SHERDOG MOVIE CLUB: Week 56 Discussion - High Fidelity

[Guestx]

NOTE to NON-MEMBERS: Interested in joining the SHERDOG MOVIE CLUB? Shoot me a PM for more info.

Here's a quick list of all movies watched by the SMC. Or if you prefer, here's a more detailed examination.


Contrary even to @TheRuthlessOne's expectations, we decided this week to go with a movie that I would say is unlike any other film that we've watched in the Club so far. Of course we will be discussing High Fidelity.

​

Our Director​

​

From IMDB:

Stephen Frears was born on June 20, 1941 in Leicester, Leicestershire, England as Stephen Arthur Frears. He is a director, known for High Fidelity, The Queen and Philomena. He has been married to Anne Rothenstein since 1992. They have two children. He was previously married to Mary-Kay Wilmers.

His most recent films include The Program, a biopic about Lance Armstrong, and Florence Foster Jenkins, which earned Meryl Streep yet another Academy Award nomination.

Our Stars​

John Cusack: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000131/?ref_=tt_cl_t1

​

Iben Hjejle: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005013/?ref_=tt_cl_t2

​

Film Overview and YouTube Videos​

Premise: Rob, a record store owner and compulsive list maker, recounts his top five breakups, including the one in progress.

Box Office: $47 million
Budget: $30 million

​

Trivia
(courtesy of IMDB)​

* John Cusack and the screenwriters wrote the script with Jack Black in mind for the role of Barry, who nearly turned the role down but reconsidered.

* John Cusack originally wanted Bob Dylan for the Bruce Springsteen cameo part, but Dylan was unavailable.

* In the flashback when Rob and Laura are listening to Ian have sex upstairs, the book Laura is reading is entitled "Love Thy Neighbor".

* In the Hungarian dubbed version, Barry and Rob are discussing Reservoir Dogs (1992) instead of Evil Dead II (1987), because that film was almost unknown in Hungary that time. "Reservoir Dogs" was also the film discussed in a similar scene in the novel.

* In several scenes, Rob is wearing a Wax Trax! Records t-shirt. The lot in Chicago that houses Rob's record store, Championship Vinyl, was once a Wax Trax! Records store.

* The rare record that Barry refuses to sell the nerdy collector is stated to be a French LP pressing of Captain Beefheart/Don Van Vliet's 'Safe as Milk'. This Buddha-label edition is considered rare for its high quality mix and is easily identified by a promotional cover featuring the band playing live on a beach. However, the cover shown is clearly the original, more familiar sleeve with the fisheye portrait.

* Harold Ramis and 'Beverly d'Angelo' filmed scenes that were cut from the film but can be viewed as extras on the DVD. Ramis played Rob's father and d'Angelo played a "too tan" woman trying to sell Rob her soon-to-be-ex-husband's record collection.

* Part of the movie was filmed outside of Lane Technical High School. This occurred during a regular school day and the students were not allowed onto the portion of the lawn where filming occurred. They were also not allowed near the windows of the rooms looking out onto the lawn.

* Touchstone acquired the rights to Nick Hornby's book for $500,000 with Mike Newell attached to direct.

* Nick Hornby had no problem with the film version relocating the action from London to Chicago as he felt that the book was about a lot more than just geography.

* In the scene where Ian confronts Rob at the record store, Jack Black`s character is wearing A Clockwork Orange tee shirt. In one of the fantasies Rob has where he, Dick, and Barry throw Ian to the ground and beat him, this mirrors a scene from A Clockwork Orange where the Alex, Pete, Georgie, and Dim beat a homeless man. Barry even uses a belt in the act the way Dim used a chain.

​

Members: @shadow_priest_x @europe1 @iThrillhouse @chickenluver @jeicex @MusterX @Coolthulu @AndersonsFoot @TheRuthlessOne @Scott Parker 27 @Mr Mojo Lane @WebAlchemist @the muntjac @Caveat @FierceRedBelt @RabidJesus @RhinoRush

 

[Guestx]

And let me also mention that we have a new member this week, @RhinoRush! So let's all do our "welcome to the Club!" thing for him.

 

[Scott Parker 27]

Welcome @RhinoRush I may hate your politics but movies are one thing we can agree on.

 

[Scott Parker 27]

Im excited to watch this, shall do this evening.

 

[Guestx]

First off, I just have to say that this did not feel like a 2000s movie to me. It felt very much like an early 90s movie and like it should've come out right alongside that batch of films that included Singles, Empire Records and Reality Bites.

