Elvis and Marilyn

When I first heard Elvis's voice I just knew that I wasn't going to work for anybody and nobody was gonna be my boss. Hearing him for the first time was like busting out of jail.
-- Bob Dylan

Friday, May 28, 1999
One year ago: Dirty
Two years ago: The Genius of Memory

I had a one-on-one meeting this afternoon with the new leader of our entire product group. He's doing a series of these, a good idea! especially because he doesn't know all the folks on our side of the group. I realize now that when they first scheduled this for a five o'clock time slot, and I requested an earlier time because I'm working an early schedule during the film festival, that I should have been specific and asked for something like one p.m., or offered to trade with someone. Instead I accepted the three thirty appointment, and then the previous person ran over.

But we had a good meeting, even though I was itching to leave. We talked about what I've done on the team and what I'm doing now. He asked if I had any hard questions for him, but I didn't.

Then I zoomed out of there. I figured if it didn't seem like I could get to the theater in time for five o'clock, I'd go home and go along to the next show at seven fifteen. But I made it, by the skin of my teeth! Luckily, festival buddy A--- has changed his preferred seating area at the Harvard Exit. We now sit in the very back row, because there's a missing row in front of it and we have beaucoup leg room there. So I was able to tell the usher that I knew where there was a seat for me, and it was right there.

• Elvjs & Merilijn
  (IMDB page for this film) This was an Italian/Bulgarian co-production, I think. Two strangers win a look-alike contest in Bulgaria, and the prize is an engagement at a nightclub in Italy! But the journey turns into a hellish road trip. I liked these two dreamers, but the story got too dark at the end.

• Saturn
  (IMDB page for this film) An American independent production, this was the story of a grown son acting as caregiver to his once-strong, now-disabled father. I liked how the young man related to his dad, good-humoredly helping with daily care and talking to him about whatever crosses his mind. I didn't like what was supposed to be the romance of the film, when the young man is picked by a mysterious rich girl who scores heroin with him. I think she was supposed to be a wild, free spirit, but I was just annoyed. They never did explain what the title "Saturn" meant. This was my second walk-out of the festival. I left when the son started doing some "Terms of Endearment" style ranting at supposed mistreatment of his dad by the hospital. I acknowledge that I do have some caregiver issues, since I did that for my parents for the last year and a half of their lives, but I felt the movie went off the rails when it started concentrating on all the Showtime-style (but unerotic) sex scenes and nighttime road trips for the lead and the girl.

I was glad of the break, and had a good time walking on Broadway. Urban Outfitters was having a sale, so I got a pair of hair clips with red velvet ribbon roses, and a concorde-style clip with a line of sparkly crystals on it, both on sale!

• Santitos
  (IMDB page for this film) I'd heard good buzz about this movie earlier, and it turned out to be one of my favorite movies so far! A woman can't accept that her daughter died in a hospital mishap. When St. Jude appears to her, she goes off on a quest to find out what really happened. This sounds like it would be terribly tragic, but it turned out to be tender, funny, and original, as well as being sad. The director sad that the characters would all be recognized by Mexican audiences as based on familiar stereotypes, but that wasn't true for us. A great looking film, with some extraordinary sets.