Thursday, November 21, 2019

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:


Diana: Soon, violence will become erotic, torture euphoric. As the masses hail public executions, propelled by the wrath of fascism, concentration camps will be rebuilt, ignorance will be exalted, and there will be race wars, for hate will be rewarded and seen as truthful and beautiful. Faith will be reduced to venomous platitudes, a morphine-infested enslavement of thought. Perversity will be dignified. Incest, molestation, and pedophilia will all be praised. Rape will be rewarded. The few will have everything, and most will have nothing, for not all men are created equal. Narcissism will no longer be suppressed, but worshipped as a virtue. Indulging one's impulses will become instinctual. Our identities will be defined by the pain we cause. Pure unadulterated nihilism will be the only solution in the face of glorious death. In time, we will have our own religion, our own dynasty, and with it, we will wake the true fury of the world. And as man implodes in a wash of blood and silence, a new mutation will emerge. And on that day, I will declare the dawn of innocence.

I'm glad I caught that it's Jena Malone's 35th birthday today because the second I heard her deliver the above speech in the final episode of Nicolas Winding Refn's Amazon series Too Old To Die Young -- otherwise known as the best show of the year to those in the know -- I knew I needed to do one of these posts devoted to every word she speaks. (Also a big thanks to our pal Sean, who recapped the show for Decider, for transcribing that speech in his write-up of this episode, making my job much easier here.) 

I do wish that somebody had uploaded to YouTube the scene immediately preceding this speech, where Jena dances around her house to the Goldfrapp song "Ooh La La" in one of the show's most jubilant sequences, because it'd prove to all of you who've stayed away from this masterpiece that there were bright bouncy rewards for its oft brutally glacial pace... but on the other hand I like our little cult who know the truth. Someday it'll appreciated for its genius -- until then, until that "dawn of innocence," we can happily dance with ourselves. Ooh la la, times infinity.


6 comments:

Adrian C said...

I loved this show so much and I couldn't even explain why, but it was arousing in more ways than one.

Gooser said...

Maybe because the cinematography is so seductive, the series stays with you long after viewing. I was hooked within the first 10 minutes of the first episode. And all I had seen at that point was the flow and curve of a street light's reflection in the hood of a car as it passed beneath. That beauty led me straight into all the human degradation that follows. I tried explaining it to a film fan at work, but I don't think I came close to convincing him.

Xamalion said...

Ok, you sold it to me. I'm hooked. Even reading this quote got me goosebumps (the good ones). I hope I can get it legally here in Germany.

Jason Adams said...

Xamalion -- this is BY FAR, by like a million leaps and bounds, the longest passage of dialogue in the series, just so you know. It's not a very talky show at all. It's very very verrrrrryyyyyyyyyyy slow moving. Purposefully, and I love that shit -- it moves like the new run of Twin Peaks episodes for most of the time, which is its closest correlation, tone-wise, and also the highest compliment I can give anything created by man.

Xamalion said...

Everything slow is fine by me. Because my brain never stops, so I'm glad someone or something outside my head forces it to.

Anonymous said...

This programme is like a cult. You have to don the cloak, say the magic word, spit, and then sit still to watch.