Philip Seymour Hoffman c/d?

I need to see it a second time -- a mess but clearly heartfelt and ambitious -- but damn, not for awhile.

NYT story today about his last week or two; not esp enlightening, just sad.

I liked it more the first time around then the second. it's an ambitious work, but not all of its pieces fit together. by the end it feels like its treading conceptual water a bit (altho I def enjoy Wiest's part)

than the second

bah

synecdoche floored me. the most powerful and moving movie i've ever seen

The second time I saw it the humor stood out more. It's an intense movie but not a totally self-serious one.

yeah there's a lot of funny stuff in it. but it's a bit overstuffed with ideas that don't all get resolved (all the body horror stuff in the first half hour, for instance)

Yeah, all I can remember from as far as I made it was green poop.

From that NY Times story:

He seemed reticent and rumpled at his last public appearance, promoting the films “God’s Pocket” and “A Most Wanted Man” at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah on Jan. 19. Friends, however, would later point out that Mr. Hoffman would often appear that way, as if he had been out partying all night when in fact he had just awaked from a night’s sleep.

This was something I heard about him over the years from a few theater friends who met him or shared a room with him: usually looking practically homeless and disheveled, like really unkempt. It always made sense to me as how an actor would choose to appear between movie shoots and shows requiring so much makeup prep. Also made sense as a good defensive posture--to make clear to everyone "I'm off the clock."

it can also just be how you look when you're a complete slob who doesn't give a shit, i know a few (non-famous) actors who fit that bill

Yeah, it's true.

kubrick is super boring
ed yang was a really big loss
& yeah this is just a disaster

synecdoche floored me. the most powerful and moving movie i've ever seen

I wouldn't go that far, but I loved it enough to write an fan letter to Charlie Kaufman that basically ran "you've changed my life, thanks"

I cannot take it when people who've kicked and moved on and made it out suddenly fall like this.

this

i really want to stop letting this bum me out so bad too but it just keeps lurking there around the corners of my mind. i feel really sad for him and all of the people who loved him.

and this.

I tend to be really hard on "Amerindie" films (been burned too often, I guess) but he's kind of an axiom of them good and bad. and no matter the quality of the movie a performance by PSH was always something to look forward to, and in some cases to redeem the film. such an absolute pleasure to watch.

i hated magnolia when i saw it, i still don't like it, but in any event my hating it was never about PSH's performance or indeed most of the performances in it. his scenes are great, and quite funny, at least until they get a mawkish toward the end (the resolution to that plotline is one of the more false, pat, and overly sentimental in the film; my problem with the film is in its overall design.)

i'm afraid that almost famous is too indulgent of its characters/milieu for me to really stomach it.

one of his best performances was in "the savages," which was a pretty hard-hitting film overall, I thought.

anyway

i'm not a heroin addict or even any kind of drug addict but i do have a kind of obsessive/addictive personality and i see this troubled guy and i keep thinking, there but for the grace of god...

so fucking sad. i'm almost crying right now, to my own surprise.

http://blog.eastmanhouse.org/2014/02/06/remembering-philip-seymour-hoffman/

The next month, Phil came back to Eastman House to present a documentary he appeared in called The Party’s Over. We talked afterward and he answered audience questions. I don’t remember much else about the evening, but my pal Bruce Bennett was there, and he reminded me that a teenage kid stood up and tried to explain how much Phil’s performances meant to him. He struggled in finding the right words and he finally just asked Phil if he could have a hug. Bruce remembers Phil as being “totally moved and disarmed and surprised by all the emotion clumsily and honestly pouring out of this young guy who clearly didn’t get to express his feelings too often” Phil quickly replied and said “yeah, sure, of course” and the two embraced. Bruce says, “People forget how much personal impact actors can have. I don’t think anyone’s ever asked to hug [Paul Thomas Anderson] because of a camera move he blocked or a line of dialogue he typed.”

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2014/02/06/the-night-philip-seymour-hoffman-changed-my-life/

I know it sounds glib from the URL. But worth a read.

That was really touching.

