Today’s movie = Rip Torn is magic
"Rorschach. The critics who attacked it were afraid of their own erotic impulses or the stunning lack of them; those who applauded the film were driven by their fantasies, haunted by their darknesses..."
- Milton Moses Ginsberg from "How To Fall Into Oblivian and Take Your Movie With You"
Milton Moses Ginsberg's 1969 classic Coming Apart is a film that defies description. Rip Torn plays a Psychiatrist who wires his apartment/office for film and sound recording. Some say that the mechanics of the film are meant to showcase the protagonist's own breakdown. Whatever the case, Rip Torn is amazing in his portrayal of a man on the edge, secretly recording a revolving door of female clientele - whom he proceeds to exploit for his own purpose/fantasy/something.
I have a deep and abounding love for Rip Torn. From films like this one on to his work with Garry Shandling. The man is a crazed genius. Ginsberg also comes across as a disturbed genius type - he's only directed four films (this one in '69, one in 1973, another in 1999 and finally 2001) and has for the most part worked as an editor. The essay that I've referenced above is an extra on the DVD reissue of the film. In it, Ginsberg basically details the way in which he essentially alienated a lot of "important" people in the world of filmmaking so that he didn't need to compromise his project. Clearly ahead of his time, Ginsberg's fascination with busting up the conventional relationship between viewer and cinema (a la classical Hollywood narrative) is amazing to watch.
I offer for your consideration a brief clip from Coming Apart:
Rip Torn in Milton Moses Ginsberg's Coming Apart (1969)