From Arbus to Zero for Conduct

For those of you who cherish your brain cells, the moguls in Hollywood have chosen to cut us a break this weekend, leaving the big-budget extravaganzas alone, and giving us… well, virtually nothing. There’s a lot of movies around town, but I think your best bet’s at the Walker Art Center. If it were me, I’d take my honey out to my favorite restaurant, go for a stroll through the sculpture gardens (just to check out the approaching sunset and have some good conversation time), and then go for a major wig-out with the Diane Arbus exhibit. Arbus is perhaps my favorite photographer. Our own DeSmith had an intriguing observation about Arbus–I can’t wait to come up with my own.

It’ll also be a trip down memory lane. When I was an impressionable youth, I used to pore over a book of Arbus’ photos that my Pop had. They freaked me out to no end, and gave a sad kid with freashly split folks a sense that maybe being f’d up kept you in good–if not interesting–company. In fact, I used to try to look like a so-called freak in the mirror, hoping that I would somehow appear just weird enough for an Arbus to photograph. A lack of sleep helped with the bags under the eyes and a woeful countenance. Nowadays I can achieve the effect with too much gin and an early morning.

Anyway, after that, I’d probably haul my girl to see Zero For Conduct, playing every hour on the hour in the Walker’s Auditorium. Zero is the harrowing story of a rebellion in a boy’s school in France, directed by Jean Vigo. Vigo only lived long enough to make this and L’Atalante, one of my all time favorites. Like Arbus, Vigo had an eye for the beautiful and the grotesque–just look at Michel Simon and his barbarous sailor, and Dita Parlo is at turns ravishing and disturbing. I expect no less of Zero and all its angry children.

Life has kept me from making my way in to see Zero, but I will this weekend, the last time before I head to the deserts of Saudi Arabia. If you’re desperate for my reviews (which would make me worried about your mental health), I’ll have a few coming while I’m gone, from Superduperman Reruns to A Scanner Darkly, the former god-awful, the latter pretty good. But go see Diane and go see Zero; you deserve to treat yourself to something truly amazing for a change.