The Orange County Screenwriters Association
Be Inspired, Do Good Work
I desperately need your help fixing a Sony Digital 8 tape. Something jammed, and the tape didn't continue on it's normal path, so I got an error code on the camera. I was able to eject the tape, and re-roll the extra tape back into the cassette. Now, it won't play. I get a Sony Error Code of C:31:23, and I tried the different things on the online forums. Nothing worked.
I have reason to believe that the problem is with the tape itself, and not my camera since other tapes work fine. Now, I just need help fixing the tape. I believe that something on the tape itself has to be reset or re-spooled. I just don't know how to do it.
Any help you can provide would be appreciated. I will be seeing if Cal's Camera in Costa Mesa can fix it on Wednesday.
For those of you who were there, and those of you who weren't here are some highlights from the J. Michael Straczynski event held last Satuday, May 22.
Please let me know what you think of the video. Some initial comments include that it's a little too long, which I kind of agree with. I'm debating cutting it down to a minute, but any other feedback is welcome. See it here.
This is a series of articles designed for getting to know the people of OCSWA.
Raymond Obstfeld is one of our board members whose impact is felt at every level of this organization. He's been a source of inspiration, guidance and help to me for many, many years and I consider him a great friend both personally and professionally. He works harder than any ten human beings I know. Just one reason why he's so successful.
A Q&A follows this article on his work.
Raymond published his first novel when he was 24. His second novel, Dead Heat, was nominated for an Edgar by the Mystery Writers of America.
Forty books and a dozen screenplays later, Raymond is still going strong.
Although he has published extensively under his own name, he has also written under the pseudonyms Pike Bishop (the Western series, Diamondback), Jason Frost (the futuristic series Warlord), Carl Stevens (a mystery series), and Don Pendleton (the Executioner series).
However, Raymond achieved his greatest success writing as Laramie Dunaway (Hungry Women, Borrowed Lives, and Lessons in Survival). His Dunaway books have been published around the world from England to Korea. His award-winning young-adult novel, Joker and the Thief, has also been published in several countries.
As a screenwriter, Raymond adapted his novel Dead Heat for Michael Keaton and
his novel Warlord for Arnold Schwarzenegger and Robert Hamner. His original scripts have all been optioned. These include various genres, from romantic comedy (Mr. Moonlight) to caper-comedy (Foolproof) to teen action (The Joker and the Thief) to cop dramas (Tangled Up in Blue and Gambol’s Luck).
He has rewritten original screenplays for Paramount (Sword Fight) and Don “the Dragon” Wilson (Whatever It Takes). Most recently he has rewritten the scripts Whackers and Robodog for Thornbush Entertainment. His adaptation of his novel, Joker and the Thief, is being developed by Chartoff Productions (Raging Bull, Rocky).
He is also very active writing non-fiction. Aside from his many articles in Writer's Digest (where he is a Contributing Editor), he has published two instructional books on writing, including The Novelist’s Essential Guide to Crafting Scenes and Fiction First Aid (Writer’s Digest Books). In addition, he has several books due in the coming years, including What God Wants: What the World’s Major Religions Teach about Today’s Most Controversial Issue, SpiritWise: The Moral Teachings of Native Americans, and Black Op (previously optioned by Morgan Freeman). Four books have been written for Lucent Books: Napoleon Bonaparte, Moby-Dick: Critical Essays, The Renaissance and Nations in Transition: India.
He has recently co-written a book for Los Angeles Laker legend Kareen Abdul Jabar and is continuing to work with other celebrities on various co-writing projects and to develop his original projects both screenplays and novels.
Raymond Obstfeld is a founding board member of The Orange County Screenwriters Association.
Q&A With Raymond Obstfeld:
1) Tell us a little about your background and how you came to writing.
I started writing when I was 14. I wrote plays at first, very melodramtic stories with tragic endings and social commentary. Then I switched to poetry. When I saw how much the girls at school were impressed by the fact that I wrote poetry (never mind the quality), I realized I had found my calling.
2) You're quite accomplished in several different mediums. Is it difficult to write successfully in each of those different mediums?
If by successful you mean make money then yes, it's difficult to be successful in any of them. My success in various fields of writing is not a reflection of talent as much as it is of passion. I love writing, but I love a lot of different genres, from Westerns to martial arts to literary novels. I also love television and movies. Having a passion for whatever you're writing is a big step toward becoming successful.
3) Is it harder to write a script or a novel? For you? In general?
