The Neon Demon: Puerile, Aberrant, Cringeworthy ... Yet Irresistably Sensational

The new film "The Neon Demon" has absolutely no Olympic connection unless you count its setting, contemporary Los Angeles.

It's doubtful the fictional beauties -- or anyone in the fashion industry portrayed on this flashy silver screen horror story -- would align themselves with the LA2024 Olympic bid, which is probably a good thing for the hopeful future Games committee.

The next sentence includes two potential spoilers.

Walking out of "The Neon Demon" and shaking my head, I asked myself repeatedly whether the world really reached a point at which shock value may only be achieved through scenes including cannibalism and necrophilia?

I wondered, "Did the audience really need to see that?" and considered asking others murmuring similar distaste as we exited the theatre. (Answer: no.)

There were the warning signs that should have kept me away.

Reviews helped me learn a few new words that sent me hunting for a dictionary. "Puerile" stuck out in The New York Times' review, while "aberrant" was the apt term in an Atlanta Journal-Constitution mini-review from staff and wire reports.

But the same outlet with the harshest critical POV also published a video "anatomy of a scene" narrated by director Nicolas Winding Refn, and this trailer more than others reeled me in ... hook, line and sinker.

Though I eventually felt icky for spending $12 on the ticket, some of the film's provocative content did deliver entertaining bang for the buck.

Key scenes took me back to previous sleepers tied to Stephen King, including "Carrie" and "The Shining," and the bloodbath that takes shape in "The Neon Demon" is likely to earn cult status down the road (enticing me to lay down this review while the film remains fresh in my mind).

What stinks most about "The Neon Demon" is the story, which sort of plods along (especially the second half) like one of its models tripping on a catwalk.

Tension does crescendo, but curve balls mid-film are distracting -- when the young and stunning wannabe model (Elle Fanning) cuts her hand on a shard of broken mirror, for instance, an established and competing model licks the blood rather than try to stop its flow. Eww!

I did not understand nor care for the psychedelic dream sequences through which Fanning's character, Jesse, appears in her own kaleidoscopic settings. Pink Floyd references intended? Who cares.

Another distraction is Keanu Reeves. Though he is convincing as a Pasadena dive motel slum lord, spotting him only took me back to "Point Break" good guy scenes of the past. And even when he might have been raping a teenager off-screen, I only smirked for thinking of his monosyllable grunts of Ted on his 1989 excellent adventure.

What works, however, is the music, and it hit me 48 hours after watching that "The Neon Demon" functions well as a highly stylized extended music video rather than a feature film. It's surreal in the ballpark with Lady Gaga's promotion for "Bad Romance" or her meat dress days.

Perhaps if they took out most of the dialogue from "The Neon Demon," they could run the meticulous footage on MTV to promote Cliff Martinez's great score.

Savvy movie soundtrack buffs may recall the musician's earlier and outstanding work for thought-provoking films including "sex, lies, and videotape" or "Traffic," "Drive," "Arbitrage," or "Spring Breakers." I found myself queuing up the Shazam app several times during the film, and I predict Sia's original song contribution "Waving Goodbye" -- my favorite takeaway -- will emerge as an Oscar nominee.

As a longtime Jena Malone fan, it was pleasantly surprising to see her early in the film, but later disappointing, er, disturbing to see her take on the aforementioned necrophilia scenes. Yikes!

Like Nancy Kerrigan wailing, post-knee assault, all I could think was, "Whyyyyyyy, Jena, WHYYYYYY?!"

Malone's final scene, topless and knee-deep in a shallow grave, is reminiscent of Marcel Duchamp's "Etant donnes" (at right) in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, so I'm now curious the extent to which the director and/or set decorator took inspiration from the multimedia work that took 20 years to create (1946 to 1966).

So "The Neon Demon" left me in a strange place because I don't really want to suggest that folks spend money or time on it.

With that said, in the long-run, if this film is going to become a much-debated piece of surreal art, then it may be worth a look-see for the sake of conversation.

Like Andy Warhol's car crash paintings, perhaps one can't help but look.

Images via Amazon Studios/Broad Green Pictures

This is for REEL

With thanks to the High Museum of Art public relations team, a couple of months ago I attended a media preview for the current exhibition Salvador Dalí: The Late Work.

