Mellotron Sounds

With Vincent Gallo voicing the lead in Metropia, though–which I posted on a couple days ago–I finally got my window, the perfect opportunity to bust out the preview for his 1998 directorial effort, Buffalo ‘66. Check it out embedded at the foot.

What gets me is just how much of a reminder it is that trailers could be an art-form completely of themselves. It’s not only that the thing is scored by a kickass YES track, or that there isn’t one word spoken throughout its entirety–even though those things do help. It’s how specific a tone the trailer establishes and cements here. You get to know these characters, who they are, the state of their headspace; you get how manic and lost and struggling they are. It’s the sheer amount that’s communicated through the silent images and high-octane prog. An entire story. And in that, 2 minutes and 44 seconds of advertising transform into something else entirely, an independent narrative and short-short film–a tiny flash of truth.

Then it got me thinking. I got into this blogging business (in which I receive no compensation and am recognized by no organization but get to use terms like “blogging business”) for reviews. The idea was to chronicle everything that I watched, start forming a bit of a personal philosophy as seen through film. I was watching the movies, anyway, so why not expound, join the pulsating, throbbing, everybody-and-their-mother ranks of the blogosphere?

Thinking back, though, I don’t think I was ever really so focused on critiquing the movies as much as I was on just critiquing, having my worldview reflected, every day, even as it changes, onto whatever I write about: why I like something, why I hate it, why.

But trailers are what dominate most of my discussion, not actual movies. And I think the reason for that has a lot to do with confinement.

Reviewing a movie, you have to write about that movie, break it down, be specific. But with trailers there’s freedom. Trailers are capsules, of art and emotion and bigger ideas. They’re kind of a like a 2-D picture that you can turn sideways and add your own depth and dimensions to, work off of what it already is but color it the way you want it to be. Trailers aren’t constricting, they’re a mask, a way to talk about what I love about movies then expand into what I love or hate or don’t understand about life.

It’s the bleed-over that fascinates me. A way to write on topic but also have my share of self-indulgence, to bring up other movies, bring up what I did yesterday, bring up the fact that I’m bringing something else up.

Anyway, check this one out; I think you’ll get what I mean. Buffalo ‘66 has officially been added to my queue.