Hit and Runway

Pornography is rather like trying to find out about a Beethoven symphony by having somebody tell you about it and perhaps hum a few bars.
-- Robertson Davies

Wednesday, May 26, 1999
One year ago: God Said, "Ha!"
Two years ago: Wide Wonder of Broadway

I'm still going through an aggravating time at work. After our product shipped a few months ago, the sub-team that I'm on just disintegrated -- we report to a different person now, our two developers took new positions without being replaced yet, our tester was re-org'd away and then went on maternity leave. We tried to switch to a new build process at that time, which we probably shouldn't have. Because of this, I've just lost that easy feeling of trust and confidence in the process that I had before.

But I was saying to the other program manager on the team, if we are at our nadir, than the only way is up! Conditions must improve if they can't get worse, right?

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I drove home via I-90 (longer but not as congested), parked (not easy with gas-main-related street digging disrupting parking for blocks around), than walked down to Broadway. I took the bus north for a few blocks. What a luxury having a free bus pass is! The driver was funny, doing a disc jockey voice. "It's thirtythree past the hour, and yes, this bus is heading for the U-district." I was surprised that he repeatedly urged all those with tranfers and passes to exit via the rear doors -- no need for him to see them! I guess this is one way to expedite rider flow if the bus is running late. But anyone who felt like it, could ride for free that way.

I stopped into a small, independent convenience store to pick up some candy on my way to the theater. I had a wrap sandwich with me, but I needed the sweet stuff, too. (The sandwich turned out to be nasty, and I ate only a few bites.) I was surprised to see that this kind of store is now a huge outlet for porn! There was a rack for normal magazines near the front door, which had about six titles like Time, or People. Then there was a long rack paralleling the beverage coolers that contained a slew of porn mags and videos, something for every taste and preference, I think! This surprised me!

• Autumn Tale
  (IMDB page for this film) An Eric Rohmer story, last of a series of "seasonal" tales. Rohmer's movies are usually about a lot of people talking. This one even had some sitcom elements when a friend goes to some extremes to set another friend up romantically. I liked the cast, there was beautiful scenery, and this did hold my attention.

• Date Wine
  (IMDB page for this film) The literal English title for this Egyptian film is "Sweat of the Palms," so I guess I understand why they changed it! This was my first walkout for the festival. Confusing, annoying story about a young man who is the only grown male left in the village, when all the other men go off to the city to work. This may have been symbolic, but if so, I didn't understand the symbolism. A gruesome circumcision scene, lots of shouting and running about, weird production values, all combined to make me suggest to film buddy A----- that we should leave.

A--- and I were relieved to get out of there. He laughed and laughed when I mentioned that the main character in Date Wine reminded me too strongly of the idiot in "Such a Long Journey." I wanted to get something to eat in the time we had before the next movie, so we stopped at the piroshky store on Broadway. In addition to my usual bacon, ham, cheddar and green onion piroshky, I had some sort of dessert, cheese-cake style, that had sweetened fluffy curds in pastry. It was good!

We had plenty of time to stand around inside the hall for the next show, talking with other moviegoers. I'd heard good buzz about "Hit and Runway," but I hadn't gathered that it featured some gay characters. One of the folks I was talking to said, "I see the boys are out tonight." I looked around, and sure enough, there were quite a few gay men in the house. Warren (the Cinema Seattle membership director) chatted entertaingly with the crowd while he was stalling to delay the beginning of the movie (because shows at other venues had run long). He pulled four cell-phone owners up on stage and quizzed them on why they needed a cell phone, then reminded all of us to turn off the ringing during the movie!

• Hit and Runway
  (IMDB page for this film) This story of odd-couple aspiring screenwriters had good word of mouth beforehand, and it was very funny, with only a few false notes. Italian-American slacker Alex collaborates with Jewish, nerdy Elliot on an action/adventure thriller with comedy. "He's an international model who's secretly a cop!" says Alex about their main character, to be played by the current big action star. Points to me for calling the big revelation about the action star, several scenes before it actually happened. I hope this gets reasonable distribution. It's very enjoyable, but falling between genres (gay movie, buddy comedy) may make it tough to sell. The screenwriting team admitted that the main characters are based on themselves.