on this special edition two-disc set will be a new documentary on the making of the film, featuring interviews with key crew members, and many additional supplemental features. Look for My Own Private Idaho in early 2005.

[Ultrahip]

Was grooving out to "Come Up And See Me, Make Me Smiiiiiiiiiile!" the other day and reminiscing on the joys of Velvet Goldmine. Who knows what Todd Haynes is up to these days, anyone?

[Pubrick]

Who knows what Todd Haynes godardian is up to these days, anyone?

[hedwig]

i saw Far From Heaven and Safe in the past week. i'd seen Velvet Goldmine a few years earlier but i barely remember it. FFH and Safe are, quite simply, masterpieces. so i'm reviving this thread.

Safe is absolutely chilling. i read through some of the reviews/critiques of the film, it's amazing how misunderstood this movie was.. particularly the part that takes place at Wrenwood, which was misunderstood even by some of the film's supporters. for example, i've come across reviews praising what they viewed as haynes' depiction of Wrenwood being "viable and sensible" in helping Carol find happiness. i have no idea what movie they were watching. everything about the Wrenwood scenes, from carol's initial discomfort when she arrives there to Peter's attempts to convince the victims that they themselves were to blame for their illness, and that deeply moving final shot of Juli Moore's face as she says "i love you.. i really love you.." to her reflection -- it was pretty clear to me that what carol had encountered at wrenwood not only mirrored the vacuity and conformity of her former life but was, in some ways, worse.

i think part of why some critics misunderstood this is because haynes, in both Safe and FFH, subverts convention at every turn, but he does it so cleverly that you almost don't even notice it's happening. he "sets up" the film (safe) as a typical disease movie, yet he constantly (and sometimes, subliminally) reminds you that this is about something else entirely, achieving a rare, awesome synthesis between his subject and style. same goes for FFH, but perhaps with a slightly different set of motivations.

it's funny, the Haynes movie i wanted to watch the most, based on things i'd read, was Poison, now it's the only one i still haven't seen. it's in the queue though, along with VG which i obviously need to revisit.

ps. safe is only 5 bucks on deepdiscountdvd but it's TWENTY SEVEN dollars on amazon! 

[godardian]

I meant to reply to the last post long ago, when it was first posted, but I got bogged.... Still bogged, but it's still worth a response:

Anyway, so exciting to see someone discovering Haynes. I remember when I was first floored by Safe.... It would almost be worth never having seen it to be able to see it again for first time (for me, it's that kind of film!).

Please report back on your thoughts on Poison and/or VG.