file under: confession

i have a thing for artfully deliberate lip-syncing in movies (or tv, i guess). there's something oddly macabre about it, like it's a minor form of possession or something. hypnosis, maybe.

scenes that made me this way:

- many parts of the bbc version of the singing detective.
- many parts of the hollywood version of pennies from heaven.
- dean stockwell miming "in dreams" from blue velvet. i think that was my first. it's gorgeous.
- udo kier's hotel room pageantry in my own private idaho (a slight cheat, as he sings along to a recording of a past performance, but still qualifies for me)
- ben gazzara doing that frank sinatra song in buffalo 66 (apparently, the recording is of gallo's father singing) .
- rebekah del rio's "llorando" in mulholland drive.
- when i was younger (but not so much now), the "day-o" scene in beetlejuice was fun (a minor form of possession, indeed)

so maybe it's really a love for david lynch's infatuation with dreams (with what some call a total lynch rip-off by vincent gallo thrown in for good measure), plus the dennis potter thing.

hmmmmm....

that could easily be the deeper attraction, because the scene in twin peaks where audrey horne is in the diner and starts slowly dancing to an angelo badalamenti instrumental while saying "isn't it dreamy?" and also that scene in mulholland drive where betty elms says "and now i'm in this... DREAM PLACE" are both great great great moments for me.

are there more things like that in the world? how do you even look for stuff like that?

regular studio versions of songs dubbed in later do nothing for me, however. in fact, i get really annoyed when tv commercials feature actors whose voices have obviously been re-recorded or dubbed later. i often yell "voiceover!!!" at the tv in accusatory tones. j'accuse!! etc etc.