Hairpin and Ebert: Hairpin Begins Reviewing Films

“Doctor Zhivago” – reviewed by Hairpin March 25, 2020

"Doctor Zhivago" – It's one of those films that all cinephiles know or are expected to know.  I can't imagine what film school is like, but I imagine Doctor Zhivago is one of the foundational films all future directors study.  And they should.  Doctor Zhivago hit theatres in 1965.  It was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and won 5 of them, though not any of the big ones like Best Picture, Best Actor/Actress, Best Director.

It's March 2020 and the world is shut down for the COVID-19 virus and social distancing, so I am going back and watching these films cinephiles love.  I was hesitant because I hate following the herd, plus this film is over three hours long.  In the 21st century film studios discourage directors from making films longer than 2 hours, let alone 3.  After chickening out, then psyching myself up, I finally made my couch comfortable and set up 3 hours worth of snacks close by.  While I did devour 3 hours worth of snacks, Doctor Zhivago's pacing made it seem like a normal 2 hour movie.

Doctor Zhivago, a film by David Lean, tells two tales: The tale of Dr. Yuri Zhivago, a general practitioner, poet, and star-crossed lover as he navigates an ever changing world, and the tale of Russia and it's violent transformation from Tsarist Russia to Communist Russia.

I'll share my favorite nugget in the movie.  A hidden gem of a quote that transcends time and is still relevant today.  Zhivago's medical professor is trying to discourage Zhivago from becoming a General Practitioner and pursue research, but to no avail.  The professor knows his young and impressionable student is drawn to humans.  So he offhandedly warns young Zhivago, "Life ... He wants to see life ... Well you'll find that pretty creatures - do ugly things; to people."  It is a tiny, subtle foreboding of what's to come.  For Zhivago, for the cast, for Russia.

So many things about this movie stand out, but there are two things that jumped out at me.  1.) We always hear "love story, love story, remarkable love story" attached to this film, but David Lean, Director, and Robert Bolt, screenplay, detailed the gritty, alarming, and deadly transition from the Tsar Dynasty through the Bolshevik Revolution to Communism's infancy.  We see famished and starved Russian soldiers armed with sticks charging German machine guns, we see the rich bourgeois share their lavish homes with peasants, then lose their homes.  We see the outcome of civil war between Russia's White army and Red Army.  For those who don't know Russian history, the movie Doctor Zhivago provides a dramatic introduction to Russia in the early 20th Century.

SPOILER ALERT:

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The second thing that jumped out at me was the unabashed sexual assault that occurred in the movie.  It wasn't a gratuitous nudity shot of a young beautiful woman that is common today, but Victor Komarovsky's (Rod Steiger) multiple assaults of Lara are jarring in the 21st century.  This film was from 1965.  I've never seen a portrayal of an unabashed sexual predator in a film so old.  Rod Steiger acting was so good, I wanted him shot.  To be clear, movies in this time may have insinuated a sexual assault occurred, but DZ showed Komarovsky overpowering Lara's fight and raping her without consent.  I am surprised the repressed Motion Picture Association of America allowed this scene to remain in the final cut.

Okay, on to my take on the "love story."  Meh.  Really.  Zhivago cheats on his wife Tonya (Geraldine Chaplin) to be with Lara (Julie Christie), but when he sees how much it is bothering her he attempts to leave Lara and return to Tonya (before he is kidnapped into military service.)  I wanted to love the love story, I wanted to cry tears for unrequited love.  Instead, I came away thinking, this protagonist really doesn't know what he wants. 

Having said this, this is still an amazing film.  The Oscars for Best Writing, Best Cinematography, and Best Music Score are well deserved.  I'm shocked that Steiger wasn't nominated, but Tom Courtenay deservedly was nominated.  He played Lara's first love and future husband, Pasha Antipov (Strelnikov).  Of all the characters in the film, Courtenay's Pasha transforms the most, and not in a pleasant way.  Sir Alec Guinness deserves praise for his limited screen time as Zhivago's half brother Yevgraf Zhivago.   There are reams of "little things" in this movie I could review, but I forgot to mention the choice to begin the movie with Guinness' Yevgraf obtuse narrative that quickly gains focus and hooks the wannabe cinephile.  Great job by Lean and Guinness.

Again, great movie that still holds up.  Go see it.  I didn't give it 5 stars because the love story didn't live up to the hype that has been, well, that has been hyped, but I'm a cynic.  The rest of the movie is superb.

(This is actually my fourth film review.  See all my film (Eric Hairpin) reviews on letterboxd.com)

The Hairpin Chronicles: Love in the Time of Coronavirus

The Hairpin Chronicles

Reboot: Volume 1 Issue 4

Love in the Time of Coronavirus

March 2020

 

So as Syracuse Q or Bronx A points out, the Hairpin Chronicles is over due (by a measly 3 months.)  Had I written this in January, I would have had some major announcements.  Had I neglected to that (I did), then I’d still have some kind of big news to share.  Failing those two chances (I did), then I would have still had some major epiphanies and feelings to express, but now I’m in mid-March 2020 and the world has sheltered itself indoors and away from everything.  Or as my new favorite meme suggests, “Sorry folks, the world’s closed.”

As Social Distancing transitioned from jokes and indecision into “What the EFF” is happening, New York City felt a lot like it did the immediate week after the September 11 attack on the World Trade City.  The mood everywhere was somber and not a whole lot of people wanted to leave their house.  Just kidding, no one wanted to leave their apartment – there ARE no houses in New York City.  A big difference is that bars remained open where people could drown their sorrows with friends and empathic strangers.  Plus, the despair and uncertainly lifted after three weeks to a month as the fires were extinguished and the city began rebuilding.

