This week, Season Two of Louie debuts, in anticipation of the third season's upcoming premiere on FX. The series is wholly unlike most contemporary comedy "sitcoms," with creator Louis C.K.'s unique worldview unfolding in a manner equal parts hilarious, poignant, and surreal; if David Lynch directed Seinfeld, the end result might look like Louie.
Each episode plays like a self-contained short story (some of the half-hour programs do contain two shorts) - the only linking traits are C.K.'s "Louie" character and a roster of thematic concerns. Chief among these in Season Two: the slippery nature of celebrity. Louis C.K.'s own status has risen since the start of the first season, so he uses the second season to examine the divide between fame and reality, as well as the often negative impact success can have on a person's value system.
Compared to the formal and narrative experimentation found in Louis C.K.'s brand of humor, David Wain and Ken Marino's Wanderlust might seem a little safe. Wain and Marino - veterans of both the late MTV sketch comedy The State and the cult favorite Wet Hot American Summer - mean to satirize the perils of rampant greed and consumerism with this farce about two yuppies (Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston) who join a hippie commune, though the film rarely attains the Dadaist absurdity of something like Wet Hot American Summer.
In fact, Wanderlust shares more in common with their Role Models, which also traded in weirdness for crowd-pleasing raunch. Like Role Models, Wanderlust is certainly watchable, but as Kenneth Brown noted in his Blu-ray review, it "runs out of steam...It isn't edgy and it isn't all that sweet; it isn't daring and it isn't all that safe; it isn't derivative and it isn't all that different from other R-rated comedies...Still, I have a soft spot for David Wain, Ken Marino and every other State castaway, and they always manage to earn a few laughs from me."
Tuesday also sees the Blu-ray treatment extended to actor/writer/monologist Spalding Gray. Gray first rose to cinematic prominence in 1987 with Swimming to Cambodia; director Jonathan Demme's filmed version of his one-man show, the piece allowed Gray to reflect on the cultural and spiritual idiosyncrasies he encountered during production of the acclaimed drama The Killing Fields. The picture helped cement Gray's unique vision, demonstrating how he mixed insights both hilarious and profound.
And now the Criterion Collection is releasing the two screen collaborations between Spalding Gray and acclaimed filmmaker Steven Soderbergh. In Gray's Anatomy, Gray muses on how a serious health scare challenged his preconceived opinions about traditional medicine, causing him to wade into the landscape of alternative healing. The second film, And Everything Is Going Fine, takes a different - and infinitely more poignant - approach to the master speaker; working after Gray's untimely death in 2004, Soderbergh culled through hours of rare documentary footage to construct, in essence, Gray's final monologue, which allowed Gray to posthumously comment on his own life.
Finally, the week also offers a notable curio for vintage film buffs: director Lewis John Carlino's The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea. An adaptation of the Yukio Mishima novel, the film quickly became a cult favorite following its theatrical release in 1976; the potency of its twisted, sensual atmosphere challenged viewers seeking more alternative fare.
Today, The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea does not have quite the same effect - its sexuality no longer appears as graphic, for one - but it still maintains a dreamlike intensity, thanks in no small part to veteran cinematographer Douglas Slocombe's lush camerawork, child actor Jonathan Kahn's unnerving central performance, and a disturbing, beyond-bleak ending.