SOUNDTRACK: TAVI GEVINSON-“Heart of Gold” and “Heart” (2013).
Both of these songs were recorded for the release of the film Cadaver (see below). Neither song appears in the film, although Gevinson herself is the main character. I admit to being awed and repulsed by Gevinson [insert standard issue comments about fashion, young fame and blogging here]. But I am glad she’s using her fame to write feminist theory instead of fashion anymore. And I enjoyed her article in The Believer recently.
As for the film, she does a very good job as the voice in the movie. But let’s hope she doesn’t pursue her singing career any further.
She has the kind of flat delivery that Zooey Deschanel does, but Deschaenl’s voice has a gravitas that Gevinson doesn’t (sure, you can say she’s only 16 or whatever, but there are tons of teenagers who can sing amazingly). Her take on “Heart of Gold” is fine. She enunciates very clearly, but there’s very little passion in the song. Her take on Pet Shop Boys’ “Heart” (a song I know very well, but didn’t know that was the title) is a little better. Primarily because she takes the very discoy song and turns it into a slow acoustic number. The instrumentation is a little bland (not her fault) but she puts moments of excitement into the singing. In both cases I’d much rather hear the original, and in fact I am going to listen to the Pet Shop Boys version right now.
And before you yell at me for picking on a teenager, she is far more successful than I will ever be, so just assume this is all sour grapes.
[READ: August 31, 2013] Cadaver
This book came across my desk and I was intrigued because it was a comic book about cadavers. It’s shaped like a comic strip book (reminding me of early Far Side books) and it turns out to be a comic book adaptation of a short film which was originally a poem. In the introduction, Jonah Ansell explains that his (baby) sister was going off to medical school so he wrote her a (funny) poem. Eventually, the poem was turned into an animated short film. And after being made into a short film it was made into this book.
The story is told in rhyme and is quite funny, until it gets rather touching. In the introduction, Ansell also explains that there was more to the story than medial school–it’s about love and loss and cynicism vs romanticism. Not bad for a 7 minute film.
An unnamed med student is handed a scalpel by the scary professor. She is told to make the first incision into the cadaver. She does so, but as she removes the heart (nicely shaped like a cartoon heart), the cadaver sits up and says that he needs it back. The student’s partner passes out. The man says he’s not read to die, he has a heart to give someone.
And then it’s a road trip (in the passed out student’s car, of course). They travel hundreds of miles so the cadaver to give his heart to the woman he loves. They have an interesting road trip (including talking their way out of a ticket, eating beef jerky and listening to Neil Young).
It wouldn’t be fair for me to reveal the big surprise ending, or the surprise after the surprise ending, but suffice it to say that your heart will be tugged at as well.
So indeed, the story is funny and perhaps a little predictable—perfect for a short film (with illustrations by Abe Dieckman, Carina Simmons and Eric Vennemeyer).
I read the book and then I watched the film (on Vimeo) and found the film to be much more satisfying. That’s probably to be expected since the book is basically stills from the animation, but the way it was presented in the film—with the actors reading only their spoken lines, and no voice over, was much more satisfying—a silly poem is not always the best way to present drama. And check out the cast: Tavi Gevinson, Christopher Lloyd (!) and Kathy Bates (!).
This is the kind of thing that when I see created and published makes me curse myself for not following through on my own creative endeavors.
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