Nicolas Roeg’s stage adaptation/head trip has finally arrived on Blu-ray and lucky for us it has been given the Criterion treatment. The film, based off of the play by Terry Johnson, takes us back to 1954 and finds clear, obvious stand ins for Marilyn Monroe (known here as The Actress, played by Theresa Russell), Joseph McCarthy (The Senator, Tony Curtis), Joe DiMaggio (The Ballplayer, Gary Busey), and Albert Einstein (The Professor, Michael Emil) crossing paths throughout one long night as they go in and out of a New York City hotel room. Of course there is no point in trying to outsmart the plot, the hows and whys of these meetings are immaterial next to the brain exercise it allows us to partake in as Roeg takes these larger than life personas from a bygone era and shrinks them down to a most intimate size. Whatever Roeg’s point or points may be are somewhat muddled by the abstraction of the picture that relishes the opportunity to point out just how pained everybody was but fails to convey what that means in a larger context. The viewing experience itself, however, is well worth a look as you get something unique and stimulating. There is no imperative from Roeg to follow the traditional storytelling beats, instead it plays out as a series of vignettes that loosely move the plot along from one point to the next but when added up at the end can hardly be credited with equaling a coherent narrative.
If I had to pick a core of the movie I would say that it would be The Senator’s bullying attempts to get The Professor to come and testify against Communistic thought. The Professor has no use for politics as he just wants to plow forward with his life’s work and speak out against war. You might say that he and The Senator have deep philosophical differences. Soon enough The Senator exits for a night of by the hour kinky sex and The Actress enters the room. For me the scenes between her and The Professor resonated the loudest though I do have concerns that involve the nutritional value of them. She lectures him on the theory of relativity using toy trains and flashlights as props then moves in on him looking to cash in on her most valuable resource. The mere idea of placing Einstein in an overtly sexual situation is hilarious enough, but figure in that it is supposed to be Marilyn Monroe doing the seducing and you really have an unforgettable scene on your hands. Sadly the whole fiasco is broken up when Gary Busey busts in to disrupt their pre-coital moment. And really, who better to play an embittered brute of a baseball player than Busey? From there the film shifts gears and spends a hunk of time delving into the ugly and fractured relationship between him and The Actress.
You pretty much get the idea of what follows in Insignificance, one character, realistically or otherwise, replaces another on camera setting up another scene that focuses on a different combination of the four main players. In the end Roeg only reconfirms what we already thought about these people; McCarthy is slime, DiMaggio is a strong man made weak by feminine beauty, Monroe was slutty and nutty, and Einstein was above the whole mess. Sure, they’re all pained and maybe not in the way we would have thought prior to watching but I hope the whole point here isn’t that these cultural icons weren’t always what they seemed. Perhaps if we wanted to give Roeg the benefit of the doubt and dig a little deeper we might see it as an indictment against the 1950’s as a whole. Tea Partiers like to glorify the era because to them it signifies purity and wholesomeness and, let’s be frank, white male power. But as this film shows things were just as twisted and manufactured back then as they are today, the only difference is that we weren’t as savvy way back when about recognizing it. Today our Congressmen end up with their junk on Twitter and TMZ makes sure that our starlets disastrous private lives are broadcast far and wide across the web. It’s no world beater but Insignificance has the ability to kick start your brain and is a healthy alternative to most of the other summer entertainment options out there.
There is really no overstating the care that goes into a Criterion Collection release and even this one, number 566, still shows that they are dedicated to pumping out the highest of quality releases. The picture looks spectacular, so much so in fact that it really does make me call my entire film education into question. I saw the classics of cinema on VHS on a 20 inch screen and I can only assume that to go back now and watch them again in Blu-ray would be a whole new experience.
This disc isn’t stuffed with extras the way some of their previous ones have been but it is enough to flesh out the rest of your day after you finish watching the feature. There is a thoughtful essay by Chuck Stephens that was the most worthwhile of the bunch for me. We also get a documentary that was made during the filming of the movie that sometimes borders on the hysterical especially when Gary Busey decides to expound upon his thoughts on the ’50s. You also get the obligatory trailer and new interviews with the writers, director and editor. The film itself was released on DVD eight years ago but has since gone out of print so now your only option is to through Criterion. This coming week they have a new edition of The Makioka Sisters coming out and the price is a significant $8 cheaper, but there is really no way for me to try and dissuade you from buying this even if the price is a tiny bit steep.
Criterion Collection presents Insignificance. Directed by: Nicolas Roeg. Starring: Gary Busey, Theresa Russell, Michael Emil, Tony Curtis. Written by: Terry Johnson. Running time: 110 minutes. Rating: R. Released on Blu-ray: June 14, 2011. Available at Amazon.com.
