Flicker - Making myself crazy!
Frmertedd
Flicker. I think it might have been Fincher. The premise of the story sounded
intriguing, but now I can't remember what it was about. The bigger problem is I
can't find any info on a book called Flicker through any resource I've used, so
now I'm thinking that Flicker may have only been one word in a longer title. I
remember the word Flicker so vividly because I've had a half formed idea for a
story called Flicker for years now, but I guess I'll lay it to rest.
Help! Any information would be appreciated!
John Harkness
Flicker is a novel by Theodore Roszak which posits an alternative
history of the cinema as a manifestation of the Albigensian heresy in
the late medieval France, as discovered through a young film critic's
search for the lost works of fictional German expressionist emigre
director Max Castle (who's sort of Edward G. Ulmer-ish) working in the
lower limits of Hollywood Poverty Row then suddenly disappearing.
It's on the very short list of great novels about the movies (as
opposed to great novels about Hollywood), and parts of it are a very
funny roman a clef (the young critic's mentor is plainly based on
Pauline Kael, for example)
It's out ot print and has been for some time -- back when it was in
print (published in 1991) I went through several copies before I
simply stopped lending it to people, because I never got it back. A
couple of years ago, I wanted to give it to a friend for Xmas, and had
to go through rare book dealers to get a good first that cost me about
$70.
If you can find it, it's worth it. Great project for Fincher, though
to do it justice it would have to run about six hours.
John Harkness
John Harkness
$30 is not a bad price at all.
John Harkness
Nick Macpherson
>It's on the very short list of great novels about the movies (as
>opposed to great novels about Hollywood), and parts of it are a very
>funny roman a clef (the young critic's mentor is plainly based on
>Pauline Kael, for example)
I read it a few years back on a recommendation. Very haunting, a bit
reactionary, and it's fun to pick out the roman a clef aspects; after you
finish reading it, it's impossible to shake off, mainly because of the novel's
spooky premise that cinema predates electricity . One of the three best modern
works of fiction I've read about movies--the others being David Thomson's
Suspects (everyone should read that one), and James Robert Baker's Boy Wonder.
>If you can find it, it's worth it. Great project for Fincher, though
>to do it justice it would have to run about six hours.
>
Yeah, a multi-decade epic about a secret history of the movies. I don't see
how anyone could film it but if Fincher wants to try, it's bound to be better
than Panic Room. If I was giving the assignment to a director, I might be
tempted to go with Darren Aronofsky.
John Harkness
wrote:
>>From: j...@attcanada.ca (John Harkness)
>
>>It's on the very short list of great novels about the movies (as
>>opposed to great novels about Hollywood), and parts of it are a very
>>funny roman a clef (the young critic's mentor is plainly based on
>>Pauline Kael, for example)
>
>I read it a few years back on a recommendation. Very haunting, a bit
>reactionary, and it's fun to pick out the roman a clef aspects; after you
>finish reading it, it's impossible to shake off, mainly because of the novel's
>spooky premise that cinema predates electricity . One of the three best modern
>works of fiction I've read about movies--the others being David Thomson's
>Suspects (everyone should read that one), and James Robert Baker's Boy Wonder.
>
Since I agree with you about Suspects, looks like I'll have to find
Boy Wonder.
John Harkness
Gary Burleson
> reactionary,
Hmm, what on earth does that mean in this context?
Gary
Nick Macpherson
>a bit
>> reactionary,
>
>Hmm, what on earth does that mean in this context?
It's been a few years since I've read Flicker and I don't have a copy handy but
I remember getting worn down by the way the author views low-budget
exploitation (a la Ed Wood) or more experimental 70s transgressive movies
(Eraserhead seems to be an unstated point of reference) in the most dire and
foreboding way, which fits in with the main idea of the novel, a religious cult
who make movies so decadent and extreme they're designed to cause a
counter-reaction and lead to a spiritual revival, but it still gets a bit
wearisome as the author goes on and on about the moral decline of movies.
Ericmai
Frmertedd
in my head. That must be why I thought it was Fincher who got the rights.