The Love Story of "Paperman"

There is no dialogue.  Soundtrack and sound effects, yes.  Animation film, of course.  But a love story can certainly be told without words.  

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Earlier this year, "Paperman" won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.

Human Condition in "City of Angels"

This is one of the most dramatic scenes, in one of the best romantic dramas I've seen.  Seth, endearingly played by Nicholas Cage, is an angel, who falls in love with the woman he is entrusted with escorting to the afterlife.  She is Maggie, lovely counterpart to Seth, played by Meg Ryan.

The romance between them becomes just as earthly, as it is heavenly, when Seth decides he wants to become human.  He must fall literally to earth to become so.  He learns soon enough that love and sensuality, along with tragedy and loss, are an inviolably part of the human condition.  It's a heartbreak ending, that over time makes life all the more ennobling.

Seth and Maggie

The Mercury Theater is "The Color Purple"

"The Color Purple" (click here to watch the video)

In Big-hearted 'Color Purple' has Mercury bursting at the seams, writer Chris Jones speaks honestly and delivers a point that came to mind for me, as I read his piece [emphasis, added]:

Many an experienced New York producer has taken a look at the Mercury Theater, located in the heart of Chicago's Southport Avenue corridor but bereft of fly space and wing space, and declared it fit only for cabarets and diminutive revues. L. Walter Stearns, who owns, operates and directs at the joint, hasn't listened and just poured new money into the sound system. The result is the thrilling wall of harmonic sound from a mostly Equity company of African-American actors that flows out in great emotional waves in the first made-in-Chicago production of Alice Walker's "The Color Purple."

It is a genuinely eye-popping achievement. Stearns' "Color Purple" features a company of 16, which is about half the size of the 2005 Broadway original, but these actors are performing in a theater about a tenth of the size of the Cadillac Palace, where this title last played in Chicago (at much higher prices). It's hard to overstate the advantage of this intimacy for a piece that tells such a personal story.

Not all theater venues have equal fortunes:  Some have more, others have less.  But clearly this is not an issue for the Mercury Theater.

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What Jones writes about reminds me of this quote, by tennis legend Arthur Ashe, I believe.  It's a tenet of my Theory of Algorithms and The Core Algorithm.

The Summer of Jennifer O'Neill

Jennifer O'Neill

The Killer Combination of Jennifer Lawrence

Jennifer Lawrence just turned 23 (August 15th), and has already won an Academy Award.  She was nominated as well for "Winter's Bone," before nabbing the golden statue for "Silver Linings Playbook."  She could be an Ingrid Bergman or a Katherine Hepburn in the making!  

So talented, so beautiful.   A killer combination.

The Psychology of "Girl at the Door"

The following is one section - "How Fine that Line" - of my poem "FIGURES AU BORD DE LA MER":

What is it that Freud is said to have said
That the id is the seat of desire
And the seat of aggression as well

Imagine standing in a crowded jostling train
And you feel like “screwing” the person next to you
And you feel like “screwing” the person next to you

It’s true we smiled and winked at each other
As we sat next to each other in the Viennese cafés
We know how fine that line between making love tender and all

And having sex all rough and tumble even painful at times
When we lose our grip too much become too tangled
Awash on the shore like so much treasure and debris from the sea

"Figures au Bord de la Mer," by Pablo Picasso

"Girl at the Door" portrays in film, what I speak to in poetry.  But the fusion of desire and aggression in sex is just one piece of this short film.

When a couple crosses that line, the psychological aftermath can be horrifying.  Erotic tension in the air, when repeated, becomes a veritable nightmare for Jake, the amorous architect.  Films like this haunt us, because the last thing we want is for a nightmare to repeat itself.  But our moral fiber is now suspect, and spiritually we deserve this haunting.

Yet, the repetition phenomenon of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - where the trauma plays like an endless loop in our mind - is our psychological effort to work it through.  In this respect, it's a good thing.  Jake must come to grips with the horrifying thing he did.

While the ending of "Girl at the Door" is tragic, it is a resolution to the trauma.  It is a just retribution to the deed.  It is a closure to the cinematic mystery that writer and director Colin Campbell deftly suffused his film with.  It's a good thing.