Second, frankly, I didn't really get into it. I mean, it was okay, but at no point did the film really grip me and it didn't take long before I realized I was starting to check out mentally.

The actual storyline of the film takes a while to come into focus, and the constant flashbacks and breaking of the fourth wall produced an experience which I felt was choppy and ultimately unengaging. All that combined with the fact that I didn't find any of the characters particularly likable made me question why I should care about anything I see on screen.

To be fair, I do want to give credit to the film's positive elements. The performances are good across the board and it's shot well. The film has a nice look. Homeboy's apartment is well designed. The setting of the record store works well. All this serves to evoke a very specific sense of time and place.

But plot-wise I just couldn't get on board, especially with no one to root for.

6/10

 

[MusterX]

Awww man, this film brings back the memories and has some great lines in it. Its philosophy for life, for stoners, for teen angst, its a reflection of real life. Cusack says "Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable or was I miserable because I listened to pop music."

Cusack, who plays Rob Gordon, breaks down his top 5 most painful breakups and doesn't include Laura in the top 5 which he then yells out the window to her, "If you wanted to really mess me up then you should have got to me earlier!" He puts Alison Ashmore at the top of the list but I think its somehow a masculine thing to order things from the past. We do it in the UFC for rankings, we do it in the SMC, and in reality we've been doing it since we were boys.

Rob owns a record store, man do I miss those classic music stores filled with vinyl, and its nice how music is the car the drives High Fidelity's dime store Socrates sort of philosophies. Rob comments about how parents are afraid of violence but they aren't afraid of their kids listening to thousands of negative, miserable, and depressing songs. High Fidelity is about people's struggle to find their place in life, to find love, and ultimately to withstand the misery that comes along with it all. And maybe, along the way, listen to some tunes. Its also about the fear of being alone.

As I posted in the poll thread, books, records, films, these things matter.

Its amazing to me how many schools across the country have all but killed required reading, there is no more required reading. That's another story though. High Fidelity has a ton of quotes, its a gold mine of quotes. Rob says on girls, "One moment they weren't there, not in any form that interested us anyway, and then the next you couldn't miss them, they were everywhere, and they had grown breasts, and we wanted, actually we didn't even know what we wanted but it was something interesting, disturbing even."

In fact this movie has so many awesome quotes I'm not even going to try to catalogue them. I'll just say that I've always been a fan of Cusack and I feel his contributions have been undervalued by too many people. High Fidelity is a film that makes me think about some of life's truth's that are not always pleasant. Its a film that will always have a special place in my personal favorites pantheon because it reminds me of my own past. It reminds me of how cool vinyl was and is. Albums were pieces of art. You bought them and you opened them up to see the photos and art and they were often packed with extras like that on the inside.

I think the first album I ever remember owning was Styx, Paradise Theater.

So I give to you, a song from my youth by Styx. And you guys damn well better post some music in this thread.

 

[The Diplomat]

High Fidelity is a great movie. Tons of memorable moments and dialogue.

 

[Lonesome Crow]

Top 5 reasons this movie was kind of meh:

1. Grosse Point Blank set a high bar for John Cusack passion projects.

2. Win the girl back was a tired plot at this point in cinema. Seriously, nut up and move on ya whiny little bitch. And if you were gonna try and get a girl back, why wouldn't you try to get prime Catherine Zeta Jones or Lisa Bonet back? The fuck you chasing after that mule-faced Rosanna Arquette-Iggy Pop hybrid for?

3. Soundtrack was meh. See reason number one for why.

4. Who the fuck makes cassette mix tapes in 2000? Seriously, I remember going to CD stores back then and cassettes were nowhere to be found.

5. This was the movie that made me realize that John Cusack kind of sucks as an actor. He's just playing himself in pretty much every role I've seen him do.

 

[Guestx]

Its amazing to me how many schools across the country have all but killed required reading, there is no more required reading.

Is that right? I have not heard that.

I'll just say that I've always been a fan of Cusack and I feel his contributions have been undervalued by too many people.

Pushing Tin is a good, underrated film of his.

I think the first album I ever remember owning was Styx, Paradise Theater.

So I give to you, a song from my youth by Styx. And you guys damn well better post some music in this thread.

Some of the first albums I remember owning:

 

[FierceRedBelt]

I thought the actress who played Laura didn't do well with the role. In fact that entire relationship felt flat and lacked chemistry until the very end when they were dancing while watching Jack Black perform. I know they weren't getting along but "hate is a very exciting emotion" and I felt nothing for either. Ian Raymond was another poorly executed character as well in my opinion. The actual relationship storyline of this movie was the worst part.

