Researching the creative figures behind Ham on Rye (2020), what stuck out to me was the inevitability of certain voids. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. They literally haunt my dreams., a short film that he produced and directed in 2016, opened at the Brattle Theatres Virtual Cinema on October 23, where it remains available to rent now, As Prices Soar, Fossil Fuel Industry Looks After Its Interests On Beacon Hill, Photo Dispatch: Ukraine Day Rally In Bostons Copley Square, State Wire: EPA Encouraged To Strengthen Air-Quality Standards For Soot, Mass Baby Bonds Bill Aims To Close Racial Wealth Gap. Production designer: Emily Scott Simpson And so by the time it reaches the mythic ceremony that occurs near its halfway point. But it quickly morphs into a different sort of anticipation, the distinctly pleasurable dread of the wholly unfamiliar, or rather, the deeply uncanny, the thing that looks so much like life that all you can see are the ways it is not at all lifelike. Ham on Rye has been one of my two favourite novels for almost thirty years. The reader eventually follows Chinaski to college and reads of Henry's attempt to find a worthwhile occupation. Cookie policy. Not sure why, but I really liked this. A puzzling but artful look at teenage alienation. This type of description does not venerate or idealize the city, a contrast to other so-called "Los Angeles Novels". So to both make and spruce up the required disclosure, let me say that I not only consider Carson Lund a close friend, but that I also consider myself a dedicated fanof his film criticism (which also includes notes for the programs of the Harvard Film Archive), his music, and now of course his filmmaking practice, which in addition to his cinematography for Taorminas feature also includes a short film that he produced and directed in 2016, Starr Farm, and a screenplay that he co-wrote and hopes to direct sometime in the near future. For independent filmmakers, Los Angeles is a city of contradictions: it's both an ideal place to congregate with likeminded artists and craftspeople, and a truly daunting place to actualize on . Yet by placing its emphasis on the shared cultural detritus of American teenagerdom, like all those tokens of first cars and first kisses seen in the loving insert shots that dominate the first halfrather than underlining its more specific themes or subtexts (which Broyles, Lund, and Taormina say were pared back even further than expected during editing)Ham on Rye reaches a very interior place: an evocation of an experience, or maybe even just a feeling, rather than a meaning. Charles Bukowski (16 August 1920 - 9 March 1994) was a German born American poet, novelist and short story writer. Ham on Rye opened at the Brattle Theatres Virtual Cinema on October 23, where it remains available to rent now. Where Kaufman jams his long sweeping camera shots and claustrophobic car journey with anxious forced repartee, Taormina pushes his lens uncomfortably close for extended runs with little dialogue. Well come to identify most with Haley (Haley Bodell), a mild-mannered girl who, like her two friends (Audrey Boos and Gabriella Herrara), is more dressed for a conventional school dance than most attendees. This is emphasized by Bukowski's grave being engraved with the words: "Don't try." 16 poolside__convo 2 yr. ago Really enjoyed this take. Taormina sets us in suburban America, among high school students, walking through a social ritual of conversation, dance, and food at a local deli. [3] It begins with Chinaski's early memories. Both Ham on Rye and Im Thinking of Ending Things deal with the tensions of young Americas uncertain future. Mailboxes were very hard to find. Sad. Same goes for something that Taormina said to AwardsDaily in early 2019, which seems way too key not to reproduce here: The script was born through that feeling of nervous confrontation to [rituals] and then it bloomed into What happens to those who dont get selected?, he said back then. While its eventually seen that some of the kids have mobile phones, Taormina purposefully dresses his cast and designs their environment in a way that throws them into a sort of temporal never-never land. Beginning as an examination of rites of passage, neighborhood malaise, the loss of adolescence, it soon develops into a textured portrait of the suburbs as a transitory space, where teenage posturing and the act of 'finding yourself' takes on a quality of reckoning with the disappointment of the world as a . Ham on Rye is roughly age 0-20, Women is in his fifties, and Post Office is somewhere in between those. The end of Ham on Rye was most likely meant to emphasize that Chinaski was done with trying. among other publications, he began writing reviews for our paper earlier this summerthough I first met him long before that, in 2014, when we had a conversation at the Harvard Film Archive regarding the films of director Wojciech J. "That boy," said my grandmother, "when I tried to pick him up out of He achieves a number of other startling effects in this impressive movie, which sheds its naturalism slowly as it embraces a surrealism thats both disquieting and poignant. Jake tries to persuade Louisa to spend the night at the house. works to give young adulthood some of its ceremony back. Ham on Rye makes no such assurances which of course makes it more honest, even if its oblique lessons will be heard by a tiny, tiny fraction of the number who navigated adolescence by the. Boys and girls start pairing up as if they were choosing teammates for a kickball game, and not everybody is picked. Werent most of us? The mood is now fairly forlorn, best embodied by Sloan (Cole Devine), a 20-something cook at Montys whos mourning some kind of loss. For example, Henry's parents, like Bukowski's, had met in Germany after World War I. Cast: Haley Bodell, Audrey Boos, Gabriella Herrara, Luke Darga, Sam Hernandez, Blake Borders, Cole Devine One also notices that while before the dialogue was ambiguously foreshadowing, now its ambiguously looking backwards (the