They're both the same level of difficulty. The novel is a marathon race, the script is a sprint. Each is exhausting, but the novel demands a long-term commitment. And it screws with you over time. Because it takes longer, the novel forces you to question yourself a lot; it preys on your insecurities. The script is more like writing a poem than writing fiction because it's all about images and powerful moments.
4) What movies would be on your deserted island list?
The Hustler, Cool Hand Luke, The Third Man, Hannah and Her Sisters, Kung Fu Hustle, Shaun of the Dead, The Wild Bunch, Rockford Files, My So-Called Life, Wonderfalls, Northern Exposure, House and many, many more.
5) What books?
What Makes Sammy Run, Moby Dick, The Catcher in the Rye, all of Peter de Vries, all of Castle Freeman, Jr., a lot of Elmore Leonard, All My Friends Are Going to Be Strangers, short stories of Lorrie Moore, Dark Places and Sharp Objects (both by Gillian Flynn), etc.
6) You've been both a successful novelist and screenwriter for many years. How have you seen those industries change over the years?
Everything changes and those who are around long enough always think things are changing for the worse. Adapt or die.
7) What's the best advice you can give a beginning writer?
They're just words on a page. Everything you write is crap at first. Don't worry about that because you can keep changing the words until you find the ones you like. Also, discipline trumps talent; the person who writes every day will be more successful than the person who can turn out 20 brilliant pages without even trying. That's because that person can't finish anything, can't endure the rejection and self-doubts. That person will quit. The disciplined writer will just keep going--and get better and better.
8) What's coming up for you?
I have a children's book coming out that I co-wrote with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. And the documentary based on On the Shoulders of Giants (co-written with Kareem) is coming out in February 2011. I co-wrote (with Kareem) the original script for that, though it has been rewritten since then by the very talented Anna Waterhouse (my sometime scriptwriting partner). My novel, Lessons in Survival, has been adapted as a movie which I'm told was recently funded. A Christmas script I wrote is at Paramount and they've made an offer to a famous actress to star in it. My novel, Anatomy Lesson, is in some stage of development as a TV series. I'm writing a young adult novel that I'm happy about. Today. Might feel otherwise tomorrow.
ed. note: Raymond has also done script work on a new movie called FINDING BLISS which opens in NY on June 4 and in LA on June 11 and stars Leelee Sobieski and Matt Johnson.
On Thursday, May 27th, the UCI Film and Video Center will present:
"Screenwriter's Choice" series, in association with the UCI Screenwriting Festival:
THELMA AND LOUISE, directed by Ridley Scott
(U.S., 1991, 120 min., 35mm print)
with award-winning screenwriter Callie Khouri, introduced by Marie Cartier
Reception: 6:30 p.m. at the entrance to Humanities Instructional Building 100
Screening: 7 p.m. HIB 100
Admission: non-FMS Students: $3, Seniors $5, General $6
Oscar and Golden Globe winning screenwriter, Callie Khouri, made her writing debut with THELMA AND LOUISE in 1991, and since then has come to serve on the board of directors of the Screenwriters Guild of America. Her directorial debut was in June 2002 with DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YA-YA SISTERHOOD, which she also adapted for the screen. Most recently, Ms. Khouri finished directing her second feature film, MAD MONEY (2008), starring Diane Keaton, Queen Latifa, Katie Holms and Ted Danson. Ms. Khouri's visit to UCI is made possible in part with funding from the UCI Department of Film & Media Studies.
Saturday we gathered to hear one of the most prolific and versatile writers of our time.
J. Michael Straczynski, aka JMS, aka Joe, put aside his crushing deadlines and came to the Regency South Coast Village Theater to take the stage and make us think, make us laugh, and make us feel good about being filmmakers.
Most of the time I can't be totally impartial since I'm usually doing the Q&As. Joe and I sparred for about 30 minutes and then I let him loose with a wireless mike and his considerable wit, and I joined the audience to listen and enjoy. He kept us in stitches for nearly two hours, talking about everything from religion to Ahab (a funny story about a studio exec and his inability to figure out who that "Ahab character" was in the script.)
You just cannot imagine the scope of JMS's career. Here are the highlights:
JMS had a play produced at 17, a sitcom produced at 21, and sold his first movie script at 24. By the age of 28, he had credits that included television and film scripts, radio scripts for Alien Worlds, a dozen plays, and more than 150 newspaper and magazine articles. He had also been teaching for several years at various lectures and seminars in California and elsewhere.
