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Movies , NASA , Video , Museum Of Modern Art , The Right Stuff , The Unbearable
Lightness Of Being , Film Adaptations , Moma , Philip Kaufman , The Right Stuff Film , The
Unbearable Lightness Of Being Film , Culture NewsReact
Amazing Inspiring Funny Scary Hot Crazy Important WeirdMovies: MOMA Has The Right Stuff
(And Unbearable Lightness )
Certain movies simply must be seen on the big screen.
When people say that, they're usually referring to aspectacle, a widescreen epic like Lawrence of Arabia or
2001: A Space Odyssey. . That's certainly the case with
The Right Stuff , a terrific 1983 look at the U.S. space
race and the Mercury astronauts at the heart of it.Cutting edge special effects, brilliant acting, the desire tocapture America at a particular point in time -- The
Right Stuff is a grand film that deserves the silver
screen.
But it's just as true for movies that are ambitious in their ideas. The Unbearable Lightness of Being is the
other masterpiece from director Philip Kaufman and both of them are being screened this week at
MOMA, with Kaufman in attendance both Wednesday and Thursday night to introduce these two movies(along with Walter Murch at the Right Stuff screening, one of the team of editors that worked on that
film).
I love both these movies and yet I haven't seen them in many years. Why? No matter how big my TV may
be, no matter how good my BluRay player or DVD copy, these are films I want to experience in a
darkened theater with a live audience. It's been well over a decade and I can't wait to see them again.
Kaufman is no stranger to the big screen hits: he was an integral part of creating the story for Raiders Of
The Lost Ark . Indeed, coming on the heels of a western and his (unnecessary but acclaimed) remake of
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, The Right Stuff was hotly anticipated. Some even fretted that its
straight arrow presentation of astronaut John Glenn might give him an unfair advantage in the upcoming
Presidential elections. (No dice. Ronald Reagan knew how to play the President better than Glenn everwould.) Despite rave reviews and a clutch of Oscar nominations, The Right Stuff performed modestly at
the box office, failing to even match its budget.
The trailer doesn't help: its rah-rah sensibility is a far cry from the movie's nuanced, subtle and complex
take on these men and their mission.MOST POPULAR ON HUFFPOST 1 of 2
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That makes it all the more remarkable that Kaufman was given such a free rein with his next movie. The
Unbearable Lightness of Being is a remarkably intelligent film that showcased three powerhouse new
talents: Juliette Binoche, Lena Olin and of course Daniel Day-Lewis hot off his one-two punch of MyBeautiful Laundrette and A Room With A View. I hope someone asks Kaufman how he was ever able to
get the green light to make this sexy, adult, philosophical tale about young lovers caught up in the Czechspring for a U.S. studio. The trailer offers the promise of what every foreign film used to embody for
cineastes trapped in puritanical America: sex!
Of course, they came for the sex and they stayed for the philosophy. Both films are based on books. The
Right Stuff is based on Tom Wolfe's famed nonfiction work and Unbearable on Milan Kundera's
"unfilmable" masterpiece. I've seen the movie and read Kundera's book and still can't fathom how anyone
would ever even attempt to turn that work into a movie. And yet somehow Kaufman did it and managedto capture the playful, essence of the work. It is wholly faithful to the spirit of the novel by being whollytrue to its own needs. Neither author was happy with the films made from their books, which may
explain why they're authors and not filmmakers. See either film and you'll be sent right to the books
they're based on (not to mention the music of Leos Janacek after Unbearable ) and find very different,
rich works of art that inform the movies you've seen. And see the movies if at all possible on the big
screen, where their scope, their vision and above all their ideas demand to be aired.
If you're interested, here is my original review of The Unbearable Lightness of Being back in college,
along with my inclusion of the film on my best of the year list and a passing nod to The Right Stuff . (It
made my 1988 list because art films took a long time to reach the rest of the country back in those days.)
