OC Screenwriters Association

The Polish Film Festival - every time I mention it people chuckle.  I'll admit, it does sound a little like a punch line to a bad joke.  

But make no mistake - this is serious, professional,  wonderfully conceived and executed filmmaking on a par with anything that Hollywood has ever churned out.

Take "Trick" the film I saw this afternoon at the Regency South Coast Village Theater.  Simply excellent.  Directed by Jan Hryniak from a screenplay by Michal J. Zablocki, nothing in the film ever made me think it wasn't produced at the highest levels of filmdom.  Trust me on this - had this film been in English and you didn't know it was a Polish film you'd think it came out of the best film minds available from Hollywood.

Acting, cinematography, direction - all great...the plot was insanely complex and yet simply presented and easy to follow.  I cannot wait to see it again to catch all the little nuances I missed on first viewing.

It's a subtle film at times that continues to lead you back along the plotlines like some sort of narrative switchback.  The characters are engaging and the story keeps you on the edge for the entire time.  There is simply no fat in the plot anywhere and the director handled the shots and storytelling expertly.

The plot - what I'm willing to reveal so as not to spoil the film - begins with a police bust and then switches to a government minister being kidnapped by terrorists.  A six million dollar ranson is demanded of the Polish government.  One of the crooked government men in charge of handling the situation decides to grab a world-class counterfeiter out of  prison to make the money - American money - to pay the terrorists ("not counterfeit,." the counterfeiter says, "a replica.")  Then the crooked minister will just keep the real money and no one will ever know.  Great concept for a heist film.

But that's just the start of what turns out to be a series of fun and interesting double-crosses that are all revealed and wrapped up in the last fifteen minutes of the movie, including one last image that made me laugh aloud - you'll know it when you see it.  It's priceless.

This is a really good film that completely entertains you and leaves you hungry for more of the same.  I spent the last week at the Newport Beach Film Festival - I saw nothing that really compared with this little gem.

I'm going back tonight and tomorrow for a few more films.  Unfortunately, there's only tonight and tomorrow left here in Orange County.  These films have been playing all week up in L.A.  But you can probably rent these films soon and next year, if you can't get out this weekend, do yourself a huge favor  and attend this event.

The films so far have been world class...

More movie reviews tonight or tomorrow including an interview with the organizers.

INFO HERE

So, after "Jesse's Story" I'm talking with director Marc Jacobs and getting ready to leave and my niece. Kayleigh, and her friend, Monika, come into the Island Theater.  They are going to see "Ondine," an Irish film starring Colin Farrell.  Now the reason I mention this is because nowhere on the movie schedule does  it show the screening.  And since I'm on the press email list and also signed up for the NBFF Facebook page I would have expected something to come my way regarding this film.  It does appear in the program but not the movie schedule chart where everyone goes to find out what is playing when and where.

Obviously there was a typo or omission of some sort; you'd think someone, somewhere would have wanted people to see a film with a major star in it and that they would have taken some measures to bring it forward.

"Ondine" is delightful.  A romantic-comedy about a recovering alcoholic fisherman (Colin Farrell)  who one day brings a gorgeous woman (Alicja Bachleda) up in his net, the film was shot on location somewhere that is obviously a fishing town in Ireland by Neil Jordan who also wrote the script.  It was probably the best film I saw that wasn't a documentary and I nearly missed it because no one at NBFF (or the filmmakers) bothered to let us know.  Thank god that my niece told me about it.

Some synopses say that the Alicja Bacjleda character is a mermaid which is wrong.  She's thought to be a selki which is a seal who can shed his or her skin and become human.  There is a rich mythology about these creatures and rules to their interaction with humans.   John Sayles did "The Secret of Roan Inish" in 1994 about a selki using the same mythologies and gorgeous sceneries that Jordan did although the story is much different.

The dialogue and interactions between Farrell and his daughter, the stunningly good actress Alison Barry, and his sponsor and parish priest, Steven Rea, is hilarious and incredibly well done.  

All the performances in this film are excellent.  Bachleda maintains a great balance between innocence and raw sexiness.  Young Alison Barry is so funny and perfect you'd swear she is not acting at all.  Farrell himself is pitch-on as a lonely fisherman who has trouble articulating what's deep inside him and unable to trust any good fortune that comes his way.  With his sparky, precocious daughter suffering from kidney failure and him struggling to maintain his sobriety and figure out his life, the character Farrell plays is superbly nuanced and interesting.  Farrell has a wonderful way of creating a character who acts like a sh*t but is still very likable.  I'd imagine he's that way in real life too since it seems so natural to him.

