Some Call It Loving (James B. Harris, 1973)

Discussions of specific films and franchises.
Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
John Cope
Joined: Thu Dec 15, 2005 5:40 pm
Location: where the simulacrum is true

#1 Post by John Cope » Sat Aug 11, 2007 3:05 pm

I've been meaning to see this for the last few years. Having finally gotten the opportunity I have to say that it earned all my anticipation. It's a really tremendous piece of work, profound and haunting. It's also very instructive.

Though based on a John Collier short story called Sleeping Beauty, the film diverges significantly from its source material. This is fine by me as I'm not a big fan of Collier (his stuff tends to read too much like New Yorker fiction--which I think it was) and Sleeping Beauty in particular is a pretty glib, cynical little tale. In it, a wealthy man discovers the titular character at a carnival and procures her for a small fortune. I won't say "buys her" as we're meant to see his action as a kind of enforced liberation, or at least an act of perceived benevolence that only vaguely suggests his less noble motives. Ironically, it only changes her circumstances. When the girl finally awakens, her crass personality clashes overtly with her superficial beauty. Collier's point is made very quickly and there's little else going on. The ending (which is the same as in the film version) has little impact other than the invocation of bemused sarcasm.

Harris' film, by contrast, is gloriously rich and bizarre and deserves to be far better known. There's a multitude of things going on here, not the least of which is that the man (played by a fantastic and fascinating Zalman King) is not wealthy though he lives in splendor. He shares a mansion with two women, and one of these women appears to be the source of the material wealth. This implies that the male character is "kept" to start with, though he seems to have free access to anything he wants within reason. With almost no establishing exposition we are introduced to the hermetic lifestyle of these three characters, which is entirely devoted to living out fantasy role playing situations.

At first I thought King's central performance was listless and uninspired but it quickly became evident that this was precisely the way to play a man worn down by an excess of sensual abandon. And the approach he takes allows the moments when he is affected deeply to really resonate. There are some quietly devastating scenes in here of great emotional honesty. Of course mention must be made of Richard Pryor as well, who plays King's best friend, a strung out graffiti artist. This performance is wildly inchoate and almost impossible to describe adequately. I think the reason for this is similar to the reasoning behind King's opaque turn. These are simply not performances which emanate from any fixed psychological point. Part of that may be Harris' clear disinterest in psychological portraits as he seems to be after something else entirely.

In the Collier story, the male character becomes disillusioned because the girl does not conform to his idea of what she should be. The same is true here except that this girl is actually sweet and kind and the disillusionment is consequently of a different sort. Once awakened, she happily embraces the role playing within the house, even while King's character is wearying of it. He sees her potential for openness and authenticity and grows frustrated that she willingly submits to an abstract notion of freedom which effectively restricts those qualities. We, too, get lost in the fantasies, all of which are designed to give a heightened reality to the immediate moment but ultimately overwhelm, confusing our orientation and eliminating all possible emotional investment that could exist beyond the immediate. There is rarely a comfortable sense of being outside the fantasies, which once again makes those few moments when we seem to be deeply poignant and troubling. It's the relinquishment of any possible conventionally realized emotional development. Everything is surrendered to the presumed liberation of an all encompassing imagined reality; and this reality mainly serves to rigorously protect from any vulnerability. The complete immersion into this world does not dismantle human feeling but rather forces it to be expressed in a more narrow sense, through the stricture of unstated stipulations. The eventual ending becomes tragic, though it's not overstated, for exactly this reason.

Some Call It Loving also lends insight to King's own oft misperceived later career. In fact, I would go so far as to say it's key to an understanding of that career. Rather than being a simple series of soft core fantasias, it can be argued that his films are criminally misread--that they actually begin with a presumptive thematic given several steps past the conclusion of this earlier piece. In short, King's films are unapologetic melodramas which take for granted that fantasy and the re-imagining of self are deeply attractive prospects and this is no way should diminish our sincere empathy; the affect of his characters could not possibly be more pure or their investment in an imagined reality more complete. It's King's misfortune that what he is doing is unfashionable in a cynical, albeit "sophisticated" time.

