Back to Moments 3.0.
[ordered by date]
Date: Thu, 12 May 94 12:03:54 EDT
From: Andrew B Marvick <abm4@columbia.EDU>
Subject: the film
IED hopes, too, that Kate "won't give up the day job," but does not concede that TLTCATC is a less-than-superior artifaKT. Whether some viewers (Peter Chow?) enjoyed the extended twirling shots of "Moments of Pleasure" or not, they were obviously done not for want of imagination (Kate Bush lacking imagination?!) but to reach intended expressive and dramatic ends. In fact, the camera twirls at other points in the film, too, and these sequences' cumulative effect on the eye is either hypnotically or nauseatingly vertiginous (depending on the aesthetic receptivity and gastric constitution of the viewer), but hardly boring! It is amply evident that the film is a work of unqualified genius, and absolutely without flaw.
Date: Sun, 15 May 1994 13:29:00 +0200
From: uli@zoodle.RoBIN.de
(Ulrich Grepel)
Subject: Shoedance dialogue
> With all this quarreling I still don't have the answer to previous questions like what's being said on the Shoedance remix by those two voices.
That's a scene from the film after Miranda Richardson enters through the mirror and wants to make Kate draw the line, the cross and the curve. Lindsay Kemp also says something in there which is a) not understandable and b) (IMHO) not very relevant (I didn't understand it anyway...). I didn't understand some things, especially in the beginning when Miranda is quite hectic in trying to explain how she came there.
M: What am I here? I don't[?] want[?] to be here. I don't understand how this has happened.
K: What the hell is going on - look without[?].
M: Oh please! You must help me.
K: What have you done to yourself?
M: There was an accident, a big fire. I looked[?] over[?] me, my hands are all burned and blistered. There was so much smoke I couldn't believe it. I could, I was trying to find my way out of for years[?]. You must help me! Help me...
K: How can I help you?
M: I can't use my hands. I can't use my hands, I have to get back ... back ... home ... There is only one moment left for me to return. And it lies in your hands now.
K: Don't worry, you'll get home!
M: You need three pieces of paper.
K: There's some on the piano. Will this do?
M: Yes. You draw a line on the first piece.
K: Like this?
M: Yes ... A cross ...
K: Yes.
M: Good! ... A Curve ...
K: Here.
M: Thank you. Is there something I can give you in return? The red shoes perhaps?
K: The pretty red shoes?
M: Take them, they're yours. As a gift. Gimme a cause.
Bye, Uli
From: pptjc@vaxk.bton.ac.uk (It's in the trees... It's coming...)
Date: Mon, 16 May 1994 11:57:29 GMT
Subject: Re: Shoedance dialogue
Ulrich Grepel writes: >
K: What the hell is going on - who are you? [correction]
My pretty red shoes? [correction]
K: [nods and grins] [correction]
M: Take them... Their yours.. As a gift, of course. [correction]
I've put in a couple of corrections above and during the song Lindsey says
"It's really happening to ya!"
and then in the dialogue at the end he says
"She tricked ya y'know?"
and then goes into some spiel about singing back the symbols. These two lines of his are heavily repeated in the Shoedance mix of the single.
In fact the line "She tricked ya y'know?" is the key to Miranda's behaviour. All the stuff about the fire and her hands is a deceit to make Kate write out the symbols that will release Mirranda from the spell that binds the shoes to her feet. By writing out the symbols and giving them to the victim the spell is transferred.
Date: Tue, 17 May 94 17:53:29 BST
From: Scott Telford <st@epcc.ed.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: Shoedance dialogue
One or two other corrections....
> K: What the hell is going on - who are you? [correction]
Correction: "What the hell is going on - look, who are you?"
> >M: There was an accident, a big fire. I looked[?] over[?] me, my hands are all burned and blistered.
Correction: "I looked down, my hands were all burned and blistered"
> >M: I can't use my hands. I can't use my hands, I have to get back ... back ... home ... There is only one moment left for me to return.
Correction: "There is only one more [way?] left for me..." (?)
> >K: Don't worry, you'll get home!
Correction: "Don't worry, we'll get you home"
From: hyuzt@csv.warwick.ac.uk (Steve Thomas)
Date: 14 May 1994
20:30:52 +0100
Subject: TLTCTC
I think it's a great idea to set up a quiz section on RMG... here's a question I'd like answered:
What is the job of the man with the same name as me in TLTCTC?
I wish I knew the answer, but the size of the writing was too small for me to be able to see it (and before anyone asks, yes I was wearing my contact lenses - I did see the name after all!)
Date: Thu, 02 Jun 1994 18:08:15 +1000
From:
GRAHAM.G.R.DOMBKINS@msm.bhp.com.au
Subject: We saw TLTCTC last night! :-)
Hi all!
Well we finally got to see the TLTCTC in NSW last night. It was such a relief to see it after trying so hard for so long to get it here. I spent last weekend getting ready. IO got my sister to help me whip up a new KT T-Shirt (all black with a big with logo on the front) and I also bought some cheap white tennis shoes and bright red fabric paint to attack them with. By the time Wednesday rolled around I was looking very much the part of the 'Fucking KaTe Bush Fanatic' (tm).
EMI was ready, they had invited a heap in 'industry' people along. I had got a list of about 90 KaTe fans in NSW lined up to come. I was off to Sydney by 2:00pm with a mate of mine just to make sure I'd be there in plenty of time for the opening at 6:00pm. You know it's really funny just how much bright shiny red shoes stick out when you walk around! :-) I did a little music shopping before I got to the theater and picked up Tori's 'Past the Mission' CD singles Part 1 & 2 and the new KaTe 'Eat The Music' CD Single with ETM, ETM (extended), You Want Alchemy and Shoedance. It's got one of those Scratch-and-Sniff CD covers! :-) I'm not sure whether it's Australian or an import. Anybody know?
Anyway, I got to the theater by 5:30pm and it didn't take long for all the KaTe fans to start to arrive. It was great to get to talk to a heap of fellow KaTe fans here in Oz!! :-) By 6:00pm we had a fair sized crowd milling around outside but no sign of anybody from EMI. The chap in charge of the theater let us all in and then went to load up the film which had only just arrived (he said it was a great print). I mingled and tried to talk to as many other people there as I could. It turned out that the were a fair few reps from various music mags and columns there as well but NO EMI :-/
I was sort of elected as being in charge so I got everyone in and seated whilst we waited for *anybody* from EMI to turn up. They all got there enmass at about 6:30pm. We all settled back for the film. They forgot to turn the sound on for the first 15 seconds and then it wasn't turned up to normal volume till after RbG. :-/ Having got through all that it was on with the film! I won't go into any kind of description since it has been described here enough already except to say that we were all totally blown away! We spent most of the time in rapt silence except for the bit where *everybody* got dizzy in ETM (I looked around at that point and noted that almost everyone was moving in time with KaTe. :-) I also had to crack up at the point just after KaTe first sings The Red Shoes and is 'sitting' on the ground with her legs going crazy. <he he> :-)
I had a great time, thoroughly enjoyed the film and was ready to see it all again straight away. In fact many people around the theater shouted 'Again!' after it had finished but we had to get out of there since they had another crowd of people ready to come in and watch a few old Twilight Zone episodes.
