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Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Film Yesterday The Stranger Suggested: Police, Adjective

Posted by Matthew Cooke on Tue, Feb 2, 2010 at 2:33 PM

Hello. I'm taking over for Kyle Regan. And who am I? Just a man, married, living in the north end, gainfully employed (for now), and somewhat wistful of younger Cap Hill days when I would go out every night. So doing everything The Stranger tells me to do for a month could be called a pathetic attempt to relive the past. Call it a midlife crisis, I don’t care. Also, the wife is leaving town for three weeks to see family on the East Coast, and I get bored and lonely when she’s not around. So here we are.

The first thing I must say is that I am not, and could never be, Kyle Regan. I share the doubts expressed in comments by other Sloggers yesterday about the wisdom of repeating this experiment, the unlikelihood of lightning striking twice, etc. Really, my efforts are most likely doomed to disappoint. But Savage wants somebody to hold the feet of Stranger writers to the fire and I need something to do. So you’re stuck with me, at least until I regain my sanity and bail after a week or so.

Shhhhhh....

Anyway, the movie. Charles is right: It’s slow. Very slow. There are endless scenes of sour-faced men (the lead character’s being the most sour of them all) trudging through cold, desolate streets, typing away on ancient computers, and buying bad coffee in broken-down markets tagged with pointless graffiti. About an hour in, a man sitting a few seats down from me began snoring loudly, one of those deep, sonorous snores that only comes from a truly restful and peaceful state.

The last 20 minutes almost redeemed the film. Almost. I won’t describe this portion of the movie since it’s the only portion worth seeing, but suffice it to say that the drudgery which precedes it is given additional meaning, via some pointy-headed but not-entirely-annoying philosophizing.

Go ahead and see it; just be sure to be fully alert when you walk in.

Comments (6) RSS

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Savage: "YOU ASSHOLES, WE NEEDN'T PAY YOU AT ALL!"

Posted by meowmeowkitty on February 2, 2010 at 3:13 PM

"one of those deep, sonorous snores that only comes from
a truly restful and peaceful state"

Not bad, Matthew.

Posted by Mahtli69 on February 2, 2010 at 3:45 PM

Matthew,
I wish you luck on this adventure and I hope you get the same forbearance Kyle received.

Posted by FreudianShrimp on February 2, 2010 at 3:48 PM

Nice start, Matthew. Best of luck!

Posted by Soupytwist

on February 2, 2010 at 3:56 PM

I think this is a good idea...Slog needs fresh voices.

and, they are getting free tickets to a lot of this stuff, so they ARE being compensated.

Posted by michael strangeways

on February 2, 2010 at 4:14 PM

Matthew! I remember with fondness our Thursdays spent reading The Stranger at Zeitgeist on the company's dime.
Kyle was funny and fun to read because he was naive and wide-eyed. You're the opposite: a seasoned writer who is not easily impressed. You'll be great at this. Let me know if you need a date to some random thing.

Posted by Amy Kate Horn on February 2, 2010 at 4:37 PM