μεταμορφώσεις

[Jeff Bernstein]

All good people, remember this sweet and tender vibe?

“Christmas with mother? It's a wonderful thing.”

μάλιστά γ᾽: εἶπε γάρ με Λοξίας ποτὲ

χρῆναι μιγῆναι μητρὶ τἠμαυτοῦ τό τε

πατρῷον αἷμα χερσὶ ταῖς ἐμαῖς ἑλεῖν.

ὧν οὕνεχ᾽ ἡ Κόρινθος ἐξ ἐμοῦ πάλαι

μακρὰν ἀπῳκεῖτ᾽: εὐτυχῶς μέν, ἀλλ᾽ ὅμως

τὰ τῶν τεκόντων ὄμμαθ᾽ ἥδιστον βλέπειν.

 

(994–9)

 

NOW COMES THE TRIPLE TONE—To the audience, to everyone, to Jocasta, Oedipus says, in all sincerity :

 

I’ll tell you. The word of Apollo warned me

that I would lie down with my own mother,

and would kill my father with my own hand;

thus I have avoided my home city

for a long time. All is well now; and yet

it is sweet to look into a mother’s eyes.

 

Ah, the Terms of Endearment meets David Cronenberg vibe!—Rational king Oedipus extolling wisely and well the sweets of motherly love!—while standing by his mother-wife!—and by the Chorus, who, like Jocasta, is already one step ahead of him and aware, as is the audience, that his sweet and tender composure is CATASTROPHIC CRINGEWORTHY, a Sophoclean ultimate in FAMOUS LAST WORDS.

[Jeff Bernstein]

Dancing in noir lighting in Fallen Angel (1945).

 

 

 

 

Edited December 5, 2025 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

What in the world will happen to 

[Jeff Bernstein]

VARIETY, 7 December 2025 : "With best picture wins from LAFCA, NBR and NYFCC, the Warner Bros. sensation is currently identical only to best picture winner Terms of Endearment (1983) with that specific makeup of prizes."

[Jeff Bernstein]

QUADRUPLE SCREEN KISS

[Jeff Bernstein]

“How big is my boy?” “So big.”

 

 

 

Edited December 10, 2025 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

Miss Pinkerton (1932)

[Jeff Bernstein]

RACK FOCUS

Miss Pinkerton (1932)

 

 

[Jeff Bernstein]

QUINTUPLE SCREEN KISS

[Jeff Bernstein]

The documentary-style realignment of the film frame in the example from EWS recalls, as does so much else in EWS, early Hollywood cinema. EXAMPLE—Ruth Chatterton in Female (1933) :

[Jeff Bernstein]

The Barbara Stanwyck Show, “The Choice”, directed by Jacques Tourneur.

[Jeff Bernstein]

"Who am I?" / "Who am I?" 

Female (1933) / Wall Street (1987)

[Jeff Bernstein]

Deep-reaching dimensionality engineered into the telephoto.

[Jeff Bernstein]

 

[Jeff Bernstein]

[Jeff Bernstein]

[Jeff Bernstein]

“I can't do her hair, man. You know that? I don't know how to do her hair right.”  “Don't go dark on me, Bob.”

[Jeff Bernstein]

[Jeff Bernstein]

"Mustard?!"

The Bride Came C.O.D. (1941)

LOCATION DEEP FOCUS

[Jeff Bernstein]

KUBRICK & ERNEST HALLER—again.

cf. Full Metal Jacket, "Tough break for HJ."

[Jeff Bernstein]

Before the eccentric poker game in House of Games (1987) . . . 

[Jeff Bernstein]

Daedalus, weary of his tedious exile,

yearned to go home, but the sea shut him in.

“All these waves may hinder my escape,” he said,

“but the open sky is a way to go.”

 

“All this Island Crete King Minos possesses,

and he owns the waves around it; but he

doesn’t own the air.” Thus said Daedalus,

who then turned his mind to unfamiliar arts.

 

He arranged birds’ feathers from the smallest

down to the longest; and one could imagine

to see in the pattern a subtle curve,

as if it conformed to a gentle slope.

 

In just this way were the ancient pan-pipes made,

hollow tubes rising sequentially higher.

 

He bound it all with thread and wax, preserving

that subtle curve resembling actual

birds’ wings. Icarus stood by, his son.

The boy was unaware of any danger.

 

He chased after and snatched at the feathers,

and pressed his thumb into the golden wax,

happily imitating his father,

and for all this slowing his father’s work.

 

When the last touches were done to the work

Daedalus placed his wings on his shoulders.

He rose from the ground, hovering in place

at speed in the midst of the open air.

 

And then he prepared the wings for his son.

“Icarus,” he said, “fly down the middle.”

“Icarus, if you fly up too high

your wings will fail you, and you will fall.”

 

Daedalus gave instructions to his son

while binding the wings to his shoulders.

During his work and warnings the old man

worked with trembling hands, and his cheeks were wet.

 

He would not kiss his son a second time.

 

Icarius went up on feather plumes.

Then his father went, flying in great fear ahead;

just as little ones, one’s babies, are led

up and out of the nest and into open air.

 

Daedalus flapped his wings. He kept looking

back, and encouraging Icarius.

 

Now while the fishing-rod quivered

with the captured fish, the fisherman watched;

as did the ploughman on his plough-handles;

and, bent on his walking stick, the shepherd saw.

 

And they were amazed to see that whoever

was navigating the air must be gods.

 

So the pair left the island behind them,

and the daring child began to rejoice

in flying. He left his leader behind

and aimed up eagerly to the Heavens.

 

Yes, he made his way up to high heaven,

while the vehement heat from the sun

slowly melted away the golden wax

on the wings of the child. And he lost

all momentum, Icarius. He felt

the air under his feet, and he beat

his naked arms but would never get

hold on the air again. His lips cried out

his father’s name. Miserable Daedalus!

 

“Icarius!” he said. “Icarius!

Where are you? Into what dark place down there

should I look for you?” He was unable to bury

his boy, but there where his wings were floating

a legend began, the Mare Icarium.

 

 [ Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.183–235. ]

 [ 9 January 2026 ]

 

 

 

 

Edited January 9 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

S    O    O    N

SCROOBY’S UNABOMBER

 

 

“Anyone who makes great efforts on account of social issues has some powerful personal motive, even if they persuade themselves that they are actuated by pure altruism.”

 

“I believe in nothing. I act merely from a desire for revenge.”