I love films that speak to the twists and fabrications of the mind and the psychological horror of our deeds.

Dance Eroticism of "Stockholm"

Emily Gardner Hall, as Kali, and Jason Babinsky, as Todd

You hear the title of this article - Dancing Erotically, With Knives - and you respond with huh, then hmm, as you're drawn to read it.

Those knives may or not be used to puncture skin (I’m not telling, and I’m not sure) before the end of this hourlong study of one disturbingly codependent couple. But you’ll always be conscious of them, hovering like so many mini-swords of Damocles. They are reminders that given the right — or wrong — inhabitants, even the coziest domestic sanctuary can be a dangerous place.

Writer Ben Brantley references the first staging of "Stockholm" by Frantic Assembly, with its haunting soundtrack offering just a hint of its eroticism:

Choreography, the deft work of Jennifer Weber, is essential to “Stockholm,” since Todd and Kali are dancing fools and their range of movement swings wide. Sometimes they skip about as blithely as Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds in “Singin’ in the Rain,” but their natural form would seem to be the apache dance, with its all-out brutality. In bed, needless to say, they’re highly kinetic, gold medal gymnasts.

Playwright Bryony Lavery speaks about her play:

"Love Language" and the Art of Collaboration

There are moments in life when we feel a connection so deep words can hardly describe it. But how do we know that it's real? This is the story of a boy who meets a girl and falls in love...

The Jubilee Project makes films for good causes. This film was produced to raise awareness and support for the American Society for Deaf Children.

This short film was one of my sweetest discoveries on YouTube.  I didn't read this description beforehand; I just clicked 'play' and thrust myself unknowingly into the story between this young man and young lady.  It's so well done, and I am so intrigued, that I keep looking for more on the Jubilee Project.

In our modern day media and technology, art naturally becomes a collaboration among people who probably don't even know each other.  It's collaboration that doesn't even require them to work together, paradoxically enough, but one that puts them firmly on the arc of imagination, creativity and ingenuity.  

So what I found was this remake, which garnered millions more views than the original, and I delighted in its behind-the-scenes footage as well.  Which slakes our thirst for the unpolished, personal story behind the story.

This YouTuber expanded the story, and in ways that I can love and appreciate he made do with what he had (or didn't have):

I know the camera was shaky. I did not own a tripod.

The Beautiful Carole King on Stage

Jessie Mueller, as Carole King

Long before she was Carole King, chart-topping music legend, she was Carol Klein, Brooklyn girl with passion and chutzpah. She fought her way into the record business as a teenager and, by the time she reached her twenties, had the husband of her dreams and a flourishing career writing hits for the biggest acts in rock 'n' roll. But it wasn't until her personal life began to crack that she finally managed to find her true voice. 

BEAUTIFUL tells the inspiring true story of King's remarkable rise to stardom, from being part of a hit songwriting team with her husband Gerry Goffin, to her relationship with fellow writers and best friends Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann, to becoming one of the most successful solo acts in popular music history. Along the way, she made more than BEAUTIFUL music, she wrote the soundtrack to a generation.

Reference:  Beautiful on Broadway.

A plum role, indeed, for the Chicago actress and Tony Award Nominee.  

References:  Jessie Mueller lands role of Carole King on Broadway and THE SCREENING ROOM: A First Look at Beautiful: The Carole King Musical in Rehearsal.

Spike Lee in the (Instagram) House!

Spike Lee Is Using Instagram To Tell Wonderful Little Stories About How He Made His Movies, and here are the trailers of the movies he writes about:

To me this Film is a Tribute to the African-American Men and Women who fought and died for the Red White and Blue from The American Revolutionary War to WWII that have been marginalized or completely ignored by The Hollywood Studio System. We salute you.

Inside Man is my Biggest Box Office Hit. I was slipped the script on the low low. Imagine Pictures had bought the Script (Auction) in a bidding War for Ronald Howard to direct. I loved the script and I reached out to my Man Denzel Washington, this would be our 4th Joint Together.

I could not believe the images I was seeing. Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4 and finally Day 5 The United States Government comes to the rescue of it’s own American Citizens. Right then and there I knew I wanted to put a Camera and a Microphone in front of these Survivors.

