San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Books, movies that fire the imagination
Multihyphenate artist V. Vale, who holds a degree in literature from UC Berkeley, estimates that he has 10,000 books jammed into his North Beach apartment. As a voracious consumer of culture, he’s not lacking for ways to pass the time while sheltering in place. So The Chronicle asked him to put together a little list to note what he has been consuming since he began sheltering at home on March 11.
“I like books and films that fire up the imagination: the leastused organ in the human body,” Vale says. “I’m also trying to spread optimism and positivity. No matter what we get handed in life, it’s our job to make some humor out of it.”
BOOKS
“The World of Marcel Duchamp,” by Calvin Tomkins: I think most people who are semiliterate agree with me that Duchamp was maybe the most inspiring artist of the first half of the 20th century. Warhol was the most inspiring artist of the second half, but Warhol just stole Duchamp’s ideas and made them more popular.
Calvin Tomkins is my favorite art critic; he’s so magisterial; you feel like he’s read everything and seen everything and pulled it all together for you. But for some stupid reason I’d never read (this book) until now. It’s pretty easy to get into, and you learn so much from reading it. It’s sort of a historical introduction to all 20th century art.
“My Last Sigh” by Luis Buñuel: This is his autobiography, and it’s very lowkey and lowpressure, and funny. I like to read books by artists talking about how they lived and overcame obstacles. Anyone who’s gonna be a genuine artist, there are gonna be obstacles.
“Locus Solus” and “Impressions of Africa” by Raymond Roussel: Roussel is superimportant and yet underrecognized. UC Berkeley Press put out a bunch of his books in the late ’60s and ’70s. “Locus Solus” is about this really rich guy who sets up a thinktanktype laboratory and says, “If you’re smart, come here and I’ll support you and you’ll meet other people who stimulate you” — which is how the Renaissance got started.
MOVIES
The documentaries “Rams” and “Helvetica,” by Gary Hustwit: I’ve gotten more into design in the past year or so. I was never into design, not as much as (Devo cofrontman) Jerry Casale. I’ve known him since 1978, and he’s got a library with tons of books, and it’s practically all design. … He stays here sometimes, and he doesn’t have any of my books, and I don’t have any of his, so that’s always, “woo!” But with “Helvetica” and Dieter Rams, you will go out after (watching them) and you will just see more in the real world. Films can be miraculous that way.
“Bringing Out the Dead,” directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Nicolas Cage: I thought this was quite realistic, about what it’s like to drive one of those emergency ambulances on a night shift in New York City. … There’s an underlying innocence to Nick Cage, something charming to me. In the BC times, before COVID, we went over to the (Pacific Film Archive) in Berkeley and saw “Wild at Heart” with Nicolas Cage actually singing Elvis’ songs himself, and I was blown away by what a good singer he was, too.
“The Making of ‘Some Like It Hot’ ”: This is on YouTube — you’d be amazed how much is free on YouTube. Marilyn Monroe is another favorite of mine that I have underseen. She’s another comedian with this charm and innocence, I think, and I value all those qualities.
“Stalker,” by Andrei Tarkovsky: This one is really long and dark and slow and has this monochromatic editing. But I think it kind of makes you feel better. Like, “Whew, at least my life isn’t as bad as that.”