Living the Romantic Comedy

The Conformist: A Sampler

Though Bertolucci is most famous for Last Tango, it was The Conformist that changed my cinematic life when I saw its American premiere at the NY Film Festival in 1970. When the lights came up, one faction in the audience was booing, because the leftist Italian filmmaker had supposedly sold out to "Nixon-Paramount," while on my side of the aisle we were on our feet cheering. 

If you've never seen The Conformist or want to revisit it, here's a montage of some of the most memorable moments from this masterpiece, created by Bertolucci in collaboration with cinematographer Vittorio Storaro; music by George Delerue, starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, Domonique Sanda, and Stefania Sandrelli.

Bertolucci's Lovers

Two shots apiece from: The Conformist (1970), Last Tango in Paris (1972), The Sheltering Sky (1992), Stealing Beauty (1996), The Dreamers (2003).

Roeg

 

Second unit director: Laurence of Arabia Director of Photography: Fahrenheit 451, Far From the Madding Crowd Cinematographer/Director: Performance, Walkabout, Don't Look Now Director: Man Who Fell to Earth

Happy Thanksgiving 2018

Dogs and cats in love (This is Tabitha cuddling with Simon).

Begin Again

That's me in my home office with Tabitha, one of our family of dogs. If you were here, she'd be tail-wagging and wiggling a welcome.

I've been off this blog for about a year, and was neglecting it for a few before that - largely because Facebook and Twitter took over my social media attention, and because the romantic comedy genre itself was in the doldrums. But as of this week, I may be leaving Facebook, for reasons that should be clear to anyone paying attention, while the romantic comedy - in the wake of Crazy Rich Asians and 80 million Netflix subscribers embracing a new crop of funny love stories like To All the Boys I've Loved Before - is back in force.

I like being where I can share interesting stuff and just sound off about whatever, while engaging friends and strangers in conversation about it. It does say "other topics apropos" above, under Living the Romantic Comedy, so I'll be here appreciating the world and analyzing the likes of anything from The Kissing Booth to Karl Ove Knausgaard and beyond.

Happy to have you aboard, first time visitors and returning readers alike. I'm currently working on the revised and expanded 20th Anniversary edition of Writing the Romantic Comedy, which Harper/Collins will publish in early 2020, so as I wrestle with putting the genre's last 20 years in perspective, all input welcomed! Please do comment, and I promise to reply. 

Missing Mr. Goldman

He was The Man. 

If he had only given us Butch Cassidy, we would have been gratified, but there was more (The Princess Bride) and more (All the President's Men) and more (Marathon, Misery) plus the first and perhaps greatest of contemporary books about the craft: Who among you reading this post has not perused Adventures in the Screen Trade?

Goldman famously claimed "Nobody knows anything" (though - watch me rewrite William Goldman! - I've come to think, after decades in the industry, that "Nobody knows everything" is more accurate) but Goldman did know something, for sure.

[NOTE: An earlier version of this post reprinted a "10 Commandments of Screenwriting" long-attributed to William Goldman. I've learned from a reputable source that they were actually written by (gulp) Robert McKee, so I've removed them. Apologies!]