A moment ago, I just finished watching "My Dinner with Andre" for the first time, and I wanted to write down a few things about it while it is fresh in my mind.
Few films come about in my mind right now where I will never forget how I felt the first time I watched it, "My Dinner with Andre" is one of those films. To me, it was so alive and vibrant, unlike any film I had ever seen, it struck thoughts and feeling within me that remain personal. The bulk of the film takes place in a restaurant, and very little action is done other than with dialogue. I'm not sure how cinematic "My Dinner with Andre" is as a film, but I'm not interested in that, I'm interested in what is said. Does "My Dinner with Andre" work as a film? It most certainly does, it's a piece of its own, no other film could dare repeat it without imitating it in some way, it's its own entity, a class by itself.
Probably the reason the film struck me in such a personal way was because I looked at the characters of Wally and Andre as people I know, their conversation and the way they reacted to eachother came very close to real life, don't you love it when film does that? I know many people are familiar with "My Dinner with Andre" and could say they share the same experiences, but for me right now, I feel like I made my own little discovery. I was barely a year old when the film was first released, I had always known about it through reputation, I knew it was about two men who sit in a restaurant, have dinner and have a conversation. I always thought it was such an intriguing subject for a film, and I knew some day I would have to see it. Thanks to the remarkable updated criterion release, I felt now was as better time as any. Now I wish I would've seen it years ago, there it was always available for me to see, and only now do I know what those other people must've discovered upon the film's initial release. What a joy it was to see two intelligent people having a whole intelligent discussion, every subject was so thought provoking, you couldn't help but ask questions yourself as the film kept going.
After so many dull movies at the theatre, it was nice to see something that was like a punch in the face, this was a wake up call, this is what films have the power to do, yet we waste our time on trivial blockbusters only meant to deafen us into submission. This was a thrilling yet quiet film, a study on character, on action and reaction, and on that lost art of listening. The two men in the film may not have matinee idol good looks, but they both have something to say, and what they have to say is more interesting and stimulating than anything I've seen in a long time.
I will probably write more on "My Dinner with Andre", I want to look at it some more, this was just some off the cough first impressions, in closing, I just watched a great film.
2 comments:
I'm actually lucky enough to know one of the duo in this movie, Andre Gregory. When I was in high school I attended one of Wallace Shawn's plays where Andre was the director and afterward, got to meet the cast and crew. I remember Wallace Shawn complimented my friends and me on not being "potato face" audience members, which apparently meant we were clearly paying attention throughout.
Anyway, several years later Andre Gregory moved down the street from us and he and my mom became friends. So I've gotten to hang out with him a couple times. He's way more low-key and normal than he comes across in the movie, but he is flighty in the way so many creative people are. Once, when he was showing me some pictures of an early production he did, "Alice in Wonderland" with the Manhattan Project, and he casually mentioned that his friend Dick Avedon took them. They were just glued and stuffed in this old album, and he didn't seem to understand when I suggested he get them framed.
Anyway, I had no idea the movie was in a new criterion release, so I will have to check it out!
That is great that you know him. I wish I knew famous people. Perhaps the next time you see Mr. Gregory, you can tell him how much I loved his film. I'm currently looking for "Vanya on 42nd Street" which was the other film the two men did with Louis Malle.
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