I talked to some of the EMI people after the show to see if the showing of the film around the rest of Australia was still on or not. They said no!! 8-( But then when I asked them what if I got the theater organized they said they'd be happy to give me the film. So it looks like I'm going to need a somebody from each state to help organize a theater so we can get this thing shown around. At the moment I have Nick Langmaid in Victoria and Frederic in Queensland. Any other takers? SA? WA? Tas? Another good thing was they said it would be going across the Tasman to New Zealand so you Kiwis take heart, it'll be there!
Well that's about it from me for now. I hope I haven't bored you all too much with this write up but I'm still buzzing from *finally* getting to see the film. YAH! :-) See you all later.
From: engjs@wombat.newcastle.edu.au (James Smith)
Date: Fri, 3 Jun
1994 00:12:33 GMT
Subject: Blackbirds and Witches
I had my first chance to see TLTCTC on Wednesday night. Did anyone else notice that when Kate helped a black bird she woke the witch? Was this an intentional reference? Has this already been mentioned?
Date: Fri, 3 Jun 94 07:25 CDT
From: chrisw@fciad2.bsd.uchicago.edu
(chris williams)
Subject: Re: Blackbirds and Witches
James Smith writes:
> I had my first chance to see TLTCTC on Wednesday night. Did anyone else notice that when Kate helped a black bird she woke the witch? Was this an intentional reference? Has this already been mentioned?
Not to my knowledge. That's a very good one!
One thing I noticed was that the Diva's eyebrows "met in the middle." I don't know if it is an actual superstition, or something made up for the film The Company Of Wolves , but I remember Red Riding Hood being repeatedly told "Never trust a man whos eyebrows meet in the middle."
From: llovich@aol.com (Llovich)
Date: 13 Sep 1994 21:15:12 -0400
Subject: Re: More thoughts on TLTCTC..
Mary Helen Sowell writes:
>"It's really happening to ya" --the only line Lindsay Kemp had to memorize.
Well, you don't think he improvised, "She tricked ya, ya know," do you?
From: Sakari Jalovaara <sja@snakemail.hut.fi>
Date: Mon, 10 Oct
1994 21:14:06 +0200
Subject: - X )
Ooh ecstasy... I popped down to the music store and for the heck of it checked the 'B's in the video rack and... Waitasecwhatsthat... "The Line, The..."
It's OUT in Europe (since Friday?!) - hasn't anyone on Love-Hounds mentioned this little detail of impending release? Or did I just miss it? Like I have been living in a black hole...
But now there is LIGHT!
<Bang!> Ouch, that little bird flying into the window is so cruel ...and it works so incredibly well for the song...
From: evans@rd.eng.bbc.co.uk (Richard Evans)
Date: Wed, 12 Oct 1994
08:05:27 GMT
Subject: TLTCTC out now in the UK
Having watched it for the first time last night on my very own VCR I'll say one thing for it:
Thats we-ee-urd. I'll have to watch it a few more times to allow it to sink in...a bit like the albums really. So come on guys, get out there and make a noise.
Date: Wed, 12 Oct 1994 15:59:34 -0500
From: totoro@charm.net (Milky
Way)
Subject: /+) and fruitopia
Ken Latta wrote:
> So, how about writing Coke to sponsor a version of TLTC with the fruitopia commercials (and related) on the front.
I heard that Kate is dead set against this kind of thing. Her message to IGG when they booked /+) in Shepherdstown, through her management, was "The Film stands alone!" so they weren't allowed to show the Fruitopia ads in the theater before the Movie, as they'd planned. This despite the fact that there is a version of the ad meant specifically to be played in theaters...
Hiro
Date: Tue, 25 Oct 94 10:55:32 PST
From: bmiller@zdlmail.ziff.com
(Miller, Ben)
Subject: Its here! Its here!
Huzzah!
I just purchased a VHS copy of The Line, The Cross, and The Curve at Tower Video in San Mateo, CA. They didn't even have it on the racks yet - I had to ask for it, a look of desperation in my eyes. It's a good thing I don't have a VCR at work or I wouldn't get any work done.
Date: Tue, 25 Oct 1994 19:37:04 -0400
From:
ea965@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Jon Haverman)
Subject: TLTCTC
I bought it, watched it with my 4 year old who couldn't take his eyes off the screen. Now we are both going to bed with a smile (curve) on our face. It's out on video as of today, I'd recommend it to every kate fan.
I usually don't post that much here, but this 43 minute movie is different. You can see Kate in a different perspective. It won't win any awards, but I don't care.
From: dfleenor@nettech.com (Super Dave?)
Date: Wed, 26 Oct 1994
09:55:09 -0500 (EDT)
Subject: TLTCTC is great!
I bought a copy of TLTCTC last night. The place I got it from had one copy (not one left, but they only ordered one TOTAL). I thought Kate was wonderful. She put a lot into her performance I think (and she smiled some too!). My favorite part was the Red Shoes sequence with Kate dancing around the skulls and such. Miranda Richardson and Kemp were great too. All in all, a nice little piece of film.
Bravo, Kate!
From: denneuli@lifl.fr
Date: Wed, 26 Oct 94 15:33:04 +0100
Subject: Kemp & TRS
I don't know if it has already been mentioned but Lindsay Kemp decided to be a dancer when he saw "The red shoes" on his neighbour's TV. "It really happened to him!" :-) I saw a documentary on him a few months ago on Arte, the french cultural channel. Nothing Kate related in it but that (if it can be considered kate-related)
Yves.
"Be kind to my mistakes" no native english speaker :-)
From: williasr@NeXTwork.Rose-Hulman.Edu
Date: 31 Oct 1994 04:55:30 GMT
Subject: TLTCTChicago
Well, I'm back from the Chicago Showing of TLTCTC.
All I can say and perhaps the best praise I can give the movie is that despite the fact that I had to spend over ten hours of my weekend on the road just to spend about 45 minutes watching a movie, IT WAS WORTH IT.
Of course it didn't hurt that they did a drawing before the showing and I was one of maybe a dozen winners of a 12" picture disk of Rubberband Girl.
I could go on and on (and on) saying good things about the movie. I think it didn't hurt that I'd heard some less than five-star reviews of the movie which had lowered my expectations; but even if I had been expecting a superb movie, I wouldn't have been disappointed. I don't see any reason why anyone who liked TRS album wouldn't like the movie. (as for people who don't care for TRS, I still think a lot of them might enjoying watching Kate for a bit.)
I'm determined to keep this post short, but I still need to mention the fact that I did actually get to meet Chris and Vicki very briefly after the movie. I'd kinda figured out who they were just from seeing Chris's Love-hounds shirt, but I didn't know for sure until afterwards. It was a bit unfortunate that I was still dizzy from the Eat the Music segment and dazed from the culmination of my trip in the form of the movie to properly introduce myself. Anyway, it was really nice to see some other people from this forum in a kate-positive atmosphere...
One more comment, I was very surprised to see how emotional the ASIL segment turned out to be...I had truly expected MoP to be the one song that most affected me, but just seeing Kate's expressions during ASIL really tore at my heart.
