Sunday Serenity -- Movie Review: OC87

OC87:The Obsessive Compulsive, Major Depression, Bipolar, Asperger's Movie

Bud Clayman, having had his dreams of a film making career interrupted by mental illness some thirty years ago, reaches again for his dreams by making this film portraying his struggles with mental illness.  We watch as he and those who witnessed it reminisce about the darkest moments of the major depressive episodes.  We are given glimpses into what a typical day looks and feels like for him with his Asperger's social awkwardness in full view and his OCD circular thoughts provided via voice over.  And as the story progress we watch his coping skills increase as he implements a makeover of his life with the advice and help of friends, family and therapists.  Along the way we witness the healing of relationships, including that with himself, a significant triumph in light of the challenges imposed by Asperger's aka high-functioning autism in which social engagement is severely impaired.

In one scene he acts in a script he wrote based on an episode of Lost in Space that moved him as a child.  The one where John Robinson encounters his evil anti-self in another dimension.  In Buddy's version he gets to verbally chastise and overcome the bully side of himself that has tormented him for decades with harsh judgement and belittlement.

As I watched that I flashed on the Star Trek episode in which a transporter accident split Kirk into two extreme opposite personalities--docile and aggressive.  Kirk learns that neither one of them can survive without the other but only the docile Kirk comprehends this.  The aggressive Kirk will accept nothing less than docile Kirk's annihilation so he must be rendered unconscious and held in docile Kirk's arms as they make the trip through the (hopfuly) repaired transporter to me melded back into one complete person. That is the scene I'd want to reenact with my inner bully.

I need to thank Buddy for this monumental achievment and congratulate him for the follow-thru (so difficult for him) in bringing this project from concept to reality.  But especially for his courage in giving us this intimate view into his heart, mind and life when one of the major issues he struggles with--high-functioning autism--makes intimacy nearly impossible.

A few year's older than Buddy (HS class of 76) and female, I've struggled with major depressive episodes, chronic anxiety, panic attacks, OCD and ADHD, since before kindergarten.  Bipolar was considered several times because of hyperfocus, insomnia, agitation and rapid speech but ruled out because I never had a manic episode not induced by medication and anxiety or sleep deprivation explained the rest.  But less than a week ago I was diagnosed with high-functioning autism and my search for more info led me to this film which could not have reached me at a more momentous time.

If for no other reason than the profound effect his story is having on me, OC87 was worth every penny, every minute, every ounce of effort and every emotional angst and personal risk invested in it by everyone who participated.  Thank You all from the bottom of my heart.

Based on other reviews on Netflix, I'm sure I'm not the only one so affected.  This was important and successful work even if no other metric seems to confirm that.   So you tell that to those OCDemons Buddy.  And keep telling them until you believe it.

OC87 is for anyone either curious or with a personal need for insight into living with mental illness--yours or someone in your life--including therapists. Buddy and his team have given a spot-on portrayal of what it looks and feels like from inside and out. It humanizes him, revealing him to be much more than the sum of his symptoms and elicits compassion rather than pity and admiration rather than condemnation even when he isn't coming across as very likable.

In the end it is profoundly uplifting because Buddy is obviously on the right path forward, having made visibly significant improvement by his efforts and dedication to 'make over' his life and already had a huge win over his inner demons just by conceiving and following through to the finish with this gift of a film for the community at large--however large you want to define that.

The fact that he was in his mid forties when he made this childhood dream come true shows that it is never too late.  Especially if you start believing in the possibility of what seemed impossible and then take the necessary steps toward it in defiance of the demons of doubt--both inner and outer.  Right now, in this moment, while still under the influence of Buddy's film I'm again feeling the possibility of reaching for my childhood dream, ending the currently six-month hiatus from writing and finishing one of the dozens of fiction WIP in my files-or a brand new one.

More importantly I understand now that finishing isn't the most important thing--the effort itself is worthy and potentially transforming as I just witnessed.

If I start to doubt again, I will return to watch OC87.  (So please, please, please leave it up on Netflix.)

