The world is collapsing...because of Mel Gibson? Paris Hilton?

THE WORLD IS COLLAPSING...BECAUSE OF MEL GIBSON? PARIS HILTON?

By Jerry Saravia

It seems that celebrities get the major headlines nowadays. Nope, President Obama is not a celebrity but he is treated in the news as such. With the exception of your local news at night or during the day, it is apparent that news organizations look to remedy celebrities' lives by focusing on their troubling scandals and hoping and waiting for one of them to screw up. Haiti, Katrina, North Korea, the two wars currently being fought, the global economic crisis, the job crisis, the health care crisis, the BP oil spill crisis - all these crises take a backseat to Paris Hilton confusing gum for cocaine, or the other way around. For two months in 2010, nobody talked about anything else but Mel Gibson's furious, angry-laced rants and raves peppered with racial epithets, all part of private telephone conversations between him and his girlfriend model. Yes, they were shocking but...is it really news? I mean, can we put Gibson's own words ahead of anything President Obama says about Middle-East peace? I should hope not, but Gibson takes precedence over Obama apparently. I recall when Larry King was asked who he would interview if he had to choose, on presumably the same night his live show is on, Michael Jackson or Saddam Hussein? Jackson was the answer.

Mel Gibson's tirades are simply tired to me. I could care less what he has to say privately in his own home. But our society today thinks we should care because we know him. We do? I never met Mel Gibson and I don't feel any kinship with him because I enjoyed his Mad Max adventures. Same would be true with Harrison Ford, Oliver Stone, Roman Polanski, etc. I only care about him as an actor and director, and I would say his infamous anti-Semitic views hardly pinch me at all when I see him as Martin Riggs from Lethal Weapon. Now his violent verbal abuse of his girlfriend might make think twice that he is a sweet, suave man in reality, especially when he made movies like "What Women Want" or (don't giggle) "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden." Clearly the man is as mad as Mad Max, but should I hold him up to a standard of living because he espouses such hate to his girlfriend? Of course not, because it is none of my business.

Here are some past follies that either have or have not ruined celebrities and their respective careers:

1.) Roman Polanski's infamous rape of a young teenage girl that has been erroneously attributed as something it is not. I won't go into details but if you have seen the recent documentary on this case and listened to testimonies, including that of the young girl, you might think twice about completely dismissing Polanski as a pedophile.

2.) Robert Blake killing his wife, 2001. Yeah, that is a toughie. I cannot excuse murder or rape either, but somehow I can't let that disguise the fact that I love Blake as an actor. He is one of the best we have ever had, with stellar performances in "In Cold Blood" to name one. But would I support seeing more of his work post 2001? Probably not, but I can enjoy his earlier work without thinking about it. Still, the fact that he played an ice-cold killer in "In Cold Blood" and a spectral ghost/subconscious who spouts violent epiphanies in "Lost Highway" makes them scarier in retrospect in light of his real-life murderous scandal.

3.) Woody Allen marrying Soon-Yi Previn. Hmmm, another toughie. Soon-Yi was Mia and Woody's adopted daughter, though Mia and Woody had never married and never lived together. Woody took nude photos of Soon-Yi when she was a tyke. Mia found them and 1992 ended up being one of the most famous years the Woodsman ever had, litigiously speaking. Woody and Soon-Yi are still together and living, presumably, happily. Should I care? Not completely though that doesn't mean he is excluded from being judged by his actions. Woody Allen, without a doubt,  is one of the sharpest comic writers of all time and his Bergmanesque dramas, like "Interiors,"  are truly challenging and provocative cinema. But this most uncivil union bothers me a tad if only because Woody's character in many films dated younger women, though none were depicted as his adopted daughters. Like I said, a toughie but I respect the artist, not the man.

There are many other examples but the point is that all celebrities, particularly in Hollywood, have had their share of scandals galore (Kenneth Anger wrote two books about them from early Hollywood, entitled "Hollywood Babylon.") There are the unproven rumors such as Walt Disney was an anti-Semite or that Errol Flynn expressed such views and may have been a Nazi (untrue by the way), or that Stanley Kubrick shot people in his backyard and watch them bleed (also untrue, as are most of the rumors about the legendary director). Even the notorious incident that Fatty Arbuckle faced when he allegedly raped a woman with a bottle were proven to be unfounded allegations and he was acquitted, but his reputation was still sullied. The irony is that audiences were clamoring for a comeback of the comical Arbuckle and it never quite happened.

The world is all shaken up at this point but that doesn't mean that the dire straits this country is in should result in celebrityisms taking precedence. I don't mind escapism but I do not need to escape so drastically by listening to Mel Gibson's phone messages or Michael Richards' racially charged tirades. Leave that to the masochists.

Soderbergh's Girlfriend Is Like No Other

THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE (2009)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Steven Soderbergh's "The Girlfriend Experience" is made in the same vein as one of his lesser-known efforts, "Bubble," with an overall emphasis on a gloomy mood and tone. This is the type of tonal piece that can frustrate many but not me: it is an exemplary work made by a director who plays with the form and never loses sight of content. 

Okay, sounds like a snore-inducing art-house picture, you say? Not so. "The Girlfriend Experience" is about a female escort named Chelsea (Sasha Grey), who employs the "girlfriend experience" by pretending to be sincere, a listener and, perhaps, feign being in love with her client. Not only that, she has to embody the girl-next-door look, classy but not too sophisticated, and certainly listen, listen, listen (sex sometimes follows). The men she employs this fantasy to are Wall Street-types or entrepreneurs dressed in business suits - they make up most of her clientele. There are exceptions (such as the Hassidic Jew who hopes Chelsea will vote for McCain) but the men all practically look alike, and profusely state everything that is wrong with the economy during the early stages of the economic collapse of 2008. And any film that mentions the wonderful documentary, "Man on Wire," (which Chelsea and a date go to see) can't be bad at all.

I do not dare give away much more because the film is done in a deliberate style of soft, muted tones, both in its DV-look and the way the characters speak. The film is sexy without resorting to one nude scene of boinking after another. For some, it may seem like the sleaze one can find on Cinemax but Soderbergh has not really made that kind of film either - there is, as I said, no sex scenes. 

But something curious happens to Chelsea, as she slowly and subtly sees a life where being an escort is no longer a reality. That would also mean leaving her 18-month relationship with her boyfriend (Chris Santos), a physical trainer, whom she lives with. And sneakily, without calling attention to itself, a certain amount of suspense is generated and we wonder what will be Chelsea's decision. Is she dejected or unhappy with her station in life? Does she see an avenue she can cross to a whole other life?  

"The Girlfriend Experience" is an elongated mood piece designed by Soderbergh to show that he can keep us glued to the screen without resorting to parlor tricks and fancy camera moves, as in his "Ocean's" films or "Out of Sight." "Girlfriend Experience" stands more in line with his underappreciated and highly underrated "Bubble," which is nothing short of a minor masterpiece. With his ever impressive resume, Steven Soderbergh has scored another direct hit and has given Sasha Grey, a former porn star, the platform for a purposely inexpressive and yet haunting performance.