by Sam Juliano
Veteran’s Day (November 11) means a day off from our school positions and a welcome panacea from all the stress experienced the past few days. Lucille’s “gamma-knife” laser procedure went down perfectly on Thursday at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan. We picked her up at around noon, had lunch and then went home where she rested a few hours. As is normal for this treatment, one must wait about six months to see the benign meningioma’s disabling via an MRI, but success usually greets the vast number of these procedures. The bottom line is that doctors are confident they achieved what they sought to do and we are more than relieved to have this episode behind us. We can never thank everyone enough for their exceeding kindness, concern and support. Of course some people opt to do nothing with their benign tumors, and a good number go 15 to 20 years before even addressing them, but Lucille opted to play it safe. Typically, she attended several events after the procedure much as I have despite spending several hours on Saturday in the emergency room at Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck after I seem to have lost my vision in my right eye. All was a blur and I thought I may have had retina detachment. Alas it was diagnosed as a cataract (and a profoundly clouded one at that!) which I now must have replaced with the usual artificial lens as soon as possible, perhaps within the coming week. It seems like something is always going on. Cataracts of course are normal, and most people have relatives who have had one or both eyes done. My own father had them done to both his own eyes about 20 years ago as I recall.
Lucille and I will be attending a 75th Anniversary celebration at the Fairview Public Library this afternoon in the building where I serve on the Board of Trustees. Young Sammy and Jeremy will be joining us.
Jim Clark’s last stupendous work of film scholarship, a mega-essay on Claire Denis’ High Life was published last week, and J.D. Lafrance’s terrific review on the Coens’ Miller’s Crossing posted this past Tuesday.
Democrats Sweep Bergen County!!!
It was an off year election, one without a Presidential, gubernatorial, Senate or House of Representatives candidate. Normally this kind of contest heavily favors traditional Republican turnout but yesterday Bergen County Democrats again dominated, with all three freeholder candidates (Germaine Ortiz, Thomas Sullivan and Mary Amoroso) coasting to 10 point wins. Democrats held their seats in State legislative districts 35, 36, 37 and 38 and six new Democratic Mayors unseated GOP incumbents in Bergenfield, Dumont, Rutherford, River Edge, Maywood and Tenafly. It was a big night for Democrats nationwide with the shocking gubernatorial win in Kentucky, and the complete takeover by Dems in Virginia, but the Bergen County dominance dates back six years, which was the last time the GOP even held a single seat on the freeholder board! Congratulations Chairman Paul Juliano and the Bergen County Democratic team for their resounding victory, which was celebrated last night at the Hasbrouck Heights Hilton! Bergen is the state’s most populous county.
We saw two movies in theaters this past. While one (The Irishman) is a supreme masterpiece and one of the top two movies of the year for me, the other, Midway was largely a dud. We saw:
The Irishman (Monday) ***** IFC Film Center
Midway (Friday) ** Teaneck multiplex
I am still absorbing Martin Scorsese’s three-and-one-half hour gangland epic “The Irishman”, seen last night with family members at Manhattan’s IFC Film Center, but there is no question it is a staggering masterpiece, one of the director’s greatest works in a storied career, a film containing not one but three towering, brilliant performances by Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci. Shakespearean in scope, profound, elegiac and breathlessly entertaining, it is superbly scripted and edited (by Scorsese alumni Thelma Schoonmaker) and scored (with a haunting use of The Five Satins’ ‘In the Still of the Night”) and sheds new light on the Jimmy Hoffa days, JFK’s assassination, and oft-ferocious behavior in families led by mobster patriarchs. The film and its characters are richly drawn and methinks one viewing isn’t sufficient remotely. For me it is one of the two greatest films of 2019 with Florien Henckel von Donnarsmarck’s German epic “Never Look Away” which opened in mid January of 2019 stateside.
Good news for all of you and I hope Lucille’s recovery is smooth as silk. We have a lot on our medical plate right now too – and reading is not so fun with my cataract acting up and so many books to read. I have to wait until January with my health plan. Have a good and healthy week.
THE IRISHMAN I wonder when it will come to a theater near me? Sounds very good. Looking forward to Tom Hanks as Mr. Rogers and I know that will come here and close by. I also got tickets for live Christmas comedy play coming from England for Nov 29th – Laughing my way through Black Friday!!!
3 more books to finish reading for 2019 and then I am done until the January books start arriving – Actually, one for March 2020 is already here!
Thank you so much my very good friend!! Your kindness and concern are as always deeply appreciated! I am sorry to hear that you also have an infernal cataract on your plate. So scary for those of us who read, write and watch movies at a frantic pace, but I don’t mean to generalize. January is right around the corner. THE IRISHMAN will only run in theaters until November 30th, but then it comes to NETFLIX. You may be able to negotiate it that way. Enjoy that Christmas comedy staging, sounds awesome! I know you have been real busy on the book front and I applaud that. I too cant wait to see Tom Hanks in the Mr. Rogers movie.
Oh, jeez, Sammy, that’s awful to hear about the cataract (although great news that it wasn’t a retinal detachment). The cataract op is, I’m told by friends who’ve had it (including my mum), not pleasant but not nearly as unpleasant as you might think it’s going to be. And the success rate is up around the 100% mark.
You really are living through interesting times right now, aren’t you? So sorry to hear about this latest bit of nastiness.