Kaufman's next film is an HBO movie about the fiery relationship between Ernest Hemingway and
Martha Gellhorn, one of the best war correspondents there ever was. I can't wait to see it. On my TV.
Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox , a weekly pop culture podcast that
reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day and features top journalists and opinion
makers as guests. It's available for free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog.
Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called Popsurfing and also
available for free on iTunes. Link to him on Netflix and gain access to thousands of ratings and reviews.
Follow Michael Giltz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/michaelgiltz
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Featuring fresh takes and real-time analysis from
HuffPost's signature lineup of contributors
Michael Giltz
Freelance writerGET UPDATES FROM MICHAEL GILTZ
Follow
Movies , NASA , Video , Museum Of Modern Art , The Right Stuff , The Unbearable
Lightness Of Being , Film Adaptations , Moma , Philip Kaufman , The Right Stuff Film , The
Unbearable Lightness Of Being Film , Culture NewsReact
Amazing Inspiring Funny Scary Hot Crazy Important WeirdMovies: MOMA Has The Right Stuff
(And Unbearable Lightness )
Certain movies simply must be seen on the big screen.
When people say that, they're usually referring to aspectacle, a widescreen epic like Lawrence of Arabia or
2001: A Space Odyssey. . That's certainly the case with
The Right Stuff , a terrific 1983 look at the U.S. space
race and the Mercury astronauts at the heart of it.Cutting edge special effects, brilliant acting, the desire tocapture America at a particular point in time -- The
Right Stuff is a grand film that deserves the silver
screen.
But it's just as true for movies that are ambitious in their ideas. The Unbearable Lightness of Being is the
other masterpiece from director Philip Kaufman and both of them are being screened this week at
MOMA, with Kaufman in attendance both Wednesday and Thursday night to introduce these two movies(along with Walter Murch at the Right Stuff screening, one of the team of editors that worked on that
film).
I love both these movies and yet I haven't seen them in many years. Why? No matter how big my TV may
be, no matter how good my BluRay player or DVD copy, these are films I want to experience in a
darkened theater with a live audience. It's been well over a decade and I can't wait to see them again.
Kaufman is no stranger to the big screen hits: he was an integral part of creating the story for Raiders Of
The Lost Ark . Indeed, coming on the heels of a western and his (unnecessary but acclaimed) remake of
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, The Right Stuff was hotly anticipated. Some even fretted that its
straight arrow presentation of astronaut John Glenn might give him an unfair advantage in the upcoming
Presidential elections. (No dice. Ronald Reagan knew how to play the President better than Glenn everwould.) Despite rave reviews and a clutch of Oscar nominations, The Right Stuff performed modestly at
the box office, failing to even match its budget.
The trailer doesn't help: its rah-rah sensibility is a far cry from the movie's nuanced, subtle and complex
take on these men and their mission.MOST POPULAR ON HUFFPOST 1 of 2
Chipotle Busted For Cheating
Customers Out Of Pennies
Republican Attendees Thrown
Out After Racist Attack On
CNN Worker
MAP: Hurricane Isaac's Path
Aims For Gulf Coast
RPatz Agrees To Meet KStew
But Is Selling Their Home
PHOTO: The Queen Rolls In A
Range Rover Wearing A
Hoodie
Deaf Boy Asked To Make
Controversial Change (VIDEO)
GOP Approves Abortion Ban
Limbaugh's Wild Isaac
Conspiracy
Isaac Balloons Into A
Hurricane, New Orleans
Threatened
DON'T MISS HUFFPOST BLOGGERS 1 of 5
Bill Moyers
WATCH: Both Parties Give
Invisible Americans the Silent
Treatment
Dean Baker
Poverty: The New Growth Industry
in AmericaFOLLOW USArts Books Film Architecture Music TV
August 29, 2012
Edition: U.S.
