Sean on the Aisle! Vol. 1
Hello there once again, my friends! I hope you’re doing well.
The new year is almost upon us! God help us all. And how am I preparing for it? Why, I’m watching movies, of course!
While I do have a Letterboxd account that I use to keep a diary of movies I’m watching, I don’t really like using it for long-form reviews. You’ll maybe get a sentence or two out of me if a movie is really notable, but mostly I just like to use it to keep track of what movies I’ve already seen.
However, I figured this newsletter would be a nice place to knock out some longer reviews of some recent movies I enjoyed. I’ve seen a bunch of real good ones lately!
So, without further ado, allow me to present: “SEAN ON THE AISLE”!!
THE TALE OF PRINCESS KAGUYA (2013, Isao Takahata)
I saw this one at the Regal on Western in Chicago, part of a series of classic anime films re-released in American theaters over the past year or so (I had an unforgettable experience seeing End of Evangelion this way earlier this year), and since this one had been on my watchlist for a while I jumped at the opportunity. And despite feeling like a huge dork after they showed an ad for an anime con during the previews, I had a really nice time.
Kaguya is the final movie directed by Isao Takahata, the co-founder of Studio Ghibli with Hayao Miyazaki and the director of several of their most beloved films. I’ve only seen a couple of his other movies, but one of them was Grave of the Fireflies, one of the most gorgeous and heartbreaking war movies you’ll ever see in your life. The other was Horus, Prince of the Sun, his first ever collaboration with Miyazaki all the way back in 1968, and it was impressive how much juice those guys had even all the way back then.
Princess Kaguya was a gorgeous way to end a career - an adaptation of a Japanese folk tale, told in a painterly, half-sketched animation style that looks like it could have been ripped straight from sketchbook paper. There’s one sequence in particular, where the princess escapes from her palace at night, where chaos erupts so beautifully onscreen it feels like a canvas being ripped apart in front of you.
This is one of those movies where I can’t do it justice entirely by describing it! You just gotta see it. And if you do, I would recommend the sub - I saw the dubbed version, and while it was fine, hearing James Caan and Chloe Grace Moretz in there was more than a little distracting.
THE T.A.M.I. SHOW (Steve Binder, 1964)
Yes, the link above is the entire movie.. and if you’re like me, you’ll click play and you won’t be able to turn the thing off!
The T.A.M.I. Show (which stands for “Teenage Awards Music International”) was one of the first ever rock n roll concert movies, a precursor to the rock festival movies to come (Monterey Pop, Woodstock, etc). No expense was spared for this thing: they booked the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium for two nights, threw free tickets at a bunch of local high schoolers, hired some incredible gogo dancers (including a young Teri Garr and Toni Basil) and legendary session players the Wrecking Crew, all to back up the most loaded lineup of popular music acts to ever exist together on a single bill.
Don’t believe me? See for yourself!
Can you imagine?? Chuck Berry! Smokey! The Supremes! Marvin Gaye! And of course, the true main event of the night: Billy J. Kramer!!
Ok, I’m making fun - I still have no fucking clue who Billy J. Kramer is - but the kids in the audience sure as hell knew who he was, considering he had the first visible crowd sign of the night:
The centerpiece of this thing is James Brown & the Famous Flames, who put on what might be the greatest live performance ever filmed. If you don’t want to sit and watch all 2 hours of The T.A.M.I. Show, make time to watch that James Brown set - its an absolute explosion of raw charisma and endurance that set a high standard for the Bruce Springsteens and Princes of the future. Mind-altering stuff. And then, hilariously, he’s followed by the main event closing act The Rolling Stones, who (and I say this as a fan) look like scared little children in comparison.
But oh, please, if you’re a fan of 60s popular music in any capacity I beg of you to watch this entire thing. So many wonderful, exciting, hilarious moments that I can’t possibly describe them all. Adorable preppy dorks Jan & Dean singing a skateboard-themed rewrite of The Beach Boys “Catch A Wave” called “Sidewalk Surfin’”, featuring king dork Dean Torrance riding on a skateboard! Legendary rocker (and certified pervert) Chuck Berry sharing the stage with one-time Beatles rivals Gerry & the Pacemakers! Peak-era Supremes singing “Baby Love” with Teri Garr dancing her ass off in the background! Dennis Wilson going nuts on drums and Carl Wilson busting out a guitar solo during the Beach Boys’ set! Marvin Gaye, a guy not well known for his dancing, doing a fun little routine with the go go dancers! And ending with one of the most surreal scenes you’ll ever see: the entire lineup of performers - an entire wing of the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame - dancing together onstage, while The Rolling Stones shyly play the ending theme behind them. I could go on and on, but there’s just so much.
But really, despite the incredible talent and performances on display here, what carries this thing is the reaction of the crowd. A bunch of incredibly lucky high schoolers who got free tickets to the greatest show on Earth, and they know it. You hear them screaming for absolutely everything, even the likes of the Barbarians and Lesley Gore. The James Brown set is incredible enough as it is, but it’s even better hearing these kids brains exploding in real time while watching it.
And its an incredible moment in pop music history too, since this was an integrated crowd (mostly white kids, but a decent amount of black & brown kids are visible near the front) seeing an integrated music bill for likely the first time. Amazing that this was all under the banner of “teenager music,” a total free for all of genres: Motown, pop, R&B, early rock ‘n roll, garage rock, British Invasion, surf music. It’s all here!