Exactly John! A cataract detachment could spell disaster, which is why I sprinted down to the emergency room on Saturday. In a sense and most seem to agree, there couldn’t have been a better outcome than a cataract which is remedies nearly 100% (as you note) of the time with this procedure. I too have heard it isn’t nearly as unpleasant as you’d think, and there is according to all I’ve spoken to that have had it done, completely painless. I guess that worst aspect is this avalanche of doctor’s appointments including a retina specialist in about one hour from now, another tomorrow to do measurements for the replacement lens to the cataract, another on Monday to have a laser “zap” on my left eye to delay the onset of a cataract there (that left eye is perfect they tell me) and then THREE (3) pre-op and post op visits to the December 13th surgery. And maybe more. LOL!!! But yes the last six weeks are from hell. Thank you so much my friend! Depply appreciated!
Sam, cataract surgery is routine and there really isn’t any discomfort at all. My brother had it done a few months ago and he is seeing better than ever.
Thank for that positive testimonial my friend! Much appreciated! Great to hear all went so well with your brother!
Ricky is right on the cataract. There is minimal if any discomfort and it is quick and efficient. One day wearing an eye patch, eye drops and your vision is like new. You’ll have 20-20 in no time.
Can’t wait to see The Irishman! I’ll heard nothing but praise.
Thanks so much for the specifics Frank! And thanks for the confidence all will be well. We’ll be comparing notes on THE IRISHMAN in no time! Enjoy!
Wishing you the very best with your routine and always successful procedure Sam. Both my parents had this done in both their eyes.
Mark and I saw “The Irishman” over the weekend, which has motivated me to head over to my favorite blog to report in, and to check out your other posts. My husband thinks it is the greatest Martin Scorsese movie of them all and I feel it is very close to that distinction. Amazing performances from the three lead men!
So thrilled to read of your’s and Mark’s glowing response to THE IRISHMAN Celeste! If it isn’t the greatest Scorsese film (and it may well be) it comes very very close. Thank you so much for the very kind words my friend!
Think of it this way, Sam; you’ll be able to see clearly out of both eyes again and isn’t that a wonderful thing.
Since naming one’s favorite films of the decade seems to be a thing now, for what it’s worth here’s my list in random order.
The Turin Horse (Bela Tarr and Agnes Hranitzky)
The Master (Paul Thomas Anderson)
Inherent Vice (Paul Thomas Anderson)
Holy Motors (Leos Carax)
The Act of Killing (Joshua Oppenheimer)
24 Frames (Abbas Kiarostami)
Frances Ha (Noah Baumbach)
The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese)
A Quiet Passion (Terence Davies)
The Death of Louis XIV (Albert Serra)
Poetry (Lee Chang-dong)
Burning (Lee Chang-dong)
Uncle Boonmee (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
Climax (Gaspar Noe)
The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick)
To the Wonder (Terrence Malick)
Knight of Cups (Terrence Malick)
An Elephant Sitting Still (Hu Bo)
A Separation (Ashgar Farhadi)
Selma (Ava DuVernay)
Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman)
w/Stillman regular Chloe Sevigny. Yas!
Boyhood (Richard Linklater)
First Reformed (Paul Schrader)
Zama (Lucretia Martel)
Dawson City: Frozen Time (Bill Morrison) Aesthetic decay hasn’t looked this lovely since Eraserhead (DPs Frederick Elmes and Herbert Cardwell) and the films of Tarr (DPs Gabor Medvigy and Fred Kelemen. “Satantango” features the work of seven gifted cinematographers.)
So it looks like Malick emerges as the auteur of the 2010s with P.T. Anderson and Lee Chang-dong trailing right behind.
Still waiting to see The Irishman, Parasite, and Pain and Glory, so the list will likely be revised.
Since it’s Bette Davis month on TCM everyone should check out Charles Pierce’s brilliant impersonations of La Davis on YouTube. The late Mr. Pierce’s impressions of classic Hollywood divas and glamor pusses are gut bustingly hilarious and he nails and caricatures all of Davis’s mannerisms to perfection–her run-on speech (“Thirty-nine ninety-five isn’t it lovely?” from “The Star” and multiple other examples), that odd sashay, and the histrionic chain smoking. Tears of laughter will surely flow.
Draft. I misspelled Lucrecia Martel.
Mark thank you for the kind words! I must have like 8 appointments over the next two weeks, and I kid you not. A retina specialist, another to take the measurements for the lens, a follow-up and a pre-visit, a laser zap for the left eye (non-cataract eye) to work against another cataract forming in that eye and the surgery of the cataract on December 13th. Completely insanity!
Yes we are nearing the time for the decade lists for sure! I am resisting until late December to make sure all bases are cover and all the 2019 films are considered. Around 9 or 10 of your choices will make my own Top 20 or Top 25 depending how I comprise it. Your list is a most distinguished! BTW I liked the much critically-maligned TO THE WONDER as well, but I wouldn’t myself put it in a best of list, but I still salute you for that. I do need to see LA DAVIS absolutely! Thank you for that extravagant alert my friend!
Jim Jordan is an embarrassment to Ohio.
Mark, he is an absolute disgrace!!!! And yes an embarrassment to the great state of Ohio!
JomJordan is an embarrassment to Ohio.
Jim Jordan doesn’t respect his office enough to wear a jacket
Totally agreed Mark!!! He does not!