Program – Out Of My Skin

This month I get to make the selection for book club (my books are not always well received). It's Out of My Skin by James Haskell. The book is about identity and choice. The principal character has the same name as the novelist. He uses movies as a reference for different events and feelings in his life (go figure). I thought it would be fun to curate an Out of My Skin program.

For some reason, Haskell (the character who shares the same identity as the author), watches an old film noir “Detour”. “Detour” is a noir classic, cheaply made, that resonates deeply with its dark sensibility and pared back style. The principal character, Al Roberts, contains classic noir contradictions – cynical and sentimental, thoughtless and feeling – that get him into deep, deep trouble.

Last March, I posted an entry for "North By Northwest". Cary Grant is one muse of Haskell's in this book. Haskell not only comments about this movie, but about Cary Grant's identity as Cary Grant when he is really Archie Leach. Again, if you never watched "North By Northwest", take this festival as opportunity to watch one of the best movies ever made.

Another Cary Grant movie in the book is "Notorious". Cary is a manipulative spy handler for Ingrid Bergman. Like "North By Northwest", "Notorious" is a masterful Alfred Hitchcock movie. When I was younger, I used to take Alfred Hitchcock for granted -- like Orson Welles, he was known at that point in his life for being known, Watch this and "North By Northwest", and you'll know why the French New Wave directors looked at him as perhaps the greatest movie director of all time.

The character Haskell embarks for a short time as a Steve Martin impersonator (don't ask, just read the book. Out of My Skin is actually a great book.) He references Steve Martin's movie, "Roxanne", a retelling of "Cyrano de Bergerac". This is of the "L.A. Story", "My Blue Heaven", "All of Me" Steve Martin, not the "Father of the Bride", "Cheaper by the Dozen" Steve Martin. In other words, smart and funny.

At one point, our character Haskell thinks of himself in the same way as Guy, the Cassevetes character in “Rosemary’s Baby”. He adopts another mask (of the devil), and believes that he has taken the identity of the masked character. “Rosemary’s Baby” is a wonderful horror film, scary and cerebral.

Finally, Haskell compares himself to Joe Gillis, the protagonist of "Sunset Blvd." Like Gillis, Haskell relates that he would like to "get free of a situation in which he's found a certain comfort, but lost any connection to what he is."

I loved this book. The movies explore the notion of who we are and how we relate to others. They ultimately ask when we behave differently than we normally do, if that means we are changed, or if we change the personae we inhabit. Good book, great movies.