Jerry Lewis (1926-2017)

A subforum to discuss film culture and criticism.
Message
Author
CJG
Joined: Sun Dec 02, 2007 3:13 am

Re: Jerry Lewis (1926-2017)

#51 Post by CJG » Fri Sep 21, 2018 3:21 pm

domino harvey wrote:
Fri Sep 21, 2018 2:36 pm
Uh, what the fuck is this
There are some clips from that here.

User avatar
therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: Jerry Lewis (1926-2017)

#52 Post by therewillbeblus » Wed May 26, 2021 10:26 pm

I don't think it's entirely due to professional interest, but Cracking Up may just be my new favorite Lewis film. It's certainly his funniest (I realize I'm a club of one here), starting with an ingenious premise to host a series of brief absurd skits circuiting around Lewis' life history of problems as he reflects sitting in a therapist's chair. Perhaps it's because these psychological, philosophical, and social issues are what I find to be (necessarily) the most vital topics of humor as the yang to the yin of their relentlessly serious hold on us, but exposed fears, insecurities, anxieties, malaise, and existential crises are just plain funny, relatable subjects. This film not only tackles fears of embarrassment through more vulnerable methodology than Lewis' usual shtick, but doubles down by confirming these fears. These are usually irrational, and sourced in us falsely believing we are as important to others as we are to ourselves, but here are presented as rational because Lewis is the star, and he does become the center of attention, ruining people's days or becoming harassed as he engages in simple social exchanges like answering common questions, in all of his scenes (flashbacks, dreams, or present-day realities)!

The film takes off from the therapist's chair into some bizarre territory starting with an robbery musical number that had me howling as a total non-sequitur, continuing on to the greatest unexpected reaction to a smoking habit I've seen (that hits that oh-too-familiar angst around self-doubt regarding our ability to predict the tone of a person's response by their demeanor, following through on the horror that we may not be able to read cues after all these years of practice; while also doubling for an accurate perception of the violent social stance against smokers from a smoker's point of view), and a museum trip where Lewis isn't even safe from inanimate objects that literally come to life to torment him, triggering his social phobias in the absence of people! The narrative trajectory is so wildly ungrounded that it’s hard to tell what is real or not or just an exaggerated reflection of Lewis’ greatest fears come to life. Some therapeutic-specific gags shine as well, like a third-act exposure therapy failure, and the returns to suicide are laugh riots that gradually transform into coughs as we realize the solemnity breaking through the thin veil barriers between silly jokes and sober pain.

While this film is definitely within Lewis' wheelhouse I could see it converting those who don't warm to his sense of humor but are attracted to surrealist and dark social humor. This plays like Lewis trying to make a Buñuel film, insurgent towards our social customs and institutions with sincere revelations of ubiquitous terror, and aggressively transmitting experiences with thwarted belongingness, shallowly buried under the satire. The observations are far more exposed, and genuinely debilitating, compared to Lewis' norm. It's a fitting swan song, emitting a smorgasbord (the film's alternate title) of the youthful exuberance, manic creativity, and self-conscious wit of Lewis' career, topped with an unfiltered, raw acidic confession of his worldview, and, ultimately, a neglected masterpiece. Lewis even blows up his own movie at the end of the credits, just like Buñuel did to cap off his conclusive work!

User avatar
therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: Jerry Lewis (1926-2017)

#53 Post by therewillbeblus » Wed Jun 02, 2021 10:48 pm

Three on a Couch: And Lewis does it again! Here's another hilariously perceptive take on psychotherapy, specifically targeting the ethical dilemma of the therapist and the strain of personal investment in the work pitched against a selfish unethical non-dilemma of Lewis' solution to this 'problem'. It's a surprisingly apt, if naturally exaggerated, portrayal of the thankless projections from outsiders and self-imposed strains a therapist encounters when personal and professional lives pose conflicts, and Leigh carries a solid chunk of the film as a straight-woman who emphasizes a lot of the comedy that comes from her interpersonal relations in composed, dry line deliveries and minutely-confounded responses, that work because of the empathy clearly defined in each and every mannerism.