I thought briefly of Boxing Helena as I watched this as well but Some Call It Loving is infinitely superior as it understands what is presupposed by longing and the uncluttered sensibility that can be lost to imagination and particular forms of idealism. It's very disappointing that this great film is unavailable on DVD.

User avatar
Person
Joined: Sat May 19, 2007 3:00 pm

#2 Post by Person » Sat Aug 11, 2007 8:31 pm

James B. Harris has some serious gaps in his career, but I love The Bedford Incident, which is austere, yet nuanced.

John, how did you get to see Some Call It Loving? I love Mario Tosi's work as a cinematographer, Richard Pryor is in it and it generally interests me. The early 70s were, as we all now know, a tremendous period for Cinema and this film is one of those that has slipped through the cultural net, unfortunately, it seems.

User avatar
John Cope
Joined: Thu Dec 15, 2005 5:40 pm
Location: where the simulacrum is true

#3 Post by John Cope » Mon Aug 13, 2007 4:07 am

I hate to admit that I had to view this film via VHS. I ordered it through an online vendor and what I received included the original oversized cardboard container. This little extra helpfully dates my copy to sometime in the early 80's. Yes, it could definitely use an upgrade. Still, it is impressive to look at despite the less than ideal circumstances.

By the way, I neglected to mention two films that owe this one a lot (I'm sure there are more than just these two): one is Egoyan's Adjuster, which also includes a slowly unraveling couple completely devoted to role playing and unable to escape it; the other is Lynch's Lost Highway, in which the main character is a jazz musician (as is the main character in SCIL) and the plot revolves around the fact that this character is profoundly frustrated by his ultimate inability to control the female figures in his life--oh, and it also includes Richard Pryor giving a similar type of performance.

The tragedy in all these pictures is the total inability to conceive of any life outside the parameters of one rigorously imagined and absolutely controlled.

User avatar
John Cope
Joined: Thu Dec 15, 2005 5:40 pm
Location: where the simulacrum is true

Re: Some Call It Loving (James B. Harris, 1973)

#4 Post by John Cope » Sun Jan 24, 2010 2:22 pm


User avatar
EddieLarkin
Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2012 10:25 am

Re: Some Call It Loving (James B. Harris, 1973)

#5 Post by EddieLarkin » Fri Mar 20, 2015 6:04 pm

Coming to Blu-ray July 17th, courtesy of Etiquette Pictures, offshoot of Vinegar Syndrome.

Rosenbaum recently revived his Sight & Sound review of the film here.

User avatar
hearthesilence
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2005 4:22 am
Location: NYC

Re: Some Call It Loving (James B. Harris, 1973)

#6 Post by hearthesilence » Fri Mar 20, 2015 6:30 pm

Screening at BAM on April 1 if you want to check it out.

User avatar
andyli
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2009 4:46 pm

Re: Some Call It Loving (James B. Harris, 1973)

#7 Post by andyli » Wed Jul 08, 2015 8:57 pm


User avatar
All the Best People
Joined: Sun Mar 19, 2017 7:08 pm
Contact:

Re: Some Call It Loving (James B. Harris, 1973)

#8 Post by All the Best People » Sun Jul 30, 2017 5:07 pm

Watched this movie for the first time last night. The transfer can be a bit grainy, especially in dark scenes, but it seems this may be faithful to the intent, and adds to the "dreamy" atmosphere. A nice set of extras with some interviews (Harris and the cinematographer, separately), a commentary that is also something of an interview, and a set of "outtakes" lacking sound which have the interview commentary over them.

As for the film itself, while I'm not as enthusiastic about is as either the OP or Rosenbaum, it is a good film, haunting, disturbing, sad, and frequently beautiful. I never quite had a handle on where it was going, which I appreciate. The only fairly major aspect I felt didn't work at all was Richard Pryor's performance, which I found an indulgent mess. There's also a scene featuring a waitress that as fairly embarrassing. But on the whole, a a strong and thought-provoking effort.

Post Reply