Tankon Mid-Year 2005

I’ve just returned home from 6 days at our cabin near Mount Rainier. There was held Tankon 35½. Five old friends getting together. It’s been happening since 1970 and in recent years we felt the need to congregate more often than once a year, the annual Christmas get-together. Among other things we hold a film festival (of sorts). It is mildly amusing to see what shows up. You can imagine that with five individuals there would be quite a variety. Maybe not quite so much this time. Out of the Past with Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer and Rhonda Fleming. The Incredibles, the recent animated adventure. The Missing, a western with Cate Blanchett and Tommy Lee Jones. Two episodes of The Fish Police, an animated cartoon style. Fish characters with a detective but a lot tougher than the comic book of a decade back. The film was produced by Hanna-Barbera, I don’t know when. The Man in the Net with Alan Ladd at his most wooden being accused of his wife’s (Carolyn Jones) murder by circumstantial evidence. I didn’t believe the ending for a moment. Perhaps best of all was Laura, with Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb and Vincent Price. Most unusual had to be Rivers and Tides, portraying the artistry of Andy Goldworthy, a Scottish artist who works with natural found materials, leaves, rocks, dead bracken stems, ice, etc. All of which are destroyed by the elements sooner or later. A very unusual film. I was surprised that the guys sat still for it. Not the sort of film normally seen at one of these gatherings. They tend to like noir and westerns. Which, by the by, we watched two episodes of Have Gun, Will Travel.