Straczynski has also been a journalist, reviewer, and investigative reporter - all in all publishing over 500 articles with the Los Angeles Times, the
Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, Writer's Digest, Penthouse, San Diego Magazine, Twilight Zone Magazine, the San Diego Reader, the Los Angeles Reader and Time.
Perhaps his best known work is Babylon 5 - he wrote 92 out of Babylon 5's 110 episodes, as well as the pilot and five television movies. He wrote the outlines for nine of the Babylon 5 novels, personally supervised the three produced B5 telefilm novelizations Jeremiah, writing 19 of the 35 episodes.
Comics and graphic novels - approx 60.
Radio dramas: Alien Worlds for the Mutual Radio Network, The City of Dreams for scifi.com The Adventures of Apocalypse Al.
And so on.
His awards include 
two Hugo Awards and a nomination for a third, a Nebula, the Ray Bradbury Award, a Saturn Award, the Eisner Award, the Inkpot Award, Eagle Award, BAFTA Award nomination best screenplay for "Changeling."
Babylon 5 received multiple awards and nominations during his tenure as executive producer. including two Emmy Awards
How in the world does any one man accomplish all that not burn out? He told us - because he's still in love with what he does. And it shows because he still continues to dominate the writing world, now as an A-list writer of features.
Joe is charming, funny, gracious and as whipsmart as anyone I've ever met. His visit was a total experience in that he also stayed long after and signed anything anyone put in front of him.
There was only one, brief disagreeable moment (on both his and my part) when he publicly chastised us as if we were his production crew (and not his hosts) for the sizzle reel we put together. Tsk, tsk. Joe, next time just talk to me privately - no reason to take that anywhere else. But beside that everyone in that theater loved him and his great spirit.
I have been a casual fan of JMS but now I am a fanboy of the nth degree of both him and his work. I hope we'll be able to get him back someday - this time with a sizzle reel that he likes.
Also on the program were two more consumate pros, radio personality Manny Pacheco and journalist Gray Lycan.
Pacheco has written a really cool tabletop book called "Forgotten Hollywood, Forgotten History" that details actors and movies that both reflected and had an impact on our world.
Gary Lycan, an OC journalist of note, wrote the forward to the book. Both had great and insightful things to say about Hollywood yesterday and today and why an understanding of Hollywood history is crucial for anyone working in the business now. In point of fact, both Manny and JMS had exactly the same message about how important story is to all forms of entertainment.
It was a fun, informative and exciting morning and afternoon. Those who missed it missed the chance to hear one of the finest speakers on writing that I have ever heard.
For more information on Manny Pacheco's book, go here.
Gary Lycan's column appears in the Orange County Register.
photos courtesy of Tom Sullivan and Rudy Garcia
Frank Frazetta has died. An artist of immense talent, he came to prominence on the basis of illustrations done for the Robert E. Howard Conan the Barbarian novels and other scifi and fantasy work.
Frank Frazetta's artistry never failed to inspire me. He had a truly unique voice. His work spoke of worlds that existed on the edges of our universe. He perfectly captured the look and gritty feel of the stories contained in the books he illustrated and yet he said he never read those books. Rather he found his stunning style from somewhere within himself.
Frazetta was always drawing it seemed. At the age of eight his parents enrolled him in the Brooklyn Academy of Fine Arts. His teachers recognized his talent to such an extent that one wanted to send him to Europe to further his studies using his own money. But the teacher died, the school closed and Frazetta was forced to find work to earn a living.
At 16, Frazetta started drawing for comic books. Hollywood soon tapped him to do
several "one-sheets" the posters that they use to advertise films including Woody Allen's first film, "What's New Pussycat?
His Conan covers began to garner him a lot of notice as he redefined what a fantasy book cover should look like; he was also assigned to do some Edgar Rice Burroughs books as well. These and the Conan covers became the calling card of a man whose work could be defined as original and genre-bending even then.
Among his book covers and comic books, he did an animated movie for Ralph Bakshi ("Fire and Ice") and also several album covers including for rockers Molly Hatchet and Nazareth.
Frazetta's work has inspired entire generations of illustrators including Boris Vallejo and Yusuke Nakano, a lead artist for Nintendo's "Legend of Zelda" series.
Zack Snyder recently mimicked Frazetta's work to help him create a unique look for the movie "300."
Fantasy director Guillermo del Toro said "He gave the world a new pantheon of heroes. He took the mantle from J. Allen St. John and Joseph Clement Coll and added blood, sweat and sexual power to their legacy.... He somehow created a second narrative layer for every book he ever illustrated."
