Sherry Chandler » Has your family tried ‘em?
Has your family tried ‘em?
I am ambivalent about Garrison Keillor.
Take Writer’s Almanac, his daily NPR broadcast of poems and literary trivia that caused such a controversy here in Lexington a while back. Often I think he reads schmaltz and I am not over fond of his sonorous baritone stylings. But I have sent him copies of my books and I’d be thrilled if he were to choose one of my poems to read. And he has read poems by Cathryn Essinger, Diane Lockward, and others I consider excellent poets. Not to mention featuring poets published by Kentucky’s small presses: Sarabande, Wind, Steel Toe, and Finishing Line.
I have the same problem with A Prairie Home Companion. I admire Keillor for taking on political windbags like Jesse Ventura and George W. Bush but most of the time I find the “News from Lake Woebegon” painful.
And then there’s this new movie, which is showing at the Kentucky Theater here in Lexington on a double bill with, of all things, Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth. Who wants to watch a movie about Garrison Keillor, written by Garrison Keillor, and starring Garrison Keillor as some radio m.c. named—wait for it—G.K.?
And yet, it’s Robert Altman.
And it has Kevin Kline. And Tommy Lee Jones. And Lily Tomlin.
So I was pleased enough to come across this snarky Rex Reed review in the New York Observer:
…the chronicles of a fictional Minnesota hamlet called Lake Wobegon have now been cloned into a rambling screen fable that is not only corny, lumbering and dull, but also pretentious, because it pretends that a lug-load of tasteless cracker-barrel baloney can pass for 105 minutes of heirloom charm. A Prairie Home Companion is about as charming as waking up with a dead animal in your bed.
Mr. Keillor, a myopic doughboy who wrote the script and stars in the film as the radio host, wears red socks—an affectation that was more becoming on Van Johnson. Instead of a local Minnesota version of Jean Shepherd or Herb Shriner, he’s a multimillionaire wheeler-dealer in Manhattan real estate with as much folksy down-home charm as Donald Trump. Instead of interesting Dogpatch characters, he pieces together gingham Lum and Abners in doll costumes. Instead of a plot, A Prairie Home Companion features the kind of all-star cast only Robert Altman could recruit in these budget-conscious days of independent production and deferred profit-sharing.
Still, I’ll probably go see it anyway. Or at least order it from Netflix when it comes out on DVD. After all, it is Robert Altman. And Kevin Kline.
And Rex Reed may have some poseur problems of his own.
I found the link on Sour Duck’s Link Blog, which presents us with a sort of Blogsday compilation every day.
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5 Comments
1. Terry replies at 18th June 2006, 1:25 pm :
I have to admit I love the Lake Wobegon stuff. I grew up 15 miles from the Minnesota line, and know everyone in those skits. For me, he absolutely nails midwestern small town life. My favorite bit is the competitve potluck dinner battles between the church ladies.
My kids just don’t get it, though. Meredith rolls her eyes and says he’s just making it up. The funny thing is, he’s not.
2. Georgia Green Stamper replies at 18th June 2006, 11:56 pm :
I agree with you, Terry. I LOVE the Lake Wobegon folks and their stories. I also think GK is a superb essay writer. Reading his skillfully woven, elegant. effortless prose, I want to weep on behalf of my own contorted, tortured writing. And whether one admires the poems he posts on WA or not - to be honest, I often don’t understand them - he has used his popularity to get a lot of people reading poetry who might not otherwise give it a chance. The high school teacher in me loves that about him. Having said all this, however, I have to say I thought the premise of the movie sounded a little lame. Like Sherry, I will probably wait to see it until it comes to the Netflix mailbox nearest me.
3. MW replies at 19th June 2006, 11:33 pm :
I have to admit that I find him rather dull these days. I admire him for taking on Ventura and Bush, too. But like I said, I think that a lot of the time he tries to be a little too bland and non-threatening. He also has a tendency to beat things to death. A lot of what he does sounds just like what he’s been doing for years, and it gets old.
Nevertheless, I do think that the comment on the film’s charm was maybe a little uncalled for.
4. sherry replies at 21st June 2006, 7:53 am :
I am not completely convinced that Keillor has increased the readership of poetry. I would want to see some hard figures on that. I think most people in this country think poets are as laughable as Lindsey Lohen’s portrait of the “suicide poet girl” of the Altman film. For a take on that character, read Ange Mlinko’s Altman, Keillor, and the Suicide Poet Girl at the Poetry Foundation site. Her final words? “Gag me.”
Link courtesy of Rocket Kids.
5. sherry replies at 21st June 2006, 4:03 pm :
Further interesting discussion of Keillor’s influence on poetry at Paul Hoover’s Poety Blog, in a post called Sylvia Plath and Tuna Salad
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