This was the hardest and most rewarding Film I ever had to do. Malcolm X almost put me under, it was not just the physical toll of the long shoot but it was a test to my mental toughness. When we ran out of money, we were up the Creek without a paddle. It was one of the most stressful times I had ever been in.

Crooklyn is the semi-autobiographical Story about my Family growing up in the Fort Greene section of Da Republic of Brooklyn, New York during the early 70's. My siblings Joie and Cinqué Lee had written the script before they even told me they had done it. I read it, said let me do a revision of the script. Their title was Hot Peas and Butter, I changed it to Crooklyn And it has become one of my most loved films. People absolutely love this film.

The Story Behind the "Starfish Tango"

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It was what I call synchronicity, when I ran into this post on Facebook last night.  I watched Rutger Hauer's short film "Starfish Tango" a few years ago, and I wanted to write about it, next, for my blog.

I was glad to know that Loren Eiseley wrote this story originally.  "The Star Thrower" was an essay he wrote in 1969, which he included into an 1978 anthology of the same title, shortly before he died:

"On a point of land, I found the star thrower... I spoke once briefly. "I understand," I said. "Call me another thrower." Only then I allowed myself to think, He is not alone any longer. After us, there will be others... We were part of the rainbow... Perhaps far outward on the rim of space a genuine star was similarly seized and flung... For a moment, we cast on an infinite beach together beside an unknown hurler of suns... We had lost our way, I thought, but we had kept, some of us, the memory of the perfect circle of compassion from life to death and back to life again - the completion of the rainbow of existence."

On his website, Hauer writes about the lead-up to, and the spirit of, his film:

There are many descriptions of the Tango... 'A conversation between two people', 'Sadness transformed in dance', 'A vertical expression of a horizontal desire', 'A rhythmic force that develops strikingly to the point where it dissolves into something soft and sweet'... and the latter is likely the one that fits the 'Starfish Tango' because of the meaning it aims at expressing. With this in mind, body and soul I set out to shoot a short movie. It was to be an experiment with myself, with the camera, with a great bunch of volunteers and a young dance group from Milan. It would be a visual story that could tickle people's senses using my craft as the tool, so to speak. 

It was to cost as little as possible to prove that it can be done if people want to do it. It would be about AIDS. It would be light in tone. And ultimately, and hopefully, it would be about how all of us feel about this disease. 

The film would have many aspects (some hidden, some plainly visible) - in terms of COLOURS (red, which carries so many symbolic meanings in connection with AIDS: its ribboned symbol, the blood it infects), MUSIC (soft piano melodies donated by the great composer Ludovico Einaudi), SHADOWS (AIDS continues to cast its long shadows around the world), OCEAN (which we all carry in the veins of our origin - its continued source for life and death, its phenomenal force) and PEOPLE, because we all are just here, and now, overwhelmed by this plague.

"Starfish Tango" is clearly an artistic adaptation from the Eiseley piece, but to me it's more a humanistic evolution, that is, a cobbling of meaning and creativity among us.  The dance, the swim, and the narration are so full of symbolism, as to make this short film a truly rich one.  I'd say Hauer succeeds in strumming our heart strings on the poignant devastation of AIDS.
    

From Ryan Hutchins to "The Great Dictator"

I was curious about the writer and director - Ryan Hutchins - behind the lovely short film "Too Shy," so I looked him up.  I found his cinematography reel, and was enthralled both by his oeuvre and by the gripping voiceover.

I must've heard about "The Great Dictator" once or twice before, but it was Hutchins reel that prompted me to look into it.

At the time of its first release [1940], the United States was still formally at peace with Nazi Germany. [Charlie] Chaplin's film advanced a stirring, controversial condemnation of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini's fascism, antisemitism, and the Nazis, whom he mocks in the film as "machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts". 

Chaplin's film followed only a few months after Hollywood's first parody of Hitler..., although Chaplin had been planning it for years before...  In his 1964 autobiography, Chaplin stated that he would not have made the film[,] had he known about the actual horrors of the Nazi concentration camps.

Hitler (Adenoid Hynkel, who makes millions tremble) and Mussolini (Benzino Napoloni, the dictator of bacteria) are woven into comic relief for the audience.