Exactly.
To give you a sense of how important an artist Frazetta is, a recent original oil of his Conan work sold at auction for a million dollars - while he was still alive.
I have always been a Frazetta fan. I couldn't help but to be transported when I looked into the rich tapestries he drew. Worlds of fire and dragons and men with muscles that buldged and women whose breasts nearly broke their bodices and rough leather clothing. Vallejo, another fav of mine, lost me when he changed his style two decades ago but Frazetta never did - I can look at his early work and latter work and still get the same viceral thrill.
No visual artist has affected me and my writing more than Frank Frazetta. Just as 
certain music and movies can take me to places I've never been, the creatures, worlds and characters that Frazetta created had a lasting impact on me and directed my work when I started writing and that influence continues strongly to this day.
When I write what my inner eye sees, most of the time that inner eye is reflecting something Frazetta created.
I have copies of his artwork everywhere and when I need inspiration, to go to another world, another dimension, I pick one up and I am gone to those worlds fighting dragons and demons with massive broadswords and making love to buxomy women who would just as soon kill you as kiss you.
Frank, may you always ride two-headed dragons, embrace doe-eyed women with sharp knives and pouty mouths, and fight the good fight against impossible foes.
You will be sorely missed.
OCSWA friend Kevin Sorbo's inspiring and funny new film coming soon.
What If...God gave you another chance?
Fifteen years ago, Ben Walker (Sorbo) made a decision to leave his college sweetheart Wendy (Kristy Swanson), and ultimately his faith, in order to pursue a lucrative business opportunity. Now on the verge of marriage to an equally materialistic fiance, he is visited by an angelic mechanic (John Ratzenberger) who tells him that he needs to see what his life would have been like had he followed God’s calling. Suddenly, Ben finds himself married to Wendy with two daughters, including a rebellious teen (Debby Ryan), getting ready for church on a Sunday morning, where he’s scheduled to give his first sermon as the new pastor.
Website/trailer here
In “I Am Love” (Io Sono L’amore), Tilda Swinton plays Emma, the matriarch of a rich bourgeois Italian family. Wooed from her native Russia by Tancredi (Pippo Delbono), the heir of a Milanese textile fortune, she becomes his perfect wife and ideal mother to their children. She’s trim, stylish, controlled, yet warm; she keeps everyone around her on their mark, she plans family gatherings with precision, she councils wisely. Still, despite outward appearances there’s something unsettled in her.
Although she fully embraces the Italian culture (she speaks the language impeccably, she knows her place in male/female protocol), she remains an outsider and seems unfulfilled. This yearning enables her to understand and accept her daughter, Betta’s (Alba Rohrwacher) newly discovered gay sexuality. It also allows for her own lusty awakening as she falls for her son, Eduaordo’s (Flavio Parenti) best friend, Antonio (Edoardo Gabbriellini).
Under Antonio’s spell, Emma is taken down and stripped raw. He cuts her hair; arouses the peasant in her. She experiences pleasure in a new and potent way. The film swells and crescendos melodramatically and careens toward Edoardo’s shocked discovery of his mother’s affair after which tragedy strikes. John Adams’ bold orchestral score accompanies the trajectory of love and tragedy with operatic intensity, driving the pace of the action of the film to a feverish pitch. The music almost becomes as strong a voice as any other character.
Writer-director Luca Guadagnino subtly infuses the film with an undercurrent of
religiosity. He gives us ceremonial and ritualistic depictions of opulent meals as if they were modern day high masses and then strikes us with the unspoken penitential sentence of death in answer to Emma’s adultery. Despite the changes of mores in modern Italian culture, these powerfully ingrained themes still emerge as very much a part of their story telling.
Cinematographer Yorick Le Saux’s palate aptly takes us from the gray chilled Milan to the bright hot Sanremo in parallel to Emma’s transformation from cool isolation into fiery passion.
There’s a lot to admire in this film--no one could better inhabit Emma’s journey that Swinton, but it somehow unravels at the end with Tancredi’s abrupt and brutal excommunication of her. It’s not the utter tragedy of the situation that unsatisfies, it’s the manner in which it’s delivered. The story becomes too truncated. We’ve sat patiently through a very slow build up and then we’re unceremoniously dropped on our heads without so much as an explanation. Just as Emma would never send her guests away without dessert, we, as, viewers, shouldn’t be sent away without a proper explanation.
