Friday, June 18, 2010

Tilda Swinton's 8½: Will You Dance Along Next Saturday?

You may have heard about this already but it took me days to process. For just when it seem liked Tilda Swinton had scaled all available Mt. Awesome peaks, she went and invented a new way to be awesome. Her latest project is named after Federico Fellini's masterpiece and it's way cooler than any other derivative thereof.

<--- This isn't a new photo of Tilda but I feel certain that Federico Fellini would endorse it.


Here's the description of the 8½ Foundation from the official site
What great movies would you give to a child on their 8½ birthday?
8½ is a great age to fall in love with cinema, and so the 8½ Foundation aims to give all children an 8½th birthday, glimpses into new worlds and cultures, into magic a
nd the heights imagination can take you to.
The Foundation is holding a flash-mob style kick off on June 26th in Edinburgh where Tilda (and anyone else who shows up) will perform a Laurel & Hardy dance. No joke. Here's the dance. You're supposed to learn it beforehand.

The instructions
On Saturday 26 June 2010 at 10:45, come rain or shine, we’re gonna meet at Festival Square, Lothian Road, Edinburgh. At exactly 11:00, music will start – The Avalon Boy’s ditty “At the Ball”. It’s a song from Laurel and Hardy’s funniest film Way Out West. In the film, Stan and Ollie do a wee dance, one of the most charming, amusing musical numbers in cinema history.

In tribute to Stan and Ollie, and to dancing in public and in unabashed celebration of doing something as a group and looking like dafties…when the music starts, we will put down our newspapers and do the Laurel and Hardy dance.
I don't have the funds to fly to Edinburgh next weekend but I think I'll learn the dance and do it in my living room at 5:45 AM EST 06/26 for my Tilda across the Atlantic. If any readers want to join me take a picture so we can all pretend we did it together. I either have to do this or convert my apartment into a Shrine to Swinton for the purposes of daily worship. For what actress is more deserving of such devotion?

P.S. I Am Love (Io sono l'amore) opens today. It's grand. And Tilda wears the loveliest things in it. See it.

9 comments:

Craig Bloomfield said...

Ace. This must be linked to her and Mark Cousins' Ballerina Ballroom Cinema of Dreams project from a few years ago (which sounded equally as ace: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballerina_Ballroom_Cinema_Of_Dreams). And what with them both dragging a portable cinema around Scotland last year as well, she's the queen of alternative cinema events.

I'd love to go and dance to L&H - but, despite being not half as far away, it's a money thing too. Darn. (Love that Tilda-as-clown picture!)

verninino said...

Somehow or another I wasn't aware of Love until yesterday. The trailer and reviews portend amazingness.

For the first time in years I'm surprised to be excited to see a film. What with all the meta-heralding that goes on these days it's almost impossible for a good film to sneak up on you.

Tilda has been a demi-god for years. After Julia and now this, her ascension to goddess seems almost complete.

I'm not one for dancing, but maybe I will drop by with the girls and watch.

MRRIPLEY said...

Nat me and the bottom r going!!!!

Anonymous said...

Nathaniel....this post has nothing to do w. julia swinton but after watching Valley of Decision i just came to a realization that Greer Garson and Kate Winslet have somewhat similar career paths

Jorge Rodrigues said...

I liked I Am Love although it is not clearly a great film.

I gave it a B and I enjoyed thoroughly its ostentiveness, the cinematography, the décor, the glam that the film exhales... And Tilda. Tilda is ravishing.

But I have some problems with the film's structure and with the screenplay.

Glenn said...

I Am Love is incredible. Loved it.

Now, having said that and saying that Tilda Swinton is a god and truly incredible in every way... this 8 1/2 thing is ridiculous. There are children out there who, at 8.5 years old, need more than a movie to make them feel better about themselves. :/

Peggy Sue said...

"Io sono l'amore" is beautiful! Loved the wardrobe.

By the way, has anyone noticed that IMDB is listing all the foreign films with their title translated to english?
I think is a huge stepdown.

NATHANIEL R said...

but Glenn -- she's a movie icon. i mean it seems like such a great fit. Not every charitable organization needs to worry about poverty and abuse and whatnot. I think it's good that there is one now that wants to be whimsical and abotu the arts. Lord knows there is not enough emphasis on cultural and arts education out there.

ak said...

Ok, I just watched I Am Love. I'm not really sure what to think. This movie would not have worked with anyone other than Tilda, but for some reason Tilda's presence makes all the extraneous flourishes ok. As everyone said, the wardrobe was fantastic as was the set decorations. The music was appropriately overbearing.

You know, this may have been the most fucked up movie since, well, the last Tilda Swinton movie I saw!