Now though, I’m pretty sure we haven’t gotten to the new status quo yet and when we do, it will last more than the month or six weeks the politicians are telling us.  My employers sent everyone home with laptops to work remotely.  I fought it and stayed in my enclosed office with two monitors, but once the NYC schools shut down I was forced to work remotely AND watch two nuclear bundles of energy trapped in a 600 square foot “junior one bedroom.”  Nothing has been fun about this.  I haven’t had toilet paper buying issues or long lines.  I don’t eat a lot of things that other people buy.  I’ve been a vegetarian for over a month and my local store always has the perishable vegetables (I just wrote and said that in my head for the first time ever – “Perishable Vegetables” sounds like a super fun song They Might Be Giants would sing, If Those Giants Might Still Be Singing.)

I have become a Zoom expert.  Between team meetings, meetings with students, and online play dates, I take part in at least 7 Zoom conference calls a day.  On one day, I was simultaneously on a team meeting, hosting an online play date for Thing 2, and trying to follow the online dance party group I have joined.

It's not all gloom and doom though.  I’ve communicated with some people through social media that I “didn’t” have time to.  I had a golden nugget of an amazing time chatting with a friend from the TrollTour movie.  It was short, chill, and a perfect social distancing moment.  It also reminded me how humans can build such strong, intense friendships with other humans that “pop” in and out of your life.  There’s been A LOT of “popping” in my life and I am very thankful for the people who had a physical presence in my life for a few years, but have taken permanent storage in my heart.  It’s really nice.  It’s reassuring have these relationships and it’s the buoys that I’ll hang onto instead of drowning in the Seas of “TEEZ”: anxieTEEZ and uncertainTEEZ.  (Yes, it did hurt this English major to spell those words so horribly wrong.) 

And now I present…

Haiku of the Month 
Anxiety and
Uncertainty clog my thoughts
But hope still dreams big

So yeah, I mentioned that NYC feels very similar to the post-9/11 NYC and I will tell you why that’s a good thing.  New Yorkers were SO incredibly nice and kind to each other as we dealt with the horrors of September 11^th.  It lasted for months.  I am seeing and I am feeling that coming back, but if “Flattening the Curve” takes several months, then I am hoping so does the kindness and generosity.  My bet says it does!

Also, the funniest I have EVER been in my life was the days and weeks after the September 11^th attacks.  Everyone around me was so glum and sad, so I went OUT of my way to make everyone laugh and I excelled at it!  I did some stupid and ridiculous things, anything that would get someone to crack a smile.  With Social Distancing soon to become Shelter in Place, it’s a bit more difficult.  I’ve been adding some fun dance videos on my facebook page and I might expand it to Zoom Karaoke and maybe Zoom Open Mics who knows.

Before checking in on accountability, let me share a favorite word of mine: “choice.”  You choose your perception and you choose who writes your own personal narrative.  Is the pandemic horrible?  In a lot of ways, yes, but I have made the choice to be healthy and I have made the choice to find the nuggets of joy, the nuggets of family, and the nuggets of friendship that encircle us every day: in person, online, and in memory.

ACCOUNTABILITY SEGMENT (new addition to T.H.C. – as by sharing my goals, I am more accountable for pursuing them):

Goals as stated in Volume 1, Issue 1:

• Create a 40-minute set of rock music song originals (or parodies) and play them in a live show for my 50^th birthday (May-ish 2020) I began guitar lessons in January.  I can play six notes on two strings, but not very fast and not without looking.  I can also play 4 or 5 chords, but I’m definitely going to need back up at my show (if the show happens.)

• Complete a triathlon – I can still do the run and swim, but I haven’t been in a pool and now I don’t know if any NYC pools are open OR if the triathlon will occur in April (my gut says no)

 

• Fly to London, catch a Jaguars football game in Wembley Stadium, and possibly hang with “Jackie Chan” – My favorite comedian will be in London the weekend of October 16^th.  If the Jaguars play that weekend or the weekend after, I may go to both events 

 

• Perform at least 24 times (twice a month) – yeah well, um …, I’ve been putting up humorous dance moves, but that’s about it

 

• OR land a gig at a comedy club helping the booker or wrangling comics at an open mic – not so much to report (same as last month)

 

• Finishing a book or screenplay – the book is my guide on raising children though the moral of the story is not to have them in the first place, and the screenplay would be an original tale of several characters interconnected in their dysfunctional lives OR a re-write of The Warriors (A grotesque thought, I know but I didn’t say I’d do ALL of this) – I’ve prioritized my own self-helpery, but I have ideas and one or two titles (same as last month)

 

• Visit the Dakota Hairpins – no plans per se, but I will pursue more frequent nationwide travel to family in friends in 2020 and beyond, some initial conversations have been set in place, but not a date

MAIL INBOX: (empty, but please send me questions or comments and maybe your thoughts will be included in future Chronicles)

Sending positive energy, loves, and laughs your way today and every day.  Much, much love to YOU!

Until next time, I remain …

Your friend,
Judgy 
Hairpin,
Coach,
RayShawn,
B-Roll,
The Brooklyn Prophet,
Li’l Jackie,
Schmendrick,
Jasper Hackenburg,
Hairpin,
Or if you prefer 
Eric

Be Kind.  Be Brave.  Be Human