We Dream Together Teaser

See below for the teaser for our short film "We Dream Together," about a young woman who came to the United States as a child but has no legal immigration status. She is applying for the DACA, which would grant her regular status for two years, but the DREAM Act would offer a long term solution to young Americans like her. We are working hard to finish the film before the upcoming election.

We Dream Together 2013

This project is still in the works, but some of my friends and colleagues have banded together to help form the We Dream Together 2013 collective.  We are a group of Americans who want to do anything we can to help pass the Dream Act in the year 2013.  We are starting out with a campaign to help people understand the issue and to put them in the shoes of an undocumented young person trying to pursue an education and her American Dream.  We have launched our fledgling group with a Facebook page to help gather supporters and we posted our logo today, designed by Venti Hristova.  It's very exciting to be part of something that just spontaneously came together like this.  Can't wait to share our first clip with everyone.  Check out the page and our new logo: http://www.facebook.com/WeDreamTogether2013.

Shutter Island: Boston-related Film Review #2

Found this review in my drafts folder of my iPad and thought I'd add it to the collection.

It might be kind of a stretch, but I'm classing Shutter Island in my Boston film category because it takes place supposedly on an island in the Boston Harbor and because we recently received it on blu-ray from Netflix.  Location is the only thing it will have in common with the others which are mostly Affleck brothers creations.

Martin Scorsese's attempt to create a Kubrick-esque piece of mind-bending film fell a little flat for me.  In general, it was an entertaining film and I like the concept, but something wasn't quite right, despite an wonderful cast including Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Kingsley.

The film begins with US Marshall Edward "Teddy" Daniels (DiCaprio) arriving on Shutter Island, a secure facility for the criminally insane, via ferry. His ostensible purpose, the investigation of the disappearance of a dangerous and delusional patient, but as he admits to his partner, he is really searching for his wife's killer, a man he believes to be interned on the island.  Even this mission begins to give way to a deeper search for the truth as reality begins to become a moving target.  He knows something is not right, but he can't quite figure out what it is.

If dead wife, Leo, and shifting reality ring bells for you, you are not alone.  The themes bear a strange similarity to those in Inception, though the two films are vastly different. Still if you only want to see one, I would highly recommend Inception; I found it far superior (I reviewed it here).

Shutter Island just didn't quite transcend the ordinary. Shutter Island wasn't a bad film, but you hope for better with a combination like Scorsese and DiCaprio.

Beasts of the Southern Wild

 

I saw Beasts of the Southern Wild the other night at The Landmark with some friends from work.  Feeling very "filmy" I have to say I really enjoyed the surrealist Sundance hit.  It's what I would call an intuitive movie; to verbalize much of what goes on in the world of young Hush Puppy, a six-year-old girl who lives with her father in the fictional New Orleans adjacent bayou called The Bathtub, is to trivialize much of what you experience through her eyes.  

The wide-eyed wonder blended with fierce determination and strength of will of young Quvenzhané Wallis is riveting as Hush Puppy and her father played by Dwight Henry, is more three dimensional than the standard tough-love daddy.  The story of the people of The Bathtub is told through the adventures of young Hush Puppy and her daddy, trying to weather a storm that submerges their world in brackish water.  

As we follow their desperate attempt to restore their home and the community of The Bathtub, we feel the obvious Katrina undertones, but nothing feels forced, the story remains foremost in our minds and any political commentary is achieved through the emotional reactions the story elicits.  I don't want to discuss too much of the plot as I feel this is simply a film to be experienced, not analyzed.  I will merely add that in addition to being an entertaining and well written film, it is well cast with unknowns who absolutely look the part, and some of the fanciful, surrealist moments boast beautiful cinematography.  All in all, a good film.  Check out their site for where to catch the film: http://www.beastsofthesouthernwild.com/screenings or wait to catch it on Netflix.

 

Weekend in ABQ

We spent the weekend in Albuquerque, NM with my family, meeting up between Texas and California as they were passing through to camp in Colorado.  We took in the sites, hiked Sandia Peak, and enjoyed some fantastic Mexican food.  It was scorching hot of course, but we had a good time anyway.  Favorite new discovery to beat the heat: Paleteria Michoacana de Paquime, a Mexican ice cream shop with two dozen Mexican flavors of candy-colored popsicles, among other treats.  Favorite view: top of Sandia Peak Tram as a thunderstorm moved in at sunset.
  

Sandia Peak Tram

Albuquerque Botanical Gardens

Amazing Local Bakery

Favorite Discovery: Paleteria Michoacana de Paquime

Marble Brewery: Round of Tasters of their local brews

Hugo: "Love letter to..."

For some reason, I find the phrase "love letter to..." (fill in the blank) highly annoying.  Perhaps because it has become overused.  In any case, I have heard Hugo described as Martin Scorsese's love letter to film.  Gag.  Just writing "love letter to film" sounds so pretentious.  However, I don't want to let that prejudice my opinion of the film, which I finally watched this week.  Despite Scorsese's obsession with Asa Butterfield's blue but not particularly magnetic eyes, and a propensity to shoot him peeking from behind clockwork machinery, I thoroughly enjoyed the film.  I thought it was beautiful and I found the story interesting and engaging, though somewhat hacky at moments.  To me it seemed Scorsese's aim was to convey the imagination and creativity that is poured into making films and to revere the audience who is filled with wonder and delight at their magic.  

