John Sayles

Hopefully something will come of it:

For 40 minutes last month he held them spellbound, reading about America in 1898. John Sayles didn't just give the crowd a taste of his new novel, "Some Time in the Sun" -- he performed a comedy about tabloid newsboys in New York, playing 26 characters with thick, period accents.

"WAR!" Sayles boomed in the voice of a 13-year-old newsie thrilled ("Trilled!") that the Spanish-American War had boosted his daily street sales: "Remember the . . . Maine! Jeez, the way they played it out -- Day 1, the ship blows up. Day 2, who blew the ship up? Day 3, we think we know. Day 4, we sent down our experts!"

When it was over, the audience at City University of New York's Gotham Center gave Sayles an ovation. But then he was humbled by a question from a woman in the front row: When would the book be out?

"I've been done with it for six or seven months, and it's out to five or six publishers," he said quietly. "But we haven't had any bites yet."

sounds disastrously dos passos-ian

which is maybe a good way of describing why his movies don't work, when they don't work

Missed this poll, but would have voted for Baby, It's You.

Somebody once told me that when he learned Spanish, he made the task easier for himself by eliminating the second person. So he called everyone, including little kids, "usted."

mcsweeneys putting the book out - http://store.mcsweeneys.net/index.cfm/fuseaction/catalog.detail/object_id/68196e93-725e-46fa-b2f7-be6ce45cee40/AMomentintheSun.cfm

nearly 1,000 pages,

!

McDonnell & Woodard just great together in Passion Fish.

he's one of those directors who doesn't have ANY idea how to use the medium

^This is baloney

JS on a dozen influences:

http://thedissolve.com/features/5-10-15-20/261-john-sayles-on-the-12-films-that-most-influenced-h/

Matewan has a very young Will Oldham playing Danny the child preacher, only just noticed this recently.

http://img.rp.vhd.me/4741157_l2.jpg

yeah, when he started making records "the kid from Matewan" was not an uncommon note in the press.

city of hope is the most like full movie ever, and really overwritten but reasonably watchable

Baby It's You holds up nicely, esp R Arquette's performance, and despite Trenton being played by North Jersey.

Limbo deserves more respect....

also, one vote for Passion Fish? disgusting savages...

lone star is *kisses fingers*

kinda wish someone would just give him a ton of money to do an awesome netflix t.v. series. he deserves one big budget in his life. just one! he's no spring chicken.

Netflix series is perfect for Sayles, actually

Interesting.

a bit heavy on the Snidely Whiplash

Bad news. After a great time in France, John has tested positive for a breakthrough case of COVID. He tested negative before traveling home, started feeling lousy & tested again yesterday only to get a positive result today.Let's all wish him a speedy recovery! Stay safe everyone pic.twitter.com/7ZSFo7mLTs

— John Sayles (@john_sayles) October 26, 2021

rewatched Matewan, which is generally inspiring and noble (in a good way) but damn are the characters and plotting broad

shooting the villain through the clothesline is always a good finish tho

― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 9 February 2020 14:57 (two years ago) bookmarkflaglink

i just did this too. my kids actually stayed awake for it too. shocking!

and i obv appreciate this opportunity to reconnect with the ghost of morbs :)

why did he stop making stuff and/or move to streaming? what has he been doing the last 10 years? bad health maybe. baby it's you is still my favorite

loved shannon's deal way back when, wonder if it would hold up

he wrote a novel last year that i bought and haven't read because i'm a criminal

https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1380-yellow-earth

thanks hs, i was rescreening city of hope the other day (haven't finished yet but seems like a sprawly mess in this viewing) and i was mentioning to my wife how i always felt Sayles was a writer-first and filmmaker as a cool side deal. tbf Morbs called me out about that upthread and i was being too glib but i'm not entirely wrong either

No, you’re not. I kind of like City of Hope despite all that, taking all that into account.

Passion Fish is his best, sorry.

Available on Amazon Prime.

Lone Star is getting a Criterion Blu-Ray release

New interview with Sayles about Lone Star:

Legendary writer/director John Sayles talks to Walter Chaw about his great 1996 film, “Lone Star,” on the eve of its release via The @Criterion Collection. https://t.co/Ps2k8VQoao

— Chaz (@ChazEbert) January 16, 2024

Is Lone Star great?

Guess it won the POLL so…

Baby, It’s You got zero votes so I must have sat this one out.

I saw Lone Star in theaters and yeah, it's great.

Lone Star is up there among the movies I've rewatched multiple times.

I might have heard some funny story in Texas that gave me an excuse to take it down a peg.

But maybe I need to rewatch

I really need to see it again. I saw it in the cinema and loved it. I seem to remember it has a very satisfying ending

I rewatched it shortly before the Criterion disc was announced. It's superb.

I think it's currently showing on Tubi.

I watched Passion Fish for the third time in November. Everything works. His best imo.