Tho some of his experiences differ from mine, for those that are similar I can testify to their accuracy.   I will be referring some of my friends and family to this film for insight into my struggles.  Especially the Asperger's aspect.

The only significant difference is in the way my OCD circular thoughts manifest.  Instead of fear of acting out on thoughts of violent acts against others, I have an inner tyrannical taskmaster continuously berating me for failing, never allowing me to enjoy a sense of accomplishment by interpreting successes as failure because they never meet the impossibly high standards (like having completed only ten percent of a day's to-do list that contained six weeks worth of tasks) and using these failures as proof that I am a failure--and an excuse to give up.

There are ways other than thoughts that my OCDemons manifest for which I saw no reflection In Bud's experience so I'lll save them for future posts.  But I can say that like Bud's mine have nothing to do with hand washing, germs, counting, or checking locks and appliances so well  portrayed in culture media to seem synonymous with OCD.  There are a myriad of ways obsession and compulsion can manifest alone  and together and more than a few have plagued my life.

Keep making films Buddy.  I will be watching for more of your work.  You are so talented, insightful and honest.  The industry and film community needs you and your unique way of seeing the world.

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Origins -- The Movie -- A Review

Origins -- the Movie
Our Roots. Our Planet. Our Future

I just watched this as part of my personal campaign for taking back control of my health--both physical and mental.  In my case they were preaching to the converted as I've already been convinced by experience that food is medicine (or poison) for its nothing but chemical reactions. Whatever chemicals you put in the mix determine the wellness level of the organism.

Tho they did not surprise me with their premise, I did learn much regarding the role our DNA plays in our ability to metabolize the chemicals we introduce to the intricate ecosystem that is our bodies. This gave me a possible explanation for the quirky way my system reacts to certain foods and medicines and leads me to wonder just how much of my mood disorder issues might be alleviated if not cured by change of diet.

 I also learned more ways I can regain power of dietary options.  And maybe most important of all I was given a boost of hope.

Four years in the making, this documentary consults 24 experts in 19 countries in the fields of medicine, health, anthropology and ecology.  They explore the roots of our DNA and the ways in which it has not caught up with the modern world and thus is creating illness, infertility, and ecological and economic devastation.

But it is not just a doomsday alarm.  Rather it is a clarion call for concerted action on the part of groups and individuals.  They emphasize the power of our dollars as votes for change.  The point us in the direction of specific actions we can take in our own lives, homes, and communities to regain control over our health, diet, and our immediate environment.

For a short time they are providing a free viewing of this approximately hour and a half film.  Don't miss out.

As an added bonus it is full of beautiful photography of breathtaking landscapes that exudes love and respect for our planet.

Origins Movie Trailer

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Friday Forays in Fiction: Lighting Your Writing

Use of Lighting in Casablanca to Reflect
the Pervasive Sense of Imprisonment
Public Domain

Growing Readership By "Lighting Up Your Writing" | Bestseller Labs:  'via Blog this'

This article over at Jonathan Gunson's  Bestseller Labs is fascinating.  In Gunson's introduction to the guest post by Claudette Young, he talks about how the use of shadows that look like prison bars in the 1942 movie, Casablanca, was purposeful on the part of the director to telegraph to the audience the sense of imprisonment pervasive in that town where the desperate yet hopeful gravitated in their attempts to leave the sphere of influence of the Nazi regime.


Claudette Young's guest post begins:

Anyone can write a story, but not everyone illuminates with their words. And learning to emphasize without red flags, spotlights, or extraneous punctuation is a skill worth the effort...  read on

She goes on to use examples from both screen and print.  The first third or so discusses the way each of the CSI series has it's own ambiance established by a signature lighting scheme.  As interesting as that was I was beginning to get impatient as I'd clicked on the link for the promise of 'Lighting Up Your Writing' and really wanted examples of how it's done with words that are meant to stand on their own to create the image and ambiance in the reader's mind--unlike script writing which is just a recipe for the director and stage lighting specialists to follow who inevitably interpret it with the mediums they use.

