Friday, June 18, 2004
Bukowski: Born Into This
2003
I was first introduced to the works of Bukowski when I lived in Berkeley. Seemed that everyone had read his stuff...except me. I can remember reading his poems and short stories and being glued to the pages, to the words, to the thoughts. I asked myself, "Who is this man? Why do I feel what he feels?" It didn't take long for me to realize that all I had learned before about poetry, prose, novels...it was all bullshit. This was REAL. HE WAS REAL. Complex man, simple words. As Bukowski comments on his own fame: "Forgive me. I have your money, you have my soul."
Reading my first Bukowski was like losing my virginity: I could remember details in an over-all haze...but the FEELING it gave me, the feeling and memory I have now of it...is still unforgettable.
Those who know Charles Bukowski's work, know Bukowski's life. Unlike other poets and novelists of his day, Bukowski was one of the first artists to display his life and his perception of life in a way that was unabashedly honest, despicably ugly, sincerely perverted and often lonely.
Writing in a constant drunken haze, Bukowski, was like no other: neither Beat, nor socialist, bourgeois nor romantic...he was JUST PLAIN REAL.
Difficult to believe by our modern "realist" standards, Charles Bukoswki was one of the first writers to "tell it like it is". He created the modern day tongue of the common, down-trodden man...a person scarred by child abuse, acne, depression, alcoholism and isolation.
In the documentary, "Bukowski: Born Into This", fans and soon-to-be-fans get a rare look into the man behind the underground legend. Comprised of various foreign and local interviews from the past, we bear witness to parts of Bukowski that are brilliant, uplifting, pathetic, sad, but all the while TRUE.
Equally as heart-felt and impressive are the interviews and testimonies of those who have survived him: his wife, friends, publicists and a plethora of bearded, overweight alcoholic ex-girlfriends. All testify to his brilliance, his toughness, and even his vulnerable softness.
Strewn throughout the documentary are voice-over readings of his own poems, delivered in the awesome dead-pan tone that has made Bukowski famous.
Brief commentaries by Sean Penn, Tom Waits and Bono prove that some modern artists and Hollywood stars actually DO have some culture in their bones.
I recommend this documentary for people who would like to see a very personal side to an iconic, artistic and mysterious figure of underground literature. More importantly, I encourage those who are not familiar with his work at all to give it more than a chance. Come on, lose yourself. Give into him. This film does a great job at showing you all sides of Bukowski and reveals his life and work as a progression of struggle, expression, growth...and finally, inner peace.
2003
I was first introduced to the works of Bukowski when I lived in Berkeley. Seemed that everyone had read his stuff...except me. I can remember reading his poems and short stories and being glued to the pages, to the words, to the thoughts. I asked myself, "Who is this man? Why do I feel what he feels?" It didn't take long for me to realize that all I had learned before about poetry, prose, novels...it was all bullshit. This was REAL. HE WAS REAL. Complex man, simple words. As Bukowski comments on his own fame: "Forgive me. I have your money, you have my soul."
Reading my first Bukowski was like losing my virginity: I could remember details in an over-all haze...but the FEELING it gave me, the feeling and memory I have now of it...is still unforgettable.
Those who know Charles Bukowski's work, know Bukowski's life. Unlike other poets and novelists of his day, Bukowski was one of the first artists to display his life and his perception of life in a way that was unabashedly honest, despicably ugly, sincerely perverted and often lonely.
Writing in a constant drunken haze, Bukowski, was like no other: neither Beat, nor socialist, bourgeois nor romantic...he was JUST PLAIN REAL.
Difficult to believe by our modern "realist" standards, Charles Bukoswki was one of the first writers to "tell it like it is". He created the modern day tongue of the common, down-trodden man...a person scarred by child abuse, acne, depression, alcoholism and isolation.
In the documentary, "Bukowski: Born Into This", fans and soon-to-be-fans get a rare look into the man behind the underground legend. Comprised of various foreign and local interviews from the past, we bear witness to parts of Bukowski that are brilliant, uplifting, pathetic, sad, but all the while TRUE.
Equally as heart-felt and impressive are the interviews and testimonies of those who have survived him: his wife, friends, publicists and a plethora of bearded, overweight alcoholic ex-girlfriends. All testify to his brilliance, his toughness, and even his vulnerable softness.
Strewn throughout the documentary are voice-over readings of his own poems, delivered in the awesome dead-pan tone that has made Bukowski famous.
Brief commentaries by Sean Penn, Tom Waits and Bono prove that some modern artists and Hollywood stars actually DO have some culture in their bones.
I recommend this documentary for people who would like to see a very personal side to an iconic, artistic and mysterious figure of underground literature. More importantly, I encourage those who are not familiar with his work at all to give it more than a chance. Come on, lose yourself. Give into him. This film does a great job at showing you all sides of Bukowski and reveals his life and work as a progression of struggle, expression, growth...and finally, inner peace.