By the end of this thing, I was a crazed teenager myself, screaming and dancing around my apartment. And if you love this music as much as I do, The T.A.M.I. Show is bound to do the same to you. As annoying as it is to hear baby boomers talk about how pop music isn’t as good as it was in the 60s, one watch of this thing and you’ll begin to understand.
A Boy Named Charlie Brown (Bill Melendez, 1969)
I found myself putting this on because I needed a palate cleanser after watching the bizarre Peanuts special It’s The Girl in the Red Truck, Charlie Brown, Charles Schulz’s failed attempt to combine live-action and animation featuring a romance between Snoopy’s brother Spike and Schulz’s own real-life daughter. I kinda hoped it was better than its reputation, but uh. It sucked! Very dull, poorly paced, poorly acted. Charlie Brown and Snoopy are barely in it. Not good!
After reading about this special a little bit, I was sad to discover that Charles thought he was making his “masterpiece” with this thing, and was heartbroken when it flopped. I feel for the guy, but I gotta say, by 1988 Mr. Schulz did not need to worry about making his “masterpiece” animated special: he’d already done that in 1969, with the Peanuts debut feature film A Boy Named Charlie Brown.
I grew up with A Boy Named Charlie Brown, and seeing it again as an adult its hard to imagine a more note-accurate translation of a beloved daily comic strip into an animated film. A lot of its style was established by the first couple Peanuts holiday specials: limited-yet-expressive animation, Vince Guaraldi’s jazz-piano score, kid characters voiced by actual kid actors. That’s all here, but since this is also a production from 1969, we’ve got some light psychedelic touches here and there too. My personal favorite sequence is Schroeder playing Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 8, set to some lovely abstract visuals:
I love this sequence so much, and its really a testament to the relaxed, unusual pacing of an animated movie like this. Schroeder’s piano playing doesn’t have much to do with the film’s story - Charlie Brown is already off with Linus to compete in the spelling bee, and Schroeder is left behind to hang out with Lucy. Its simply a moment for the film to stop, enjoy some Beethoven, and reflect before moving on. After watching so much media that is so tightly focused on every scene driving the engine of a film’s plot, its so refreshing to see a scene like this - especially one aimed at children, who can just sit and absorb it without questioning it.
But that’s Peanuts, and A Boy Named Charlie Brown embodies the spirit of the strip so lovingly. Since Schulz himself wrote it (and pretty much every Peanuts special while he was alive, for that matter), its pacing feels like the comic strip. You get scenes of Charlie Brown failing to fly his kite, his team losing at baseball, Lucy baiting him into trying to kick the football again, etc etc. It feels like anything you’d read in a Peanuts collection, but it relates to the core story: Charlie Brown feels like a failure, and he wants to prove he isn’t one by winning the school spelling bee.
A Boy Named Charlie Brown is most well known for being a story about failure, where Charlie Brown gets all the way to the national school Spelling Bee championships, loses, and then feels so crushed and embarrassed by his loss that he can’t even face his friends. But despite that, in the words of Linus, “the world didn’t end.” Charlie gets out of bed, sees his friends playing, life continuing, and he comes to peace with it.
A detail I never noticed before is that Charlie does reach a moment of perfect contentment: when he wins the school spelling bee championships. The kids raise him over their shoulders and sing one of three adorable Rod McKuen songs in the film, “Champion Charlie Brown.” This is, perhaps, the most loved by his friends Charlie Brown has ever felt. And once they get him home, he can only say “Oh boy, I’m glad THAT’S over!” To Charlie, he has achieved everything he wanted. He won the school spelling bee, proved he wasn’t a failure, and won the love and respect of his friends. He’s satisfied, and he never wants to do another spelling bee again.
But his friends won’t let him enjoy this little victory. To them, the school championship is only a minor accomplishment - for Charlie Brown to TRULY win their love, he’s gotta go on to win the National Spelling Bee Championship. And from here on, we see Charlie Brown’s demeanor change. Where before studying spelling was a fun activity, cramming for the Nationals is an exhausting chore for him. Its no wonder he ends up losing in the end - by attempting to win the favor of his friends through competition, he’s already lost.
I could go on and on, really, but I hope you find time to watch A Boy Named Charlie Brown yourself if you haven’t already. I hope one day to make something with even a little bit of its sweet, gentle, yet creatively adventurous spirit.
A TOUCH OF ZEN (King Hu, 1971)
I’ve been getting into martial arts & wuxia movies lately, and so I wanted to carve out 3 hours of my Friday night to watch A Touch of Zen, a 3 hour wuxia movie I’d heard was a masterpiece. And after taking it all in, the truth cannot be denied… this movie whips the llama’s ass.
What delighted and surprised me about Touch of Zen was how quiet and character focused it was early on. It’s first half focuses almost entirely on non-combatants: the main character is an artist who lives with his mother, who starts to notice a conflict between warriors seeping into his little village. Eventually he gets involved with a mysterious swordswoman, an Imperial government trying to hunt her down, and - most memorably - a group of powerful monk warriors.
The monks are truly the highlight of this movie, for me. Their immense power is portrayed not through musculature or violence, but through their connection to nature, displayed using some of the most gorgeous natural photography I’ve ever seen in a movie. Spider webs, birds, babbling brooks, light flowing through the trees.. it’s an absolute feast, power through tranquility. It’s gorgeous!
Not much else to say about this one, other than I need to watch more wuxia movies.. they scratch an itch for me like nothing else does.
And that’ll do it for the first edition of Sean On The Aisle! Hope you enjoyed it, and I’ll be sure to do it again sometime soon. See you in 2025!