But the rest of the article does focus on the written word--stories and novels and non-fiction so it fulfilled the promise.

The article is well worth the read for any writer wanting advice on how to increase sensory detail (especially the lighting of setting) in their stories.

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Remembering Shirley Temple -- April 23, 1928 – February 10, 2014

Shirley Temple In Glad Rags to Riches, 1933
Photo from Wikimedia Commons

 Learning of the death of Shirley Temple Black this week has thrown me into a nostalgia whirlpool.

Some of my fondest memories as a tweener (ages 9-13) were watching Shirley Temple movies with my Mom on our new-to-us vacuum tube black and white TV given to us by my Dad's boss when he upgraded to the newfangled color TV.  That TV was a monster in a cabinet with doors that was a cube bigger than our washing machine and took nearly as long to warm up as it took the washing machine to fill up.  For several months it resided in the living room but then it was moved into my parent's bedroom where it remained until we moved nine years later just before I turned 18 and Dad decided it was time to upgrade to a used color TV.

Tho Mom had complained of it being an eyesore I think the main reason they moved it out of the living room was so as not to be in-your-face with the occasional visits from certain members of our church--Elders or Ministering Brethren--for whom the decades long prohibition against movie theaters, radio, television and modern music was still much favored though the generation now raising children were easing up on it.  For some reason, in spite of knowing well that history of our Bible Meetings, it had not occurred to me that Mom was seeing the Shirley Temple movies for the first time along with me while in her mid thirties.

Somehow I had mental images of Mom as a child going to the Shirley Temple movies or even watching them on TV--pre WWII mind you.  I suspect this was because, as Mom talked about Shirley Temple being the most popular movie star when she was growing up and how Shirley was only three years older, those images formed in my imagination before I understood about our Meeting's anathema against the entertainment industry or that some of our everyday appliances had not existed when Mom was my age.  Not to mention that a depression era truck farmer with six kids was unlikely to afford movie tickets.

Good-bye Shirley.  I will always remember you as the happy little girl who could put big smiles on Mama's face and provide the two of us with hours of quality Mother/daughter time that included opportunities to talk about and/or soak up by osmosis moral issues like generosity, empathy, duty, honor, integrity, justice, and the power of optimism to trump pessimism and how putting a smile on your face even when you didn't 'feel' it could actually call forth happiness along with optimism.

WOW!  I think I"m in dire need of a Shirley Temple movie marathon.

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Sunday Serenity #332

I watched this movie with my sister last night.  It was so cool.  I love dolphins.  They became a symbol of joyfulness to me over a decade ago..

One of the extras on the DVD was this hilarious animation of a pig after the cookies atop a very large fridge.  It had the two of us giggling hysterically.  So bad we scared the cat.

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It Was Always About This

And it was always this hard.

 36 years after high school it still is.

 Communication is a minefield of potential misunderstandings.

I've never had a clue.

Why do I imagine I can be a novelist when the very stuff of a story is relationship and communication between individuals and I've never been the slightest bit competent at it in real life?

Did you see the way their eye lit up at the sight of the other?

I can't remember the last time...

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Finding Joe

I've been itching to get my hands (eyes, ears) on this ever since I first heard about it nearly a year ago.  I have it in my Netflix save section for DVDs not yet available.  I learned today that the DVD is now out but alas I can't send for it while I'm out of town.

Ah well.  Soon.

But just watching this trailer has woke up my thirst for reading Joseph Campbell again.  It has been over a year since I picked up one of his books to read or browse.  In fact I had Hero With a Thousand Faces out of the library as I prepped for Script Frenzy last March.

I own his Mask of God series, for books tracing the myths from Paleolithic times to the present.  I've owned if for fifteen years but unlike HWTF I've never actually finished any of them.  I've started them over and over and each time reach 100 to 200 pages in only to get distracted.

