Into The Valley of the Weed...

[handful_ofdust]

Okay! Got my first group of edits back from CZP, and I'm checking them/adding to them as we speak. I'm about five pages into Chapter Three. Happy to say I'm quickly closing in on having already cut out 2,000 words.;)

Otherwise, last night I watched my Criterion copy of The Seventh Seal for the first time, and yes, by God--Season of the Witch really is basically based on that subplot with the poor, deluded, tortured girl Antonius Block stops to talk to while she's on her way to be burned alive. Amazing. Obvious somebody saw that and thought: Man, what this needs is 100% more actual Satan! Also, CGI wolves. And Hellboy head-butting a demon while catching on fire.

At any rate, I don't have lots of time to talk about it, but it really is an amazing film. And far funnier than I remember it being, in that pitch-black Swedish sort of way--total Viking humour. It's mainly Jons the squire who's responsible for that; man, what a total soft-hearted atheist bad-ass. (I also love how every time Block says something that annoys him, he makes this weird sort of "biting the air" face at him, like he's a cat in flamen.)

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Since I live under a rock and never read or see anything, can you describe in more detail the vignette in The Seventh Seal in which you've got the girl being led off to be burned alive?

Also... I am still totally going to read your MS, though I realize you're way beyond needing feedback at this point. I'm really grateful that you've shared it--thanks! I'm sorry I've been mainly useless this time around.

[moon-custafer.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen it in a few years, but IIRC world-weary ex-crusader Max Von Sydow, shortly after returning to northern Europe, comes across some people about to burn a witch who looks about fourteen years old. Von Sydow is pretty sure the poor kid is just nuts, but he's just one man, and the mob isn't about to listen to him, especially since the girl herself thinks she's been consorting with demons; so in the end all he can do is slip her some hashish or something that he's brought back from the east so she won't feel it when they burn her.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Whoa, that's intense.

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

Not at all! Just knowing I have a bunch of people waiting makes me keep writing...that's useful in itself.

[intertribal.livejournal.com]

Man, what this needs is 100% more actual Satan!

LOL-ing forever. Did you end up seeing Season of the Witch? Is it terrible? I suggested it to the friend I see horror movies with on Friday and she was like "NO."

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

It depends on your mileage, I suspect. Certainly, it is cheesy beyond belief, but that didn't annoy me so much-I knew the history was shite going in, considering that they put the Crusades right next to the Black Death (200 years of separation, bridged in a single pitch-line). I just decided that it takes place in a fantasy alternate universe version of Europe, which--let's face it--it really does, in that it assumes witches can do witchcraft.

That said, I enjoyed the characters, and Steve liked the fact that while the Church was roundly criticized, they weren't the actual final villains of the piece (that'd be the Devil!). So I account it a fun time, but remember: I liked Centurion.;)

[sovay]

Otherwise, last night I watched my Criterion copy of The Seventh Seal for the first time, and yes, by God--Season of the Witch really is basically based on that subplot with the poor, deluded, tortured girl Antonius Block stops to talk to while she's on her way to be burned alive. Amazing.

. . . That's what I thought from the trailer. Good God.

I love Jof, the player. Also Death. Also the entire movie.

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

I know!;) We should definitely talk about it sometime, when I'm not in the process of cutting 26,000 words out of a book.

[sovay]

We should definitely talk about it sometime, when I'm not in the process of cutting 26,000 words out of a book.

It's a date.

(Ouch.)

[moon-custafer.livejournal.com]

Death is also one of the funnier characters, in his dry way. According to my mom, her colleague's Swedish husband used to laugh out loud while watching Berman films, so I'm guessing there's more comedy in them than North Americans think.

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

For me, it's all about that scene where Jons asks the shepherd where the nearest in is, only to realize he's a dessicated corpse.

Block: Did he have anything to say?
Jons: Yes, a lot. Unfortunately, it was all quite gloomy.

I paraphrase, but...you get the gist.

[moon-custafer.livejournal.com]

"You can give him your message, but I can't guarantee he'll listen." (Movie I saw in elementary school, paraphrased/translated from French).

[sixteenbynine.livejournal.com]

I'm pleased to note I wasn't the only person who thought Seventh Seal was actually quite funny -- my biggest laugh: the sawing of the tree branch.

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

That's some prime existentialist Monty Python shit, right there!

[sovay]

That's some prime existentialist Monty Python shit, right there!

"But my performance!"
"Canceled on account of Death."
"My contract!"
"Terminated."

(Why do I not have an icon for The Seventh Seal? Death with the grate of the confessional in shadow across his face . . .)

[moon-custafer.livejournal.com]

"Can't you make an exception for actors?"
"Not in your case."

Incidentally - anyone here ever see The Last Action Hero? Death eventually comes out of a Bergman festival screening, in the form of Ian McKellan (just as dry and delightful as you'd think.)

[sovay]

anyone here ever see The Last Action Hero? Death eventually comes out of a Bergman festival screening, in the form of Ian McKellan (just as dry and delightful as you'd think.)

Never, but that's lovely.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Yes! I remember that!