Watching...

"The Lathe of Heaven." I'd never heard of this before I checked it out from the library last week. The title sounded vaguely familiar, and the blurbs on the DVD case promised it was a well-regarded adaptation of some sort of near-legendary science fiction classic. It also boasted an interview of the author by PBS smartypants Bill Moyers, thereby conferring instant yuppie middlebrow cred. Welllllll...

Hmmm. This just didn't do anything for me. The story is basically a glorified Twilight Zone episode. This film version was produced by PBS and first aired in 1980. It's got the production values and hairstyles of your average Styx or Journey video from that era, and most of the thematic complexity and emotional resonance.

As for that Bill Moyers interview, the author, someone with the improbable name of Ursula K. Le Guin (best weird name I've heard since Beatrix Kiddo), didn't do much to put things in perspective. She pretty much blew it off as just a neat story without any grand theme, message or purpose. Oh. Anyway, I suppose my ignorance is showing, because Ms. Le Guin has apparently written several dozen books in a variety of styles, and this is her best-loved work.