Merde

Laura and I were flipping through channels last night and came across the Big Bang. It was that or Puppy Bowl IV so we decided to watch it. I really enjoyed the movie. It was bizarre at times and it clearly was made in 1990. The little synopsis provided by Cox said: “Filmmaker James Toback conducts radical interviews with various people on subjects like sex, death, God.” Basically the movie is the director James Toback interviewing people, asking all sorts of people the same questions. There is the Girl, the Mother, the Boy, the Basketball Star, the Violinist, the Artiste, the Humorist, the Jazz Man, the Astronomer, the Restauranteuse, the Model, the Philosopher, the Painter, the Medical Student, the Writer, the Filmmaker, the Gangster, the Boxer, and the Survivor.

James Toback asked them how they thought the Universe began, what they believed about God, about sex. It was great. It was amusing at times and it was really intense at other times. I was mesmerized by Fred Hess, the Astronomer, because the way he spoke about the big bang, about the conception of the universe, about our star, the sun, was very much like a Baptist preacher. It seemed wrong. The content of what he was saying vs. the way he was saying it. It was moving and confusing. Apparently, that’s his thing. He is often called the Evangelist for Astronomy. Barbara Traub, the Survivor, Holocaust survivor, Auschwitz survivor, was quite intense. She talked about losing her sense of identity. HEAVY. The Little Girl, Emma Astner, says about the conception of the universe, “First there was dust, then there was a squirrel, then there was a dog, then there was a cat.” It is inspired and bizarre, but it holds up just as soundly as the other responses. The Basketball Star talked about having sex with so many women. The Mother talked about almost losing her mind when her daughter was killed. Don Simpson, producer of Top Gun, talked about his conservative upbringing in Alaska and how he became a humanist.

The Big Bang was an unexpected gem. It was the random outcome of a night of channel surfing. I’m a sucker for interviews. It was exactly what I needed.

The New York Times hated it. “What kind of people want to reveal their most profound thoughts and fears on screen? As it turns out, people who ultimately say very little, who are at best amusing, occasionally affecting and more often simply bland.” Well then.

Each person had their own environment that matched their context. The Evangelist for Astronomy was in a large dark room with a single light focused on him. The children were sitting on the carpet in a living room. The Mother seemed to be in a dark closet with only half of her face lit. The Artist was in a loft. The Philosopher is sitting a table next to a bright open window. The problem with the environments was that they lacked an overall cohesion. They almost seemed overly intentional and somewhat annoying.