A few days later, in Milwaukee, at trip to The Monster Ball Tour provided a second dose of surreal, courtesy of Lady Gaga.

I read or heard over the years that Dalí infused zeal to his U.S. exhibition debut by creating a P.R. stunt, breaking into his own exhibition and getting arrested by New York City police. Everywhere you look these days, Gaga is creating a similar spectacle, sans police involvement thus far.

Among the most stunning moments of The Monster Ball is the series of video vignettes projected on a white curtain. In the mini art house films -- with Gaga, clad in some of her elaborate fashion creations including a white gown on which a female model vomits a neon green liquid to the squeals and screams (of awe and curious delight) of onlookers -- the visuals serve as filler during set changes for the event.

The complete Gaga experience from costumes to flaming props and custom guitars, and the videos in particular, made me wonder how big Dalí might be grinning if he were among the audience members. I also wondered how long it may be before Gaga will appear with her own handlebar moustache.

Today I read that the High Museum of Art is hosting its first SurREEL video contest with a deadline of mid-December. This is a tempting invitation to roll out the Flip Video camera and dust off the video editing skills.

Whether or not you choose to enter the contest, consider this recommendation and review of Dalí: The Late Work.

At the museum's main entrance to the Renzo Piano-designed structure, welcome signs covered with Dalí-esque red ants foreshadow some of the arachnid-inclusive paintings inside the venue. With ticket in hand, emerging from the gallery elevator, it's your Dalí Time, almost literally, as all eyes meet with a billboard-sized blowup of one of the Philippe Halsman's black and white photographs depicting Dalí's whiskers as the hands of a clock ("Dalí Time" appears also at the exhibition's end with a Time magazine cover among many magazine covers featuring the Spanish artist).

Each room of the exhibit includes many surprises. Among the Halsman photographs, for instance, there is a staged image in which Dalí appears to be hanging by his facial hair from a helicopter. This iconic image of the spread eagle and dangling painter appears later in some of the paintings.

Room two includes the small and beautiful painting Morphological Echo, which impressed me for its miniature detail much like the famous work, also of the 1930s, The Persistence of Memory soon to be added to the High exhibit, on loan from the Museum of Modern Art.

Bring on the ants!

Moving into the next gallery, the massive work Santiago El Grande is muy grande and draws you in for a peek up close (much like in the smaller works, this painting includes many small details worthy of close inspection).

During our media tour, some of the attending reporters took the guide's advice and got flat on the floor to gaze up at the expansive blue and white canvas. Standing at a distance, one can almost make out the head fashioned from the many arches that form a cathedral ceiling framing the centered white horse.

The same head shape appears across the room in a series of photographs of nudes who posed under Dalí's direction to form a skull. Take note of the white "teeth" made of the models' feet dusted with powder for effect.

Science and religion merge in Dalí: The Late Work through several works comprised of atomic particles turned surreal mosaics.

I also enjoyed the large gathering of portrait paintings, including a commissioned piece recognized on loan from the California Palace of the Legion of Honor. Favorite among these portraits: a painting of an unknown woman who apparently did not pay the artist, inspiring his brush to convert her likeness from socialite to Medusa. If my ex-girlfriend from St. Louis is out there reading this blog ... well, you know who's resemblance is striking in this snake head work.

It was good to see so many representations of Gala, Salvador's wife, in one place. She appears in several paintings from the early to the later years. Don't miss the Marilyn Monroe/Chairman Mao photograph and the sculptures that appear just beyond a side gallery exhibit of film works and collaboration with Andy Warhol.

By far my favorite surprise of Dalí: The Late Work appears in the final room of the exhibition.

Feast your eyes on Fifty Abstract Paintings Which as Seen from Two Yards Change into Three Lenins Masquerading as Chinese and as Seen from Six Yards Appear as the Head of a Royal Bengal Tiger. This is a painting I had not previously seen in the many Dalí books collected over the years. Bright, bold, and vivid.

And to its right is the Ben-Day Dot-filled Portrait of My Dead Brother which I had seen many times in books but now believe must be seen in person. Many of the dime-sized (or smaller) dots feature their own "personalities" while other details, observed up close (as close as security may let you get to the canvas) reveal another world from the large portrait of a boy.