"I Am Love" is directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Luca Guadagnino (story), Luca Guadagnino (screenplay) & Barbara Alberti (screenplay) &
Ivan Cotroneo (screenplay) & Walter Fasano (screenplay)
I’ll give it a 7. The orange isn’t quite ripe, it’s still a bit tart.
This is something I wrote for my blog journalistbynite, but as I progress in this crazy dream of mine...I figure I should start posting some stuff here. All comments are welcome.
Since I was a child in San Jose, I've been obsessed with the entertainment industry. Anything that could be on a stage or a screen I was into. Lately, it's been journalism and this post explains how my dream came to be.
This dream probably began with all the news and magic shows I saw on TV, with David Copperfield and Lance Burton. I did that as a little kid doing magic tricks, and inviting all the neighbor kids to watch. In the fourth grade, I was a candy-cane in a production of the Nutcracker. In fifth grade, I ran the lights and sound board for a play about the Electric Sunshine Man. In junior high, it was Anne of Green Gables, put on by the English teacher. In high school, it was too many plays, musicals, and school rallies to count. In high school the magic stopped (because it wasn't as cool), and I concentrated on juggling. High school was also where I learned about the wonders of TV.
Everyday for five minutes, the school's announcements were put on TV for the entire high school to see. During my freshman year, I passed by the "studio" everyday after my computer class. It had "ON AIR lights," and everything. I would stay by the door as students who were running it were finishing up. One day, I got invited in. I saw all the wires, all the controls, and all the TV monitors. That was an amazing place. Eventually, I worked my way up, and waited for the other students to graduate. Then it was my turn. As a senior, I was finally in charge. I loved everything behind the camera, but could never bring myself to be in front of it.
I got involved with a lot of other video and theater projects some for class, some not. But I could never shake that feeling of a live show. Sometime during my senior year, I decided that TV news is what I wanted to do for a career. Also during that time, a show titled "Sports Night" was airing on ABC. It was about all the antics that go on just before a nightly sports show. That's what did it. The news business was for me. I wanted to be a TV news producer.
Although I was involved with all kinds of videos, theater, and the daily TV show. I settled on broadcasting/journalism/TV because I loved the idea of a daily show. I thought that theater didn't pay enough, and movies and TV shows were too difficult to get into. More on this later.
In 2002, I began studying engineering at UCI. I was initially an electrical engineer, but after almost failing out...I switched to civil engineering. Yeah, I know it's a far cry from the world of TV news...and...broadcasting. I never really wanted to be an engineer, but under family pressures and the thought about failing or not having a job...that's what ended up happening.
In 2007, I graduated with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering, and landed a sweet job as a traffic engineer. To tell you all the truth, I actually liked it. If I didn't always like the work, I liked what they were paying me. Plus imagine being 23, and getting a signing bonus right out of college. I had never made that much money during my entire life.
However, it was money that caused another family argument. With that argument and the recession worsening early in 2008, I decided that it was time to go for my broadcasting dream. As I began researching different degree programs, I determined that the local community college would be my best option for the time being. So far, I've been happy with it. I work as an engineer on most days, and then go to school on my days off or at night (hence the journalism by night theme). I've been able to network a little bit, scored an internship that's flexible with me, and have just been learning. It's been an amazing ride so far.
So far, through my experiences, I've met all kinds of people. I've met reporters, news photographers, even executives from the LA Times. I've also met all kinds of people in the entertainment industry. Most everyone that I've come into contact with has been more than helpful or supportive. This why I've come to the conclusion that working on a TV show/movie isn't as hard as people make it out to be. Please don't confuse that with working on a TV show/movie is easy...it is very hard work with very long hours. Just landing your first gig is hard enough. It's hard work, but if you really want it you can do it. I've seen it time and time again.
So for now, I'm an engineer by day and a journalist by nite. It's a great combination, and I can't wait to see where it's going to take me. And that is how my journalistic dream came to be.
Last night at the Regency South Coast Village Theater the Polish Film Fesitval played two stunning films, neither of which is easy to categorize. Sometimes that can be bad but in the case of "My Flesh, My Blood" and "Zero" that is most definitely good.
Imagine the anguish and pathos of "The Wrestler" and the dangerous, raw anger of "Raging Bull" but dialed up and amped times ten.