The film is magical in the way it keeps you on the edge of discovery about the layers of these people's lives with a startling ending reveal that wraps everything up nicely.  Jordan is at his peak here, using all his skills as a writer and filmmaker to bring this story to delightful life.

The only dark spot (literally) was the print.  It was so dark that it became bothersome.  I don't know if this was a technical issue or a cinematographic one.

My niece dished some dirt afterwards telling me that Farrel and co-star Bachleda were an item and she has had his baby.  Life to some measure immitating art apparently.

See "Ondine."  I'm sure you'll like it as much as everyone at the screening did.  It will transport you to a magical yet very real place.

As the tagline goes: The truth is not what you know. It's what you believe.

After “Clearpix” I wasn’t sure what I wanted to see. Nothing was really grabbing me. While I was standing outside deciding, an old friend Cath Brandom (who I hadn't seen since last year's film fest) and her son Dusty approached.

They were heading to “Jesse’s Story,” a film about talented surfer Jesse Billauer who broke his spine surfing on the eve of turning pro at the age of sixteen.

I'd had my fill of surf movies and didn't think I wanted another one but Cath and her son coming up like that changed my mind. You see Dusty is in a wheelchair. I had to see the film and get his reaction if he’d let me.  

A Q&A with Dusty follows this review.

“Jesse’s Story” is very beautifully conceived and shot.  I'm glad I went back in to see it.  Director, writer, producer, Mark Jacobs has created a gorgeous and inspirational story. He’d tell you that he didn’t do anything - that he just pointed the camera and that Jesse did it all. He’s being many-degrees  too modest but to a certain extent he’s right.  

Jesse Billhauer is an unflaggable spirit. He engaged in almost no maudlin nonsense when he was told he would never walk again. Going to live with his father, George, who has become his support system and emotional rock, Jesse went about the business of learning how to live in a wheelchair.  

There were adjustments of course. George had to (and still has to) help him go to the bathroom - something Jesse calls “his program” and that couldn’t have been pretty or pleasant under any circumstances.  George fed him, bathed him, clothed him until Jesse recovered some measure of feeling in his arms and could continue to do personal ministrations on his own.

Soon, Jesse wanted to surf again and convinced some buddies to take him out and help him lay on a board and ride the waves. He even surfed at the Hurley Open in Huntington Beach. Jesse and his tremendous will began to inspire others around him in the same way that actor Christopher Reeve inspired him.

When Reeve died, Jesse knew that spinal cord injuries needed a champion and he began to get help from his famous friends, like pro surfer Kelly Slater and Hurley team member Rob Machado, and musicians Jack Jones and Ben Harper.  With these stout friends and Jesse's own celebrity status they began to raise awareness.  Jesse started a foundation called "Life Rolls On."  (link near end of article)

Jesse is still in a wheelchair but at the age of 31 has strong hope that a breakthrough might someday heal him and others who have suffered spinal injuries. His body might be traumatized but his spirit has never been injured and continues to drive him to push limits aside and rock the world.  

At the Q&A was Jesse’s father, George, and director Jacobs. Both were delightful men who worked very hard to make this film a reality. Jesse had another obligation and couldn’t attend but there is no doubt he would have.

Please help Jesse and the filmmakers by going to the following websites.

MOVIE SITE

FOUNDATION SITE

JESSE'S BLOG

Following is a quick interview I did with Dusty Brandom, a young man confined to a wheelchair by a degenerative muscular disorder.  

I hadn't seen Dusty since he was a young boy in the late-90's when I worked at Mothers Market where his mom, Cath, and dad, Neil, shopped.  

Back then Dusty walked nowhere but ran everywhere like the free spirit he was - a rabbit on speed, his long, blond hair flying behind him as if it was a flag of defiance and joy, I'd have to chase after him constantly to keep him from knocking people about.  Even if we put him in a shopping cart, he'd squirrel out and go get into trouble.  He was irrepressible then and is exactly the same now.  That sparkling smile and those twinkling eyes are still filled with the same joyous mischief I saw years ago when I followed him breathlessly up and down the aisles of the Costa Mesa health food store.

He generously agreed to let me fumble through some questions about his condition and how he liked the movie.

OCSWA: Dusty, thanks for talking to us. You’ve been in a wheelchair for how long?

DUSTY: Six years.

CATH: Longer than that, actually - since he was eight - he’s seventeen now.

OCSWA: “Jesse’s Story” is about a surfer who becomes a quadriplegic and has to cope with a different type of life. How did you enjoy the film?