Has Paul Thomas Anderson made any statements?

man ned's last 2 links itt both made my eyes water

i have heard stories like these, of people relapsing after decades, and the end is always very rapid. In each case it is precipitated by a personal separation (spouse, child, or both). Obviously the first question I'd ask is whether Mr Hoffman's rapid decline occurred before or after the estrangememt from his partner and/or their children.

the EW story...just, wow.

and the thing is, you know, PSH was right about that.

this is just the most rotten story, all over

These few, brief personal encounters were pleasant and memorable for me. They gave me little insight into what drove him as an artist. I only know that he consistently surprised me and moved me with his honesty and his understanding of human beings.
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Iirc, he reportedly became estranged from his partner after he first relapsed/went to rehab, maybe a year ago?

so i guess one of the people arrested for selling heroin in this case was a known musician and also did that weird cable access NYC post punk show TV Party

A jazz saxophonist who played with the singer Amy Winehouse is one of three people arrested in New York for alleged drug offences following actor Philip Seymour Hoffman's death.
Musician Robert Vineberg is now facing a felony charge of heroin possession with intent to sell following his arrest on Tuesday night in his apartment at 302 Mott Street in the pricey Nolita district of Manhattan
The 57-year-old performed on the popstar's best-selling album Frank in 2003 and claims to have worked with other singers including Wyclef Jean, Mick Jagger, David Bowie and Tom Jones.

By this point I don't really have anything to add to what's been said above. Goddamn tragedy.

Has Paul Thomas Anderson made any statements?

― Josh in Chicago, Friday, February 7, 2014 10:28 AM (12 hours ago) Bookmark

I've been thinking a lil bit (but not much) about what it means for this guy to be most associated with such a polarizing director

I've always been partial to PTA and it's through his works I know PSH best

I'm sure there are many other famous actors/actresses who have also been associated with polarizing directors

Just curious as to what impact (if any) this association would have on PSH's legacy

All in all probably a really stupid question to wonder about

Is he really that polarizing? We're not talking Lars Von Trier here.

I guess Magnolia and Punch-Drunk Love are the two lenses in the Oakleys

polarizing if you're on ilx maybe

Where else would I be

polarizing if you're married to my wife maybe

The EW piece is a choker. Nice to read about the man rather than the actor. I also like the image of him having a nervy smoke break before presenting an Oscar.

<3 emotional generosity being recognized always makes me happy

Sometimes it takes an outsider to point out something that you already know is true. He had no stake in it. He was just telling us what he knew.

also, wow PSH also had an excellent memory. so sad that he is gone, but if he has to be gone i hope this generosity is recognized as part of his legacy.

yeah, i've never encountered the level of PTA hate IRL that i've seen here. i'm sure he'll come out with a statement eventually though

Wow, that EW piece. Excellent. And, in my experience, his advice was absolutley 100% otm.

PTA's widely revered by non-ilxtards

eh I know plenty of people who hate him bar one or two films

But while his films may be ostensibly polarizing, no one would fault him as a director, writer or apt director of actors, right? Truly divisive directors, like Von Trier or I dunno Spike Lee or whomever, are derided/distrusted on almost all levels. PTA, I would never expect anything inept from him, or less than well-acted from his cast. His films may not all be equally revered, but as a director the only polarizing aspect is the degree to which he's revered/overrated by some/many, but which criteria Spielberg is also "polarizing," but of course he's really not.

For all his appearances in "polarizing" films, PSH somehow escaped the tag himself. Maybe because despite the challenging material, he was always an intrinsically ... inviting actor? You wanted to watch him.

no one would fault him as a director, writer or apt director of actors, right?

even if they dislike his films? yes, i tend to fault the guy who does the central work on a film i don't like.

I know what you're saying, but he's still operating at a pretty high standard. Like Kubrick, perhaps the works can be debated, but no one would cite either for lack of ambition/vision/technical skill/intellectual engagement. PTA's movies are mostly formidable and worthwhile, even if one didn't like them. IMO. I think truly polarizing directors, one might dismiss them outright. Again, like Von Trier. I think he's a fucking charlatan. But opinions vary.

Ambition is not nec a good thing, if your style is overly derivative or you cast Adam Sandler.

von trier's 'divisiveness' has much more to do with his public persona than his actual films imo.

xpost Ha, yeah, I'll concede Punch Drunk Love as polarizing! But I think that one's anomalous.

Von Trier, I dunno - his films are pretty fucking divisive, like the kind that actually, equally draw boos and cheers in public.

Like, literal boos and cheers.

PTA is at his worst as writer.

Maybe. But I don't think his writing is actually terrible, just a bit heavy-handed or muddled, sometimes. But he writes for his actors as well as any writer/director I think.

Spike Lee's persona gets the heat too, as his films generally do not register on the commercial side, at all.

But also a huge number of his films are shit, no? Like, outright not good movies.

Like Kubrick, perhaps the works can be debated, but no one would cite either for lack of ambition/vision/technical skill/intellectual engagement.

this is weird. "people might not like the films, but they can't deny he is ONe of the Greatest Directors Ever to Live."

i just don't accept this, and I'm not sure why you're pushing it so hard. surely their can be legit disagreement about these things? esp. "vision" and "intellectual engagement."

the idea that PTA's movies are somehow objectively 'good movies' even to ppl who dislike them while spike lee's movies are 'outright not good' is pretty strange.