Prairie Home
The film Prairie Home Companion has just opened in Australia. I can't imagine what people here are making of it. I went to see it when I was home, with two former residents of Lake Wobegon. They turned and whispered every 10 minutes or so, "I know that street! I used to drive that way to the airport!" and "I went to see that band when I was in school!" and "Did you know that old so-and-so moved out to such-and-such town" - probably not exactly those statements, but things that suggested they were watching a home movie from their teenaged years, not a high-concept Robert Altman film.
I saw a reviewer on breakfast tv here who liked the movie but so didn't get it. He didn't mention at all that Garrison Keillor really does this show, still, and you can stream it online from Minnesota Public Radio. In fact he didn't mention Minnesota at all. How can you talk about Garrison Keillor and not even mention Minnesota? I think the confused the location and thought it might be someplace out West - he said something about a cowboy film or cowboy culture, meaning the whole film and the theatre it's set in, but I'm sure he was confused by the cowboys that are played by Woody Harrelson and John C Reilly. Those are cowboys as a boy growing up in Minnesota would image them! Those are not western kind of cowboys! Duh! Minnesota people are farmers, and fishermen, not cowboys! How can you get that wrong?
This is an interesting part of the ex-pat experience, the fact that people here believe your country is one big homogenous lump, and they have no idea at all about regional differences, or how importantly different it is whether your relatives come from Minnesota or from Texas.
I saw a reviewer on breakfast tv here who liked the movie but so didn't get it. He didn't mention at all that Garrison Keillor really does this show, still, and you can stream it online from Minnesota Public Radio. In fact he didn't mention Minnesota at all. How can you talk about Garrison Keillor and not even mention Minnesota? I think the confused the location and thought it might be someplace out West - he said something about a cowboy film or cowboy culture, meaning the whole film and the theatre it's set in, but I'm sure he was confused by the cowboys that are played by Woody Harrelson and John C Reilly. Those are cowboys as a boy growing up in Minnesota would image them! Those are not western kind of cowboys! Duh! Minnesota people are farmers, and fishermen, not cowboys! How can you get that wrong?
This is an interesting part of the ex-pat experience, the fact that people here believe your country is one big homogenous lump, and they have no idea at all about regional differences, or how importantly different it is whether your relatives come from Minnesota or from Texas.
posted by Ellen at 8:30 am
1 Comments:
I think you must go see the movie with the Australian audience and write a review! The ex-pat's insider review. Let them know what the great northern middle is all about.
Yeah, you betcha.
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