DUSTY: I’m not injured like he was. I have Duchenne muscular dystrophy which is a degenerative muscular disease. I can’t even lift my arms at this point. (Dusty can still use his hands to control his electronic wheelchair.) But I really enjoyed the film and Jesse’s positive attitude and how he did what he wanted to do like go diving with the sharks and surf still.

OCSWA: Did you find a lot to relate to in the film?

DUSTY: Sure. Anyone who has to deal with this sort of thing can. We all have good days and bad days.

OCSWA: What do you hate most about being in a wheelchair?

DUSTY: (laughing) A lot of things.  But honestly, the way people stare at me. I’m just a guy on wheels. I’m not a freak or anything.

OCSWA: Why did you want to see the film?

DUSTY: My mom and I were looking through the catalog and I thought it would be interesting to see about another guy on wheels. To see how Jesse dealt with it and what he went through.

CATH: We come to the Newport Beach Film Festival every year. It’s really a fantastic time.  We all really wanted to see this film but Neil couldn't come.

OCSWA: Dusty, what interests you? Besides girls?

DUSTY: (laughing) Computers. And girls.

OCSWA: Thanks for talking to us.

DUSTY: Okay. Just...one more thing.  Everyone should support the movie and the cause. Even if I can’t directly benefit from spinal cord research, a lot of kids can.

Absolutely. 

This is part one of three of the last day of the Newport Beach Film Festival so let’s get right to it.

“CleanFlix” is the story about the attempt by some in Utah’s Mormon community to “sanitize” Hollywood films which turned litigious and really ugly. This narrative has more twists and turns than a road to Bear Bear and more dirt than a convention of failed preachers.

It’s too complicated to go into all the permutations but here are the high points:

The Mormon prophet, Ezra Taft Benson,, in 1986 put out an edict that said “Don’t see R-rated movies or vulgar videos or participate in any entertainment that is immoral, suggestive, or pornographic. Don’t listen to music that is degrading.”

Once stated, it cannot be ignored. But a lot of Mormons like R-rated films so what’s a good Mormon to do? Some enterprising dudes begin to cut and snip the “objectionable parts” out of tapes. Problem solved - without the naughty bits, the film is now a tame PG-13 or less.

A company called CleanFlicks, led by Ray Lines, begins to gain notice of the locals. Contrary to the “old” method of actually snipping pieces of a tape out, Lines knew how to use editing software to edit and the reassemble the movie so the edit was seamless - except of course for those nagging non-sequiturs that cropped up.  Lines, the main snipper, states publicly that he's a better editor (and director) than most in Hollywood.  This type of hubris infuses and informs the story of all these men and it is not confined to just one circumstance.

Soon, brick and mortar stores carrying edited versions of popular R-rated and PG-13 rated films began popping up everywhere. In short order, CleanFlicks went Internet-only  to keep up with demand, selling off the stores to locals who continued to run them as sanitized film depots getting their content from the CleanFlicks parent company.  Locals like Daniel Thompson who becomes a major player in this tale as it progresses.

Business booms in the Mormon community since now those film 'classics' like “Kill Bill” (kidding about the "classic" appellation) can be watched. All those bad bits are gone leaving only the good stuff - like unrelenting violence that apparently does not pollute anything so it is not embargoed - just boobies and bad words are anathema.

Other stores and editing schemes appear. Pretty soon, they are as ubiquitous as Blockbuster - one on every corner and all that.

Hollywood, being on top of all things copyrightable, tells these firms to cease and desist. They don’t. Rhetoric is exchanged until finally a lawsuit is filed - no, not by Hollywood but rather a man in Chicago named Dan Potter (who is inspired by Lord to do this.) He asks the superior courts to rule that the people sanitizing these films are within their fair-use rights to do this. Then Potter bails leaving parent company CleanFlicks to fight a very expensive lawsuit that they basically never wanted.

They (CleanFlicks) lose.

The stores and Internet sites shut down since now they’ve been declared specifically illegal by a court of law. But Daniel Thompson, one of the early brick and mortar store owners, keeps going. But he goes too far. Initially, Ray Lines, trying to remain semi-legal, used the one to one ratio to keep things kosher. In other words, they’d buy the DVD they were sanitizing and then re-selling so it at least winked at fair use. According to the documentary, Thompson would buy one original and make dozens of copies thereby increasing his bottom line. And he didn’t want to shut down since he was making good money.

The story to this point is really just beginning. There’s more lawsuits than a squat and swoop insurance scam ring, something called the education premise, plenty of lyin’ and cheatin’, porn, pedophelia, the Family Movie Act, and an ongoing campaign to keep the sanitizing going.

Whew.

