Sex and Death 101

Zach: You call this decadence?

A 'movie.' Consciously lit for 'production value,' people dressed 'nicely,' bachelor party 'set dressing:'

Stripper: Your fiance is lucky, she's got one of the good ones. I wish I was more into successful white dudes but uh (laugh), two broke Latin husbands -- (laugh). Jesus, stop me. Anyway man, gracias, seriously.

Made from a 'script,' by Daniel Waters, who also directed.

Sex and Death 101 benefits from a firsthand knowledge of the Hollywood business and cultural landscape. Waters is the loud and proud LA MOVIEMAKER type of movie maker. He says through self-awareness to 'deal with' the fact that it's a movie, and that beautiful and wealthy people are rulers of this kingdom.

News stand guy: This kind of stuff happens in the movies.

What Waters does, he does well. Think of Heathers, Batman Returns, and the first draft of Demolition Man. The dude who created Demolition Man knows it's a goddamn movie. He uses it to his advantage whenever he can. That's his art.

This movie arrived two years after fellow LA MOVIEMAKER Shane Black's directorial debut Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, also about "presentable" men running amok in LA, told in a narrative employing self-awareness, parody, and satire. The two movies are stylistically near enough to exist in the same universe.

Their self-awareness is a type that rewards viewers familiar with movie tropes, especially it seems ones from late-night HBO*. Conventions are expertly amped and tweaked, for maximum enjoyment. Beautiful people are the protagonists, that's a law of glitzy LA, and the best movies have TONS of sexual energy, erotic deviance, light philosophy, cool tunes, cash, and chill vibes. 

So it's not all bad.

A sprinkling of the world from outside this perspective. Applied as harmlessly as possible.

The LA movie scenario is a millipede of potential. It's linked to a tradition of genre juggling, and includes movies like The Loved One, In a Lonely Place, The Terminator, Lady Killer ('33), Body Double, The Black Marble, Sunset Boulevard, Bad Influence, D.O.A. ('50), Die Hard, and Eating Raoul. LA makes a great 'movie world,' I love some of these movies, and would pit them against subversive and deliberately weird movies Monday through Sunday. But I find myself in disagreement about the opinion that fantasy is the 'top,' the pure form of a cinema that is 'meant to be' entertainment. Entertainment is not the only way to explore the charts of our imaginations or feelings or experiences as humans. Seems like a conservative and single-dimensional view of cinema from a place that's supposed to be crazy, anything-goes, batshit insane. One way for movies to be dangerous is for them to approach complex and difficult and unusual situations and moments, and to let reality puncture style.

Roderick: Trix, I'm sure there's some logical explanation for all of this. I'm not going to wait around for it. Keys.

Sex and Death 101 feels closed off by its perspective of cinema. As in, however good this movie is -- and this movie is very good and very very entertaining, and I'm sorry it's stuck in my cross-hairs at some points -- I have the same problem with it that I had with Pet Sematary 2, Guncrazy, and the movies of Edgar Wright: I can hear the movies tink against glass walls.

From The Kill Bill Diary: The Making of a Tarantino Classic as Seen Through the Eyes of a Screen Legend, the one by David Carradine:

(Steven = Spielberg.) I think what Carradine's saying is cool. He prefers a violent thing to come from a personal reality. Earlier Tarantino said he likes Spielberg, and I think Tarantino can learn about people through their violence. (Not sure why Carradine highlighted Spielberg's violence, guess because they'd just seen Minority Report.)

I think Waters understands his characters, but expresses his understanding in a movie language. Like the whole 'concept' of the movie about a guy receiving an e-mail of the 101 women he'll have sex with in his life -- the movie tells you it won't explain the 'why' of this, but explains multiple times that a) an explanation won't be given and b) well there is this "machine" and the building with the machine and the exposition that takes place in the building with the guys in suits well there is that.

But it's my problem that these movies aren't what I want them to be.

And props for the insanity that exists.