Cusack's pop culture 101 mini-lectures were amazing and much better than the rest of the film. They might of had something if they ran with this angle instead of pandering to fairly mundane poor relationship.

I while I do agree with @shadow_priest_x that this does play in a similar vein as Reality Bites it's not nearly as good. Reality Bites centered on much younger characters neurotically making bad choices and dealing with the emotions that go along with them. High Fidelity features older characters being worse to each other without any type of emotional reckoning.

 

[Guestx]

I thought the actress who played Laura didn't do well with the role.

I thought she was okay. Didn't really have a problem with her.

What's interesting is that after this film she did very little stateside. Most of her career has been spent back in Europe.

"hate is a very exciting emotion"

Ian Raymond was another poorly executed character as well in my opinion.

He's not great, though I thought it was funny that it was Tim Robbins and the ass beating scene was probably my favorite part of the whole movie.

I while I do agree with @shadow_priest_x that this does play in a similar vein as Reality Bites it's not nearly as good. Reality Bites centered on much younger characters neurotically making bad choices and dealing with the emotions that go along with them. High Fidelity features older characters being worse to each other without any type of emotional reckoning.

Been a long time since I last watched Reality Bites but I remember thinking that it also was just okay. Singles was actually my preferred film to deal with that early-to-mid 90s scene.

 

[FierceRedBelt]

Been a long time since I last watched Reality Bites but I remember thinking that it also was just okay. Singles was actually my preferred film to deal with that early-to-mid 90s scene.

1.) Yes, yes it is Margarita.

2.) I'm not saying Reality Bites was a master piece or even worth revisiting but I strongly feel it was the superior film of the two. But I'm a Winona Ryder fan, maybe I'm blind to reality here.

 

[TheRuthlessOne]

Story and characters felt real
Loved the exchange between him and jack black about evil dead 2
Liked the monologing that cusack does throughout the film
Tim Robbins is hilarious


8/10

 

[chickenluver]

I got intrigued by this film when I discovered it was about a compulsive list maker. For you see, I am also a compulsive list maker. Not quite on the same level as this guy. I did used to hand write them, although I've kind of abandoned that recently.

I thought the movie was pretty ok. Cusack's rants about life and pop culture were good. Cusack carried the film well I think. I liked him. He was kind of witty and cool, but still a bit of a fuck up.

I was really liking everything to do with the record store and all of the musical discussions. I appreciated that Cusack specifically stated original Frank Zappa releases as being one of the things that the young men who frequent the store look for, because I remember my dad telling me Zappa records were hard to find when he was growing up.

It's funny to watch a movie about music nerds/snobs because that's basically me and my friends. That scene where that geeky guy was trying to buy the rare Captain Beefheart album, then they sold it to the other guy "because he wasn't a geek" was a memorable scene for me.

Louis: Yeah, seriously, you're totally elitist. You feel like the unappreciated scholars, so you shit onto people who know less than you.

Rob, Barry, Dick: No!

Louis: Which is everybody...

Rob, Barry, Dick: Yeah...

That's how I used to think, and sort of still do to an extant. I've managed to tone down my snobbishness when it comes to movies, but with music it's still pretty strong.

I could tell that Jack Black's character was written for him. Hard to see anybody else in that role. Not sure how I feel about Jack Black overall, but I thought he was pretty funny in this. Cool that they let him get some mic time at the end.

That other guy who worked at the store was painfully awkward. Definitely known some guys like that.

I always like Tim Robbins.

Funny that John's sister Joan was in this. She even got to loudly call him an asshole. Probably a fun role for her.

I thought it was rather hypocritical of Cusack to fuck Lisa Bonet considering his big hang up seemed to be on whether or not his gr had fucked Tim Robbins. The movie didn't really address this. I also thought her picking him up after the funeral and fucking him in the car seemed contrived.

The Kinky Wizards is a great fucking band name.

Looking at the soundtrack for this movie, there's a bunch of songs that I don't remember hearing. They must have only been playing for a few moments in the background. I guess this movie wasn't really about the music, but it would have been nice to highlight it some more.

The first two albums I owned were Back in Black and Nevermind, although now I can't remember which I got first.

Here's a couple of songs from the album they wouldn't sell to the geek, Safe as Milk by Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band

 

[the muntjac]

First time watching this. It's been on my radar for several years because a friend in high school always talked about it, and now I've finally seen it. It's an enjoyable film, but not something I'm going to lionize. I don't know why, but I've always liked fourth-wall breaking in movies and shows, so I liked that aspect.