By the way, the mugshot below of Mormon Daniel Thompson is not for violating copyright law but rather for engaging  in sex with a minor .

The producer, Amber Bollinger, was present at the Q&A and she laughed when someone asked her did she ever have a time when she was ready to end the story but all this other stuff kept popping up. “Several times,” she said, “we were ready to say ‘fade out’ and just couldn’t.”  

The documentary is fair and balanced. It never demeans either the Mormon community or the Hollywood community and presents the arguments well for both sides. For example, the Mormons point out that the studios already provide so-called sanitized versions of their films to airlines, television and foreign countries that don’t allow sex or excessive violence. And once you own a DVD, you should be able to do anything you want with that DVD. The studios argue that it is against the law to modify and then sell copyrighted material. And so on. As one person who had seen the documentary more than once pointed out each time you see it you shift perspective slightly.

Amber mentioned that they'd love to show this documentary in Utah, to Mormons, but can't since much of it contains both the original (R-rated) material and the "cleaned" version for comparison.

“Clearpix” is well done, comprehensive and terribly interesting. I am not sure where you can see it yet but look for it. The website HERE will have information. Well worth the 88 minute running time.

NBFF Day 8, Part II in the next segment.
 

The 11th Annual Polish Film Festival at the Regency South Coast Village Theater.  

Movie schedule and slate HERE

Official site HERE

Maybe I’m just tired and grumpy after long days of festival but today just wasn’t a peak day at the Newport Beach Film Festival.

I didn’t go at all yesterday because of professional obligations so I was looking forward to today.

The first film I saw started the day right although they held the press out until the very last because the showing was sold out. “Accidental Icon: The Real Gidget Story” is a short (60 minutes) documentary based on a book written by novelist Fredrick Kohner who was the father of the real girl called Gidget by the boy surfers in the late-50's. Gidget (Girl mIDGET) was/is Kathy Kohner (Zuckerman) who at about the time of her fourteenth birthday wanted to surf and hang out with the boys at Malibu.

Some might put a cynical slant to this and say Kohner was just boy crazy and the surf boys wanted to take advantage of a cute, young girl. And maybe she was and maybe they did but honestly, watching the documentary you get the feeling that she really wanted to be “just one of the boys” and those boys saw her primarily as a little sister.

Cute as a puppy, athletic, forward, Kohner would go down to the beach and trade her lunch for surf lessons. Her father, enamored of the nascent youth surf culture, would talk to his daughter about the particulars, and about the specific language they used - kook, shoobies, aloha spirit, etc. Kohner convinced her father, a writer, to detail it all. Hollywood found the book after it became a national best seller and the rest was film and cultural history.  Sandra Dee, the first film Gidget, won the hearts and minds of the youth of the time turning surfing and the culture into a national obsession.

Moondoggie, Kahuna and rest - real surf dudes - were made famous and infamous by the silly surf movies of the sixties. Malibu became crowded with kids trying to capture that wild innocence. Shortly afterward, Sally Field in the iconic television series, and the Beach Boys, with perhaps the most infectious pop music of all time, sealed the deal . It was surprising to me how many modern female surfers still identify with Gidget and feel that she represents them.

All real? Who knew?

This is a fantastic documentary narrated by actress Jorja Fox (“CSI”.) Not knowing spit about this I had a lot of pure fun discovering that all the legendary film and television was based on these actual characters.  Hearing them talk about their life and times was some of the best parts of this movie.  They verified some of the movie and television details but laughed at others.  Kahuna's grass shack, for example was real; the romance between Gidget and Moondoggie was not.

James Darren, Cliff Robertson, Sally Field and other celebs and many world-class surfers were interviewed by the director. I am in awe of the access the director had to all these people who recounted their recollections about their part of the Gidget legend.

 Kohner-Zuckerman was there for a Q&A with a rowdy,  enthusiastic audience.  I was mightily tempted to go to the after-party at Muldoons. But silly me, I wanted to see another film that started immediately afterwards - wrong decision - but more on that later.

At 60 minutes, the film was just right. It’s light, fun and informative. No dark places here; no drug habits or alcoholic car wrecks or suiciding off cliffs - maybe the filmmakers chose not to show the darkness (if there was any) but Kohner-Zuckerman’s life seemed as idyllic as the California beaches in those innocent and kowabunga-driven 60's.

See it. Trust me, you’ll smile through the whole damned thing.

 From the sublime to the ridiculous. Ugh. I really hate to disdain anyone’s film. It is so hard to get one made and so much work that I really admire anyone who accomplishes that task. But “Shoot The Hero ” was just a miserable sit. In fact, after about 35 minutes I did something I probably have only done once or twice in my lifetime - I walked.

