the heel press

January 30, 2007 - 01:16 PM

i just recently watched Factotum, the film that combines Bukowski's book by the same name with some of his other short stories.  Matt Dillon plays Henry Chinaski, Bukowski's sometimes autobiographical anti-hero, and it's a performance to remember.  the only thing that matters to Chinaski is writing, and his time is spend working dead-end jobs to support this effort, and to make sure he can pay for a drink and find a place to sleep.  you have to be committed to the slower pace of the film, but doing so provides some cunning insight into what it means to be a writer.  nothing sums this up better than the following quote from about two-thirds of the way through:

"even at my lowest times i can feel the words bubbling inside me, and i had to get the words down or be overcome by something worse than death. words not as precious things, but as necessary things

yet, when i begin to doubt my ability to work the word, i simply read another writer, and then i know i have nothing to worry about.

my contest is only with myself - to do it right - with power and force and delight and gamble"

i'm definitely putting some of Bukowski's books high on my reading list after this - it's a shame i hadn't read any before.

on a side note, there are also some seriously funny lines in the movie, especially this one when Chinaski develops a serious case of the crabs:

Chinaski: "wait a minute - what are you going to do to my balls"

Jan: "i'm gonna wrap 'em"

Chinaski: "isn't that dangerous - it could affect my tap dancing."