Waters packs his movies full,

 as full as he can.

Roderick: And a man would rather have another man's jealousy than another man's respect.

Some shit goes down. The title seems appropriate, it suggests that late-night HBO movies are of a genre called 'sex and death movies,' which seems fitting, and this does feel like a 101 course for sex and death movies. One has to have confidence in one's writing ability to write the textbook, and Waters is a king in his land. He expresses people as 'types,' but richly defines the type of person. He spins adventurous narrative webs. 

You can tell the movie is intended for you because the movie is addressed to 'you' in its copious voice over. 

*Its earnest passions I found endearing, and the way it portrayed the 'depth' of a character through their knowledge of and appreciation for books and movies and music.

Roderick: The end is coming; and coming, is the end.

Tell you the truth, everything being said, I don't think the inclusion of the materials I think are missing would make the movie better. They wouldn't fit into the movie. The movie is pretty great at what it is, and I think people who really like movies like this could do a better job of saying what's great. I can't enjoy it on the levels others can, like maybe (?) Waters couldn't enjoy Killer of Sheep on the levels I can. (Bet he could, actually. Movie people are good at enjoying movies.)

You don't go up to [professional basketball player] and tell him he should be playing tennis.

Sex and Death 101 challenged me, 'called me out' for liking these movies, in smart, funny ways. Waters adds some shades to the movie's ending and presents a kind of textured and slightly bitter non-teleological view of the events, emphasizing that no one should give a fuck about why things happen. People should be. Simple, like that -- be.

Since I'm being honest, I think Hollywood should retire the 'quick death for a laugh' gimmick. Especially if you already nailed it with Heathers.

Gillian De Raisx: I always liked that word. Oh, and 'depleted,' 'dissipated,' and 'spent.' Those are good ones. But 'exhaustion' sounds like what it is.

I'd never really noticed Simon Baker, who plays the lead character, in other movies before. Another way you can tell Waters is LA local is I've never heard of Baker but he's super handsome and charming and fits in his role. He's believable, if not an iron man. And the movie has plenty of attractive women showing their cleavage and expensive lingerie.

WINONA RYDER WRITES IN A JOURNAL WHILE SPEAKING IN V.O.

As for the photography, by Daryn Okada, it's a style I don't like. I kept thinking of this Boogie Nights conversation throughout the movie:

Kurt Longjohn: For the shoot - I wanna talk about the look. I wanted to see about getting this new zoom lens... 

Little Bill: Right. 

Kurt Longjohn: I wondered if we'd be able to look into getting some more lights, too, y'know... 

Little Bill: Jack wants a minimal-thing... 

Kurt Longjohn: Right, well, very often, minimal means a lot more photographically than I think, well... than I think most people understand... 

Little Bill: I understand. 

Kurt Longjohn: No, no. Hey. I know you understand, I was talking about some other people. 

Little Bill: Well, I think what Jack is talking about is minimal, not really "natural", but minimal... 

Kurt Longjohn: Okay... fine... I was just saying... 

Little Bill: I understand... 

Kurt Longjohn: - 'cause I'm trying to give each picture its own look... 

Little Bill: Can we talk about this later? 

Kurt Longjohn: Oh, yeah... you have to go somewhere... or...? 

Little Bill: Well, no, yeah... I mean... 

Kurt Longjohn: 'Cause I was hoping to, y'know, for the shoot tomorrow, we could send Rocky down and he could pick it up... 

Little Bill: Kurt. 

Kurt Longjohn: No. Hey. Gotcha. You've gotta go somewhere so - hey - what the fuck? It's only the fucking photography of the movie we're talking about. 

Little Bill: My fucking wife has an ass in her cock over in the driveway, alright? I'm sorry if my thoughts aren't with the photography of the film we're shooting tomorrow, Kurt, OK?

Not only is Okada successful in Hollywood, he was even the President of ASC from 2006 to 2009. Which fact I kind of love.

My love/hate saga with Hollywood continues.