Letters from the Inside, Michael Swango, #26

Dear KK---

By now you received the letter I wrote you over the Memorial Day weekend. Hope I didn't bore you too much with my focus on the films of Lars von Trier. But there are so many bad films and bad directors: you have pointed out quite a few in the last few weeks..."The Informers", "Adoration", "Lymelife", and so on. Films with millions of dollars invested and little to show for it. So--like you, I respect directors (and actors) who at least try
to do something novel or daring or provocative or shocking--even when they occasionally fail [i.e. Egoyan with Adoration.]

With that said, I must mention the film that took the Grand Prize at Cannes over the weekend: "WHITE RIBBON" by the often daring & controversial director Mike Haneke. all I've read is this: "story of mistrust and deceit in a small German town just before World War I." Perhaps you can find more info online-such as its Wikipedia page, etc. Would be interested in knowing more. Thanks! Besides the von Trier film, another film that got a lot of buzz at Cannes was a "powerful" French prison film: "A PROPHET."

I'm glad you're smart, KK, so you can follow my terrible habit of long parenthetical & bracketed sentences & paragraphs!

Your letters---which reflect your beautiful mind and I mean that utterly sincerely, and I make no apologies for my previous comment to you that it is a women's mind that is the heart of her sexuality and sensuality--so amazing & so attractive...--give rise to so many thoughts and topics that I see reflected elsewhere--and I of course want to share it all with you. So to quote Rod Serling: "Presented for your consideration:"

>Ran across this jaw-dropping article in an issue of the Times. OMG, KK--talk about feeling connected to you: This article mirrors precisely what you were saying about the economy, New York"then and now", and New York as a cauldron of artistic freedom & artistic creation...plus the danger--always a part of the background...

Sounds like the June issue of Vanity Fair might be worth reading for the referenced article by James Wolcott. Most interested, my dear, in your reaction to this article enclosed and the Wolcott article if you have time to read it. Simply amazing...His Kind of Shell Shocked Town.

>Moving to an almost incomprehensible tragedy. I'm sure you've seen & heard the story of the death of Mike Tyson's 4-year old daughter in a bizarre strangulation accident. Just when his life was seeming to get back on track, as per the documentary film: "TYSON"--your review and several others seemed to make it clear that he has left some of his demons behind.

Trying to share with you moments & vignettes and relationships and intimate encounters--to hopefully let you get to know me through those moments and events as I hope to know you so much better in the same way. When I worked as a paramedic, I recall multiple times being called to the scene of a child death or tween death. They tend to stay etched in your mind: There was a 6 or 7 y/o boy accidentally shot dead by his not much older brother when they found a loaded gun in the house late at night... A 12 y/o boy who went into his basement to lift weights like daddy---his windpipe crushed by a barbell...and then, KK, there is "autoerotic asphixiation." The photos in forensic texts do not do the surreal scenes justice. I saw tow of these---recall one mother was in a virtual catatonic state. She had found her son dead...always wondered what became of her...

>I recall you mentioned knowing the author James Frey. I heard on TV recently that Oprah has apologized to Mr. Frey for her brutal denunciation of him on her show back in 06. Somewhat surprising. Are you still in occasional contact? And how was his book after: A Million Little Pieces? I can't recall if it was you or a review that told me it was actually pretty good. I'm sure many people wanted him to fail after the brouhaha over Little Pieces. It says a lot to me about you that you count him as a friend. :-)

>We discussed the untimely death of Natasha Richardson in some detail---and the question of could she and should she have been saved? I believe the answer to both questions is "YES". So please note the enclosed article regarding a quick-thinking doc in rural Australia. If only Ms. Richardson had had an equally aggressive and aware physician at the first hospital before the blood clot expanded and caused herniation and death. [Ed.: Article enclosed is about a man taking an ordinary household drill and drilling into a boy's head to stop a clot.]

>Another sad story--but I must ask if you knew Kelly Breslin. Obviously, her first name caught my eye of course, Breslin. I saw an obituary in an out-of-town paper, clearly taken from a New York paper: It said she was 44, and did "public relations and marketing work". So it seemed that you might well have known her, either professionally, personally or both. She apparently died at Bellevue four days after collapsing in a restaurant with friends at 4am--some sort of catastrophic medical event. It mentioned she had many clients at the World Trade Center prior to 9/11.

If she was your friend, I am so very sorry. Even if she was not--it is a powerful reminder of so many things...

I've actually done pretty well controlling my film fetish in this letter---just those opening comments at Cannes. However, my fellow film aficionado--there are quite a few out there, so let me share a few things I've read this past weekend:

>"THE MERRY GENTLEMAN"
>"THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE"
>"ADORATION"
>"JULIA"

Must wrap this up--hoping for a letter of letters from you later today...Ummm/you are endlessly fascinating Ms. K...

One quick "LOST"-related (barely) comment: Remember when you were seeing>Pen just ran out [May I dare make a mild double entendre, KK?! You truly drain me dry, my dear!].

When you were seeing eyepatches everywhere? Consider Maggie Grace-who played Shannon on "LOST" before her untimely death at the hands of a trigger happy Anna Lucia: BEFORE - over the weekend saw her playing welfare mother on an episode of "ER" from the mid-90s//AFTER--I could swear I saw her in a clip from a current film "TAKEN". She play (I think) either Liam Neeson's daughter or the daughter's friend-both of whom are kidnapped (again, I think!) One of those films we could write out the plot without seeing.
Also saw Cynthia Wastros (Libby) playing a protected witness with three kids.

I'm sure I'll have much more this week. You take care birthday girl and Taurus! I'm Libra/Scorpio (I have an interesting astrology story for later!) Stay safe in the mean city--Know I'll be thinking of you...let me count the ways...

Yours,
Michael

P.S. Just received your letter with Kurt Vonnegut and that fantastic info. on Flash Forward. Plus we've both seen the news of the new Television show on ABC--Yes--We must watch-more time travel for our brains to totally come together as one on! Terrible sentence/Must go.
XO, Michael