As I was packing and nnpacking them for our move the week after Christmas I promised myself I would make this the year I would read them front to back.  I came close to bringing them with me but I had been given a sort of dare by my sister to limit the number of books I brought with me. She held out promise of unlimited access to the three libraries she has cards for--the Longview Public Library,  the Vancouver Public Library system and the Lower Columbia College..  

Since I thought this was going to be a four week visit and I had over 1000 ebooks on my netbook already (have tripled that since) I rose to the challenge and brought only four.  All of them reference books related to one or more of my fiction WIP.

My visit was extended repeatedly and now I''ve been here at Mom's for 9 weeks and anticipate at least 2 more.  I had such plans for 2012 after we learned the move would be happening but most I had to put on hold until I got home.  Now the year is a quarter gone.

Ah, well.  Soon.

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That's Gotta Smart

Ed and I watched Get Smart the movie staring Ben Stiller as agent Maxwell Smart. We both loved the 60s TV series so this was a treat.

Am still working at limiting activities that had become obsessive and adding back those I've been neglecting. I haven't crocheted since Thursday which was when I strained my left arm. Today was the first day that the pain was lessened enough I thought I might be able to hold and control the thread but I still let it lie.

I have been going for hours without checking email and fb. Often four or more hours.

Meanwhile I've added back reading fiction having read for 30 to 60 minutes one to three times per day for a whole week now.

I must admit tho that I've not beaten all obsessions and overdone activities. I've continued to watch a lot of DVD and stream. And I've been stuck on the same Spider Solitaire game since Thursday.

So two steps forward, three back.

I've been home a week now and have begun to aclimate to the heat so maybe I'll locate my ambition and energy again soon and shift that to three steps forward and two back.

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Movie Marathon

Just minutes after I posted last night that I would reward myself for the ten hour unpacking job by watching the first disc of Gormenghast, Ed informed me he had to work the next morning (today) and would be heading to bed shortly. So I waited until this afternoon and watched all four episodes of the miniseries back to back followed by the extra features. A good five hours or more that took.



Then, after dinner I watched All the King's Men--the 2008 version starring Sean Penn. I'd watched the 1949 version starring Broderick Crawford in June. Both Gormenghast and All the King's Men are movies based on books. I read the Gormenghast trilogy by Mervin Peake in the early 80s. I have the audio books checked out of the library and hope to listen to them soon.

I've never read Robert Pen Warren's Pulitzer Prize winning novel All the King's Men but I think I want to now. The one I watched this evening seemed to be quoting the novel directly in the narration. At least it gave me that impression and makes me want to read the book because I liked the sound of the narrator's voice. The plot was also much more complex then the 1949 movie which also speaks favorably for the book.

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The Triplets of Belleville

And don't miss this music video inspired by the theme song Rendezvous

This is my first attempt at a review of a film so bear with me.

In this mostly traditional animation (light on computer generated graphics) by Sylvain Chomeet not only the music is jazzy but the visual and emotional aspects as well. The dialog is sparse with the story being carried by the music and images and action sometimes verging on mime. So this Sony Classics French film can be completely comprehended without subtitles for those of us who are not French endowed.

It is an hallucination with the ambiance of a Dickens novel featuring grotesquely elongated or bulbous figures fumbling and bumbling their way a la Keystone Cops in a sepia and grey watercolor setting. It is humorous and horrifying by turns. The humor often dark and dismaying even as it solicits giggles, grins and guffaws.

Belleville is a jazzy and surrealistic collage of post WWII Paris, Montreal and New York. The Triplets are somewhat addled elderly 1930s era cabaret singers who now perform musical improve with found instruments such as a newspaper, a fridge, and a canister vacuum cleaner. Their diet consists of frogs harvested from a swamp with dynamite. But these quirky sisters are just supporting cast who collude with the grandmother of a Tour de France cyclist who was kidnapped by mobsters during the race.

