My Poor Brain

Preface: Fuck, I have gone way too long without writing. I got scared honestly. But I’m getting back into it. Enjoy.

This past week I have watched two movies that have gotten the same reaction out of me: I really dislike the characters. The two movies:

Glengarry Glen Ross (plot summary from IMDB):

Times are tough in a New York real-estate office; the salesmen (Shelley Levene, Ricky Roma, Dave Moss, and George Aaronow) are given a strong incentive by Blake to succeed in a sales contest. The prizes? First prize is a Cadillac Eldorado, second prize is a set of steak knives, third prize is the sack! There is no room for losers in this dramatically masculine world; only “closers” will get the good sales leads. There is a lot of pressure to succeed, so a robbery is committed which has unforeseen consequences for all the characters.

and Confessions of a Superhero (plot summary from IMDB):

CONFESSIONS OF A SUPERHERO is a feature length documentary that chronicles the lives of three mortal men and one woman who make their living working as superhero characters on Hollywood Boulevard. This deeply personal look into their daily routines reveals their hardships and triumphs as they pursue and achieve their own kind of fame. The Hulk sold his Super Nintendo for a bus ticket to LA; Wonder Woman was a mid-western homecoming queen; Batman struggles with his anger, while Superman’s psyche is consumed by the Man of Steel. Although the Walk of Fame is right beneath their feet, their own paths to stardom prove to be long, hard climbs.

Both films feature dishonest characters. Glengarry Glen Ross showcases these salesmen who will lie and cheat to get their comissions and make it to the top. They just want their bloody money. Al Pacino’s character came off as rather honest at first. He was the top of the group of salesmen, or a “closer”, but then while trying to close a sale he shows just how good at lying he is. Maybe Kevin Spacey’s character was the most honest and likeable in this, as he was not a salesman, just the manager of sorts for the office. The other characters who were talking about how they were getting cheated and just complaining and complaining also pissed me off. They could talk so much about how they were being mistreated and that they would never get anywhere with the leads they were getting, but they wouldn’t actually DO anything about it. Until they did do something, and it wasn’t the right thing to do.

Confessions of a Superhero features real people who are really trying to make it in Hollywood by dressing up and taking pics with tourists. The problem is that some of them are scary when they mention the famous line “We work on tips”, and when a tourist doesn’t pay up the person dressed up gets pissed. Honestly, all I could think of was “get a real fucking job and spend your nights or mornings or any time off in auditions, or even acting school if you need it”. Some of these guys are just sitting there waiting for the big hand of success to come grab them, but it doesn’t work that way. The guy who is the Batman was probably the worst. He tells all these stories and confesses to a mass murder of Italian mobsters in the 80’s, but it’s hard to take him seriously.

Overall, these were FANTASTIC movies and just because I hated the characters/people does not mean that I hate the movie. I actually would love to see Glengarry Glen Ross again, that had some amazing performances from EVERYONE in it: Al Pacino, Ed Harris, Kevin Spacey, and some old guys.

Confessions of a Superhero was a great look at some very real people. Unfortunately for them, I do not sympathize one bit simply because they aren’t working hard enough towards their dream. If they were working hard enough, then they wouldn’t be in this documentary because they would be too busy.

I highly recommend these two films, and maybe you can hate the characters along with me.