“One cannot even be sure, whether it is a sect, a mystery cult, a new religion, a church, a people, a nation, or an American subculture; indeed, at different times and places it is all of these.” Sure Fire (Jon Jost, 1990)
May
31
National Utah Day
The Utah landscape with part of the text from “Doctrine and Covenants 3, The Lord’s course is one eternal round” superimposed over it. It reads: …y come to naught, for God doth not walk in crook…. DP: Jon Jost.
Wes has it all laid out. His business partner just needs to see it. And his wife. And the people from the West Coast, California, where there's smog and people and no space. They surely want a home, or a second home, in Utah. It's close to Vegas, sure they'll love it. The people.
– Sydney E. Ahlstrom, historian (1982)
With Sure Fire, director Jon Jost accomplishes that what Lynch tries. A mundane gem with an ominous undertow, but all without the need for mystery or eccentric characters.
Just Utah, and its people.
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Last Chants for a Slow Dance (Jon Jost, 1977)
May
3
National Montana Day
Tom Blair as Tom Bates. We see him through a rest stop's window with the reflection of the word ƎᖷAƆ in red neon over his face. Tom's reading a newspaper. DP: Jon Jost.
Last Chants for a Slow Dance is shocking in its simplicity. Tom (Tom Blair) is out there looking for work. Out of the way of his wife and into the heart of Montana. On a slow moving road trip, as scorching and dragging like hot tar, we accompany him and some of the vapid interactions with others out there. The heat, pursuit of sex, and inter-human exchanges are endless.
Things do break.