I have no idea how this film got made. It’s actually three separate short films - two unrelated segments that are tied together by the third. I guess the filmmaker thought “Well, Tarantino did it ("Pulp Fiction") so can I.”  But after the first one and a half segments, I and the person I was with couldn’t take it. We both independently decided to leave and went to the shorts showing next door.

I did come back and catch the Q&A - mainly because I left my tablet in the theater and also because I left the shorts showing after 2.5 of them - but mainly because of scheduling, although I was truly happy to get out of that screening also.

The Q&A for this was about what you’d expect and I’m going to be political and leave it at that. But let me just say that there were some people who were very self-congratulatory about this effort and they were the only ones who didn’t seem to notice that they were simply puffing themselves up.

 You may like “Shoot The Hero” - I obviously did not.

A quick note on the 2.5 shorts I saw (I came in late to the first one.) Is no one telling stories anymore? Or stories that make sense? I have beginning film students who write better material than this. Hey, aspiring filmmakers - a word, please? Just because you have an idea and storyline doesn’t mean you shouldn’t continue to develop it. The story about the handyman who helps a mermaid fix a lighthouse was a cute idea. Now tweak it. Scenes of them talking in front of the big light and riding a bike through a quaint town is not enough.  There's a dramatic structure here that has to acknowledged and you did not.

The film about an agoraphobic who communicates with a girl next door through a hole in the wall is again, a cute idea - now add some dramatic tension and build into it.  Start the hole out small, make it increasingly larger - build it - make me believe that this guy will eventually break that wall out to get to the girl at the end. Symbolism isn’t enough - you need story too.

 I was really disappointed in general at the level of short films I’ve seen all through this festival. Not because they weren’t technically well-done; rather because the stories limped along without regard to basic storytelling techniques. If anyone wants to see really good short films, go to YouTube, find a company called BlueTongue Films and watch those.  

After the Islands, I went over to the Regency South Coast Village Theater to catch the Irish Spotlight film “A Shine of Rainbows.” I expected the place to be packed and it wasn’t. Maybe everyone knew or sensed something that I didn’t. I wish I had gotten the memo.

The movie isn’t horrible. In fact, the acting, cinematography, and music were very good. The director obviously knows how to move a camera. But the story? Meh. Trite, predictable, melodramatic...who writes these things? I cannot imagine this film getting made in Hollywood. Lifetime, maybe - big maybe - but not a feature.

I’m hoping the book on which this was based was better told than this tear-jerker. I felt (sob) so used afterwards since the director constantly pushed and twiddled buttons that he knew no one could resist. I mean, they even had a freaking baby seal in this - a really cute baby seal who had been abandoned by its mother. And a funny border collie. And a mom (the luminous Connie Nielsen) who was beautiful, sexy and soooo nice and cool - everyone’s dream mom (who dies, of course.) And a gruff, ruggedly handsome Aidan Quinn (who predictably becomes much less gruff.) And gorgeous vistas and Irish pub music, and...oh, well.

I was underwhelmed by this film and found it predictable and without a lot of depth but there is a lot of nice parts to it that may add up to a better experience for you. At least the scenery was beautiful. And the 10-yr-old actor, John Bell, who played the boy was an amazement. This was his first film and he just nailed it. His performance is almost worth the other tedious parts.

The Q&A afterwards was along similarly predictable lines. Stories about the shoot and the location and the cast. No one talked about the script and I know I should have brought some of that stuff up but the film had sucked the curious out of me and I just sat there and listened.

The producer mentioned that they were premiering the film at film festivals and then stage-releasing it in selected cities in the areas they were premiering. It’s at the Westpark 8 in Irvine if you’re interested.

So...a really good film, a few bad ones and one that I could have easily lived without. The film festival experience in a nutshell.

One more day...

Sidenote: Thanks to Luanne, one of the volunteers at the door at the Island, for all her help and to all the volunteers who put up with me and the rest of attendees going to the wrong places, making too much noise, asking for special treatment and in general, pushing the limits of their patience. 

You know it's a long festival when you find yourself waiting in the lobby of the Island Cinemas for your camerman (Eric Hensman from Lennexe Productions), eating a cold Wahoo fish sandwich left over from the day before, drinking theater coffee, and downing supplements from a ziplock bag - while talking to a short-film director who desperately wants you to come to his film - which you can't because of a scheduling conflict.  But he continues anyway and all you're hoping is that you won't be burping up either the sandwich or the coffee in the upcoming screening.  Fun.

The first film I saw today was "My Run."  