It was in this final exhibition room, I asked Dalí scholar and exhibition/independent curator Elliott King whether any works by the artist (in the High exhibit or otherwise) had a specific Olympic connection. King seemed convinced there IS some possible five-ringed connection, but he could not recall one on the fly, including the Barcelona 1992 Games held near Dalí birthplace (in the moment King believed Dalí was part of Spain's Games which occurred three years after Dalí died -- we were unable to complete the interview as we were rudely interrupted by a film crew for the museum).

One thing missing from the Dalí: The Late Work -- and I believe a lost revenue opportunity for the High Museum of Art -- is Chupa Chups. Where are they? Not in the High Museum. Dalí designed the logo for this global candy brand, and it seemed a natural that these might be on hand (for sale) for folks departing the exhibit.

I wonder if the museum will hand out Chupa Chups for their Dalí-Ween Halloween event tomorrow. If not, that might chupa (suck).

It's my intention to visit the exhibition again once The Persistence of Memory arrives in November. If you have a favorite Dalí story or work to share, please post it as a comment on this blog and I'll send you a nice Barcelona 1992 Olympic pin or Olympic blog pin.

Edmond, Okla., On The Map (and Ellen)

Earlier this week I was treated to a seat at the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG)-hosted Young Professionals session at which Ubercool Michael Tchong delivered an excellent presentation titled "I'm Going To Tweet You Up."

His presentation title smacks of inspiration from Tom Cruise's character in "Tropic Thunder." I loved his fast-paced information sharing and his Cruise-like shift from calm to dramatic delivery.

At any rate, one of Tchong's key presentation points regarding learning to spot trends versus fads in social media conversations.

Tonight one of the latter -- the fad of everyone and their mother filming a Lady Gaga-inspired video -- crossed my screen, and it ties back to my hometown, Edmond, Okla.

Turns out a middle school kid who lives not far from my family recently performed a Lady Gaga song at a recital. Someone taped it (did Flip Cameras other than mine really make it to Oklahoma?) and put it on YouTube. Some Tweets here, some hyperlinks there. BAM! The kid is on "Ellen" this week as the web sensation (fad) du jour sharing a TV conversation with Lady Gaga (who, by the way, has been driving a lot of other fad videos of late -- I am intentionally not hyperlinking these since everything she touches already has gazillions of hits).

So, as happy as I am to find a news story of a fellow "Edmond kid done good" (the Lady Gaga piano player, named Greyson Michael Chance, is likely the biggest news personality out of Edmond since Olympic champion Shannon Miller), it is unfortunate that at least a portion of Chance's 15 minutes in the spotlight got picked up in fad-dom.

Questions start coming to mind: How is he possibly going to top this before graduating from high school, let alone the eighth grade? Did this kid really want to go down in Edmond history as "the boy with Lady Gaga's voice?"

Perhaps he could be the first to create a trend of some sort ... YouTube Lady Gaga wannabes asking Lady Gaga to the spring dance?

Photo via Ellen

Gaga for GRAMMY Awards (and Olympics)

Around the office we've been placing our bets on which Canadian icons -- with or without GRAMMY Awards (set to air tonight) -- might pop up as performers at the 2010 Olympic Opening Ceremonies at B.C. Place.

Of course, Olympic vet Celine Dion, who performed "The Power of the Dream" (the official song of the 1996 Olympic Torch Relay) at Atlanta's Olympic Opening Ceremony, tops the list for Feb. 12 festivities. I'm betting on some other Grammy winners, like Avril Lavigne (who played at Torino's 2006 Olympic Closing Ceremony), or Alanis Morissette (whose music was EVERYWHERE leading up to the 1996 Games).

And then there's dark horse candidates like Canadian icon Leonard Cohen, or a return Olympic performance by k.d. lang, who Canada introduced to the world at the 1988 Calgary Olympic Opening Ceremony.

Lady Gaga does not yet have an Olympic connection, but she's hot these days (but not Canadian). Ke$ha is on the charts, too, but again is sans Canadian roots.

My personal hope is that U2 will perform, given their worldwide appeal. But even if Bono eats Canadian bacon, it would be a stretch (my personal hope for 1996 was the R.E.M. of Georgia would perform in Atlanta, and it still is shocking and disappointing they didn't).

Who else should be on the short list for Feb. 12 appearances, song-wise? Who is going to sing the Canadian national anthem? Please share your thoughts as I need to learn more Canada stars while in town.