It took me quite some time to realize that it was stumpy little club-footed, spectacled, granny who was the protagonist and not Champion, the grandson whom she took in when he was orphaned as a small tot. He was persistently morose and she indefatigable in her attempts to lure him back to a joie de vive. The gift of a puppy brought her momentary satisfaction when it garnered a brief smile that reached his eyes but it wasn't long before he returned to his brooding though now with his furry companion and co-brooder, Bruno, at his side. In fact, even Bruno has more depth and personality than the grandson which is endearingly displayed as he plays sidekick to Grandma on the search for Champion.

What finally reached Champion was cycling. She discovered his interest after finding a scrapbook full of clippings of bicycles and cyclists and races under his mattress. So she got him a tricycle and once he graduated to a bicycle she became his coach, relentless in her efforts to prepare him for professional racing.

After discovering his abandoned bike on the Tour's roadside she solicited the help of Bruno who tracked him to the dock from which a huge steamer was pulling away. Grandma and Bruno follow in a pedal boat all the way to the fantastical city of Belleville somewhere in North America. It was about the time she arrived in Belleville that I finally realized that she was the protagonists in this story.

As she settles in with Bruno by her campfire that first night ashore she begins tapping out a tune on the spokes of a bicycle wheel and this lures the triplets to her side. After a song and dance routine the three weird sisters take in the stodgy grandma.

And that's as far as I can go in relating the plot without giving unforgivable spoilers for anyone who's not seen this phantasmagorical cartoon for grown-ups. That was probably less than the first third of the 80 some minutes of this eye-popping carnival ride of a film. The rest is all about the developing relationship between grandma and the triplets and the search for Champion.

There is a lot of silly slapstick stuff going on at the margins of the scenes or off stage as far as Grandma's story is concerned. Visual puns abound as does social commentary--most prominently the gluttonous consumerism of the North Americans. There is so much visual information in every scene that it was impossible to take it all in with a single viewing so I'm hoping to have a chance to watch it again before I send it back to the library. (Though the fact that I have several movies and documentaries and a full season of Boston Legal out of the library make that a challenge.)

The rich and the powerful and the stylish are always portrayed as having rusty consciences and thus undeserving of respect though they obviously believe that respect is one of their inalienable rights. In contrast the rustic, the dorky, the eccentric, the downtrodden have the moral integrity, the gumption, the perseverance, the wit and wisdom. And with any concern about respect completely off their radar, replaced by compassion they have nurtured within themselves a sense of connection with others and life itself that is the source of the content.

Let me close by saying that I did not even consider picking up my crochet while watching this as it was impossible to tear my eyes from the screen even for the split seconds I need to position the hook for the next stitch.

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Pan's Labyrinth

I watched Pan't Labyrinth this evening and am still reeling. The soundtrack is haunting as is the story. I love the lullaby:



Make no mistake, though a child is the protagonist this is not a children's movie. It is rated R for a reason.

The theme is dark but in the end not rooted in despair but quite its opposite. I can't say much more without giving mega spoilers.

I may have to watch it again before I send it back to Netflix. It's spoken language is Spanish and I had to keep my eye on the English subtitles and quite frequently pause in order to finish reading or backtrack to see something in the scene I missed.

I wish my two years of high school Spanish had weathered better so I could enjoy this story as it's creator intended.

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I Think It's a Triple Feature

I have several have over five hours of DVD going overdue at the library as of midnight, three DVD from Netflix that have been at home for over a week and three movies in my Netflix instant watch queue that are due to stop streaming by midnight tomorrow. One of those stops at midnight tonight which for me is two and a half hours.

The last two weeks have been much like this with library DVD or Netflix streaming deadlines to chase around and around the clock. But that will ease up after Thursday as I've eased up on what I've been ordering from the library and this latest slew of deadlined streamers on Netflix is atypical. Usually there are three to five every couple of weeks but there have been at least twenty on my queue that showed up with the warning in the last two weeks. I had to get picky as there was no way I could get them all in with the limited streaming time I have plus all the TV series seasons I had out of the library at the same time. I had to let many slide.

If that sounds like I've spent most of the last two weeks zoned in front of a screen well don't forget that for over half the time I'm watching something I'm also crocheting. So soon I'll have a lot to show for all those hours. As soon as I get some pictures taken I'll post them.