One more comment, (ok, this is really the last one), this was the first time I've ever had to sit relatively still during RG. Probably the last time too. As focused as I was on watching Kate, the song still made me feel the need to move.
in hopes that everyone who hasn't seen it already will enjoy TLTCTC as much as I have,
Steven Williams
From: vickie@pilot.njin.net (Vickie Mapes)
Date: 1 Nov 1994 09:37:44
-0500
Subject: The Line, The Cross & The Curve
Starring:
Kate Bush
Miranda Richardson
Lindsay Kemp
Lily
Stewart Arnold
Peter Richardson
Written and directed by Kate Bush.
Yesterday we had the pleasure of seeing this 43 minute film at a theater in Chicago. The film print was gorgeous, and we sat right up front so we could bask in the glorious color and detail. In my opinion, the film isn't anywhere near brilliant, but Kate doesn't pretend to be Kubrick. Also, Kate's not a very good actress, and there are a couple of bits that are downright embarrassing, even to huge KB fans. Still, Miranda Richardson *can* act, and Kate *can* sing, and there's more than enough here in other areas to make it a treat for the eyes and ears.
Kate knows she's not an actress, and wisely lets Miranda chew up the scenery and steal the show. Even if I weren't a Kate fan, I'd love this film just for Miranda's evil character. Kate's strengths are her voice and music, her sense of color and style, and her wonderful facial expressions. Speaking of facial expressions, this film could (and surely will) provide a wealth of still-frame gifs and jpegs. Those eyes!
Kate's idea of humor is sometimes roll-your-eyes slapstick silly and at other times weird, and the film provides lots of laughs. The film can also provoke a few tears too, at least for me, during the "Moments Of Pleasure" section. I don't know that that part would affect non-Kate Bush fans in the same way though. To be honest, I have no idea what non-Kate fans would even think of this film as a whole, and I'm curious to know.
All the songs in the film are from Kate's album The Red Shoes, which isn't a concept album. Kate had to work out a story linking 5 other unrelated songs to the title track, which was itself inspired by Michael Powell's film The Red Shoes . Kate decided to make the film after the album was finished, but before it was released to stores. Some of the videos in this film were shown on MTV and various music video shows, while others are specific to the film.
What follows is a synopsis of the film. Since TLTCTC (or /+( or /x) among other variations) is basically an extended music video, and the ending is never in question, I give more and complete details wrt the plot than I normally would with a "regular" film. It might be more than some people want to know though, so read at your own discretion.
................................................
The film opens with the song "Rubberband Girl" and "Kate" is shown in a dance studio with a group of musicians and another dancer (Stewart Arnold). They're all rehearsing a dance routine for the song. The key-word here is "rehearsing" and I emphasize it because it has a loose and "unfinished" look. This portion was shown as a video in the UK and I've heard complaints that it looks unprofessional. Of course! It's supposed to look like that. There are even a few scenes where Kate stands there doing nothing but fiddling with her sweater. My take on it is that those are bits to be "filled in" later by other dance moves. This seems to be confirmed when, after the rehearsal is cut short (by some silliness involving a huge runaway fan and Peter Richardson), Kate asks Arnold to show her a dance move he had in mind. They rehearse it in front of the very large mirror that lines one wall of the dance studio. It's obvious that Kate's not happy with her dancing, and she seems tired and depressed. The rehearsal is further delayed when the lights go out because of a thunderstorm, and everyone leaves the room except for Kate.
(Just to make it clear, I put quotes around "Kate" because, of course, it's a character after all. She's not playing herself. Unfortunately, no character names are ever given, with the exception of Lily, so I have no choice but to use the real names rather than character names)
Kate lights a candle, which marks the beginning of "And So Is Love" with the character singing of the sadness in life and love. There's a beautiful section involving a disoriented bird....(hey, it's a synopsis, not a play-by-play)...and at the end of the song Kate is shocked by the Miranda Richardson character who runs out of the mirror (from the "otherworld") in a wild costume and with her hands bandaged. Miranda is under the spell of The Red Shoes, and she tricks Kate into helping her break the spell. (The spell is that the shoes can't be taken off and anyone who wears them *has* to dance, no matter how tired.) The trickery involves Kate drawing a line (signifying a "path") and a cross (signifying the "heart") and a curve (signifying a "smile") on 3 pieces of paper and giving them to Miranda. This leads into the song "The Red Shoes."
Unfortunately, the spell is then transferred to Kate. Miranda disappears back into the otherworld and Kate follows, where she is suddenly turned into a witchy dance diva. Her dress is transformed, her hair is wild and loose, and she dances like a madwoman. Luckily, she's helped by a mysterious and kindly man (played by Lindsey Kemp) who has just enough power to temporarily calm the dancing shoes, but not enough to break the spell. He knows what Kate has to do though, and he takes her to an elderly mystical woman named Lily who also knows all about the spell and who helps Kate.
Lily tells Kate that she (Kate) must "sing back the symbols" and starts her off on her quest to break the spell by teaching Kate a ritual. This ritual (inspired by a real pagan ritual) invokes the protection of Kate's four guardian angels, and helps lead Kate on her "path."
"Lily" (the song) is followed by "Moments Of Pleasure" after Kate is told by Kemp that she must call upon the ones she loves. Remembering and singing about the people she's loved and lost (those who've died) helps to give Kate back her "heart."
The last symbol Kate needs to get is her "smile" and it's not easy consid-ering the odd and alien situation she's in, not to mention Miranda's taunting. Kate's realization that she's getting stronger and that Miranda is "losing," plus a large helping of voodoo during "Eat The Music" finally breaks the spell.
There's more to the film, but that's enough of the "plot" to give an idea of how it all fits together. And it *does* work, at least for me. The film has some major flaws, to be sure, but who cares? There's more than enough here to enjoy and have fun with. It's packed with details, color, motion, music, and lots of fun references to other films/works ranging from "The Red Shoes" (of course), "Curse Of The Demon," "Twin Peaks," "The Company Of Wolves," a bit of Hitchcock, a bit of film noir, and all kinds of other things. Kate has lots of friends in the film business, including Terry Gilliam and Julian Doyle (the director and editor of Brazil respectively) and they've had a great influence on Kate. (Btw, Julian helps out as technical advisor and Gilliam has some fun as a cameraman on the film).
Kate does show promise as a director, and has a *great* sense of color and style. It's a beautiful movie to look at, and many scenes and details stick in the mind long after the film is over. For me, a few of these would be the wonderful costumes (by Hazel Pethig), the crazy slow-motion "air dance" in the first musical section, the beautiful candlelight-and-lightning lighting during "And So Is Love," Miranda and Kate's back and forth singing (Miranda lip syncs) at the beginning of "The Red Shoes" and Kate's wild dance-on-the-skulls in the last part of that same song, Lily's "circle of fire," the floating snow scenes at the end of "Moments of Pleasure" and the disorenting voodoo swirling during "Eat The Music" among many, many other scenes.