I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an emperor. That’s not my business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone - if possible - Jew, Gentile - black man - white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other’s happiness - not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way.

Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost. 

The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men - cries out for universal brotherhood - for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world - millions of despairing men, women, and little children - victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people.

To those who can hear me, I say - do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed - the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish. 

Soldiers! don’t give yourselves to brutes - men who despise you - enslave you - who regiment your lives - tell you what to do - what to think and what to feel! Who drill you - diet you - treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men - machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts! You don’t hate! Only the unloved hate - the unloved and the unnatural! Soldiers! Don’t fight for slavery! Fight for liberty!

In the 17th Chapter of St Luke it is written: “the Kingdom of God is within man” - not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people have the power - the power to create machines. The power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure.

Then - in the name of democracy - let us use that power - let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world - a decent world that will give men a chance to work - that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfil that promise. They never will!

Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people! Now let us fight to fulfil that promise! Let us fight to free the world - to do away with national barriers - to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness. Soldiers! in the name of democracy, let us all unite!

Reference:  The Great Dictator's Speech.

I will come back to Hutchins' films, as his stuff looks awesome.  

Fantasy and Reality Converge on "Spider-Man"

This musical staging of the well-known web-slinger is a far cry from the comic books I read, and the cartoon version I watched on TV, as a boy.  But the audience fascination with the nerd-turned-superhero is just the same, probably way bigger, with "Spider-Man:  Turn off the Dark" raking in nearly $192 million so far, according to the Wall Street Journal.  

This musical staging is even a far cry from the handful of film adaptations of Spider-Man, where cinematography has the genius of computer-generated imagery (CGI) to help realize its vision for the superhero's New York City, high-flying act.  No, this latest staging has to under gird a live production, and do so with the critical aid of engineering and technology. Yet, when the curtain draws open, everything must come across as pure aesthetics and entertainment.   

Even this trailer-cum-introduction on the David Letterman show must've been an entire production in itself.  So lavish, so awesome! 

Really, though, the main reason I'm writing about this staging is what Google News brought, from The New York Times:  A severe injury that performer Daniel Curry suffered on Thursday evening.  A trap door closed on his leg, and workers had to saw through stage scenery to free him.  Oh, man.  

Daniel Curry

Both the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times articles noted that this staging has been plagued with mishaps and injuries.  No wonder.  The technology behind aerial stunts and special effects may not be complicated.  The art of musical staging may be well-known and manageable.  But marry the two, especially for something as intricate and fantastic as superhero abilities, and human error and mechanical failure are bound to happen.    

During its long development, “Spider-Man” was plagued by injuries. Natalie Mendoza, the original Arachne, left the show after she sustained a concussion when she was hit in the head by a rope during the first preview performance. Her successor, T. V. Carpio, was injured on the set as well. Christopher Tierney, an ensemble actor who performed stunts dressed as the title character, sustained broken ribs and other internal injuries when he fell 20 feet from a stage platform. (Mr. Tierney eventually rejoined the show.) In February, Joshua Kobak, who replaced Mr. Tierney, sued the production for $6 million for injuries he suffered.

The show must go on, as they say, and we wish Curry a good recovery and speedy return to that very thing that must go on. 

"Blacklist" Echoes "Silence of the Lambs"

I have watched this trailer several times, and I am quite intrigued with this new TV series.  "The Blacklist" premiers on NBC on September 23rd at 9 PM (CST).  

It's hard to believe that 22 years had passed, since "Silence of the Lambs."  This was forensic drama at its best, and Anthony Hopkins and Jody Foster at their acting best, too.  

Evolutionary Road of Michael Shannon

Michael Shannon

Michael Shannon has made "Simpatico" a tough ticket to nab at A Red Orchid Theater in Chicago.  He is in theatrical roots, what the Tribune calls America's hottest theater city.  I won't argue that (smile).  Writer Chris Jones reviews the play - For Shannon and Van Swearingen, you can bet it's personal.  Then, in a bit of good news for stage aficionados and Shannon fans in particular, Jones reports that "Simpatico" will enjoy a extended run to September 15th - Michael Shannon, enjoying storefront return, extends his stay.