The three I hope to stream tonight are: August, Autumn in New York, and The Butterfly Tattoo.

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Mama Mia!

I have spent several hours with the Mama Mia! DVD in the last 24 hours. I watched it through twice and then in the bonus features I watched (and sang along with) the songs. Some of the several times.

No, I do not have a singing voice I would wish to share with anyone but my cat.

But I was totally caught up in this movie and its music. Two big draws for me were Meryl Streep (I would watch her in ANYTHING!) and the ABBA music around which this musical (a play then a movie) was centered.

The fact that I took time out to watch it twice and hang out with the music for hours is a significant tribute to this movie considering how I currently have over 60 hours of DVD at home between the library and NetFlix. 4 full TV series seasons account for 50 some hours. Then there are two movies that are over two hours, a short animated film and a documentary. Also an audio book. Stuff I was in queue for at the library for weeks and weeks just flooded in this week and last.

Still I'm tempted to hit play on Mama Mia! again.



The basic plot of the story is that a young bride to be finds her mother's diary from the year she was born and discovers three possibilities for the identity of her father. She sends invites to the wedding in her mother's name to all three. The wedding is to be held on an isolated island off the coast of Greece where Sophie has been raised by single mother Donna (Meryl Streep) who runs an inn there. There where she had been romanced by three men one summer 21 years ago.

So 70s!.

The 1970s was the decade I was in highschool (76 grad) engaged (77) and married (78).

ABBA was ubiquitous on the radio at the time. I never bought an album but I always turned up the stereo when the DJ put one on.

And here is ABBA themselves performing what became the title song of the play/movie:

Oh yeah. That was the 70s

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Shine

I watched the movie Shine this evening and was enthralled. I wish I had time to watch it again and again before sending it back to the library. But I have too many DVD that have to go back in the next two days and more waiting for my on the hold shelf. I got in queue for a bunch of movies and TV series during April when I encountered mention of them in my reading on script writing during ScriptFrenzy. Many have come and gone since then but many have flooded in in the last two weeks.

Below is the scene from the movie of the teenaged Helfgott performing Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto #3.

In the soundtrack of the movie all of the character David's piano playing is played by Helfgott himself so I've included a vid of him playing.

I wasn't even aware until the end credits that this was based on a true story of a child prodigy piano player whose rise to stardom was interrupted by mental illness.

One thing that gave me shivers was when the adult David spoke of how his doctor had forbid him to play the piano, calling it too dangerous for him. The thought of having story forbidden to me--the reading, watching, writing or telling--gives my goosebumps goosebumps.

It seems to me there is something wrong with the idea of a mental health professional blaming the creative expression of a patient for the illness and cutting them off from the very thing that gives meaning and passion to their life.

What? Do they want a robot? A Zombie? Grey blobs in uniforms? Is that elusive thing they call 'normal' so important to them they have to eliminate everything that doesn't fit their concept of 'normal'. Why couldn't the doctor have had the imagination to see the music as a source of healing and encourage David to explore healthy ways to channel his creative instincts.

To my mind it wasn't the music itself but the pathological need to 'win' to be 'perfect' both probably manifestations of his illness. If David could have learned to decouple music from those obsessions, he might not have had to fear the music itself for nearly twenty years and it might have serves as his salvation instead of standing as his demon.

But what do I know?

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Angels in America

I watched the entire six hours of the HBO mini series of Angels in America adapted from his original stage play by Tony Kushner.

I am in awe. Of the acting, the directing, the cinematography, the music, but most especially of the writing. I want to see it again. And again. I may have to own it one day. I also want to read it--read it? no, I'd like to memorize whole pages of it--the play and the screenplay. and I just discovered our library system has it. Over 300 pages? Of course it is the stage play which I learned was 7 hours long and not the screenplay which I also want to read.

Well I just had to massively edit that last paragraph after my words got hopelessly tangled, my syntax switched tenses three times inside of twenty words and punctuation went AWOL. I think I waited too long to get something to eat.