We've been lucky enough to see it in the theater twice; once at a theater in a London suburb, and again Sunday. We've also seen it on video many times; once at the Konvention in May (where it was introduced by Kate herself), a few other times with friends, and a couple more times by ourselves. Even though we bought the video, we'll also buy the laserdisc. I just can't see us getting tired of it. Sure, we're hard-core fans, and it's a treat for us, but I do think there's lots here to recommend it to the casual (or new, or even potential) fan too. As Lily says in her song, "take what I say with a pinch of salt" [ger: "mit Vorbehalt"] and just enjoy the visuals and music without analysing it to death.
Vickie
From: IEDSRI@aol.com
Date: Thu, 3 Nov 1994 10:49:13 -0500
Subject: Let The Line, The Cross and The Curve be analyzed to life!
The following may read like an angry attack of Vickie's recent posting about "The Line, The Cross and The Curve". IED apologizes in advance for the appearance of hostility. He assures everyone that his hot humor is not directed at any person, but rather at an attitude which he perceives as common among a large (and growing) number of people both in rec.music.gaffa and in the world at large. Ordinarily IED would say nothing about trends in society, but when those trends threaten to affect the reception of the work of Kate Bush, he has no choice but to voice a protest, however feeble or disorganized it may be, however bad-tempered it may sound.
With all due respect, then, IED disputes Vickie's claim that this movie is "full of flaws". He also questions her concluding admonition that we "not analyze [the movie] to death".
"The Line, The Cross and The Curve" is not in the least error-ridden; as for the danger of over-interpreting the movie's subtleties, well, let it merely be said that the analyses that have reached this forum to date scarcely raise such a danger.
IED is impatient with such a know-nothing, facilely populist attitude toward Kate Bush's art, an attitude which after an incubation over many years threatens to strangle the flow of earnest Kate Bushological discourse both in rec.music.gaffa and in Homeground. It is a supercilious, patronizing attitude, one that pre-supposes that anything a given audience has failed to notice or consider in a work of art (even, apparently, after prolonged or multiple exposure) must be of no importance, or is at best a "mistake" by the artist.
Even when the artist in question is Kate Bush! "Don't think about it --just 'feel it!'" we are so often instructed (as if Kate's early words were self-explanatory -- as if feeling were not as much an achievement of the mind as of the heart). Yet what better art to establish the intellectual complexity of human emotion than that of Kate Bush? What better proof of the intricacies that constitute the expressive purity of great art than the latest production of Kate Bush?
The majority of critics who espouse such an attitude are of course welcome to continue to bask in the limp climes of their own flabby thinking. IED, however, appeals to the rest of you to pay attention to what you see and hear in "The Line, The Cross and The Curve" (as in all of Kate Bush's work), whether you experience it once on a television screen or five times in a movie theater. If you do, he has no doubt that you will recognize as a Great Untruth the claim that "the film isn't anywhere near brilliant."
>All the songs in the film are from Kate's album The Red Shoes, which isn't a concept album.
Is this true? Is it really accurate to say that there is no "concept" underpinning the album? Certainly there is no explicit narrative linking the songs together. But there is a wealth of thematic, lyrical and musical interactivity among the tracks. The conceit of the line, cross and curve alone comprises the themes of all the other tracks on the album, in one sense or another.
> Kate had to work out a story linking 5 other unrelated songs to the title track, which was itself inspired by Michael Powell's film The Red Shoes.
The apparent assumption here is that the decision to make a film preceded some kind of forced, artificial concocting of a "plot" for a movie after the fact. This judgement was shared by numerous loutish critics in the print media. But the incorporation of the images of the line, cross and curve in the track "The Red Shoes" is incontestible proof that this is not so.
Kate Bush's artistic leap, in conceiving of the film, was to recognize and exploit in a broader medium the applicability of five songs from her album to the overriding theme of the titular song. Once she had seen how each of those five songs could be used so as to lend a new narrative context for the album's pre-existing but essentially non-linear narrative theme, the "story" took an organic, logical shape. It is a fundamental misinterpretation of the process to say that Kate "had to" work out a story; rather, a story naturally evolved out of an all-embracing, philosophically consistent theme.
Furthermore, the influence of the Powell/Pressburger film is perhaps more obvious but no more important than that of Jacques Tourneur's "Night/Curse of the Demon" (which owes its central dramatic theme -- that magic symbols written on paper and transferred between two people may invest one with a curse drawn from the other -- to the short story "Casting the Runes" by M.R. James). Kate Bush's extraordinary decision to fuse these two historically distant but remarkably compatible morality-plays by setting the girl of the red shoes on a journey of self-discovery through the medium of magical runes is, exactly, "brilliant" -- as is her subtle but undeniably consistent referencing of the two source themes throughout the film.
One could argue, indeed, that this flair for the alchemical fusion of pre-existing themes -- this aesthetic cross-breeding, as it were -- is a key virtue of Kate Bush's artistic method, one which can be traced in songs from her earliest years of productivity and regularly throughout the residue of her oeuvre. In "The Line, The Cross and The Curve" that virtue is perhaps (and this is typical of Kate Bush) more quietly displayed than ever, even as the vehicle chosen (a 43-minute film) is in some respects her most ambitious to date; but that virtue is no less real for its subtlety.
>The rehearsal is further delayed when the lights go out because of a thunderstorm, and everyone leaves the room except for Kate.
Yes, and why? This device allows the character to light a candle. Doesn't that suggest anything? Does anyone see the irony in the scene that follows?
>There's a beautiful section involving a disoriented bird.
Some details can of course be overlooked in a synopsis of "The Line, The Cross and The Curve", but this one mustn't. It's the first expression of the theme's possible lines of resolution and of Kate Bush's increasingly serious philosophical preoccupations as they are expressed in the new film.
What is the setting's significance?
Why is the setting lit by a candle?
To what or whom does Kate's character address the song -- a song which, judging from the lyrics alone, apparently refers to a love relationship ostensibly shared by two living people?
What is the bird doing?
Who is the bird?
What happens to the bird?
What does Kate's character do to it?
How does she part with the bird?
Where is the bird finally placed, and how does that refer both backward, to the album's theme, and forward, to a later pivotal scene in the movie?
IED doesn't presume to have arrived at definitive answers to these questions; far from it. But it doesn't take a lot of thought to recognize that these questions are, without any doubt, being posed -- that the events which transpire in the room with the bird during the song "And So Is Love" are meaningful, and meaningful in an extraordinarily rich and deeply personal, yet (within the terms set forth by the movie) logical way. Once this fact is recognized, our procedure through the labyrinth that follows can at least hold some promise of useful, enlightening analysis.
>Unfortunately, the spell is then transferred to Kate. Miranda disappears back into the otherworld and Kate follows, where she is suddenly turned into a witchy dance diva. Her dress is transformed, her hair is wild and loose, and she dances like a madwoman.
Isn't there something else to be noticed about Kate's costume? Is she merely a "witchy dance diva"?
>Remembering and singing about the people she's loved and lost (those who've died) helps to give Kate back her "heart."
How? Also, is this the first evidence of her "heart" in the movie? What does Kate really seem to be saying about "heart"?
