The Swimmer

Last Sunday, I been debating going out and seeing Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion at the Revue.  It's a pretty dark movie, and I might or might not have appreciated it.  Anyway, I decided it really was just too far to bike in the heat.  I went to the gym (on the late side) and then went to a late afternoon screening of Paprika instead.  This anime is so weird.  It's the second time I've seen it, and perhaps I will go once a year as Carlton cycles through animated features as part of its $5 movie showings.  (Same thing with Tokyo Godfathers and Night is Short, Walk On Girl.)  Then I spent the rest of the evening cleaning up and preparing for the BBQ (and somehow forgetting about the concert on Monday!).

I'm trying to really focus on not missing any more concerts.  I have 3! today, all back to back over at Walter Hall.  I do hope there is enough time between them to run over to Robarts (almost certainly) and maybe sell off some books and CDs to BMV (less certain).  I'll most likely eat over at Slab Burger on Bay, though I won't wait until after the last concert, as they have a fairly early closing time, which I have learned to my sorrow.

Then I have a concert to go to on Wed.  I had planned to see Jonathan Crow and Philip Chiu on Monday, but I waited too long, and the remaining tickets were quite expensive, so I decided to pass.  At this point, it is sold out.  I mean I might swing by to see if they do rush tickets, but I probably won't bother.

On Tues., I am going to a screening of an Atom Egoyan movie at Paradise, Speaking Parts, where he will be in attendance, so I probably ought to book those tickets right now.

Thurs., I am going to attempt to work remotely and catch a noontime concert at Heliconian Hall, though I don't have super high hopes of this working out.  I will probably check out another anime film on Thurs.  After this, it is nearly a solid week of Kurosawa films at the Revue.  I did the math, and it still isn't quite worth it to me to become a member, but it was a pretty close thing.  No question had I lived a bit further west, I would be a member there, as it is my favorite second-run movie house.  Paradise could be #1, but they just need more screenings.  Far too often they are dark or having a candle-light concert instead of showing a film...

Anyway, last Wed. I biked over to the Revue.  Had I made slightly better time, I would have gotten a slice of pizza, but I only had about 10 minutes before the movie.  I was there to see The Swimmer, which is a very unusual movie based on a short story by John Cheever.  The guy introducing the film tried very hard not to spoil it, as so few people had seen it, but even his limited remarks got some people in the audience riled up.  I thought it was interesting that Burt Lancaster didn't know how to swim!  Consequently, he needed a stand-in for most of the swimming bits.  Curiously, he did not mention that Cheever actually has a cameo in the film, playing a party guest.*  That would definitely have been worth mentioning!

I can't say I really loved the movie.  There was so much cringe, esp. when the Burt Lancaster character started putting the moves on a former baby sitter he ran across.  (That thankfully was not in the original short story.)  Also, the bit where he is racing a horse was just ridiculous.

SPOILERS!!

I can't really discuss the difference between the story and the film without SPOILERS, so you have been warned.  Both end up at basically the same place.  This guy is a Walter Mitty-type guy who simply refuses to accept reality, i.e. that he's in dire financial trouble and he's lost his house (and presumably his whole family has split on him).  What's odd is the story is probably even more misleading, with the narrator saying several times that his wife was at the party where the action kicks off, whereas in the movie he says she is just back at home with his daughters, which is clearly not true.  It's possible and even likely this simply isn't true (in the story), but there is no way to know this.  Certainly taken at face value, there is no reason to expect the narrator is such deep denial from the start.  The film certainly lays it on much thicker, with several more opportunities for reality to smack the narrator in the face, but it is a gradual build-up.  I liked the party scenes in the movie, but overall it was a bit too painful to watch and I probably won't watch it a second time.  I did sit down and read the short story that evening, and it was pretty good.  I'll definitely have to make time at some point to read The Stories of John Cheever and then The Wapshot Chronicle and The Wapshot Scandal.  I've read a few of the stories and bits of The Wapshot Chronicle at NELP, but not the whole thing.  I'm sure I should try to read Falconer as well, but that is a much lower priority.

Oddly enough, I ran into Skye Wallace, who was also there to see the movie.  She thanked me for coming out to her show.  (Her last one for some time, as she is on the verge of having a baby!)  I tried to get pizza after the movie, but Pizzazola was closing up.  (There is an Indian place open a bit later, and I will likely explore that once or twice in a couple of weeks...)  So I went back to the box office to get a few more tickets for their Kurosawa series.  At the moment, they still have seats available, but I suspect a few of these will sell out, like Hidden Fortress and Seven Samurai.  I was surprised that they didn't promote it more during the previews.  I biked back kind of hungry, but at least there was still food in the house.

Just a couple of days ago I was able to go swimming Thurs. after work, and I am heading out now to go again.  I don't know if I'll be able to swim twice a week, but I'd like to try.  I am finally back at the weight I was last fall.  I was supposed to lost 15-20 pounds back then, but the winter was hard, and I was just so depressed over Trump and the horrible state of the world.  I guess the good news is that losing weight at this point will have the most direct impact on dropping another clothes size.  So the goal is within reach (again), and my eating habits are finally slightly better, so we'll see.  But now I have to run. 

* My understanding is that Cheever generally liked the film, though he thought the fairly over-wrought score by Marvin Hamlisch should have been replaced, and I agree with him.