 |
|
|
 |
Janice Beard
The dignity to be sought in death is the appreciation by others of what one has been in life,... that proceeds from a life well lived and from the acceptance of one's own death as a necessary process of nature.... It is also the recognition that the real event taking place at the end of our life is our death, not the attempts to prevent it.
-- Sherwin B. Nuland
Friday, May 26, 2000
One year ago: Hit and Runway
Two years ago: : God Said, "Ha!"
Three years ago: Wide Wonder of Broadway
Today Arthur (our chief technical analyst, don't forget the "chief") left to fly back to London. It was a worthwhile trip, but because of the Money Show and a lot of work on other parts of the site, we didn't get to concentrate on his stuff as much as when he was here in January.
I talked to Chip about taking some time off next week. At first I was planning to take off next Wednesday, but he suggested I take off next Tuesday (my actual birthday!) as well. But I don't want to be gone for so many days in a row, and I'll want to take off one day in the last week of the film festival, too. So Tuesday it is.
In regard to my first movie of the day, I should have listened to my instincts! When I read the synopsis in the program book, I thought that this wouldn't be good for me. I was the primary caregiver while my mom was dying of cancer in 1989, so stories about people dying of cancer or AIDS or whatever usually don't appeal to me. It isn't that I immediately burst into tears when thinking of that time. It's more that I've already been there, done that. So if they get it right, it's not new to me, and if they get it wrong, I get irritated. I think I forgot that this movie was about that, so when A--- said that he was seeing it, I just went to that theater by default.
- One More Kiss
(IMDB page for this movie) My first walkout of the festival. This isn't a terrible movie, but the topic isn't one that appeals to me (see above). A young Scottish woman (living in New York for no discernable reason, except an opening sequence where she stands on top of a skyscraper contemplating suicide) returns to her hometown after finding that she has brain cancer. She gets in touch with an former lover (now married to someone else) and asks him to go out with her. They go skydiving, walking on the beach, blah, blah. Her father wasn't bad. The characters' attitudes didn't seem very realistic to me. Her dying was like something out of Love Story -- she's smiling throught the tears and being all noble. So I left.
I took the bus downtown and again went nuts at Barnes and Noble, buying three books. When I went up to the theater, I got in line with the passholders, when I suspect I could have gone right in to wait outside the actual theater where the movie would be. While I was waiting, I heard some folks discussing something that A--- had told me about earlier.
There was a movie last night that I didn't stay for, Keep the River on Your Right. This was a documentary about Tobias Schneebaum, an artist and anthropologist who lived with remote tribes in South America, New Guinea, and I don't know where all, during the forties and fifties. Schneebaum, now in his eighties, was present for Q and A after the screening, along with the film maker. Apparently someone up in the balcony was very eager to get his question asked, waving his arm, jumping up and down, and shouting, "Up here!" So he was called on. His vital, insightful query? "When you were in the jungle, did you see any big snakes? Any anacondas or anything?" A----- howled with laughter at this, as did the folks telling the story in line. A---- said he was reminded of my nephew B-----, who is always interested in dangerous creatures.
The theater was packed for Janice Beard, 45 wpm. I sat next to two older ladies (well, they might be ten years older than I am). We fell to chatting, and I explained some of the ins and outs of getting a full series pass to the film festival. It can be confusing! They were also interested in the Palm V I was using. I was actually playing that Hmaki game (see Cabeem, the java version), but I took the opportunity to show them the avantgo version of my work site. They were suitably impressed.
- Janice Beard, 45 wpm
(IMDB page for this film) British. What a funny romp, with a very appealing main character. Janice is a young girl, not a very good typist, who has moved to London from Scotland (in the sixties? or maybe the seventies) and is trying to make enough money to get treatment for her agoraphobic mom. She gets involved with industrial espionage at a small British car manufacturer, about to launch a new line. I really enjoyed how Janice's fantasies and wild stories were incorporated in to the movie. The look of the film was great, too! I think most anyone would really enjoy this.
Actress Eileen Walsh was present at the screening. She said she's really more into theater, when asked what her next movie would be. She also said that the film was having trouble getting distribution (and this also affected the film's success in England) because, she was told, "there've been enough quirky romantic comedies from England lately, so the market is crowded." I think you can never have enough!
It was cold and breezy when I was waiting for the bus, in front of FAO Schwartz. So I hid behind the huge teddybear statue to keep out of the wind.
 |