I remember Shannon for his memorable role as John Givings in "Revolutionary Road," for which he earned an Oscar nomination for Actor in a Supporting Role.  In Shakespeare, the Fool is given license to speak truthfully to the King.  He may come across as, well, foolish, but his remarks belie the pretense of the court.  He speaks with impunity, and the wise King knows to heed his veiled counsel.

In "Revolutionary Road," Shannon plays the Fool who doesn't quite have that license, but he speaks his mind anyway.  He doesn't just surface the brewing tensions between the couple, but inflames it so well that it tells us this story is not going to have a happy ending.

When Technology Becomes Human Drama

An android that thinks and feels is deemed defective, because it's not supposed to think or feel.  In a desperate effort to stop its (her) dis-assembling, she promises not to say another word and do everything she is told.  

I want to live!  I'm begging you. 

"Kara" is not our next game. It's not the character, it's not the world, it's not the story.  That's a part of the DNA of the studio," tells [writer and director] David Cage. 

So what is Kara? As far as we know, it can look after house, do the cooking, mind the kids, organize your appointments, speak 300 languages, and remain entirely at your disposal as a sexual partner.

It's a truly fine performance by Valorie Curry, who won the role after 100 actresses auditioned for it.  

Fourteen Actors Acting by the New York Times

I don't remember how I stumbled onto this, but Fourteen Actors Acting is easily one of the most creative, enthralling projects I've seen.  The New York Times Magazine gathered figures who defined cinema in 2010, no doubt a feat in itself, and arranged for director Solve Sundsbo to, well, direct them one by one.  The scene is only about a minute long, so the actor has to play out all that he or she has to play out in a kind of micro-story.  What's more, it's not a contemporary setting, rather one of the classic silver screen.

You get the picture.  Below are three of my favorites.  Reference:  14 Actors Acting playlist on YouTube.

“You’re going from making iconic images to creating narratives,” [Sundsbo] said, “but there is less of a narrative capacity in 60 seconds, so you need to create something like a poem that can lead your imagination.”

Kathy Ryan, the magazine’s photo editor, put the challenge simply: “We had to get somewhere really quickly with an impact. And it had to be beautiful.”

This is the first time that video has been as significant as the print portfolio. Ms. Ryan said she knew from the beginning that she did not want this year’s performers simply to sit for a portrait. “Celebrity portraiture demands reinvention,” she said.

Reference:  Fourteen Actors Acting, The New York Times

Variations of "Music of the Night"

What can I say?  I am enthralled with the stage musicals of Andrew Lloyd Webber, and cannot seem to get enough of "Phantom of the Opera" in particular.  It must've been 1989 when I bought the soundtrack by the original cast of the premier staging in 1986, and for the longest time Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman were the defining voices of the musical.

The Phantom is in love with Christine, that is evident early on.  But in "Music of the Night," he is more enamored with power and control, and in response she is more mesmerized than seduced.

Gerard Butler takes a turn at Phantom, and Emmy Rossum as Christine, in the 2004 film adaptation.

Then, it's Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess, in this 25th anniversary celebration at the Royal Albert Hall in 2011.  

The Irony of a Life Worth Living

"Replay" is a post-apocalyptic film that makes me think of the Matrix, Alien and Terminator series.  Except that, it's in animation, and it's a simple yet deeply poignant story of a boy.

We don't know the context of this story, that is, why the world seems to have been reduced to just mother and son.  But that context actually doesn't matter.  More specifically and philosophically, it is time that doesn't matter.  The past is past, and the future is who knows what.

So in this inviolable present, then, this film asks:  What kind of life is this, confined in a metal box for a home, situated in an atmosphere bereft of oxygen?  Is this isolated life, which the mother has fashioned just to keep her son and her alive, really worth living?

The boy answers these questions, and purely out of human longing he sets out to live a different, better life.  No matter the irony and the tragedy that it's only a brief one.

 

Where "Betrayal" Begins is at the End

In The Core Algorithm, I work off the notion that to realize our vision and accomplish our tasks best, we begin with the end in mind.  Then, we walk backwards to map the pathways from there, all the way to where we are now in the present.

Enter:  "Betrayal," a play by Harold Pinter.

I don't quite remember if I had read it, before watching the film adaptation, or if I bought the book and read it sometime thereafter.  But what I do remember is the brilliant reversal of the story.