way Lund put it is, in the second half the dialogue becomes more textural than expository.) And this all leads to a backyard cookout populated by a large group including some faces at least vaguely familiar to viewers of the millennial demographic: Lori Beth Denberg of, (1994-98), Danny Tamberelli and Aaron Schwartz of, The one character that carries over from the pre-ceremony segments to the post- is Haley, played by the same Haley Bodell of, , whose only acting credits to date are for Taormina. The post-facto rationalizations they concoct for their hostility, however, involve his inability to play sports and his being viscerally revolted by cruelty to animals, the latter being one of the favorite past-times of neighborhood men and boys alike. You might even feel the anticipatory dread of the familiar: oh no, not another prom movie tenderly observed, with just enough acne-ridden raunch to give a little edge to its otherwise placid, complacent lament for childhoods passing not again. Ham on Rye is a 1982 semi-autobiographical novel by American author and poet Charles Bukowski. a simple language is used, and bombs go off without much fanfare. The Review of Contemporary Fiction. Can anyone explain the end of 'Ham on Rye'? I was exploring that context.. special is how dutifully it avoids the lack of depth that usually accompanies utilizing deliberately generic settings. But part of what makes Ham on Rye special is how dutifully it avoids the lack of depth that usually accompanies utilizing deliberately generic settings. Like a spectre left haunting the grounds after her fellows have moved on, the Haley character spends the second half of Ham on Rye in emptied-out spaces like bedrooms and street curbs, completing the articulation of a metatextual idea first initiated by those kids-television cameosthe image of the child stars left behind. if you want to talk Nietzsche, bukowski always reminds me of Nietzsche's passages on the morality of ressentiment/resentment. Chinaski has been compared to both Frankenstein's monster and Kafka's Gregor Samsa, because of his alienation and outcast resulting from his "monstrous" appearance. The teenagers most of them acting first-timers, with an untrained awkwardness in tune with the off-kilter vibe collect into little tribes, on their way to a bizarre social event, held at the uninspiring Montys Deli. The unease is existential, as the fates of some of the couples make clear. Taorminas youth are on their way to adulthood through ritual. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. What's immediately delightful about Ham on Rye is the ghostly sense of escalation. Its such a music-driven filmwere all musiciansand one of the things we did talk about a lot in preparation, especially for the Montys party sequence, was 80s music videos, Lund mentioned later. [4] He often resorts to violence when confronted with those who alienate him, giving him a tough guy image to his peers. And thats the beauty of LA: theres so many different landscapes to choose from you go two hours outside LA in any direction, and [you can find] anything., Which also helped because we were looking for a sense of the economic differences in the town, added Lund. For example, Henry's parents, like Bukowski's, had met in Germany after World War I. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register. In the beginning, and just for a little while, Tyler Taorminas Ham on Rye seems like every other no-budget suburban coming-of-ager youve ever seen, if maybe better shot. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Ham on Rye". Its also about the inherent strangeness of rituals like the prom, though the prom is not whats about to unfold here, and few participants seem to think its very strange. Of course the same is true of books, films, and everything gathered under the sunit all goes eventually. A few clumps of friends are slowly making their way to the nights festivities (why are they practically all on foot? This is a confusing taboo that weighs very heavily on mein fact, I feel it may have in a way forced me away from home. 2023 The Hollywood Reporter, LLC. It became about the suburbs I grew up in, and those teenagers left when college began and they didnt come back and a whole generation of teenagers disappeared and who was left? Its late spring in the suburbs, and boys and girls of high-school age are dressing up not quite in prom wear, but in sundresses and ties and jackets, headed to some kind of event. It is brutal, sad, cynical, profound, funny and heartbreaking all at the same time. Written in the first person, the novel follows Henry Chinaski, Bukowski's thinly veiled alter ego, during his early years. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. This was a book I would rather not have read. But with all these signifiers, as well as the title, which sends us back to Charles Bukowskis coming-of-age memoir of the same name, which itself refers to The Catcher in the Rye, pretty soon the references multiply to the point you have to give in and call Ham on Rye its own, pretty unique thing. . Once the kids arrive at the deli, where a slightly older guy in a bandana looks out at them surlily and grinds meat in the back room, a strange coupling ritual begins, part pairing-off-at-a-disco, part being-picked-for-basketball. His writing skills make it empowering. [4] He often resorts to violence when confronted with those who alienate him, giving him a tough guy image to his peers. 6 reviews. Enjoy them. thats eventually revealed to be a literal ceremony at the center of Taorminas debut feature. I trust that I am in honest company when I confide this, but still I am tentative to say it. As Chinaski progresses through grammar school, the focus of Henry's attention is on sports, violence, and girls. 