Inspirational, motivational, unbelievable...words all too often used and overused by our hyperbolic society.  You can't imagine the real meaning of those words until you understand Terry Hitchcock as portrayed in this terrific documentary of his life after his wife's death. (interview video)

Terry decided he wanted to raise awareness of single parenting after his wife, his  college sweetheart, died tragically of breast cancer leaving him with three young kids to raise.  He sought some way to do this, to underscore how difficult it was to single-parent children and let all the kids and parents in a similar situation know that there is support for them.   He settled on running a marathon.  Well, more than one actually - seventy five; in seventy-five days.  

Absorb and think about that for a moment: Seventy five marathon-distance runs (26 miles or more) in seventy five days.

Here's what he had going for him: his desire to do this.

Here's what he had going against him:  He was 57; massively out of shape; overweight - fat actually; had high blood pressure; suffered a mild heart attack while training.  Hadn't run for many, many years and even in his peak continually came in last.  He discovered along the way that both ankles had severe stress fractures as well as a knee.  And he was on several medications for various helath problems.  At some point most of his team left him and he was reduced to just his eldest son with a car with 200,000 miles on it to finish more than half the race.

Oh, and the record for consecutive marathons?  Three.  No athete at the time, anywhere, had ever run more than three consecutive marathons.  Why?  Because even after one marathon, the body is so bruised and exhausted that you have to rest between events.  And these are world-class, young, superbly conditioned athletes who run.  Not a 57-yr-old man who looked like Santa Claus in a track suit chugging down the street.

So, in May of 1996, despite many misgivings from family and friends, Terry set out to run from Minnesota to Atlanta (2,000 miles) to the Summer Olympics.  With him he initially had a team comprised of his sons, teens at the time, and some of their friends.  Also, his dog.  Sprits were high when Terry and his team began but they quickly discovered that it's one thing to run - it's an entirely different thing to run every day for 26+ miles.  

Terry was physically exhausted in short time.  His support team was suffering from logisitic nightmares - just washing his clothes up to five times a day to keep them clean and dry because he sweated through them on a regular basis was difficult.  The only time Terry's socks were dry was when they put a new pair on him.  

Along the way, he was almost run over.  He ran in rain.  Cold.  In heat guaranteed to bring on heat exhaustion - which he suffered though at one point.  He'd nightly call his friends to tell them he was going to quit just so they'd tell him why he shouldn't, why he couldn't - so he could then motivate himself to get up and do it for one more day.  There were times when his son had to help lift him out of bed and help him walk.  Then he'd start running and somehow find the will to continue.

In the end, five million steps later, Terry and his oldest son, Chris - the only one to complete the journey with him - ran together into Atlanta.  In all that time, after all those miles, Terry still looked like Santa Claus running down the street.  I think he actually gained weight, not lost it from beginning to end.  Oddly enough, he's much slimmer now years after the brutal trek.

Narrated by Billy Bob Thorton, this is a remarkable film about a wholly remarkable man.  Director, Tim VandeSteeg, and producer Mark Castaldo have insightfully pulled  together interviews, photos, and archival footage to detail this one man's incredible physical, mental and emotional journey.

Terry was at the screening I attended.  He said he still felt fine other than some knee pain once in a while.  I had the pleasure of an on-camera quick interview with him and a much longer one with director VandeSteeg and producer Castaldo which I'll put up soon.

Honestly, I have never seen a more courageous and completely insane performance by any human being.  It's totally impossible and yet it was done.  Terry Hitchcock is the epitome of what is humanely possible when you bend your will to a task, no matter how the odds are stacked against you.  Kudos to the filmmakers for bringing it to the screen.

See "My Run" at your first opportunity when it hits the theaters  - I promise you will not believe it.

Movie website HERE

Terry Hitchcock's website HERE

Interview video HERE

I also attended "The Sicilian Girl" ( "La Siciliana Ribelle") later in the evening.  Based on true events in 1991 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy, where dozens of mafiosa henchmen were brought to trial, it was both a very compelling film and a frustrating one.  

17-year-old Rita Atria watched her father and brother being murdered by the mob in her village in Sicily and decided to turn state's evidence against the mob for revenge.  

The mob was obviously not pleased with this and tried to have her killed on several occasions.  Even witness protection and high security wasn't enough against these mobsters who wanted her death to ensure her silence.

At its core, we've seen this movie many times.  What separates this film is not only the true nature of the events but the courageous and firey character of Rita, ably portrayed by Veronica D'Agostino. It seemed, tragically, that the young child who saw her father gunned down in the city square never had a destiny beyond one of pain and sorrow.  This symbolically extends to the theme of being born into emotional and physical slavery in a place where the La Cosa Nostra - any gang really - exists.

