I have been watching the Peter Sellers film The Party on Youtube over the past two days (I tend to watch movies slowly, in increments) and can confidently say it stands as one of the best films of 1968.
Sellers' portrayal of an awkward Indian Hollywood party crasher may be completely un-PC but I believe he embodies the role with empathy... the boorish movie industry schmoozers take it square on the rump. Sellers' comedic sensibility rivals that of Charlie Chaplin and Groucho Marx, at their most wacky and inspired.
Not only that, but the cinematic concept of moving through an actual party in real time (very groovy space age pad with a proto-smart grid and baby statue that can riotously elevate its arc of piss), with recurring characters and motifs is nothing short of pioneering. It presages Altman and even that more recent movie that was shot at a party by the cast, using smart phones. It is a real shame that a movie like this could probably not be made in the present day, as it would draw the ire of thousands of livid Facebook protesters.
Walking White Beach prior to my daily jog and swim, I noted the swarms of camera toting tourists who have invaded Boracay and made it as pedestrian and anti-magical as a modern iPhone-meerkat concert experience.*
In a Seller-esque mood, I envisioned a movie along the lines of The Party called The Beach (I know, the title has been taken), portraying our hapless protagonists' attempt to wend his way through a bevy of digitized paradise capturers. I think the pictures give a nice concept ideation. Would not be expensive to make. Maybe I'll do it on my iPhone.
* To preserve integrity (and make a point), the photos are all from a single, spontaneously selected 100-foot stretch of White Beach at sunset, taken within 30 seconds.
(SEO alert) Content by Damon Shulenberger, endurancewriter par excellence & socially awkward snobby party avoider.
Sellers' portrayal of an awkward Indian Hollywood party crasher may be completely un-PC but I believe he embodies the role with empathy... the boorish movie industry schmoozers take it square on the rump. Sellers' comedic sensibility rivals that of Charlie Chaplin and Groucho Marx, at their most wacky and inspired.
Not only that, but the cinematic concept of moving through an actual party in real time (very groovy space age pad with a proto-smart grid and baby statue that can riotously elevate its arc of piss), with recurring characters and motifs is nothing short of pioneering. It presages Altman and even that more recent movie that was shot at a party by the cast, using smart phones. It is a real shame that a movie like this could probably not be made in the present day, as it would draw the ire of thousands of livid Facebook protesters.
Walking White Beach prior to my daily jog and swim, I noted the swarms of camera toting tourists who have invaded Boracay and made it as pedestrian and anti-magical as a modern iPhone-meerkat concert experience.*
In a Seller-esque mood, I envisioned a movie along the lines of The Party called The Beach (I know, the title has been taken), portraying our hapless protagonists' attempt to wend his way through a bevy of digitized paradise capturers. I think the pictures give a nice concept ideation. Would not be expensive to make. Maybe I'll do it on my iPhone.
* To preserve integrity (and make a point), the photos are all from a single, spontaneously selected 100-foot stretch of White Beach at sunset, taken within 30 seconds.
(SEO alert) Content by Damon Shulenberger, endurancewriter par excellence & socially awkward snobby party avoider.
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