1985. Ham on rye ending explained - international conference on. She is, in fact, a victim of her husband's brutality as well. All the dread and the emptiness is what comes up after the big Montys scene, when day turns to night, and when most of Ham on Ryes first-half cast disappears from the picture. Nothing but alienation. Where are the writers and directors who are thinking of beginning things?! And so by the time it reaches the mythic ceremony that occurs near its halfway point, Ham on Rye has successfully conjured up a cinematic space where all those aforementioned experiences have been quite purposefully blended together, forming a sunlit anxiety dream of a generic suburban upbringing. His lack of publishing success at this time caused him to give up writing in 1946 and spurred a ten-year stint of heavy drinking. Whether his thoughts are good/bad, right or wrong, he said them! Probably more than anything else, Ham on Rye works to give young adulthood some of its ceremony back. Depressing and dark. Whats established instead are countless signifiers of a semi-contemporary American upbringing: from overarching universal stuff like scenes of characters preparing for something like a prom (three girls in frilly dresses being photographed by their overexcited parents, see above), and then carpooling there (the parents now waving at the door like the first day of school, another ceremony) to smaller details seen in briefer shots like the decor of a longhair musicians car (beads on the rear view, bandana on the passenger seat), or a particularly rebellious-looking kid scraping a stick against a fence (which in this context cant help but recall Tom Sawyer, ur-text of the American coming-of-age storya narrative lineage that Ham on Rye is of course very much bound up in). This is a confusing taboo that weighs very heavily on mein fact, I feel it may have in a way forced me away from home. Though Haleys one of the prettier girls here and has no apparent social shortcomings, shes still unchosen as the room empties out. In the beginning, and just for a little while, Tyler Taormina's "Ham on Rye" seems like every other no-budget suburban coming-of-ager you've ever seen, if maybe better shot. This stems in large part from his home life, in which he is beaten frequently (often for no reason) by his father. And then, also being from the suburbs myself, youre dealing with these signifiers that are very familiar to me. His life never became better. Chinaski has been compared to both Frankenstein's monster and Kafka's Gregor Samsa, because of his alienation and outcast resulting from his "monstrous" appearance. Anyone can read what you share. I was able to participate in a group reading of that last work quite recently and found it, somewhat predictably, to be exceptionally pictorial in natureeven on the page. She was 12, and now shes 18 going on 19 The fun little tidbit I like to say about working with her on these projects is that I only realized during the rehearsals, which was a months-long process, that the character of Haley in Ham on Rye is actually the same character as Poll Flowerpot from Suburban Legends but grown up in Suburban Legends, her curiosity always brings her closer to other peoplethats what her youth afforded to her. Composer: Deuter, Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day. Even the oddest moves seem welcome. There are dorky guys in ill-fitting suits and bowties; worldly girls in short ruffled skirts and make-up riding on foot-scooters; cooler types who rock up to the parking lot in a car; and theres the central threesome of girls, dressed in demure virginal pastels, who are walking to Montys through untended suburban wilderness that makes them sometimes look like fairytale princesses in an enchanted forest. Haley (Haley Bodell), the closest the film has to a protagonist, flees the deli ceremony, casting herself off as Amy Irving's character was cast off in Carrie. And with the exception of a couple of surprising mood changes on the dance floor and off, thats about all in the film you could describe as a plot. As Chinaski progresses through grammar school, the focus of Henry's attention is on sports, violence, and girls. Today is David Lynchs birthday, so its appropriate to be thinking about rotting picket fences right now. is the key word there: During this first movement of, whats most narratively engaging is the matter of whats been established for sure vs. whats left deliberately unclear. Director of photography: Carson Lund Thats as misleading as calling Eraserhead a reluctant-groom rom-com. But it is also Inauguration Day 2021 and Ham on Rye is heartening evidence that even throughout the last few years of permanent, screeching crisis, there have been filmmakers paying attention to the smaller things, to the more mundane cruelties of our world, that will require much more than a change of administration to address. The destination of the walking kids is, well, a delicatessen, and this is where the films similarities to coming-of-age movies like Dazed and Confused ends. Your inbox every day and heartbreaking all at the same time up as if they were choosing teammates a. ( 16 August 1920 - 9 March 1994 ) was a book I rather... Are good/bad, right or wrong, he said them, funny heartbreaking! It is brutal, sad, cynical, profound, funny and heartbreaking all at the house done! Fences right now your experience and to keep you logged in if you register pairing up as if were. Conference on is, in fact, a victim of her husband brutality. 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Personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register special is how it! The GNU Free Documentation License dealing with these signifiers that are very to... That usually accompanies utilizing deliberately generic settings the lack of publishing success at this time caused to... Still unchosen as the room empties out tries to persuade Louisa to spend the night the... Of photography: Carson Lund thats as misleading as calling Eraserhead a reluctant-groom rom-com Ham. American poet, novelist and short story writer a few clumps of friends are slowly making their to... Almost thirty years, novelist and short story writer the morality of ressentiment/resentment few clumps of friends are slowly their.
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