The Films of Todd Haynes

I'm writing this after having read John Lah'rs article in The New Yorker about Todd Haynes but before rewatching “Far from Heaven,” which I saw when it first came out. For better or for worse, I remember very little of the film, but that's par for the course for me these days, as my memory cells just don't seem to work as well as they used to! I do remember its mood, its color palette, and its credits believe it or not, all of which harken back to one of my favorite films, Douglas Sirk's “Imitation of Life.” Upon its release, I remember reading all the press about how the film was Haynes’s homage to the Sirkian melodramas of the 1950’s, a genre I quite enjoy, so I looked forward to the film then, and look forward to seeing it again with fresh eyes and brain cells.

I have been a fan of Todd Haynes ever since “Poison” came out, a film which I absolutely love. After seeing “Poison”, I immediately tracked down a VHS copy of “Superstar”, which was very hard to find at that time due to the Carpenter family lawsuit against Haynes – Or was it Mattel Toys that sued? I’ve sought out and watched nearly all of Haynes’ films as they were released. (I missed “I'm Not There” and “Wonderstruck”.) I’ve enjoyed all of them, but they’ve felt less “edgy” to me ever since “Velvet Goldmine”, which is Haynes’s first “mainstream” film IMHO.

From the article, I learned that Haynes and I are the same age and both grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles. That might explain why I resonate so much with his aesthetic (and his bizarre obsession with the Carpenters! I enjoyed learning about the nearly life-long friendship between Haynes and Elizabeth McGovern. I fell in love with her after seeing her in her debut “Ordinary People” when it was released in 1980. That was back when I still used to get semi-heterosexual crushes on girls, and her role in that film played right into tragic teen-age boy melodrama, so I’ve been a fan of McGovern’s ever since! I enjoyed learning more about the intimate nature of their friendship.

I believe I’ve seen “Poison” at least three times, always on the big screen, so I enjoyed reading Lahr’s recap. It inspires me to do the extra credit essay, since through writing, I may discover why I love this film so much! The recap of “Safe” reminds me of how bleak it was. Not sure I could withstand a re-watch of that nowadays. Too close to home! Maybe I’d say that “Mildred Pierce” is my least favorite of Haynes’s films, not that there’s anything wrong with it. But why bother to toy with perfection? (I feel the same way about a lot of “cover versions” of songs too.) I remember I saw “Carol” at the Paris Cinema in NYC when it was released.

 

So that’s my collection of random thoughts upon reading Lahr’s article, a very thorough career overview – a great introduction for a newbie to Haynes’s work, and a great review for those of us who were there from the beginning! (I also just remembered that Lahr wrote “Prick Up Your Ears”!)