Musings of an Idiot

What an experience it turned out to be - I mean the movie was really cool and I loved the way it plays out - without trying to preach anything, but what was better was the overall experience attached to it. There were 10 people in the theatre watching the movie and I was the only person under 65 years of age. How cool is that? The movie was innovative and I loved the way it plays out - it doesn't try to preach and it definitely does not follow the 3 act {frickin!!} story structure that everyone in film making is so obsessed about. The performance by David Strathairn is awesome and the supporting performances are delicately nuanced. A bold and honest movie, which has some really minor and ignorable flaws but the movie comes at a relevant point in time.

The coolest thing was that after the movie, I got talking to the old couple sitting a seat away from me and it was an exciting conversation - they were from Wisconsin, the very place that this whole story took place {I mean that was the place from where Senator McCarthy was} and they had experienced that era and time. Now they are partly settled in New Zealand and partly settled in US { since they can't become permanent residents in NZ because of their age}. It was a surreal experience chatting with them. Life is full of little surprises.

I also watched 'The Terminal' - as it was showing on T.V and it wasn't bad. It is definitely funny but the initial premise on which the whole movie starts off is a tad contrived and so is the ending. I think the movie did not do well in the US but if you look at the financials it did very well. It was made for US$ 60 million and marketed for another US$ 35 million and made US$ 218 million worldwide {including the US$ 77 million on the domestic market}. The figures kind of boggle my mind because it is a decent movie but not exceptional but it still made a profit of US$ 123 million.

Now a couple of movies, which will soon be released in NZ - that I am looking forward to are Syriana, Munich, Aeon Flux, A History of Violence, No.2 {a kiwi movie}. I did not get excited by the trailer of 'River Queen' {it showed just before GN,AGL} and it just feels weird, even though the art department and locations look stunning. A couple of docos that are sometime away are 'March of the Penguins' and 'Why We Fight'{don't know if it will even get released late into the year}.

'In the Blink of an Eye' is a fascinating companion piece to 'The Conversations'. I am still reading it but it is compelling. Again - it never gives instructions on how to edit but provides insight into a state of mind an editor should be inorder to explore the possibilities of storytelling. I will probably be able to speak more about it once i finish reading the full book. I got 'Apocalypse Now Redux'; 'THX 1138'; 'The English Patient' - since I hadn't seen those movies before and after reading 'The Conversations' - it kind of becomes essential for me to watch those movies and then ruminate over what I had read. I know it is heresy admitting to that but hey my knowledge of film is quite limited by what interests me at any particular point of time plus I have spent a better part of my life in India, where the only english movies you see are the hollywood blockbusters.

A couple of key people {crew} have come on board for 'Nowhere' and I am still thinking my way through various challenges which lie ahead. I will hopefully update the 'Nowhere' website with some info soon (I know I have been lax with website updates but it is just hard getting into that straight away when there is so much more happening.}.

Anyway - I think it has been a long update from me and I am dangerously close to going into the territory of babbling.

Adios for now,
Amit