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Soliciting Sour Dreams

I devoted many hours today to watching The Mist and all of the special features on both discs. Except for rewatching the movie with the commentary from writer/director Frank Darabont. I was very tempted to do even that but if I wanted another Netflix DVD before Monday I had to get it to the post office before 5.

I also watched a DVD of Dreams on Spec, a documentary with a mix of observations from known screenwriters and the following and interviewing of several new hopefuls.

All in all today was an intense education on scriptwriting and film making.

But it also filled my mind with some horrific images and disturbing behaviors of humans to extreme stress. I was thinking most of the afternoon that I would post something like a review of the movie and the extras on the discs but I waited too late. I'm going to be asleep soon and I made a point of watching a much less intense story earlier this evening--an Inspector Lewis episode--in hopes of banishing the worst of the images and events of The Mist before sleeping.

Even though I made a point of not watching that trailer before posting it, I may have already undid the benefits of watching Inspector Lewis just by taking my mind back to the story of The Mist to talk about here however obliquely.

It was a very scary movie. And it wasn't the monsters that scared me the worst. It was Mrs Carmody. I would rather have the toothy spiders and stinging scorpions in my dreams than Mrs. Carmody.

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I'm on a bit of a horror movie binge this week. On Netflix DVD I watched the remake of John Carpenter's The Fog. I've never seen the original so I don't know how to compare. The FX are more extreme of course with over 20 years between them. In the extra features they showed clips from the original and compared them side by side with the remake. I'd like to see the original though. Special effects are not enough to salvage a bad script or mediocre acting. I don't know who starred in the original but the stars in this one did not impress me all that much. But I'm not really sure how to tell whether it is the actor's, director's or writer's fault when I'm finding myself noticing the acting, FX, or plot hiccups instead of remaining caught up by the story. Something was just a bit off though.

It probably stood little chance of wowing me so soon after watching The Orphanage though. That one, which I streamed off netflix, I even had to read captions as it was Spanish and I still wasn't shook loose from my engagement with the story. I would like to see more of Juan Antonio Bayona's directorial efforts. The actress Belen Rueda also. But I believe the script itself must have been excellent to begin with. The story worked as well as Turn of the Screw. Same flavor too.

I'm about to watch The Mist based on the Stephen King story. And waiting at the library for me is a movie called The Gift.

Recently I had the Netflix DVD of Stephen King's Misery starring Kathy Bates and The Others starring Nicole Kidman. Those were both very well made stories. The Others especially, was on a par with The Turning of the Screw as well.

In the last month I streamed Dragonfly, Lake Mungo and The Haunting in Connecticut. Of the three, Dragonfly was the best--well made, well acted, well written.

I like a well told ghost story. I prefer the subtle to the overt, the spooky to the horrific. I don't care for the stories that depend on a lot of in your face stuff to scare you. In fact, though I may be startled by certain sudden motion or sound I am seldom truly frightened by it. And once I notice those manipulations I fail to be manipulated and am no longer in the story but outside it as an observer/critic and am no longer captured by it.

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Watch and Learn

In the last two days I've been watching You've Got Mail over and over. The first time as a normal feature film the second with the commentary from director and producer, the third with the music sound track only, the forth normally once again and I was in the middle of the fifth time when Ed came to bed and I had to turn off the TV.

Though I am enjoying it immensely it is not entirely for that purpose. It is part of the self-education on script writing in honor of the ongoing Script Frenzy. Some might say it is a not very subtle form of procrastination, this insistence that all this movie watching this month is on behalf of my script. And they'd probably have a point. But I have been learning a lot which is what I set my mind to for this year's Script Frenzy--to make it more about learning the art and craft of film stories than about a frantic typing of nicely formatted words that can barely be called a story and read more like a rambling novel with oddly indented dialog.