>The trickery involves Kate drawing a line (signifying a "path") and a cross (signifying the "heart") and a curve (signifying a "smile") on 3 pieces of paper and giving them to Miranda.
But these secondary signifiers (the line, cross and curve) refer in turn to further indirect signifiers (a path, a heart, a smile). Do these primary symbolic references not have more crucial meanings? If it is acknowledged that they do have more basic and helpful significance, how then can the argument sensibly be made that "The Line, The Cross and The Curve" does not support further analysis?
This movie is crammed, absolutely packed, with symbols, symbols which inevitably refer to additional underlying symbols. All of these in turn point to and encompass an unmistakably direct and unaffected emotional core. Therefore, the surrounding and defining presence of these multivalent symbols -- much like the magical angels, the circle of fire, the slips of paper, and the procession of dead friends, all of which surround and describe the protagonist's soul at different points in her journey -- must be investigated seriously, if we are to have any hope of understanding the essential personal and universal significance of "The Line, The Cross and The Curve".
Please, Love-Hounds, just this once -- let's do analyze it to death.
-- Andrew Marvick (IED)
Date: Fri, 4 Nov 1994 14:35:29 -0600 (CST)
From: Keith DeWeese x422 <kpd000@dns.colum.edu>
Subject: First writing--\ X U
After watching \ X U so many times that my tiny thumb has practically fused itself to my remote control console (this makes keystroking rather tricky), I have come to the conclusion that I have been waiting for the film for a very long time. I do not mean since I first heard that Kate was making a film. No, I have been waiting since I first heard Kate speak of her appreciation of the film medium, of the inspiration with which her favorite films have provided her. Of course, she speaks of film viewing always, even when she speaks of music making and listening. The moving image coupled with sound has fascinated her since she was "little Katey Bush" and first confronted by Cathy, the ghost orphan of the moors.
Yet, as deeply grateful as I am that Cathy found middle-c in the barn, I cannot but help wonder what turns the whole story would have taken had she found a Bolex camera laying in the straw, too. I imagine...
My favorite Cathy film, CAMILLA [sic]/COMING UP...a child's vision so much more delicate than [Sangster's?] crass vampire lovers or Vadim's ponderous death pleasures...maybe more at Dreyer's vampire twilight...and, as usual, on to the LeFanu source just to make sure she got her research right...
I am certain, too, that I was waiting for Kate's film since first viewing Argento's SUSPIRIA and INFERNO, Jordan's COMPANY OF WOLVES, and Paradjanov's THE COLOR OF POMEGRANATES, all films that come to mind when I watch \ X U.
And, thankfully, when I watch her film, I do not really think of NIGHT OF THE DEMON or THE RED SHOES. That she should be inspired by the films only witnesses the brilliance of her imagination. She draws the films together then practically chucks them in favor of their antecedants. I am stunned. Upon first viewing the film, I was taken in by the color, the dancing, the music--as usual, but thought, "Hmm, now that plot is something else. What? I'm not sure."
Later, after a dozen more viewings, I realized that on my first viewing I had failed to cast out the film I had made in my mind in order to make room for Kate's. I did the same thing back in 1983 when I first viewed the Hammersmith-Odeon show. I also realized that, as savvy as I like to think I am with regard to certain areas of knowledge, I was hit hard by what I can only term Kate's embarassment of riches. So many ideas, so many viewpoints, so many colors--it takes my breath away. Indeed, that is what I was waiting for, it's what I wanted.
I am glad \ X U is not the the sum of the old chestnuts. NIGHT OF THE DEMON has its specific time, its specific place, as does THE RED SHOES. I cannot really determine where I am at or what time it is when I watch Bush's work, and that is what makes it, for me, marvelous.
First, damn the lights, put them out and out again! Mourn the past. Call down the Symbolist's black bird, and, in a love-death, let it rest in state on red velvet.
Second, conjure up a femme-fatale from a child's holiday pantomime. I do not know if it was first written by Andersen, Wilde, or Hoffmann--perhaps all three and Ovid, too, perched on Kate's shoulder, whispering the story in her ear. And, as a critical success, the story might be read another way: gynoerotikon. Dear Angela Carter is happily weeping in her grave.
Next, call down Annie [Beasant?] and just try tangling with her over issues of political correctness inherent in the casting of mere men as genderless psychopomps.
Truly, I do not even know where to begin with regard to the Jacobean devils and the Bosch Lucifer under winged-foot.
One might be quick to write off \ X U as a simple variation on Carroll's THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS and Baum's THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ, but think more of the court fantasies of 18th century France...think of Beauty trapped in the Beast's chateau, looking into her enchanted mirror which enables her to view performances at the opera or ballet, then wishing she was there...but unlike Beauty who must be satisfied with the vicarious thrill, the unnamed, red-shoed dancer is forced through the glass and given a part in some old world vaudeville cum morality play.
Jolly, red devil-ettes of the dance-hall Hell mock the prostrate, writhing, and black Lucifer undone by both purifying water and the dancer suddenly translated like Mary in the Dormition. Ave means wings, too.
If you've read this far, thank you. Have to go.
From: ac506@lafn.org (Lisa Morton)
Date: Fri, 4 Nov 1994 22:25:10 GMT
Subject: IED's TLTCTC Analysis
Having obtained my laserdisc of TLTCTC yesterday and watching it 3 times in a row, I'm throwing in my 2 cents with IED's analysis. I think criticizing the film's plot is like saying four Dali canvases aren't as interesting as a Peanuts strip because there's no joke in the last panel. I disagree with IED only insofar as I don't want to deconstruct the work right now - I'm content to let it wash over me (not unlike some of the films of David Lynch, which TLTCTC bore some resemblance to at points). It did make me look at several of the songs in a new light, particularly "Eat the Music" -the image of a shaman convulsing, his eyes rolling back, while he puppets Kate struck me as pretty darn eerie, a feeling I now associate with the disarmingly-upbeat song itself. Now that's art.
From: IEDSRI@aol.com
Date: Wed, 9 Nov 1994 23:19:24 -0500
Subject: Kate Bush: another art reference (TLTCTC)
A typically veiled reference of influence by Kate Bush:
In /XU, "Moments of Pleasure" [IED means "ASIL". --WIE] features a deceptively simple section showing Kate's character lighting a candle while singing as though to herself. Her face is lit almost entirely by the candle's flame. During a later part of this segment she picks up a black bird (itself a symbol in Kate Bush's work since 1978 or earlier, as you all know) from a book, where it has landed, dead from colliding with a closed window. On one open page of the book is an image.
IED has identified this image as a color reproduction of a famous oil painting, "Joseph the Carpenter" (c. 1645, 129.9 x 101 cm., Musee du Louvre, Paris) by the French Baroque artist Georges de la Tour (1593-1652). Why is it here? Those familiar with la Tour's style will immediately recall intimate interior scenes of figures revealed by the soft, warm light of a candle. "Joseph the Carpenter" is a la Tour icon in this respect. Kate Bush was acknowledging the artist's direct influence in this scene. Typically, however, this reference is extremely well hidden. Yet further proof of the importance of details in Kate Bush's aesthetic.
