I love the board game, Clue. I played a lot of games by myself (yeah) in my parents' basement as I was growing up and Clue cannot be played by yourself. It just can't. So getting to actually play it was a Treat. I still love playing it. I'm such a sucker for logic puzzles.
I saw the movie on TV when I was a kid. Maybe 10 or 11. Waaaay too sheltered to get most of the jokes but I latched onto it. The rhythm of it enchanted me. It was my first introduction to most of these actors (with the exception of Leslie Ann Warren, whose Cinderella was a staple in our house) and honestly, my gateway into a lot of the comedy that's shaped who I am today. This movie feels like it's embedded in my soul, and I love that. Not having watched it in over a year was so odd. But I can still quote it beat for beat. (Sorry, Ben. It's honestly a miracle that I only quoted the few lines that I did tonight.)
The physical comedy in this film is Top Notch. I don't think of any of these actors as being slapstick comedians but holy crap do they ever embody their comedy. As much as I love the dialogue, it was the physical work that had me laughing the hardest tonight. Col. Mustard yelling, "Don't touch it!" as he fully grabs the handle of the knife in the cook's back. Wadsworth dragging Mrs. White up the stairs until she just falls down and lies flat on her face. ALL of Michael McKean's performance. This moment:
Everyone in this movie goes for it 1000% and it's a dream.
The music is iconic, which is not common for a low grossing, cult comedy like this. But all afternoon, thinking about getting to watch this, the various motifs ran through my head as though I'd just watched it yesterday. Good job, John Morris (who, IMDB is telling me, also did the music for the vast majority of Mel Brooks films including Young Frankenstein which also has a banger of a score)!
It's honestly hard to talk about this film without going through each gag beat by beat and telling you how much I like it. Literally the only joke that doesn't land for me is the dog shit joke at the beginning. But that's a killer ( :D ) success rate for a comedy, only one meh joke.
I am not exaggerating when I tell you I think about Madeline Kahn several times a week and I am so grateful for this movie for introducing her to me and for Madeline Kahn showing me that women could be strong, funny, beautiful, and weird. Her humor is so off beat and I aspire to that.
Lino print ink on paper
8x10
Takeaways:
-Whoooooo golly this was a labored piece. From conception to execution. Initially I wanted to try what's called a reduction print - you print from the same block in layers, cutting a little away and changing the ink with each layer - but I couldn't come up with a concept for it. Or maybe, I had too many ideas? Doing the house with the characters in each window but I just couldn't wrap my head around the style of it. So I browsed Instagram and my bookshelf until I was reminded of Victorian illustrations of hands holding flowers or invitation cards, and then I went with that!
-I struggled with ink consistency on this. Each color ink provided its own challenges and with each color it felt less likely that I was going to get a single print that had all six printed cleanly on it. But I got two! Hooray! I look forward to reading a whole bunch about that.
-I was really pleased with the quality of the block cutting, though. I couldn't draw hands for the life of me all week and given that they're only about an inch wide, I thought I'd struggle with cutting the detail. But I did it! Hooray!
-Once I learn a little more about ink consistency, I want to try this one again and maybe put some prints of it up on Etsy. Stay tuned.
Tonight, we'll be watching Spirited Away, the first Studio Ghibli of the project! I'm very excited to revisit this one.
I hope the next week treats you well and that you laugh So Much. But do try to keep the kitchen tidy.