Emma and Jerry, each in their respective marriages, have a seven-year affair.  Where "Betrayal" begins is in the aftermath of it, then it slides backward in time to select moments in their lives.  We go back to the beginning, where he reveals that he's enamored with her, and this is where we end the story.

It's difficult to portray a play online, so here's the film, in full, instead - starring Patricia Hodge and Jeremy Irons.

A Twist on Twist in "Too Shy"

"Too Shy" resonates well with young people, and perhaps with older adults as well.  It speaks to unrequited love, which stretches to a lifetime of regret and longing for the narrator.  However, the lovely twist is that the girl he adored also felt her love was unrequited.  

Imagine that. 

Shyness creates a sort of parallel universe between people, who may otherwise come together and forge a loving relationship.

Ryan Hutchins, the writer and director, adds yet another twist to the story:  Art offers us an ability to slip into the future and see what might be or can be.  The young couple haven't gone their own way and they haven't grown old, after all.  They are still in the present, as high schoolers, and have every opportunity to tell each other "I love you."

One more thing:  The poetry in this film is impressive in more ways than one.  Writing couplets can be difficult enough for a lot of poets, but doing so in triplets, even quadruplets is deft indeed.  Moreover, the recitation of this poetry is unforced and it's well-woven into the drama.  It works quite well.     

"A Chorus Line" is an Enduring Favorite

I seem to have always loved a stage musical.  "A Chorus Line," being just one example.  I was fortunate to see it on stage, years ago at the Shubert Theater in Chicago, from the second row!

Here are my favorite numbers:

This is a fine performance by Alyson Reed, as Cassie, in the 1985 film adaptation by Richard Attenborough.  Accomplished singers sometimes misconstrue the meaning and import of the songs they sing, and end up overpowering the piece.  Indeed it takes singing prowess, and clearly acting talent is also a prerequisite.  

Just as it's hard to find a good performance of "What I did for Love," I've had to scour YouTube to find a rendition of "Nothing" I liked.  Priscilla Lopez's is one of a very few.  It's more like a musical monologue, but her pitch and expressions are just perfect.     

Finally, a stirring finale!

Mikhail Baryshnikov with the cast from "A Chorus Line" in the finale "One". Taken from the TV Show "Baryshnikov on Broadway - with Liza Minnelli" from 1980 (Directed by Dwight Hemion).

what is ¿dramatis personae?

This is my broader vision and aim for Dramatis Personae:

"The Room" of Rutger Hauer

Directed by Erik Lieshout and Rutger Hauer

The following notes on "The Room" are from Rutger Hauer's website:

A man explains how he was obsessed when he was younger by a mysterious room and an extraordinary rarefied piano music that drifted through its open window during the night. Forty years later, returning to his home town after having spent most of his life abroad, in "a bunch of different places", he asks one of his friends to rent a room for him.

As chance would have it, it turns out to be the same room which attracted him when he was a young man. What drew him again to this room?

I am surprised, frankly, to see that this haunting short film has garnered only 6000+ views.  It speaks to a subject that is so fundamentally taboo for many of us that, perhaps, it makes sense that not many people have seen it.  Still, it's easily one of the most brilliant films I've seen.

Here are Hauer's video blogs on the film:

Andrew Lloyd Webber at the Royal Albert Hall

What can top a birthday celebration, like this, at the Royal Albert Hall?  Andrew Lloyd Webber was the man of the hour, and in 1998 he turned 50 years old, to the accompaniment of a lavish, well-performed rendition of his stage musical masterpieces.  

Elaine Paige was the lead in the 1978 debut production of "Evita."  Eva Perón died at age 33, and at the singing of "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina" in the story, she was close to her end.  Paige, a relative unknown at the time, fiercely wanted the role.  So at 30 she was at the perfect age.  

I love Sarah Brightman.  Webber wrote the role of Christine Daaé for her, who caught his attention in the early 1980s.  They were married by the time his adaptation of "Phantom of the Opera" debuted on Broadway in 1988, and to my ears Brightman will always be the defining voice for Christine.  