Date: Thu, 10 Nov 94 11:06:25 PST
From: steve.b@TQS.COM (Steve Berlin)
Subject: beIng kind to a mistakE (first ever maDe)
IEDSRI@aol.com writes:
>In /XU, "Moments of Pleasure" features a deceptively simple section showing [etc. etc.]
I'm sure IED realized this by now, and I'm also pretty sure a dozen other folks will write in to say this, BUT:
IED means "And So is Love", NOT Moments of Pleasure.
This is the first time I've been able to correct IED in all my years as a Lovehound! Something to cheer me up after the dismally depressing Election results...
- Stev0 the gloating
"Be kind to my mistakes"
From: IEDSRI@aol.com
Date: Fri, 11 Nov 1994 19:08:58 -0500
Subject: TotPKT?
IED could be wrong about this, of course, as Steve Berlin rightly points out:
>IED means "And So is Love", NOT Moments of Pleasure.
IED goofed. No excuses made, but an explanation for this mix-up is offered, namely that he was momentarily befuddled by the striking blend of themes in these two songs as revealed in the movie. IED had had no idea that "And So Is Love" could have had anything to do with the dear departed until he saw the bird placed on its velvet. . .
-- Andrew Marvick (IED)
Date: Thu, 10 Nov 1994 10:07:25 -0600 (CST)
From: Keith DeWeese x422 <kpd000@dns.colum.edu>
Subject: More: \ X U
"[...feather on the breath of God...]," an association with Hildegaard von Bingen.
I believe this woman who is dancing is always dancing with preternatural beings, hence her surprise by, but not fear of, the malicious, red-shoed tricksie. And though I know the feathered adornment atop the trickster's head is a representation of some small, black bird, I like toying with the idea that the woman is the Black Swan of the lake.
The burned and bandaged hands are part of a ruse, of course, but, perhaps, her fingers came too close to the devil's fork, from which red slippers once dangled--an old French folktale, "The Old Maid's Red Slippers," comes to mind. Also, Karen, of Andersen's story, snatches her ragged, red shoes from the stove.
I have memory of this, from an early December 1993 telephone interview session: when asked, "What inspired the song and your film?" Kate answered, "The story I know is about a young woman who wears magic, red slippers each night and goes off dancing with the fairies until she's exhausted." I'm intrigued by this answer because it does not recall the plot of Andersen's tale but does recall the story collected by the Grimms, "The Dancing Princesses," I believe, and the British folktale of Kate Crackernuts or Crackercorn.
Seemingly, too, the woman tricked is compelled to journey to not just one but, at least, three underworlds by agents of increasing power and spiritual dominion. The coniving diva is something of a dwindled entity, perhaps a fallen angel of one of the lower orders. She is rather like the doppelganger of Dante's Virgil leading the woman to the snowy, frozen, innermost point of the Inferno. I might conjecture, too, that Lily, as an extension of the Mary concept, is seated in Purgatory, a place of weeping but not inescapable. Lily is motherly, she is enthroned, she is in blue, she is first seen through a veil of water-like substance (Mary, meri, mer-). She knows there is suffering, yet certain prayers will deliver the woman from eternal damnation.
Then, oddly, the most harrowing excursion...into "Moments of Pleasure." The woman is known to cherish family and friends, so imagine the horror of never or barely touching them again, seeing them float just outside of reach, Tantalus's reach for sure, in desolation, in a snow storm, without anchor. Then a sobering slap, a crash to a field of snow spread over by her heart. Seems rather like a season in Hell to me.
\ X U is personal and catholic at once.
The woman's race to snatch back her symbols leads her to the Elysian Fields for a time. There, once she has recovered her three golden apples, she is fortified. But it is not only her strength that defeats the wicked one: she stuns her enemy against a wall of running, purifying water. I do believe that Lily-Mary takes care of the rest.
Like so many baroque and renaissance paintings of mixed-metaphysical and mixed-cultural elements, Kate does a very good job of depicting "where Hell and Heaven dance." I like knowing that she is "quite a happy little soul."
I have neglected Kemp's character in the film. Next time. Thanks for reading.
Date: 14 Nov 1994 11:26:11 CST
From: "MKELAN2.BGPUERZE" <BGPUERZE@MKELAN2.REMNET.AB.COM>
Subject: TLTCTC Comments
I finally saw TLTCTC and loved it! Actually I was not expecting it to be as entertaining as it turned out to be, mostly because of the, let's say, 'subdued' comments of some of the other postings.
I know I saw IED's comments on the movie posted earlier (I should have kept them to read them after I saw the movie..bummer), but I was wondering peoples' ideas of the bird symbolism. Seems to me that Miranda and Kate turned 'bird-like' after the Red Shoes transformation. Bird feathers in their costume, etc. In fact some of the publicity photos from the KBC magazine showed them with a bird hat (I don't think they wore these in the film). Any ideas on this bird thing???
Bernie
Date: Mon, 2 Jan 95 02:59 CST
From: chrisw@fciad2.bsd.uchicago.edu
(chris williams)
Subject: Fun bits about |X)
A couple of fun bits about "The Line, The Cross and The Curve." The costume person is Hazel Pethig, the costumer for Monty Python. And Terry Gilliam (director of Brazil, The Fisher King, Time Bandits, etc.) is listed as a camera operator.
From: NelsonII@aol.com
Date: Sun, 15 Jan 1995 05:41:41 -0500
Subject: TL,TC&TC and Other Thoughts
Richard Hamilton asks...
>What is Lindsay Kemp's character? I thought perhaps he was the devil, but I kinda doubt it.
Lindsay Kemp plays the character which gives Kate the clues she needs to "sing back the symbols." I remember a while back someone using the phase "...helps Kate." On one level I agree. He does tell her what she needs to know...along with Lily. But doesn't he seem a bit devious? When I first saw his grin whilst "Kate's" legs were swooshing about I thought for sure that he was the bad guy. (I have not seen the Red Shoes, so I'm only going on what I've seen in TL,TC&TC.) As the film progressed I learned that he was helping out, but that initial perception still stayed. Has anyone else felt the same way?
From: evans@rd.bbc.co.uk (Richard Evans)
Date: Mon, 16 Jan 1995
09:08:51 GMT
Subject: Re: TL,TC&TC and Other Thoughts
I watched the Red Shoes film by Michael Powell yesterday and the shoemaker in the ballet looked alot like Lindsay Kemp's character in The Line...
From: Scott Telford <s.telford@ed.ac.uk>
Date: Mon, 16 Jan 1995
14:13:20 GMT
Subject: Re: THe Line, The Cross and The Curve
Something I read recently described his character as the "Luciferian entity", but I can't remember where I saw that...
From: Mary Helen Sowell <mhs3c@galen.med.virginia.edu>
Date:
Fri, 20 Jan 1995 15:28:08 GMT
Subject: Re: Kate the actress
> I for one would like to disagree with the postings I've noticed here disparaging Kate's acting in TLTC&TC. I direct lots of theater, and I found her performance delightful.
I absolutely agree. This film was not intended to be riveting drama. It's a wonderfully campy fairy tale that is intentionally exaggerated. The /+) world does not conform to the banal behavioural physics of everyday life; even the something so ordinary as doodling on scraps of paper is of cosmic importance. Kate gave, IMHO, a charming and energetic performance for the role.