Rob is a neurotic, self-loathing mess who is afraid of commitment. This movie is told from a very male point of view in regards of dating women, and at times it comes off hypocritical and one-sided, but that's the point. The movie is very real in how humans build walls to protect themselves from misery and the mental hoops people jump to justify their thoughts and actions. The thought of Laura sleeping with Ian makes Rob distraught, but that doesn't stop him from sleeping with Marie. Rob isn't a saint, but then again, most people aren't.

The performances were good across the board. This movie reminds me of Clerks in some ways in that it follows a dude working at small store that centralizes the film who is having relationship problems, and he's accompanied by a snobby smart ass who hates the customers.

All in all, I would recommend High Fidelity.

 

[I Am Legion]

I really liked it. Cusack isn't a dashing handsome guy but more of an every guy kinda actor...and he has been in some great movies and had great performances, HF included. I liked the fact that this dude really isn't a saint...he loves Laura but even in his depression he still creeps on other chicks. And Lisa Bonet is a great notch on anyone's post.

 

[RhinoRush]

I remember really enjoying this when it first came out, but man, it really doesn't hold up. It was very much a 'here and now' type of film. Early 2000s, record industry was dying, and so that was a good backdrop to set this type of film to. Ultimately it's about the pain of loss and mourning for a time that's gone by. That theme recurs through the setting, the end of the relationship, the choice of music and the general coming of age narrative. It being released in 2000 makes sense as it was really the end of an era.

It also kind of felt like a Kevin Smith movie; lazy direction relying on the strength of the dialogue and the characters, but it just didn't deliver in those areas.

Jack Black could have been a character in any Jack Black movie. This was before he got really big, so I suppose back then he felt like more of a novelty than he does now. I always like Cusack but he doesn't have much to work with here. He just mopes around in a very Say Anything manner waiting for the plot to give him something to do. Tim Robbins was fun as he always is when he gets to play a more comedic role.

Someone above mentioned Empire Records. This made me think of Kevin Smith. I think really it's just a derivative film in general and you're better off watching one of the film's it's mimicking.

Overall just a dull slog of a film, but not offensively bad. 4/10. I was surprised to see how badly it flopped though, I remember this being pretty popular with the late high school/college crowd at the time.

 

[sleepwalk]

When it came out, I hadn't had any "great loves" but I had had a few lost ones and would dwell upon them from time to time. The very opening lines of (paraphrasing here) "People are up in arms over sex and violence in movies and TV and video games. They ignore decades of heartache, betrayal, unrequited love in pop music. The soundtrack of our lives is one breakup, one rejection, after another."

I didn't know that the Jack Black character was written for him but I'd imagine anything else would have morphed into that. Todd Louiso's performance is particularly elegant as the subdued, "depressive" half of the manic-depressive "Dick and Barry." The two are certainly one if the more engaging aspects if the film and very important as they mark a separation between the facets of Rob's life: he seems as much, if not more, "at home" at the record shop than anywhere else until we see him reunited with Laura and having integrated his love, goals, and obsessions.

The scenes around the funeral are particularly good at showing Rob's insecurities and inadequacies, both general and conditional: His inability to empathize with the loss as he cant help but make it about Laura and thus their relationship and thus himself. He feels awkward and out of place, seeing himself as an extension of Laura (severed) instead of someone who has known these people for years.

I really enjoyed this movie. I found it to be a hidden gem. I can understand the mixed reactions here, though. The Rotten Tomatoes rating jumps from month to month I once noticed.

 

[the muntjac]

Some of the first albums I remember owning:

Throw in Pantera, Slayer, and Whitesnake, and ours align up pretty well.

 

[Andersons Foot]

I really enjoyed this. I got a little bit of a Clerks vibe when they were just sitting in the shop and talking about music, or Evil Dead. I actually enjoyed John Cusack breaking the 4th wall and discussing things with the audience, I think that can really put a damper on things if not done well, but it worked here IMO.

Great female cast of girlfriends, actually I loved the cast overall. Jack Black being rude to the customers was great, Tim Robbins was hilarious, and the quiet guy was pretty funny at times as well. I enjoyed the way it was shot, I don't really know how to explain it but things just felt organic, no crazy shots that felt weird or uncomfortable.There were a couple of moments where I just kind of got tired of the cat and mouse game that the two main characters were playing. He was being a baby and she was kind of being a jerk, I just didn't really care if they got back together at certain points. But I guess it was important so he could go through the changes necessary to make her happy.

I was pretty immersed throughout, the core group of characters felt pretty relatable and I enjoyed that. Overall I had a fun time watching High Fidelity.

7.5/10