DVD
a Day
Posted
by John Black, Movie Critic
Sooner or later,
anybody with any serious interest in great writing finds his way
to the novels and poetry of Charles Bukowski. Here’s a chance
for them to watch and listen to the master at work in a combined
rerelease of a pair of rare filmed poetry readings. The poems, as
you might expect, are terrific and hearing the author read them in
his weathered voice is a treat. What makes watching the readings
so addictive is the interacting between the writer and his devoted
fans. Who knew a poetry reading could be so feisty?
DVD
Review: Charles Bukowski: One Tough Mother:
Blog Critics.org
Author:
Richard
Marcus — Published:
Nov
01, 2010 at 7:55 pm
Say "poetry" and most
people will immediately think of something intellectual, slightly
effeminate, and not usually worth the effort it takes to
understand. They'll think back to days in high school spent trying
to make sense of seemingly incomprehensible words strung together
apparently without rhyme or reason while their teacher droned on
about metaphors, similes, and deeper meanings. The idea that
poetry might actually have something to do with the real world or
be written in language that anybody can understand would come as
quite a surprise to most people. That the same poetry might be
about the mean streets of big cities featuring casts of characters
who hang out in old dingy bars or the cracked stone steps of
tenement buildings drinking two dollar bottles of wine and rotgut
whiskey would never even cross their minds.
Until
his death in 1994, American writer Charles
Bukowski produced scores of poems and prose depicting life
among those who eke out an existence in low-paying menial
employment and who seek solace in the bottom of a bottle and the
company of cheap whores and whose hopes for the future rely more
on the long shot at San Marino or race tracks like it around the
country. Not only did his poetry talk about subject matter most
others wouldn't or couldn't tackle, it did so in the language of
the people who populated it. Sex, bodily functions, drinking,
gambling, and generally life on the skids are fixtures of
Bukowski's poetry.
Yet,
that's not the be all and end all when it comes to his work. For
behind the words is an intelligent and compassionate mind which,
although he makes no effort to hide his readers from the nastier
realities of life on the skids, never makes those populating his
work figures of ridicule or objects of sympathy. He finds humor
and pathos among them in equal measures, and is just as likely to
be laughing at himself as anybody else. For Bukowski not only
wrote about the down and outs — for the longest time he was one
himself, and a good deal of autobiographical detail makes its way
into his work.
Although
Bukowski lived until 1994 he gave his last live poetry reading in
1980. A newly released two-DVD set, One
Tough Mother, produced by mondayMEDIA
and the Infinity
Entertainment Group, combining the films made of his last two
readings (There's Going To Be A God Damned Riot In Here!,
Vancouver, 1979 and The Last Straw, Redondo Beach,
California, 1980) gives one a fairly good indication as to why he
stopped doing them. As its title suggests, the Vancouver reading
degenerated at times into a shouting match between Bukowski and
the audience and even though it was a less antagonistic gathering
in California, the atmosphere still left a lot to be desired.
Far
too many people made the mistake with Bukowski of confusing
fiction with reality. For while it was true that at one point in
his life he had lived much like those who inhabited his poetry and
prose, by this point in his life he was no longer living rough.
There was no reason for him to have to fight for his survival, but
if these two readings were any indication as to how audiences
reacted to him, they expected him to be one of the foul-mouthed
protagonists depicted in his work. In both instances he tries his
best to remind them of who he has become by reading a work which
deals with the issue directly. In the poem he talks about how he
receives letters from men living in single rooms written on torn
lined paper which compliment him on how he's captured their lives
on paper. He then continues on to wonder what they would think if
they knew their missives were ending up at a two-garage house
where he leads a perfectly comfortable life and keeps a young man
in a cage, beaten two or three times a week and fed on cheap
whiskey, who writes all his poetry these days.
However
in spite of everything, the heckling from the audience and
Bukowski's increasingly angry rejoinders — in Vancouver he
becomes so angry he lashes out at audiences in general because
there are always two people who sit right down front who insist on
talking through his readings — both movies are still valuable
records of one of the most original poetic voices of the 20th
century. While his reading style is fairly low key, the power of
the words is such that we very quickly find ourselves falling
under their spell. There's no beating around the bush with
Bukowski's poetry; little in the way of allegorical language,
metaphor or any of the other poetic devices our teachers were so
fond of forcing us to try and interpret so we could find the
meaning hidden in the words. Indeed there is very little subtlety
to his work at all, just like the world he uses them to describe,
whether he's describing the state of his money after he drops his
wallet into the toilet after he has had a particularly
foul-smelling dump or inviting us back to his room where he's
spending the night with a woman.
Needless
to say, a poetry reading isn't the most visually exciting thing
you'll see on a DVD as the camera is forced to stay with its
rather static subject the whole time. However, it's fascinating to
watch Bukowski right from the moment he walks onto the stage.
Whether he's smoking his ever-present Bidi (an Indian clove
cigarette), taking large gulps from a seemingly bottomless glass
of red wine, talking with the audience, and even reading the
occasional poem, his weathered features and rough-hewn voice hold
our attention where others wouldn't. He has some sort of charisma,
which is hard to define as it's not the standard issue stuff
handed out to the good-looking or otherwise conventional types
we're normally attracted to.
