Neil LaBute's Some Velvet Morning
Neil LaBute's Some Velvet Morning
#1Neil LaBute's Some Velvet Morning
Posted: 4/22/13 at 11:59pm
A friend texted me tonight saying he had an extra ticket to Some Velvet Morning at Tribeca, and although I normally hold LaBute's work in disdain I thought, "What the hell! It's only 82 minutes. How bad can it be?"
Here's what I learned from the movie:
Women are many things, but first and foremost they are always sluts. (The female character is a high end hooker, but she's more than just an occupational slut- being a whore permeates her being and basically defines her.) When a woman takes a momentary break from being a slut she is probably being a shrill bitch, or just an all around cvnt. Woman just are stupid fvcking cvnts who should learn to bend over and take it.
Now men on the other hand- well men can be assholes and insensitive pricks, but the difference is that men become funny when they take on these qualities that make women so unbearable. We can laugh at a man when he insults a woman, but women are pathetic when the role is reversed. I think this is mostly because men have a higher intellect.
So this 82 minute movie had only two characters and took place in a Brooklyn brownstone. Stanley Tucci plays a man who left his wife and shows up with all his bags at the home of his mistress/hooker whom he has fallen in love with. She feels trapped and less than overjoyed that he wants to move in.
The fight and argue. He bosses her around and discovers that she is sleeping with his son too, and in fact has an appointment to meet him that afternoon.
The rest will contain spoilers...but if you can't tell already, I HATED this movie and was disgusted by the misogyny that was supposed to pass for humor in this piece of crap.
SPOILERS***********************************
The movie climaxed when Tucci, fed up with being rebuffed by his whore, threw her to the ground and violently raped her. The camera stayed on her crying face until he came and left.
Then he bursts back into the room kinda of giggling and asking if she's ok. She laughs and says yes. He pulls out the money and pays her- she is a slut (Of course, what ELSE would a woman be?!), but the abuse and rape was all roleplay. The laugh and joke, and he even gives he a tip for doing such a good job.
They kiss goodbye and when he goes you realize that she wasn't really roleplaying, but enjoying it after all! If women would only admit that they like to get raped then maybe we wouldn't have to hear such whining about it all the time.
I'm not one to be easily offended, but this movie made me upset.
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
#2Neil LaBute's Some Velvet Morning
Posted: 4/23/13 at 12:04am
Everything about me says that I should hate LaBute but man, I love his work. I find it (for the most part) disturbing, intriguing and unsettling and always fascinating. I got to speak to him once for a pretty long time after a preview of SOME GIRL(S) about his writing and came away respecting him more than I already did.
Anyways, the point is I'm looking forward to seeing this.
#2Neil LaBute's Some Velvet Morning
Posted: 4/23/13 at 12:10amWell I get that he's trying to say society is fvcked up and people are narcissistic asses, but misogyny this strong turns me off greatly. I think when he tries to make the misogyny a funny joke is when it crosses a line for me.
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
#3Neil LaBute's Some Velvet Morning
Posted: 4/23/13 at 12:11amI totally agree with whizzer. Disgusting, vile film. What's the point exactly?? Exploitation at it's worst. No ART here. Sorry.
"Anyone who isn't confused really doesn't understand the situation" ~~ Edward R. Murrow
#4Neil LaBute's Some Velvet Morning
Posted: 4/23/13 at 12:12amWell I still want to see it. Even in films like IN THE COMPANY OF MEN which I found to be maybe the most disturbing film I've ever seen, I still find it to be extremely well crafted.
#5Neil LaBute's Some Velvet Morning
Posted: 4/23/13 at 12:15am
Aside from the content the pacing of the film was terrible. It felt so long!
Since you're a fan of his work Jordan I'll be curious to hear your thoughts on the film.
Tiny, I think the message I got was that deep down men just want to degrade women and that is what will ultimately get them off. What women don't want to admit is that they are most turned on when being degraded.
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
#6Neil LaBute's Some Velvet Morning
Posted: 4/23/13 at 12:20amSide note - I think his film POSSESSION is one of the most beautiful films of the past 15 years or so.
#7Neil LaBute's Some Velvet Morning
Posted: 4/23/13 at 12:23amI haven't seen Possession. I don't think I've seen any of his films before this, but have seen or read many of his plays. Some Velvet Morning felt like a filmed play- almost like the Carnage movie.
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
#8Neil LaBute's Some Velvet Morning
Posted: 4/23/13 at 12:24am
Ugh. I really hated the CARNAGE movie. Such a great cast and wasted opportunity.