FRONT PAGE POLITICS ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA ARTS TV BLACK VOICES LATINO VOICES RELIGION COMEDY LIVE ALL SECTIONS
Bill Moyers Dean Baker
John Hillcoat Bobby BowdenHOT ON THE BLOG
HuffPost Social Reading
Like 102
Posted: 04/10/2012 3:33 pm
SHARE THIS STORY
Submit this storyGet Culture Alerts
Sign UpLike 975
Like 11k
Recommend 274
Like 70
Like 1k
Like 4k
Recommend 9k
Like 7k
Recommend 689More Log in Create Account
That makes it all the more remarkable that Kaufman was given such a free rein with his next movie. The
Unbearable Lightness of Being is a remarkably intelligent film that showcased three powerhouse new
talents: Juliette Binoche, Lena Olin and of course Daniel Day-Lewis hot off his one-two punch of MyBeautiful Laundrette and A Room With A View. I hope someone asks Kaufman how he was ever able to
get the green light to make this sexy, adult, philosophical tale about young lovers caught up in the Czechspring for a U.S. studio. The trailer offers the promise of what every foreign film used to embody for
cineastes trapped in puritanical America: sex!
Of course, they came for the sex and they stayed for the philosophy. Both films are based on books. The
Right Stuff is based on Tom Wolfe's famed nonfiction work and Unbearable on Milan Kundera's
"unfilmable" masterpiece. I've seen the movie and read Kundera's book and still can't fathom how anyone
would ever even attempt to turn that work into a movie. And yet somehow Kaufman did it and managedto capture the playful, essence of the work. It is wholly faithful to the spirit of the novel by being whollytrue to its own needs. Neither author was happy with the films made from their books, which may
explain why they're authors and not filmmakers. See either film and you'll be sent right to the books
they're based on (not to mention the music of Leos Janacek after Unbearable ) and find very different,
rich works of art that inform the movies you've seen. And see the movies if at all possible on the big
screen, where their scope, their vision and above all their ideas demand to be aired.
If you're interested, here is my original review of The Unbearable Lightness of Being back in college,
along with my inclusion of the film on my best of the year list and a passing nod to The Right Stuff . (It
made my 1988 list because art films took a long time to reach the rest of the country back in those days.)
Kaufman's next film is an HBO movie about the fiery relationship between Ernest Hemingway and
Martha Gellhorn, one of the best war correspondents there ever was. I can't wait to see it. On my TV.
Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox , a weekly pop culture podcast that
reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day and features top journalists and opinion
makers as guests. It's available for free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog.
Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called Popsurfing and also
available for free on iTunes. Link to him on Netflix and gain access to thousands of ratings and reviews.
Follow Michael Giltz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/michaelgiltz
HOT ON FACEBOOK 1 of 2
HOT ON TWITTER 1 of 2
HUFFPOST'S BIG NEWS PAGES
Celebrity
babies
Elections 2012
News and
Trends
Abortion
Ann Romney
LDS Church
Poverty
Art In America
Paul Ryan
MORE BIG NEWS PAGES »
Advertise | Make HuffPost your Home Page | RSS | Careers | FAQ
User Agreement | Privacy | Comment Policy | About Us | About Our Ads | Contact UsRecency | Popularity
Slate Articles »
Comments 0 Pending Comments 0 View FAQ
Comments are closed for this entry
View AllYou’re Doing It
Wrong: Fish Tacos
Stop Asking This
Real Swedish ChefAbout the Swedish
Chef
Death, Explained
10 Plays That Protest
Power
Azealia Banks Smokes A
Condom, Gets Banned
ricky_martin
RetweetMake Room for (the New) Daddy
http://t.co/Q6eIDokm via
@huffingtonpost
feliciaday
RetweetThink on it: Cambridge scientists
say all mammals, birds, many
others including octopi, have
human-like consciousness.
http://t.co/aF6W2ZQh
Copyright © 2012 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. | "The Huffington Post" is a registered trademark of TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. All rights reserved.
Part of AOL Lifestyle