I didn't know until yesterday that the same writer/director who gave us You've Got Mail, also gave us Sleepless in Seattle and Julie and Julia. She also wrote When Harry Met Sally. I learned this (except for the Julie and Julia) while watching the special features on the DVD in which Nora Ephron talks about making the movie, writing the script, the meaning that language and story have for her, growing up as the daughter of writers (her parents wrote Carousel and The Desk Set) and working with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.

Ephron said in one interview I saw on YouTube that all romantic comedy stems from either The Taming of the Shrew or Pride and Prejudice and that in the one case the thing standing between the couples is a matter of character and in the other a matter of class. Until Woody Allen she caveats. In which case the block originates in the male's neurosis.

I'm not sure what to make of all that and will have to contemplate it for a time before either agreeing or not. Probably need to reread Taming of the Shrew and Pride and Prejudice as well. As for Woody Allen adding a third, previously not existing strand to the romantic comedy tradition. Well I must ask, in what way is neurosis not a character issue?

I could really enjoy discussing story face to face with Nora Ephron though.

You've Got Mail was a remake or retelling of a classic stage and screen play. A month or so ago I watched The Shop Around the Corner starring Jimmy Stewart and the In the Good Old Summertime starring Judy Garland. The first was black and white and the second was a musical and in color made lees than ten years after the first. The original stage play had the word 'perfume' in the title, tho not the English word. Was it French? I really should go to Wikipedia or IMDb and get my facts straight but I'm fading fast here having been awake since 3 this morning and it closing in on 11pm as I type this.

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I Need a Little More of This

I watched In the Good Old Summertime this evening and while Judy Garland was performing I Don't Care, I really got into it, hoping it might be contagious. I was wishing it in connection to my last three New Year's Resolutions to make that year the year I submit a manuscript somewhere. Something always gets in the way. Sure I could list a number of those somethings. But what it all boils down to is that I need a little, no a LOT more of this attitude:

They say I'm crazy
Got no sense
But I don't care
They may or may not mean offense
But I don't care
You see, I'm sort of independent
I am my own superintendent
And my star is on the ascendent
That's why I don't care

I don't care, I don't care
What they may think of me
I'm happy-go-lucky, they say that I'm plucky
Contented and carefree
I don't care I don't care
If I do get a mean and stony stare
If I'm not successful
It won't be distressful
Cause I don't care

A girl should know her etiquette
Alas, alack
Propriety demands we walk a narrow track
When fellas used to blink at me
I'd freeze 'em and they'd shrink at me
But now when fellas wink at me
I wink at them right back!

I don't care I don't care
If people frown on me
Perhaps it's the lone way
But I go my own way
That's my philosophy
I don't care I don't care
if he's clerk or just a millionaire
There's no doubt about it,
I'll sing and I'll shout it
Cause I don't care

Oh, I don't care, I don't care
When it comes to happiness,
I want my share
Don't try to rearrange me
There's nothing can change me
'cause I don't care!

___________________________

I do so love Judy Garland. And there are still many of her movies I've yet to see.

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Sunday Serenity #223

As part of my April Script Frenzy education in script writing and film making, I watched two animated films this weekend. The one I watched today was Brendan and the Secret of the Kells.


Here's a bit of the historical context with a few glimpses at the beautiful Book of Kells.


Here someone as put together what is essentially a slideshow that I'm guessing shows every page of the Book of Kells.

Awesome art.

Yesterday I watched Percepolis. Twice. Once in French with English captions. Then in English, still with English captions as a nod to my hearing impairment.



I learned something interesting about the difference between a movie's release in America vs the UK (still in English) and other countries. For Americans, even for a movie meant for adults, they clean up the language. But the captions apparently escape the scrub, which is how I discovered it was happening.

Also in the American release the Government official who offered to offered to make the father of the Shah seen overthrown here Emperor in exchange for the oil, was a British Naval Officer whereas in the French original it was an American spook. (I imagine they might both be true.)

I wonder how often such things are done? Not governments subverting other governments for profit but film producers releasing different versions in different countries with an eye to coddling their prejudices.



One of my fav scenes. And apparently is so for many as it was the most frequently posted on YouTube after the trailers.

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