But POSSESSION he just directed and it's such a gorgeous love story.
#9Neil LaBute's Some Velvet Morning
Posted: 4/23/13 at 12:29am
I didn't like the Carnage movie either.
I just looked up Possession and noticed that he only solely directed it; David Henry Hwang and Laura Jones co-wrote the screenplay with him. Normally I'd say, "It took three people to write this thing?" but maybe the other voices helped temper his work.
And Gwyneth is in this in this thing? You're driving a hard bargain here Jordan!
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
#10Neil LaBute's Some Velvet Morning
Posted: 4/23/13 at 12:30am.. the "opposite" of this film: The Last Seduction" w/the great Linda Fiorentino. If you haven't seen it, well.....you're really missing something. No spoilers here.
"Anyone who isn't confused really doesn't understand the situation" ~~ Edward R. Murrow
#11Neil LaBute's Some Velvet Morning
Posted: 4/23/13 at 12:35amOMG, "The Last Seduction" is one of the GREATEST films of the 90's that nobody has ever seen. What the hell ever happened to Fiorentino???
#12Neil LaBute's Some Velvet Morning
Posted: 4/23/13 at 12:37amShe's 55. I think the film was originally done for HBO as I remember...otherwise she would have won the Academy awards and every other award hands down. One of the greatest little known actresses ever.
"Anyone who isn't confused really doesn't understand the situation" ~~ Edward R. Murrow
#13Neil LaBute's Some Velvet Morning
Posted: 4/23/13 at 12:40amCool, I will check out The Last Seduction. I have to admit I've never heard of Fiorentino before...
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
#14Neil LaBute's Some Velvet Morning
Posted: 4/23/13 at 12:43am
Tiny, you're right. It was released theatrically but after a showing on HBO and there was a big deal about it not being eligible for the Oscars because of that. But absolutely, if it were she would have had no competition.
But most people know her from DOGMA. I think that was probably the biggest movie she ever made.
#15Neil LaBute's Some Velvet Morning
Posted: 4/23/13 at 1:49am
Eons back when I was in first year university, I took a enre in film course from a pompous prof. The best thing about the course was he LOVED The Last Seduction and introduced it to me. It's pretty amazing with a killer lead performance--great appropriation of old film noir tropes (which is how it was introduced to us in class.) I guess it has a big enough cult following that it got a cheapie direct to video sequel (with a different cast and crew.)
I do really like Possession. It's based on a (much better) book by A. S. Byatt that I think won the Pulitzer, and should have been completely unfilmable, so I give props to everyone involved (even LaBute who I generally feel the same way about as Whizzer) for managing to make as good a film as they did. I think Byatt had mixed feelings about him doing the adaptation--I remember her speaking about how Your Friends and Neighbors thought it was saying something about society but was essentially "empty." (I did think Friends and Neighbors was one of his better original films--out of the ones I've seen--but that's not saying much. Of course when I saw it in the theatre the main speaking point was the gay rape monologue.) Whizzer you may know Byatt, if not from her many novels than from the film adaptation of a previous work, Angels and Insects. Anyway--completely not LaBute's style, and I'd be interested to know how he got attached to it.
(And his remake of one of my fave cult films, The Whicker Man, is all kinds of campy awfulness--another project that seems odd for him.)
I think I'll be staying far away from this. The local university just did a well reviewed production of "reasons to be pretty" that I almost went to, but couldn't quite bring myself to go.
*almost forgot* I also liked LaBute's film Nurse Betty--at least at the time though now all I remember about it was how shocking and out of nowhere some of the violence was, and how funny I found the soap opera Betty is obsessed with that plays installments throughout the film. It's another one he didn't write, though.
WiCkEDrOcKS
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/13/04
#16Neil LaBute's Some Velvet Morning
Posted: 4/23/13 at 2:18amI love LaBute and will definitely check out this movie. I already have tickets to REASONS TO BE HAPPY at The Lucille Lortel and could not be more excited.
#17Neil LaBute's Some Velvet Morning
Posted: 4/23/13 at 2:58am
I've seen YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS at least 25 times! I'm not necessarily proud of the fact, but there you are.
To me, LaBute's men are so despicable, it's hard to say he thinks women are less or worse.
#18Neil LaBute's Some Velvet Morning
Posted: 4/23/13 at 1:37pmGod, I hate his writing so much.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
#19Neil LaBute's Some Velvet Morning
Posted: 4/23/13 at 1:52pmI'm no fan of his writing, either, but I have to echo Jordan's sentiment that the man himself is actually decent.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
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