MUSIC « In Which I Close My Eyes Softly Til I Become That Part Of The Wind »
Tuesday, January 18, 2011 at 11:34AM 
Ingmar Bergman:ABBA::John Cassavetes:Fleetwood Mac
by MOLLY LAMBERT
How satisfying did it feel to do this? Sooooooo fucking satisfying. ABBA and Fleetwood Mac are two of my favorite bands ever. It is definitely tied to my dual love for ensemble casts and the 1970s (also, harmonies and mixed gender vocals). Bergman and Cassavetes are obviously also no slouches at being total fucking geniuses.
Remember that summer that Tusk was the only CD in my car, and I just drove around Los Angeles in the fucking zone like a character in that Joan Didion novel I don't like (just checking to see if Joan Didion has google name alert filters. Hi Joan! What's it like there? Earth?) I am listening to "I Walk A Thin Line" right now, pon de Lindsey. Lindsey Buckingham's black swan was Don Henley. Stevie's was clearly Christine McVie, although there's an argument to be made for Carly Simon (Blonde swans. Blawns.)
These bands both wrote some of the greatest breakup songs of all times, killed at least four marriages, and then had to face each other on stage at night. Cassavetes and Bergman have definitely made some awesome breakup movies. Is poignancy considered a genre? Have yall heard "Sara"? That song makes me feel like I live in a Scorsese montage. It's a field recording of your heart being ripped out of your chest.
Art accurately reflects real life so rarely that when it does it sort of fucks you up. It makes you remember that the whole point is to get people in that place where they have to go "damn it's true" and that art that doesn't even try to do that is fucking bullshit. Comedy can go deeper than drama, and often does, and the desire to be taken seriously is what fucked up Woody Allen's game. Serious movies that aren't at all funny seem unrealistic because life is super fucking funny, especially when it sucks.
People make fun of all four of these artists for their earnestness. ABBA and Fleetwood Mac don't really ever get tagged as pretentious, because they made such perfect pop music, but they also go incredibly deep. Bergman and Cassavetes get called pretentious so much that it undercuts how awesome they both actually are. I'm not saying The Seventh Seal is a fucking laugh riot but Bergman isn't humorless at all.
As soon as I realized I was going to do this exercise to completion I felt the rush of having realized my purpose on this earth. I felt like Miley's bong hit. I felt the way Stevie Nicks's voice makes me fucking feel. I want to follow her down every fadeout. Making the photocollages was accepting that my internet practice has no ceilings.
ABBA : INGMAR BERGMAN
Ring Ring : Smiles Of A Summer Night
Waterloo : The Seventh Seal
ABBA : Wild Strawberries
Arrival : The Virgin Spring
The Album : Through A Glass Darkly
Voulez Vous : Persona
Super Trouper : Cries And Whispers
The Visitors : Scenes From A Marriage
FLEETWOOD MAC : JOHN CASSAVETES
Then Play On : Shadows
Future Games : The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie
Fleetwood Mac : Faces
Rumours : Husbands
Tusk : A Woman Under The Influence
Mirage : Minnie And Moskowitz
Tango In The Night : Opening Night
Behind The Mask : Gloria
Time : Love Streams
Say You Will : Big Trouble
Think About Me - Fleetwood Mac (mp3)
Ledge - Fleetwood Mac (mp3)
Sara - Fleetwood Mac (mp3)
What Makes You Think You're The One - Fleetwood Mac (mp3)
Storms - Fleetwood Mac (mp3)
Angel - Fleetwood Mac (mp3)
Walk A Thin Line - Fleetwood Mac (mp3)
Ring Ring - ABBA (mp3)
Dream World - ABBA (mp3)
Put On Your White Sombrero - ABBA (mp3)
Fernando - ABBA (mp3)
I Am The City - ABBA (mp3)
Molly Lambert is the managing editor of This Recording. She is a writer living in Los Angeles. She runs GIF Party, This Recording's twitter, and JPG CLUB, and the club.
Reader Comments (6)
Watched Killing of a Chinese Bookie for the first time recently. ( was also my 1st Cassevetes movie)
Couldn't stop thinking "This is incredible genius at work..like a filmic equivalent of Einstein pushing thought into new realms..." blown away.
-can't imagine how much this movie has influenced...David Lynch has wet dreams of staged shows within the show that do as much as these.
thanks for executing my psychic commission that I didn't even know I commissioned
you commissioned it with your ~dreams~
Yep. I can be a pure Molly Lambert fan now. Just re-fell in love with ABBA via Saturday Night Live 1975. Thrilled to see Gloria on the list, but why not bare trees? Maybe i'd throw that at faces instead.
Ooooh, Think About Me is the most underrated Fleetwood Mac single, I think.
love your tweets, this site and loved this piece.
" life is super fucking funny, especially when it sucks" - Awesome.
Thanks