The drama is relatively straight-played for a while, and there's a series of hysterically deadpan running gags early on where Lewis has self-serious confrontations with his wife and creatively uses blocking as the punchline, gradually turning the back of his head to the camera while holding true to his principles in monologue. As somber music plays, we are watching a scene unfold exactly like one out of a Sirk melodrama, but inverted where the main protagonist is not part of the equation for the viewer. It's such a subtle tweak, confusingly shattering the drama with gentle unease as the sole function of a non-joke, and also seems to indicate that Lewis the star can't be taken seriously to the extent where he must hide his face from us when he fakes it. He may even be laughing on the other side!

This is not the only moment of the film that seems to be posing as a serious melodrama, as several conversations continue on with this tonal shadow of the real thing. In taking the opposite approach to Cracking Up, Lewis is tightening up this film against the grain of his typical brand as the core design, and I could see fans and non-fans of Lewis coming down on either side of this. If you enjoy the idea of a levelly-pitched drama being manipulated ever so slightly to reflexively laugh at itself, this one's for you. Me, I loved it- and Leigh's patients' eccentricities are graciously positioned as funny divorced from silly boosts, like the similarly straight-played The Heartbreak Kid's cringe-inducing unconventional characters, especially Berlin. Once the plot kicks in, it's a pretty morally awful and selfish plan that elevates in Lewis-prone temperament yet remains ultimately grounded to its austerity-laced posturing. The central conceit even takes a classic screwball/sex comedy idea of juggling multiple women and undermines the intention with the purpose of winning over the already-secure fiancee as an inane twist. This may be the most bizarre frequency I've seen Lewis drop his comedic needle at, and cannot for the life of me imagine anyone unfamiliar with his subversive interests boarding the ship, or even recognizing it as a comedy depending on when they tune in!

beamish14
Joined: Fri May 18, 2018 3:07 pm

Re: Jerry Lewis (1926-2017)

#54 Post by beamish14 » Mon Jan 08, 2024 11:15 pm

The Library of Congress will be publicly screening their assemblage of The Day the Clown Cried in June.

User avatar
Matt
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm

Jerry Lewis (1926-2017)

#55 Post by Matt » Tue Jan 09, 2024 12:51 am

This article has been making the rounds for a few days, but everyone should note:
No details have been announced however, in 2015, film archivists told New York Post the screening would be held at the National Audio-Visual Conservation Centre, Virginia in June of 2024.
So an unnamed person told the least credible newspaper in New York 9 years ago that there would be a screening and nothing has been announced since. Don’t believe anything until you hear it—in this decade—from the Library of Congress itself.

EDIT: I found the original New York Post article from 2015. Mike Mashon — “head of the moving-image section at the library’s Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation” — was the source of the info. He retired last year.

What I think happened is that a reporter heard the agreement specified a ten-year embargo, expiring in 2024—after which the film (or the film materials) could be made available to scholars or could be screened by the LoC—and understood that to mean that it would be screened. How this old bit of speculation popped up again after all this time with no new information is baffling.

User avatar
senseabove
Joined: Wed Dec 02, 2015 3:07 am

Re: Jerry Lewis (1926-2017)

#56 Post by senseabove » Tue Jan 09, 2024 2:26 am

Stuart Galbraith also claims there isn’t even anything to screen–likely an incomplete workprint at most, an even that may not be in the LoC holdings.

beamish14
Joined: Fri May 18, 2018 3:07 pm

Re: Jerry Lewis (1926-2017)

#57 Post by beamish14 » Tue Jan 09, 2024 2:27 am

Matt wrote:
Tue Jan 09, 2024 12:51 am
This article has been making the rounds for a few days, but everyone should note:
No details have been announced however, in 2015, film archivists told New York Post the screening would be held at the National Audio-Visual Conservation Centre, Virginia in June of 2024.
So an unnamed person told the least credible newspaper in New York 9 years ago that there would be a screening and nothing has been announced since. Don’t believe anything until you hear it—in this decade—from the Library of Congress itself.

EDIT: I found the original New York Post article from 2015. Mike Mashon — “head of the moving-image section at the library’s Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation” — was the source of the info. He retired last year.

What I think happened is that a reporter heard the agreement specified a ten-year embargo, expiring in 2024—after which the film (or the film materials) could be made available to scholars or could be screened by the LoC—and understood that to mean that it would be screened. How this old bit of speculation popped up again after all this time with no new information is baffling.

I think I was just being naively optimistic by hoping this will transpire, and I completely agree that the Post is not in the least bit reputable. I’m sure that a commercial release will never happen in any of our lifetimes, though

Post Reply