Inherent Vice


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The first-ever film adaptation from a Pynchon novel comes out in a couple months, and it looks like it’s going to be a humdinger. I know the book very well, and have high hopes based on seeing this trailer.

Recently Joe Biden, smarting from the push back to his use of the epithet “Shylock”, tried quoting from Pynchon in a speech. As usual for him, it turned into a ramble, leading one clever blogger to refer to him as the Incoherent Vice-President.

http://w11.zetaboards.com/thefictionalwoods/topic/10559023/1/

But beyond that, the trouble is, what he quoted is one of the “Proverbs for Paranoids” from Gravity’s Rainbow. Not worried he’ll be labeled paranoid? Or was this line fed to him? I can’t believe he’s read the book, which leads me to suspect he has a subversive speechwriter, trying to make him look like a braying ass. Probably in Hillary’s employ. Or no, actually scratch all that, when in doubt, rely on Hanlon’s Razor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon%27s_razor

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  • 6 months later...

It didn't last in the theater, so I'm only seeing it just now. That happened with The Big Lebowski too, which is now a classic. But this film is not good. Certainly not good enough, in spite of its A-list cast and accomplished director/screewriter. While the book has a manic energy fueled by stylish dialogue and prose, this movie plods and long overstays its welcome. IMO in adapting the book there's too much weight allocated to the relationship between Doc and Shasta, plumbing emotional depths that are indeed in the book, but here it's out of balance. Above all, the comedy is missing. Even Casablanca has a lot of laughs, far more than you’ll find here.

Also it’s no "stoner flick". I was expecting this to stand alongside The Big Lebowski and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas in capturing a certain aesthetic: translating the experience of hallucinogens to the screen. Here's a (standalone) page from the book to give you an idea of the source material:

https://books.google.com/books?id=uTlcbI2fVRsC&pg=PT72&dq=pynchon+osmium&hl=en&sa=X&ei=TTxGVcTXN4OagwSBmoCoCg&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=pynchon%20osmium&f=false

Sure, in the film there’s a lot of drug usage, but it's all as seen from the outside. And it's not even integrated into the plot, unlike in the book where, for example, a portrait of Thomas Jefferson comes to life to advise Doc on his next move.

On the plus side, Katherine Waterston makes quite a good impression. I'd never seen her before. There’s a scene with her, late in the film, that I believe Selene (in particular) will enjoy a great deal. More than enough to justify sitting through the rest.

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I actually watched The Big L on DVD--for an hour. I turned it off. I regretted that hour.

I think Fargo was made by the same production team. I loved Fargo.

--Brant

never bothered figuring it out--the difference, that is, except one seemed intelligent and the other stupid and stupid I turn off--that's not all I turn off but that killed that movie for me (the characters can be stupid if there are obvious brains behind them in the story)

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I actually watched The Big L on DVD--for an hour. I turned it off. I regretted that hour.

Brant,

I just saw this a couple of weeks ago, mainly because I couldn't decide on a film on Netflix, I really like Jeff Bridges and John Goodman as actors, this thing popped up, so I thought what the hell and went with it.

Ironically, I never saw it before because of the bowling. I mean, from the advertising, how exciting can bowling be when the other ads show blowing shit up?

:)

But boy, did you miss out.

They got a friggin' religion out of that thing: Dudeism.

People actually worship at a metaphorical Church of the Latter-Day Dude.

Some of it's tongue-in-cheek, but there are folks who take it seriously. You know how this world is with wackos.

:)

Michael

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But boy, did you miss out.

You tell 'em. The Big Lebowski is a masterpiece. Here's a trip scene from it, the kind of thing that ought to have been in Inherent Vice:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=od_6M8cFdUA

What bowling is to Lebowski, surfing is to Pynchon's book. And there's no surfing in the movie at all, hardly even a reference to it.

I should mention, however, that the film got a lot of good reviews. Top rankings. And no bad reviews that I saw. Maybe if you don't know the book it won't be as disappointing to you as it is to me.

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