Glenn Close won the Tony as Norma Desmond in the 1994 Broadway production of "Sunset Boulevard." She follows in a lineage of grand dames in that role, which began with Gloria Swanson in the Award-winning 1950 film.  Both voice and acting cinch Close's performance.  

The Surreal Insomnia of "Fight Club"

Edward Norton, as the Narrator

With insomnia, nothing's real. Everything's far away. Everything's a copy of a copy of a copy.

Brad Pitt, as Tyler Durden

The first rule of Fight Club is: You do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is: You do not talk about Fight Club.

Helena Bonham Carter, as Marla Singer

You take tuberculosis. My smoking doesn't go over at all.

Shape of Léon and Mathilda's Heart

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Classic, indeed. The most unlikely friendship between Léon and Mathilda was a very tender counter-balance to the violence, manipulation and loss surrounding them. 

Jean Reno in a pensive moment, perhaps in an abandoned building in the inner city of somewhere.

Jean Reno, by Antonín Kratochvíl

Natalie Portman was only 13 years old, when Léon: The Professional came out in 1994.  An impressive performance, at such a young age and in her debut film, no less.  

You get the slant of this article:  behind-the-scenes.  Sting may have just awakened, and hardly took a moment to warm up his voice, before taking the microphone with his guitarist.  I love it.  

"Shape of my Heart" is the leitmotiv of the film, and is a favorite of mine for its simple melody and deep poetry.

I know that the spades are the swords of a soldier
I know that the clubs are weapons of war
I know that diamonds mean money for this art
But that's not the shape of my heart

Awesome Short Films from Jameson First Shot

I first heard about "The Smile Man" from a post in the Movies community on Google+.  The plot is notably contrived, but it's funny and it's compelling.  Its layers of meaning make it more profound than an ordinary comedy:

• Contrivance of Western society around smiling, for instance, when having your picture taken
• Endowment of smiling as a cure-all for a host of ails or distemper, which we see as inspirational quotes on social media
• Cultural prerequisite of smiling among Filipinos, which a friend was tacitly reminding me of, when she kept encouraging me to smile more

Anton Lanshakov is a graduate of the Humanitarian Institute of Television & Radio Broadcasting in Moscow. Currently working as a writer, director and producer his winning script, THE SMILE MAN focuses on a gentleman dealing with the consequences of a car accident, which has left him with a spinal injury that means he has a permanent smile on his face.  [Film notes, here and below, are from Jameson First Shot]

There are two more in this series.  "Love's Routine" queries us on that perennial theme of people vis-a-vis machines.  When is practical usefulness taken too far, when is love no longer quite love, and what happens to machine in the absence (nay, loss) of people?

Shirlyn Wong from New York is an M.F.A. graduate film candidate from New York University Tisch School of the Arts Asia. During her film school career she has won awards from Singapore Short Film Awards and First Run Film Festival. Her script, LOVE’S ROUTINE is a dark comedy about a discordant elderly couple, who ultimately prove that love is greater than flesh and blood.

Finally, "Saving Norman" is about an animal therapist, who uses her ingenuity to save an ailing parrot by having its long-despondent owner work through, psychologically, a demoralizing scratch in a championship ping-pong match.

Hanneke Schutte is a writer/director from Johannesburg. Having previously had her work shown at Durban International Film Festival, her winning script, SAVING NORMAN tells the story of a hypochondriac ex-ping pong player who never got over missing a major tournament final because of a cold.

I love this quote, said by Chen Ho Yong, who was the de facto champion in that ill-fated non-match in 1989:

Medal's ruined my life, you know.  It was cursed.  Six months after I won, my wife left me, because I became too much big-headed.  I gained 40 kilograms. Blew all my money on dog races.  I ate dog food for three years, you know.  

So freaking funny!

From Neo and Agent Smith, to Moshimo and Mustache

In this final scene, Neo can finally see Agent Smith and his mates for what they are - algorithms (computer codes) - and finally believes he is The One.

This is an awesome commercial, and I trust GE and their ad firm did market research on this campaign. In one month, this raked in 1.4 million views on YouTube.  Now, at 1.7 million.

Working our theme of the day further, we hear Mom talk about Moshimo ... Mustache ... Leo ... computer whatever ... Judo! This video has pulled-in over 5 million views, and is totally EP.pic (lol).