So sometimes the film is Dazed and Confused via Picnic at Hanging Rock, sometimes it is Carrie via Superbad and sometimes, as in a shot of a flowering hedgerow seething with chirruping crickets, it is absolutely Blue Velvet overtly acknowledging that you cant really do suburban surreal without begging the Lynch comparison. Image from Ham on Rye, courtesy Factory 25. 65. 2023 The Hollywood Reporter, LLC. You are using an out of date browser. As the story progresses the reader follows his life through the school years and into young adulthood. And its here that the film matures into a weirdly sorrowful look at what our world does to teenagers, at the exceptionalism peddled to them without any sense of what they are exceptional from, and how much more likely it is, when you deal in the currency of exclusivity, that you will end up among the excluded. Carson Lunds superb cinematography, apparently influenced by photographers like William Eggleston and Stephen Shore, picks out boys riding skateboards, borrowing Dads Volvo, and talking about the crucial importance of boning, like its a philosophy, like theyre the first ones ever to have had so original a thought. Production companies: Tago Clearing Film Studio, Omnes Films Its roots go that far down, and spread that far wide under the strange earth of the American suburb. READ MORE: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2021. As Henry grinds his way through Junior High School, he discovers the manifold pleasures of alcohol and masturbation. This is emphasized by Bukowski's grave being engraved with the words: "Don't try." 16 poolside__convo 2 yr. ago Really enjoyed this take. The farmhouse seems to change shape, furnishings and configuration. Though calling them characters is a bit of a stretch. I think you could read Ham on Rye along those exact linesits not cute anymoreand come away with a pretty fair understanding of the film. Like his previous autobiographical novels, Ham on Rye centers on the life of Henry Chinaski, this time during his childhood and teenage years. The air is often dead, even when people are ostensibly being social: Asking a question or making an observation is no guarantee anyone will say anything in reply. The grotesque-looking boils of his acne vulgaris will eventually turn their excuses for hating him into an ostracizing trifecta. But what kind of dance is this? Ham on Rye opened at the Brattle Theatres Virtual Cinema on October 23, where it remains available to rent now. So now when I read. What's immediately delightful about Ham on Rye is the ghostly sense of escalation. A hauntingly. A lot of that was captured in Sylmar.. special is how dutifully it avoids the lack of depth that usually accompanies utilizing deliberately generic settings. Like a hoagie sandwich filled with meat and lettuce, thats a quintessential American suburban item.. Like for instance, one boy carries around this strange pig toywhich of course aligns with the films title as well as with another scene where someone refers to porking [as] the ultimate purposethat eventually lands in the hands of an older character, who discards it with some disgust. Its kind of about how you grow up and curiosityespecially curiosity about systems and societal functionsis not welcomed. Jake seems intent on displaying his shaky self-worth. 1985. The girls talk about fashion and popularity. All the dread and the emptiness is what comes up after the big Montys scene, when day turns to night, and when most of Ham on Ryes first-half cast disappears from the picture. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. but you can choose how you rise above, some with words, other with action. Ham on Rye makes no such assurances which of course makes it more honest, even if its oblique lessons will be heard by a tiny, tiny fraction of the number who navigated adolescence by the. Bukowski's Ham on Rye and the Los Angeles Novel. Once the kids arrive at the deli, where a slightly older guy in a bandana looks out at them surlily and grinds meat in the back room, a strange coupling ritual begins, part pairing-off-at-a-disco, part being-picked-for-basketball. This stems in large part from his home life, in which he is beaten frequently (often for no reason) by his father. With the snow falling heavily, the ride back itself may only substitute one danger for another. Bukowski keeps his descriptions of his hometown grounded in reality, paying more attention to the people that make up Los Angeles than to the city itself. But what other shorthand would you use for this strange, atmospheric work, which is 100 percentnot a comedy but does share a spiritual connection refracted through art-film aesthetics and anomie with the aforementioned landmarks? As recently as four years ago the films now-29-year-old director, Tyler Taormina, maintained a website for his then-new webseries Suburban Legends, which starred Haley Bodell as Poll Flowerpot, a 12-year-old cynic [who] discovers the absurdities of the world; the site is down now, but if you search around you can still find all three episodes on certain video-uploading hubs. The second half is darker and lonelier, following those left behind, especially Haley (Haley Bodell), who ran from the diner when her humiliation became too great and is now, like all her fellow rejects, apparently condemned never to escape this world of duck ponds, wisteria-draped driveways, and doorbells that are never answered. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register. So, its not cute anymore, was the realization I made about her character.. Were not told when the film is taking place, or where the film is taking place, or even whats the deal with this big local event all the kids are moving towards. In the beginning, and just for a little while, Tyler Taorminas Ham on Rye seems like every other no-budget suburban coming-of-ager youve ever seen, if maybe better shot. They are as uneasy with the past as they are nervous about the future. He attended Los Angeles City College from 1939 to 1941, then left school and moved to New York City to become a writer. Henry agrees to teach little kid how to play a game and by the end of it he just walks out. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Ham on Rye". Ham on rye (2022) . He has only slightly better results in baseball. Same goes for something that Taormina said to, in early 2019, which seems way too key not to reproduce here: The script was born through that feeling of nervous confrontation to [rituals] and then it bloomed into What happens to those who dont get selected?,, Yet by placing its emphasis on the shared cultural detritus of American teenagerdom, like all those tokens of first cars and first kisses seen in the loving insert shots that dominate the first halfrather than underlining its more specific themes or subtexts (which Broyles, Lund, and Taormina say were pared back even further than expected during editing), reaches a very interior place: an evocation of an experience, or maybe even just a feeling, rather than a, Transgression becomes even more unfathomable when an entire global generation seems to share the same path in gentrifying the cities, Taormina, (also suggesting one of his films many productive contradictionsthat its a lament for the loss of a suburban experience produced almost exclusively in urban spaces). We talked about pointillism too, said Lund during the call. As Chinaski progresses through grammar school, the focus of Henry's attention is on sports, violence, and girls. Cinematic didacticism has given way to filmmakers content to raise questions they wont or cant answer. All the dread and the emptiness is what comes up after the big Monty's scene, when day turns to night, and when most of Ham on Rye's first-half cast disappears from the picture. This deliberately coy prologue begets the opening credits sequence (introducing characters with more close-ups of little details, like a tie being fastened or a nail being painted), which then feeds directly into the films real first section, where for about 20 minutes small cliques of seemingly high school-aged kids walk through various neighborhoods on their way to an unspoken happening. The post-facto rationalizations they concoct for their hostility, however, involve his inability to play sports and his being viscerally revolted by cruelty to animals, the latter being one of the favorite past-times of neighborhood men and boys alike. His life never became better. Original Language: English. Written in Bukowski's characteristically straightforward prose, the novel tells of his coming-of-age in Los Angeles during the Great Depression. This study guide consists of approx. But what once had to burn or perish can now simply vanish between clicks, and without even the slightest hint of ceremony. Football is difficult for him, but he enjoys the violence that comes with it. They literally haunt my dreams.. This was surprisingly tender in places amongst his usual cynical and brutal musings on life. Producers: David Croley Broyles, Michael Basta, Carson Lund, Sergio Uguet de Resayre, David Entin Henry is not athletic but wants to be and therefore tries hard to improve. The 1960s were about pushing boundaries and breaking societal rules to make a strive towards enjoyment and the American dream. I was like, this is going to be fun to shootits like shooting a bunch of still lifes, he continued. My mother smiled. Ham on Rye is the kind of he movie that oozes off the screen as if fresh-squeezed from a brain addled with too much television and '90s junk, too many blended memories of lazy cookouts and . The following guest essay on the making of Ham on Rye is from cinematographer Carson Lund. Both Ham on Rye and Im Thinking of Ending Things deal with the tensions of young Americas uncertain future. But in the bazillion short stories and poems and recorded interviews, you do eventually start to hear some of the same stories again. Like his previous autobiographical novels, Ham on Rye centers on the life of Henry Chinaski, this time during his childhood and teenage years. The reader eventually follows Chinaski to college and reads of Henry's attempt to find a worthwhile occupation. Its kind of about how you grow up and curiosityespecially curiosity about systems and societal functionsis not welcomed. We're pleased to share the exclusive trailer premiere for Tyler Taormina's Ham on Rye, which will be released virtually on October 23rd in 20+ theaters nationwide.An unorthodox teen coming-of-age movie with an increasingly sinister twist whose details are best left unspoiled, Taormina's debut feature premiered at last year's Santa Barbara International Film Festival before making its . He achieves a number of other startling effects in this impressive movie, which sheds its naturalism slowly as it embraces a surrealism thats both disquieting and poignant. Following a nocturnal tour of the now much-less-populated location (in a scene that for me betrays Lund's appreciation . However, he rarely is completely confident with his own abilities and often second-guesses himself. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Bukowski's words aren't going anywhere at this point. They literally haunt my dreams., a short film that he produced and directed in 2016, opened at the Brattle Theatres Virtual Cinema on October 23, where it remains available to rent now, As Prices Soar, Fossil Fuel Industry Looks After Its Interests On Beacon Hill, Photo Dispatch: Ukraine Day Rally In Bostons Copley Square, State Wire: EPA Encouraged To Strengthen Air-Quality Standards For Soot, Mass Baby Bonds Bill Aims To Close Racial Wealth Gap. As they wend their way through more or less quiet streets, the boys talk, crudely but with awkward innocence, about sex. Probably more than anything else, Ham on Rye works to give young adulthood some of its ceremony back. Ham on Rye is not obviously political, but it is also deeply political, pointing out, in lazy, absurdist, carelessly clever frames a deep-set American wrongness that was quietly murmuring away long before the current blowhard moment, and that will continue long after. This is a confusing taboo that weighs very heavily on mein fact, I feel it may have in a way forced me away from home. The reader eventually follows Chinaski to college and reads of Henry's attempt to find a worthwhile occupation. Chinaski has been compared to both Frankenstein's monster and Kafka's Gregor Samsa, because of his alienation and outcast resulting from his "monstrous" appearance. Ham on Rye explained Ham on Rye is a 1982 semi- autobiographical novel by American author and poet Charles Bukowski. This type of description does not venerate or idealize the city, a contrast to other so-called "Los Angeles Novels". The rest of the movie wanders among townsfolk later that night, fixing our gaze on empty strip malls and loose social gatherings. And then some of them are magicked away, a process that happens here with a crude, pencil-eraser-style effect the whole film is drenched in old-fashioned stylistic flourishes, that somehow manage not to foreground themselves but create a mood of heightened ambiguity: long, slow-fading dissolves; abrupt sound edits; janky close-ups; and sudden, non-sequitur inserts, like of a father giving his son a manly, go-get-em pep talk. This type of description does not venerate or idealize the city, a contrast to other so-called "Los Angeles Novels". 5 (3): 6. Where Kaufman jams his long sweeping camera shots and claustrophobic car journey with anxious forced repartee, Taormina pushes his lens uncomfortably close for extended runs with little dialogue. Whether his thoughts are good/bad, right or wrong, he said them! Interesting view into the life of a boy who just never caught a break. Fontana, Ernest. They need to prove something to themselves. State Wire: Affordability Limits MAs Higher-Ed Attainment Goals, So Much For Contracts: State Report Blasts MBTA Contractor. is the key word there: During this first movement of, whats most narratively engaging is the matter of whats been established for sure vs. whats left deliberately unclear. Ham on Rye 's second half is informed with a kind of survivor's guilt that's also reminiscent of Carrie. And I think we took that philosophy and mindset and applied it to everything. Its late spring in the suburbs, and boys and girls of high-school age are dressing up not quite in prom wear, but in sundresses and ties and jackets, headed to some kind of event. That was very hard to find. This is a confusing taboo that weighs very heavily on mein fact, I feel it may have in a way forced me away from home. Can anyone with expertise or understanding please explain? Beginning as an examination of rites of passage, neighborhood malaise, the loss of adolescence, it soon develops into a textured portrait of the suburbs as a transitory space, where teenage posturing and the act of 'finding yourself' takes on a quality of reckoning with the disappointment of the world as a . 5 (3): 5, Fontana, Ernest. We had done a music video right before going into production on this that was very psychedelic, with a lot of superimpositions and really garish lighting schemes, so maybe that was feeding into it as well.. [3] It begins with Chinaski's early memories. The one character that carries over from the pre-ceremony segments to the post- is Haley, played by the same Haley Bodell of Suburban Legends, whose only acting credits to date are for Taormina. In the beginning, and just for a little while, Tyler Taormina's "Ham on Rye" seems like every other no-budget suburban coming-of-ager you've ever seen, if maybe better shot. Ham on RyeNot rated. 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