“The Death Of Bunny Munro” by Nick Cave

A couple years ago I posted this regarding the ongoing collaborations between Nick Cave & John Hillcoat. At the end of that I made mention of Death Of A Ladies Man a script by Cave that Hillcoat was reported to be developing.

The Death Of Bunny Munro, the second novel by Nick Cave, was released near the end of 2009. The book follows traveling beauty product salesman Bunny Munro as he unravels under the weight of his vices while taking his son on the road following the suicide of his wife.

Bunny Munro is a lecherous, self-absorbed catastrophe who over the course of the book becomes more so. He’s also his son, Bunny Junior’s, hero. The real story, for me, was there. Bunny is gregarious, and fun when he’s not being repugnant. As Bunny drags the boy around southern England under the pretense of teaching him the ropes, Bunny, Jr. sees more and more of that repugnance as visions of his dead mother trail them both.

The story for me was not so much about the decline of Bunny as it was about the quiet confusion of Bunny, Jr. trying to make sense of the world and his lot in it. It’s a story that is crass and funny, despairing and grim.

Cave’s eloquence is beyond dispute. For my money, he’s maybe the best lyricists of the day. The book displays that linguistic dance, though his cast here is a bit different from those that surface in his music.

In addition to the novel, there is an audio version of the book, read by Cave, complete with a full score recorded by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. John Hillcoat is indeed directing a film based on the novel. I did see a report that it was headed for the small screen rather than theaters, but I haven’t seen anything else to verify that. Ray Winstone is expected to play Bunny Munro.

Have a look at the website, there are samples of the audio score as well as excerpts of Cave reading from the book.

http://www.thedeathofbunnymunro.com/

Wonkavision

so, so great…

Pin

Pin is another of those movies that not enough people are aware of. The trailer below really doesn’t do the movie justice. It was directed by Sandor Stern, who primarily did  TV work from the 70′s to the mid 90′s and even stars some folks who went on to actually have careers… like Terry O’Quinn and David Hewlett.

Released in 1988, the story revolves around two kids who got their moral compass and advice from a life size anatomical  dummy. Their father, a doctor, used ventriloquism to speak to them through the dummy to answer questions and give punishments etc. This makes a deep impression on one of the kids and as they grow up and the parents die he becomes a bit of a nutter that continues to seek advice and counsel from the dummy. Despite how that might sound, it’s definitely worth a look.

John Hillcoat and Nick Cave

John Hillcoat is a director that has worked with Nick Cave in a number of ways over the years. He directed Ghosts Of The Civil Dead which Cave co-wrote, acts in and provided music for. I have not been able to find this movie, and would very much like to see it, yeargh!

Hillcoat directed the epic video for “Babe, I’m On Fire” off the Bad Seeds Nocturama album, a special edition of the release came with a DVD of the video.  I was going to link it, but it’s so long it’s broken up into two chunks on You Tube. So, if you care, find it yourself. It’s pretty funny.

Then Hillcoat and Cave worked together again on the brilliant, filthy Outback Western The Proposition. Nick Cave wrote the screenplay and did the soundtrack with Warren Ellis. The performances and tone of this movie are just great, it is ugly and dirty and mean. Here is the Australian version of the trailer.

Hillcoat and Cave are teaming up yet again. This time for the adaptaion of The Road. I haven’t read the Cormac McCarthy book yet but it’s on the list of stuff I want to pick up based on Jon Canady’s glowing review here. Nick Cave will be doing the soundtrack for this, and here is an in depth article on the production from Esquire I found today.

After this Hillcoat and Cave have planned a project called Death Of A Ladies Man which is also from a script by Cave. It’s listed as in pre-production now with no cast attached, but it sounds like it may be a bit more on on the humorous side than the dark and violent side of Cave’s work.

Dr. Caligari

**cross post from my Exquisite Dystopia Blog

When I meet someone new and talk inevitably turns to movies this is one of the first films I always recommend. It came out in 1989, and the premise is that it picks up with the original Dr. Caligari’s granddaughter who is conducting her own experiments.

I’ve not seen another movie that looks like this film, the set design, the score, the presentation and dialogue are unique. The film was co-written by Jerry Stahl. If you saw Permanent Midnight, Ben Stiller’s turn as a junkie, that movie was about Jerry Stahl. Stephen Sayadian (aka Rinse Dream) directed and also co-wrote, perhaps best known for the erotic dystopian film Cafe Flesh.

Fun Fact: The character of Gus Pratt seems to be based on serial killer Albert Fish.

I’m not sure this is even available on DVD, I’ve seen a couple posts on line where people say they got it in a box set of cult movies. I have an old dubbed VHS of it that has been played half to death. If I’m able to track a DVD of it down I’m sure I will be excited enough to post about it.

Godfish Collective

This video was posted on the old site for some time. It’s a no budget short put together by a film team that goes by the name Godfish Collective out of Canada. I didn’t have any involvement in this project, they just happened to use some of my music for the score. I didn’t find out about it until well after it was done. According to them they layered the tracks ”The Fraternal Order of Hypocrites and Zealots”, “The Redundancy of Procreation” and “Where the Fearful Eat Their Young” on top of each other and them mixed them all in and out of one another for the soundtrack.

“I Thought I Was Right, I Wasn’t” a short film by Godfish Collective

The news that has transpired since that was put on the old site is this… Godfish Collective is working on a feature length film under the working title “Stop” and have asked me to contribute about half of the soundtrack. It’s still in the writing stage, and isn’t expected to begin shooting until sometime in 2010. The only details I know really are that its a horror film that is drawing some influence from the feel of films like Funny Games, Bully, Kids and Elephant. I know the basic premise of the story. However, last I knew it hadn’t been scripted yet so I’ll leave that in the bag in case it should evolve.

I’m excited at the prospect. I hope it works out. I will keep you posted as anything new comes up, but it may be awhile before I have anything additional to add.