And yet, Rita didn't bend to their will; she ultimately provided a means for the citizens of her village to fight and win a measure of victory against the murderers and thugs who arbitrarily controlled who lived and who died.

The frustrating part of the movie was the ending.  I won't reveal how it resolves but it seemed so quick and anti-climactic that I wondered if I had missed something.

"The Sicilian Girl" is at times a powerful film but ultimately, I would have liked a bit more understanding of the young girl's journey.  European filmmaking is different than American so there's that but I never truly got the sense that Rita had a fear of reprisals.  I missed the "moment" where she decides on this doomed path that you would have seen clearly detailed in an American film. I can't imagine she would not have been emotionally shattered by what she was doing and yet a lot of that was soft-pedalled by the storyline.

Also, Rita's gangster father was a mystery in many ways as was her mother who apparently never loved her and constantly fought her over everything.  Maybe some of this was cultural - I am of Italian heritage but I am not an Italian native so perhaps I missed some nuances that a native would get.  Still, it seemd that some core emotional threads felt like they were missing here and it led to me not getting much of a real jolt from this film which details a life lived in darkness and despair.

"The Sicilian Girl" is a good film with bravura performances from all.  But get a bit of the backstory first to fill in the gaps - I think it helps.

Okay, so student films aren't brilliant, ultra-clean, well-acted productions like professional films.  That's a given.  On budgets less than dinner for four, the productions often suffer from no production money, too little time, too little experience and perhaps a bit too much youthful hubris.

But the energy...oh, my - what a treat to watch the young filmmakers fairly vibrating with enthusiasm and adrenalin (but trying to look chill) as they participated in the after-screening Q&A.

This afternoon at the Regency South Coast Village Theater, film and video coordinator Scott Broberg from Orange Coast College presented the OCC film department's slate of films that were finalists in the entry process for the Newport Beach Film Festival.

The Burglar | Eddie Granado 2009 - nothing is as it seems.
The Shopping Cart Diaries | Steven Reyes, Greg Vander Velde, Mark Day 2009 - the sad truth about shopping carts. 
Apex of Illusion | Richie Laruffa, David Ludwig 2009 - drugs are bad - or maybe you're just insane. 
Parkour | Gustav Sandegard 2009 - documentary about the street sport of leaping and somersaulting through the urban environment.
Photo Project | Alexandre Goyette 2009 - don't find your roommate on Craigslist.
The Warlock of Black Star Canyon | Will Gabriel 2009 - documentary on a legendary oddball family living in SoCal's Black Star Canyon. 
A Week's Worth | Rachel Gist 2009 - a countdown to death.
Soaking Anger | Duy Nguyen 2009 - do not ever steal a dude's laundry - especially when he's forgotten his Prozac. 
Greener | Hannah Barnick 2009 - taking a chance on life's other road.

Although many of the films suffered from a lack of narrative cohesion, the productions were well-done and solidly received by the near sell-out crowd.  Instead of worrying overly much about telling a complete and/or emotionally compelling story, many of the filmmakers opted to just present a "vision" - a moment in time.

The documentarians never quite achieved a "slant" - in other words, I didn't quite catch what they were trying to illuminate with their work but all were intriguing.  Some may say that the job of a documentarian is just to capture the moments - but really, it is so much more than that and almost all documentaries are biased by the way they're put together.   But from a hermit-type in Black Star Canyon to sad little shopping cart moments, the concepts for the films were solid and definitely bode well for these filmmakers.  

The non-documentary films were varying degrees of funny, scary and sad.  Some truly powerful moments captured and filtered through the words and images of these filmmakers who take the OCC class on film production in a vocational-type setting.  Broberg explained: "We want to give the film students an opportunity to learn their craft through hands-on experience so they're ready for professional work in the industry."  I'm sure they all will someday soon.

Congratulations to all the OCC bright stars who shone this afternoon at the Regency Theater.

OCC Film has their 40th Annivesary gala coming up on May 22nd.  There's also various Facebook pages for information (here)

A video interview with coordinator Scott Broberg will follow shortly on our YouTube Page (here)

Please support these students and the college - they are the future of film and the future does indeed look bright.

World premiers - now just how many of those do we get to go to?  Tonight, the Regency South Coast Village Theater was host to the Newport Beach Film Festival showing of surf documentary "The Westsiders" which was premiering for the first time anywhere.  