Date: Mon, 21 Nov 94 21:17:21 GMT
From: Steve Dowland <steve@cronos.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Kate on TLTCTC
I heard an interview on BBC Radio 1 a week or two ago. She said:
"I did enjoy making the film (TLTC&TC) very much and I really learnt a lot, and all the people I worked with were fantastic. It was a great experience. But in a way I've got that out of my system for now, and to make another film I think I'd have to put a lot of work in which, in some ways that film was a little too rushed. And I guess, you know, if I do get a chance to move away from records again, it would be nice to try and do some shows."
From: llovich@aol.com (Llovich)
Date: 23 Feb 1995 23:04:11 -0500
Subject: Re: -x~
Mary Helen Sowell wrote:
>Yeah, I saw /+) at the Opera House theatre in Shepardstown, Va., USA. It was even more manificent than the video. The large screen and surround sound made the audience feel a part of the film. For example, 'The Red Shoes' scene is brilliant as Ms. Special breaks through the mirror into another realm.
Hey, I was there, too. And yes, when Kate breaks through the mirror into the red world after the first fifteen minutes in this beige/grey world was visually stunning (not a word I use too often). I literally stopped breathing.
From: kln@crl.com
Date: 31 Jul 1995 06:07:20 GMT
Subject: S.F.
Katemas
We also viewed the laser discs of TSW, TSF, TLTCTC on Bill's special ProScan letterbox-format giant television, a truly magnificent piece of equipment that warmed the cockles of my heart. With the push of a button a letter box image fills the letterbox shaped screen, which was as big as some theaters I've been in!
Our viewing of TLTCTC raised some interesting points about this movie . . . I'm beginning to think there is more here than meets the eye at first. Worthy of more discussion than it has had in the past, that's for sure! IED may have some commentary about this.
Karen kln@a.crl.com
Date: Mon, 31 Jul 1995 00:24:50 -0700
From: stev0@zuni.chaco.com
(stev0)
Subject: All Tomorrow's Parties
We then watched TLTC&TC, noting new things yet again (Which if no one else - Hi there, IED - posts the new theories, I will).
- Stev0 the Hollywood Reporter
"How do you cope with interviews in countries where they don't speak English?"
"I've learned to say "Wonderful", "Fantastic", and "Marvelous" in 37 different languages."
- "Kate", in interview with Faith Brown
From: llovich@aol.com (Llovich)
Date: 13 Jun 1995 21:22:32 -0400
Subject: Archers
Wieland Willker wrote:
< The Red Shoes: A: "One for the Arcters"
I don't have this on vinyl, but surely it must be "One for the Archers" ("The Archers" were what The Red Shoes director Michael Powell and writer Emeric Pressburg[er] called themselves) -- can you double check this one?
Thanks. Vanceman
Date: Sun, 17 Sep 1995 10:20:12 -0700
From: stev0@zuni.chaco.com
(stev0)
Subject: Making movies
kateknight@aol.com (KateKnight) sputters as much as his tiny brain is allowed:
< Being avant-garde is all well and good. If you want to communicate to a very limited, pretentious element of the "audience." Remember, though, that music videos are for MTV.
Excuse me? I assume you hated TLTCTC because of lack of car chases, but those of us with IQs above 50 realized that the film is an example of utter genius. Yes, I didn't understand - or even appreciate - it at first, but after several repeated viewings I HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT.
The key is repeated viewings and discussion with other rabid KateFans(tm), Especially IED and KLN, in my case.
For example (and I know it's hard to believe but it's true), I didn't understand "Eraserhead" when I first saw it.
< Films have stories. TLTCTC did not.
I'll let IED contradict this bald-faced LIE.
- Stev0 the Lord of the Rex Reedy River
Date: Sun, 17 Sep 1995 14:11:27 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Stuart M.
Castergine" <scasterg@cd.columbus.oh.us<
Subject: Re: Making
movies
On Sun, 17 Sep 1995, stev0 wrote:
< Excuse me? I assume you hated TLTCTC because of lack of car chases, but those of us with IQs above 50 realized that the film is an example of utter genius. Yes, I didn't understand - or even appreciate - it at first, but after several repeated viewings I HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT.
< The key is repeated viewings and discussion with other rabid KateFans(tm), Especially IED and KLN, in my case.
Hey, Stev0! Time to change your password. IED has obviously cracked it. :-)
From: IEDSRI@aol.com
Date: Mon, 18 Sep 1995 14:02:45 -0400
Subject: The film
...
IED cannot, however, resist offering (again) an example of Kate Bush's attention to thematic (not narrative) continuity in TLTCTC: the "And So Is Love" segment which our Knight praised for showing Kate "simply sitting beside a candle and singing" is actually packed with personal and mysterious symbols: the bird (who portends [or not?] Kate's character's imminent struggle to break through her own inhibitions -- she wears a birdlike headdress in thematically echoic scenes that follow) is laid to rest by the protagonist with ceremonial solemnity on "the 'V' of the velvet", next to an open book on which can just be made out a painting of St. Joseph by Georges de la Tour, after whose distinctive lighting effects the scene is modelled.
There are several other subtle points made in that scene alone (note the fruit and the sheet-music, for example), which IED encourages other fans to explain for themselves. But these points alone should be enough to make one reconsider hasty assumptions about the relative simplicity of certain parts of Kate's work -- as it is all the art of Kate Bush, so is it all imbued with the curious, matchless grace of her mind. So, enjoy, by all means! Praise, without restraint (as Wieland has just done, to his great credit)!
But please, don't patronize; in the end, you'll be the poorer for it.
-- Andrew Marvick (IED)
S R I
Date: Tue, 10 Oct 95 07:38:01 EST
From: <bretthar@BoM.GOV.AU<
(Brett Harris)
Subject: Afterthought...
Just as an afterthought.... In TLTCTC, is it Cathy on this side of the mirror and Kate on the other side??
Brett.
Date: Wed, 11 Oct 1995 09:54:07 -0100
From: Wieland Willker <willker@chemie.uni-bremen.de<
Subject: 3SAT-epilogue: TLTC&TC
Hi!
Still somehow besides myself, I will try to write some thoughts on the 3SAT repeatings also:
TLTC&TC: The quality was almost the same as on my VHS-video, but they used german subtitles, so finally little Wieland got the story and what's it all about! The translations were very accurate. So, if someone needs this subtitled version...
Some comments:
- I love the man in the beginning, the one with the fan, how he waves his hands against the fan, very funny.
- The painting in the book. I always wondered, how IED could identify this one. I only see something white, spots on a black page. Is is better on the laserdisk?
- before she jumps into the mirror: She's walking on tiptoe, but she grows more than 30 cm when she started. I think, it's not possible to walk like this, but what's the trick here?
- TRS: I'm still irritated, why she enjoys dancing on bones and skulls. Okay, she enjoys dancing, but in hell? Maybe she's not herself here, this is the voodoo?
(But why is this picture on the Cover of the MoP-single?)