"My Flesh, My Blood" is a story about a pro middleweight boxer facing the end of his career and the end of his life from too many blows to the head. Unable to articulate his pain through anything but hard sex and violence, the character of Igor (Eryk Lubos) isn't capable of accepting either fate gracefully. He plows into and through things and his life (nicely symbolized by his love of punk clubs and slam dancing) searching for a way to make it make sense again.
Enter Yen Ha (newcomer Luu De Ly in her film debut) who is simply trying to cope
with life as an immingrant in Poland. Wanting only to fit in, learn the language and become a citizen, she hardly seems capable of bringing Igor some measure of peace. But she does. Slowly, inch by painful inch.
Igor presents her with a proposition: become my wife, bear my child and you will gain instant citizenship and everything I own will be yours when I die. Yen Ha accepts but has no idea where that acceptance will ultimately take her.
Igor as played by Lubos is a raw wound being constantly rubbed by the sandpaper of life's paths. His self-destructive ways thwart what he hopes is his attempt to reconcile his previous bad behavior and leave this planet with a legacy beyond his fighting. He is impossible to turn away from and incredibly hard to watch. Yen Ha is a small bobber in Igor's angry seas, lashed by his pain like a hurricane slaming into a small coastal area. She is battered but never quite broken. Luu De Ly's quiet and nuanced performance make what sometimes seems as arbitrary plot decisions work.
I felt like this was 2/3rds of a fantastic film. At a point, the narrative takes a strange and unsatisfying turn and the ending just spins around and around like a lost dog searching for its home. I understood the logic in the turn but I didn't agree with it. The effect was to greatly diminish the strong, dramatic storyline by creating another set of character arcs that hadn't been around up to this point and felt inserted.
I dearly wish the promise of the first, enticing minutes was played out all through the entire film because both Eryk Lubos abd Luu De Ly - who was absolutely stunning in her film debut - create a world that is terribly painful and awkward but also instantly compelling. There is a small measure of hope in every moment the two of them are together - amazing considering how ill-equipped either character is to deal with their lives.
See "My Life, My Blood" if just for the strength of the characters and the performances by the two main actors. But if you can't take your drama real and raw I'd pass on it entirely because this film will definitely affect you.
"My Flesh, My Blood" is directed by Marcin Wrona with a screenplay by Wrona, Grazyna Trela and Marek Pruchniewski
The movie following was "Zero." This is a film that throws all feature film narrative conventions out of the window - to really good effect. Overlong at two+ hours, it begins several different story lines that interweave constantly in interesting ways. It reminded me a bit of the way that soap opera stories are told except for the fact that the transitions and dovetailed stories were so clever and compelling that they surpassed by light years anything similar.
There is no real point to telling you even one complete storyline because they were all fun and interesting - up to a point - with director/writer Pawel Borowski squeezing all the latent potential out of all of them.
But the star of the film was the way it was told - intertwining stories that began, transitioned and increased in intensity and then finally ended for better or for worse.
For instance: a phone call for a takeout sandwich to a shop for an office character becomes a cake chosen by another character in the shop as the order is phoned in. That character, a middle-aged female doctor, takes the cake home to give with tea to her young male prostitute. A knock on the door just as she's getting ready to hook up with the male prostitute (who we see later with his girlfriend) is a door-to-door salesman selling little funny puppets that she doesn't want. The puppet
seller (another story himself) goes to a lonely young girl next door who sadly says that she doesn't have any children to give the puppets to. She then listens through the walls to the middle-aged female doctor moaning in ecstacy which pushes her to flee outside to a park where she then runs into a grandmother walking her grandson who gives her some walnuts. The grandmother and son belong to a different character who we've seen having an affair with...and on and on. The entire movie was done that way.
I lost count of the stories being told. Some of them resolved suddenly and powerfully, some just whimpered to conclusions. The only thing that escaped me was the very last moment where the phone was ringing in this exec's office. I couldn't remember if the film had featured that as part of the opening or not and lost that ending thread. It was hard simultaenously reading the subtitles, taking notes in the dark about the movie, and shushing the bleating idiots across the theater who were talking - they finally shut up but I had missed some parts of the story as I glared and shushed at them. In a story this complicated, that's not good.
I could only stay for the Q&A with the director for a few minutes but he said he got the idea sitting at a coffee shop in a large city in Poland and watching people come and go.
"Zero" was fun and well executed. If it had just been 10-15 minutes shorter it would have been that much better.
The Polish Film Festival continues today (Sunday, May 2,2010) at the Regency South Coast Village Theater INFO HERE
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.
More...
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.
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.