There's
a clue to be found in his readings as to what it is that keeps us
focused on him. For while he has no problems joking with the
audience about himself or trading insults, you could see genuine
anger come through when his poetry was derided or treated with
indifference. It's that passion for his work, the total commitment
to his art that we feel emanating from him, that keeps our
attention focused on him throughout the reading. Even when he
seems to be uncaring and blasé about the whole affair, there's
the sense of something lurking beneath the surface that's not
quite safe - like a hibernating bear who is slow to rouse, we're
aware he could wake up at any moment and rip someone's head off.
Each
disc comes with bonus features that weren't available when they
were released individually. While some of them are just your
standard talking head things with academics pontificating about
Bukowski's work (God, he must be laughing about that) it's well
worth checking out the readings of his poetry by people like Bono,
Tom Waits, and others who are part of the interview with John
Dullaghan who directed the documentary Bukowski: Born Into
This and the excerpts from a performance of the play Love
Bukowski. However no matter how interesting any of these
features might be, none of them compare to the genuine article
itself. While you only receive the smallest taste of just who or
what Charles Bukowski was and what his poetry was like, for those
who have never experienced him before this will make an
unforgettable introduction and give everybody else a few more
moments to savour his genius. Charles Bukowski ain't like the
poetry you learned about in school, but its some of the best damn
stuff you'll ever have the opportunity of reading or hearing.
DVD
Verdict
All Rise...
Judge Gordon
Sullivan isn't a poet, but he likes wine and a good angry rant
now and then.
The Charge
The Uncut Versions
of the Last 2 Readings.
The Case
T.S. Eliot is
probably the archetypal poet of the twentieth century. He's
famous for writing dense, learned poems that capture the chaos
and dis-ease in the wake of World War I. In one of his poems he
said the purpose of speech was to "purify the dialect of
the tribe," and much of the poetry that followed in his
wake did just that. If T.S. Eliot is the angel of poetry shining
a light on the twentieth century, then surely Charles Bukowski
is the dark devil demonstrating our collective underbelly in
that tumultuous century. Emphatically parochial (rarely
venturing outside Los Angeles for material) and capable, it
seemed, of only writing in a voice inflected by the language of
a tough, working-class drunk, Charles Bukowski was in no way out
to purify. As such, he's one of the most polarizing poets in our
culture. Most academics (and other poets for that matter) ignore
him, while his books sell copies regularly.
If we're honest,
though, if Bukowski is famous, it's not so much for his writing
as it is his lifestyle. He started out poor, quit a job to write
at the urging of an editor, and lived a broke-down,
wine-drenched existence until his death. He bedded countless
women, wrote a Hollywood screenplay (Barfly), and was
unrepentantly vulgar. Before his book sales generated enough
income to keep him in beer and typewriter ribbons, Bukowski went
'round the poetry circuit, giving readings that often involved
gallons of wine and angry rants in between poems. His final two
appearances, one national, one international, at poetry readings
(fourteen years before his death) are gathered here in Charles
Bukowski: One Tough Mother.
The first of these
readings was in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1979, and the
second in Redondo Beach, California, in 1980. They've been
released separately. The first was released as There's Gonna
Be a God Damn Riot in Here! and the second as The Last
Straw.
Since both of
these readings were previously released, why should a good
Bukowski fan pick up this new set? Well, there are a couple of
reasons. The first is that those two previous DVDs were edited
to avoid duplicate poems. I have no idea why anyone would have
done that (except to cash in with a set like this later), but
those omissions have been rectified here. We get both shows
completely unedited on their separate discs. The second reason
for fans to pick this set up is the new featurettes. When
Bukowski's papers were donated to the Huntington Library in San
Marino, they hosted a celebration that included readings,
reminisces, and speakers. These are included, along with
interviews, in "Bukowski at Huntington." Then there's
an interview with the director of the Bukowski documentary Born
Into This, including clips of some of the famous readings in
that film. We also get a series of scenes from a play called Love,
Bukowski. From the previous stand-alone discs we get a short
documentary on the twenty-fifth anniversary screening of the
Vancouver show, a short piece on the show's producers, and some
notes from Bukowski in his own hand.
These shows were
videotaped, under poor lighting conditions, so don't expect much
in the transfer department. The Vancouver show looks the best,
but that's not say much—both shows look as if they've been
sourced from VHS, including some vertical roll here and there.
However, the solid sound ensures that Bukowski is audible
throughout, and it's even possible to make out most of the
comments the crowd hurls Hank's way. It's not a pristine
recording by any stretch, but the grit suits the mood of a
Bukowski reading.
As for the
readings, they're as polarizing as the poetry. Bukowski sits
alone on and drinks his way through a couple dozen poems for
each event. He fields occasional comments from the crowd. If
you're so inclined you can see him as charming, witty, and
confident. Alternatively, you can see him as drunk, boorish, and
full of himself. Those with a disposition to appreciate
Bukowski's persona will see his genius on display, while those
who think he's a womanizing jerk will have that confirmed as
well. His reading style is a bit odd: not quite monotone but not
quite his normal speaking voice. Luckily, this DVD allows the
viewer to select individual poems in addition to watching the
whole thing straight through.
This DVD is
unlikely to win Bukowski any new fans, but for the faithful it's
probably worth double dipping for the unedited versions of these
shows and the new special features. This disc is especially
recommended to those who might be familiar with Bukowski's
writing but unfamiliar with his voice and reading style. He's in
fine form for these last two shows, and it's nice that fans have
them both here in one tidy package.
The Verdict
Call him what you
will, but Charles Bukowski and One Tough Mother are not
guilty.
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