- during the scene with Kate sitting on the floor with her shoes/legs twirling through the air: "Take them off, take the shoes off.. they burn.. please." - Why did L. Kemp enjoys it? "It's really happening to ya" he's smiling and laughing. Is he some kind of mad? Who is he? Does he know, that everything comes to a good end?
- I love the scene before MoP, where you can see Kate's eyes only, turning round and round. This eyes-only angle looks very beautiful, but I don't know why.
- During the first refrain in MoP: She sails out of the open window into the night with the sky full of stars -< Eternity/Time/Moments... falling stars... moments... every star one moment?
- after MoP, when she rises from the snow and says: "I can't hear you!" -She looks sooo beautiful...
Do you remember the front of KBC No.11? One of my favorites.
- Maybe someone can identify the notes, that can be seen after MoP? You can see almost one full page of something. Anyone, who can play them? We have so many experts here. Try it! Maybe it gives some new inside?
- The scene with Kate and Miranda wrestling:
LK: "RUN!"
KB: "I can't!"
MR: "She can't"
Yes, there's a humorous element in it. But I saw it not before you told me, Andrew! It's too obvious: She *CAN'T*! It's physically impossible to run, buried under someone elses body.
- to Brett: Re: your idea that Kate before the mirror is "Cathy" and Kate behind the mirror is "Kate". Maybe Kate is "Cathy" and Miranda is "Kate"?
Cathy, the creative genius must help Kate, the popstar? Mmmh, mmh, mmh...
And maybe Kemp is also little bit Kate? The THIRD Kate? The one, who looks down at these foolish little girls, seeing their problems in the true relation?
These are very interesting points and I watched the film under these premises. For example in TRS Miranda's words are sung by Kate. Does that indicate, they are the same person? Why did Cathy got the shoes from Kate? To feel, how it feels? It's an interesting point, but it works not always. But one can discuss it In Every Detail (IED) and at length! And, if you're right: At the end Cathy (the introvert!) wins! Interesting.
- the end is open: What happens after the waterfall with Miranda buried alive under rubble?
What can Kate (Cathy?) can tell us now afer this experience? Kate buried and Cathy free? (at last, GLC.)
Watch the film again! You can discover so many things. It's a Magical Mystery Tour!
WHO ARE YOU, KATE???
Best wishes
Wieland
From: Smith Van PRC <smithv@USAFE16.ramstein.af.mil<
Date: Tue,
10 Oct 95 09:49:00 PDT
Subject: KaTe on German cable
Hello Love Hounds,
Thanks Uli, thanks Weiland, for the advance notice of KaTe's 3 Sat appearances.
-+) aired in its entirety with (thank you 3 Sat) no commercial interruption. The picture quality, being PAL, of course was excellent. One thing I noticed this time while watching it: After KaTe loses the papers to Miranda, each comes back to her in a form of foreshadowing prior to the actual occurrence. The line (path) comes to her at the end of 'Lily', when she's laying down and Lily says, "...the spell is broken". The cross (heart) burns into the sheet of music after she calls upon those she loves (MoP). The curve (smile) is virtually omnipresent during 'Eat the Music', as each of the dancers has a paper smile up to their mouths while dancing.
Having not seen -+) for some time, it was terrific to once again experience the mastery of this film, especially 'ASiL'.
3 Sat later aired Bio's Bahnhof, from 1978. It featured KaTe singing 'Kite' and 'Wuthering Heights', a literally live performance of her 'Wuthering Heights' 7 inch single, with b-side. These were true performances, not lip-syncs. KaTe looked beautiful, wearing a red, flowing dress to about mid-calf. She had high heels (not super high heels) on, and was wearing what looked like a red orchid around her throat. Her fingernails were red, and she was wearing a very thin bracelet and micro-earrings, barely noticeable.
There was no interview shown prior to 'Kite', or between the performances. KaTe began 'Kite' with her back turned to the audience (looked to be about 400 or so to my eye). The band, about 20 feet behind her, were wearing predominantly white - bell bottoms, no less. This, I thought, was not her finest performance, I'm sorry to say. 'Kite', while not anywhere near being a favorite KaTe song of mine, is extremely difficult to get to sound right in a live performance, IMHO, and she shouldn't have tried.
After 'Kite' was over, a backdrop featuring a wilderness scene - trees and a spewing volcano - was lowered in front of the band. KaTe went immediately to the front of the stage and sat down for WH. This performance was terrific, I thought. KaTe basically did the same dance as was in her original video of the song, but she had to hold the microphone, and that was a little clumsy for KaTe.
KaTe got a good round of applause after each song, but the audience was very still during the performances. After WH, Bio hugged KaTe and told her, "Kate, that was great!" He told her to "Remember, when you make it big - and I know that you will - to say you got your start here..." Bio tried to get KaTe to repeat something in German, she tried, but didn't quite get it right. Bio plucked a rose from a woman in the audience and presented it to KaTe.
Van
Date: Wed, 11 Oct 1995 17:08:41 -0500
From: cbullard@HiWAAY.net (Len
Bullard)
Subject: Re: Kate or Cathy
[Wieland and Brett]
Kate or Cathy in the Glass in the vid: well that was my thought too, and given the context in which they begin, it works. OTH, I know nothing of the movie that inspired it either, so ??? My impression of Kate's lyrics and other ideas is that it is often made of motley (not an insult) in the sense that she makes much of "a little bit here, and a little bit there". I suspect from the disingenuous remarks she makes about Love and Anger in the MTV Sensual World interview that she is fairly aware of her subject matter, and just as aware that good art makes for interpretation, so she seldom strays into the explicitly literal.
Karen seems to have a good understanding of the layering technique of threaded symbols. It is a very good technique when what one wants to express is deeply personal and not up for public review. That's a tough line to walk for singer/songwriters. One can only write "Love Me Do" once, then one finds that journalism and short stories are the next logical step after the surreal. I think that the step from vids to movies was a bigger leap than could be afforded. But as she has said herself, "writing songs is what's important" and what comes out of that naturally leads to vids, which leads to movies but she hasn't quite crossed that line yet. She is learning a lot, evidently. I do wish she would work more outside that cozy world of hers, though. It's warm by the hearth, but smoke gets in your eyes and sleep comes too early to the working girl.
BTW, that interview is one of my favorites. She is a pleasant sort in jeans and little makeup, and she is quite attractive. That is the Kate that would be fun to know more about. Maybe we go too far with the Kate or Cathy bit. As I said, for me its just an attitude I take to keep some healthy respect for the woman. It's a long way to Welling from Huntsville, but hurt feelings travel faster than tachyons (or would that be slower...somebody dial Hawking's Chair and ask).
so much for shutting up. this list is such a temptation....
len
From: IEDSRI@aol.com
Date: Thu, 12 Oct 1995 14:22:23 -0400
Subject: De la Tour in ASIL
About the ID of the Georges de la Tour painting in the ASIL section of TLTCTC: the image is a bit clearer in the laserdisk version. Even so, it took IED quite some time to identify the image, which reveals the way he likes to spend his spare hours.
-- Andrew Marvick (IED)
Written by Love-Hounds
compiled and edited
by
Wieland Willker
August 1995