I'm an Ohio native - basically landlocked except for Lake Erie.  I played in plenty of lakes when I was a kid but surfing?  Nada.   Zero.  No interest.  I am a huge fan of biolgraphical documentaries however and this film does not disappoint.  

Covering the years from approximately the mid-80's to the present day, the film details the lives of legendary surfers Darryl “Flea” Virostko, Shawn “Barney” Barron, and Jason “Ratboy” Collins from Santa Cruz, CA.  I had no idea who those men were when I sat down but I know now how difficult and twisting their journey was to surfing superstardom.  Directed by Joshua Pomer and narrated by Rosanna Arquette the film is both a love story and cautionary tale.  Pomer, a childhood friend of the three and a well-known surf director, had tons of archival footage to draw from and seemingly total access to all the people in these men's lives and to the men themselves.  It's so rare to have the luck and insight to be making home movies of legends before they were such.

This from the synopsis:

Best friends Darryl “Flea” Virostko, Shawn “Barney” Barron, and Jason “Ratboy” Collins bonded in the icy cold waters of Santa Cruz as kids in the 1980s. Joined by their common tragedies and love of surfing, they supported each other through shattered homes, drug addiction, psychological challenges and hardcore localism. In order to earn their stripes as surfers, they were forced to join The Westsiders, a local surf gang, and go face-to-face with Vince Collier, aka “The Godfather.”
 

What I never understood about surfing - at least this type of surfing - is how competitive and rigorous it was.  I knew the lean, muscular bodies meant an athelete but the guys went so far beyond that, pushing and challenging themselves to be better as certainly as any Russian coach ever pushed a Nadia or a Tatiana. 

The teenage lifestyle of these true California natives was both sad and energizing.  Left to themselves they did little else but party and cause mischief; but they also had ample opportunity to surf - every day, hours on end.  It formed the basis of both their future trouble and glory.

Also, they really created a family who supported and raised themselves to adulthood albeit for some still a dysfunctional adulthood.  In lieu of sometimes missing or irrelevant parents, they formed bonds that have lasted a lifetime and continue to give them strong roots.

The film is told with live interviews with family, friends and loved ones, and video Pomer shot himself of the guys as teenagers, archival surf footage and news clips.  It moves with the strength and leisure of the ocean itself.  Pomer has put together a truly wonderful documentary only losing the narrative thread a few times to what seemed to me to be odd side journeys. 

The surf footage ranges from the black and white to stunning color.  The DLP projector at the Regency certainly was put to good use tonight.  Pomer's surf footage was jaw-dropping - miraculous in some instances with a steady eye on the young men as they were doing the seemingly impossible atop and inside twenty-five foot waves.

The Q&A afterward featured almost everyone from the film but it wasn't exactly electrifying.  Too bad.  This could have been one helluva interesting panel discussion because the theater was sold out, packed with friends and fans.

Both I and Lennexe Productions owner Eric Hensman enjoyed it and were moved by it.  Big ups for this one and whoever on the Newport Beach Film Festival staff chose it.

Today started early(ish) at a screenwriting seminar that was well attended.  I won't cover it here since another member is going to do a write up.  

Afterwards, several of us had lunch and someone commented about the quality of the films, which to this point had been uneven to this point.

I think that's to be expected in a festival.  Many of these productions don't have the huge machines behind them that even smaller films out of Hollywood enjoy - like some of the boutique imprints that most studios support.

In my mind, a festival like this is for experiments.  These films wouldn't be here if they were instantly commercially viable.  Many of these filmmakers used their own money to make these films because Hollywood either didn't believe in their work or the filmmakers had no conduit to the "legit" production companies.  Let's not forget that movies - even bad ones - don't happen by accident.  There are several film market events that take place during the year where film is bought and sold and that points to an entire process that most of us never see or are aware of.  The studios only put out a few hundred films a year - there's thousands released and distributed, including to cable and the networks.

I didn't love "Crash" but it did terribly well once it hit the streets.  It was premiered at the Newport Beach Film Fesitval.  It is an exception.  But maybe something like "Five Star" the featured film on gala night will do the same thing as "Crash" and hit the big time.  Maybe one of the small films on the slate at the festival will catch the imagination of the public, like "Paranormal Activity" did and make film history.

That's the point.  And given all this, uneven is to be expected.

But if no films from the film festival ever break through the festival and filmmakers would still be a massive success since the films were made (a huge accomplishment) and seen in venues like The Island and The Regency Theaters.  Getting just a screening is major news.  And on the other end, getting as many entries as NBFF got shows that it has some clout.

So celebrate your fellow filmmakers and attend a movie or two.  You might just catch someone on the way up.

I'm off to another film - more after that is finished and a review of the film.