Hugo (Asa Butterfield) is the story of a young orphan, who lives in a Paris train station, taking care of and winding all the clocks.  He observes the interactions of the shopkeepers and regulars in the train station, while stealing food and mechanical parts from them, to feed himself and to repair his precious automaton, a mechanical man who draws pictures, discovered by his late father in a museum basement.

He meets Isobelle (Chloë Mauretz) the god-daughter of a shopkeeper in the station who quickly becomes his friend an ally in his quest to repair the automaton.  Hoping to find a last message from his father, Hugo will stop at nothing to repair the automaton, even when he begins to butt heads with Isobelle's god-father Georges Méliès (Ben Kingsley), who sells and repairs toys in his shop.  When Hugo and Isobelle discover an incredible secret about Georges' past, they decide to try to help him, to "fix" him as well as the automaton.

Hugo is certainly easily described by that also overused term "a visual feast."  Gorgeous set extension and visual effects add do the romantic and automatically beautiful location of a Paris train station.  Asa Butterfield's performance was satisfactory and Chloë Mauretz, who I usually like, was good as well, though her British accent was a bit annoying.  While it seems like much of the story might be over the heads of most children, I think there is enough slapstick comedy and spirit of adventure for the average 8-12 year old.  Adults may find parts of it cheesy, but some of the film history is very interesting and I found myself laughing out loud at some of the old silent films from very early days of moving pictures.  Overall, a fun family flick.  Not one of the best movies I've ever seen, but definitely above average.

Los Angeles: a morass of moral ambiguity

My world is full of noises outside of me and my rhythm.  Living in a city requires some sort of religion: an acceptance that some things are outside of your control, but it’s worth it to live in this mecca of culture and ideas.  When your upstairs neighbor is rolling a chair above your head at midnight, or clomping about her apartment in what surely must be 3 inch platform heels, once recites the mantra: “I can walk to the ocean, I can walk to the ocean, I can walk to the ocean,” and self-pity melts into gratitude or at least self-congratulation.  Why do we introverts bother living in the city in the first place?  So we can enjoy the solitude of our tiny book-filled apartments, a solitude made more blissful by the knowledge that we could be at the smoky bar our colleagues tried to drag us to, in an effort to make us more social.  Why indeed, when I know that the only place I’ve ever felt anything even close to “god” was high in the mountains in Colorado, in a completely deserted meadow rimmed with majestically tall trees, and then again encircled by row after row of ever more distant peaks.  But as Jane Austen’s Mary Bennett utters in one of her many moments of pedantic  tedium “society has claims on us all.” 

While she was referring to some dreadfully dreary duty to society to participate, she also unwittingly betrayed her longing for acceptance and approval by said society, a feeling I understand completely.  So while one half of me would probably enjoy a quiet life as a hermit in some remote mountain cabin, the other half longs for interaction and affirmation.  I have always wanted the approval and admiration of my peers, this is no secret I attempt to keep from myself.  It is this desire that binds me to Los Angeles, a city as equally deserving of the nickname the City of  Flowers and Sunshine, as the City of Broken Dreams.  While I know, or rather suspect, that true happiness and peace will come from seeking acceptance and love within myself and sending it outwards, rather than attempting to bring it inwards, I do want to accomplish good, and I do not want to lose my ambition and drive in satisfaction and complacency.  So how to balance this?  Vanity, pride, and a hunger for admiration are such strong motivators, and I think have pushed many people to accomplish great things, of course in conjunction with genuine a love and passion for what they are doing.  Now that I have cloaked my vanity in a noble cause, on to accomplishing said cause without compromising it on the way.  Aye, therein lies the rub...

SXSW Review: Monsieur Lazhar

I have been delinquent in my SXSW reviews but I have to excuse myself by begging Waiting for Lightning whirlwind.  We just finished the DC LA Screening at the Arclight Cinerama Dome this week and it was fantastic.  Now I'm ready to go back and write some reviews about the films I saw in Austin.

I want to start with Philippe Falardeau's Monsieur Lazhar because I think I enjoyed it the most.  A French Canadian film, it felt very French to me in several ways.  First of all, the film seemed to be content to exist in the moment presented, without trying to explain too much of the past (some was necessary) or resolve too much of the future.  It just existed.  I was reading an article on Camus and Sartre the other day and I realized how much this simple approach to storytelling, almost a matter of fact fatalism which is simultaneously oddly optimistic, which I have recognized in so many French films, is in fact the cultural inheritance of the existentialists, whose philosophy pervaded modern French culture in the 1940's and 50's seeping into it's very core.  It was this that I enjoyed about the film, the simple sweetness of the story of a substitute teacher trying to bring a sense of normalcy and eventually happiness to class of middle school students mourning their much beloved teacher.

Monsieur Lazhar (Mohamed Fellag) is a good man, trying to make the situation better for the children in the class and trying to find employment and distraction for himself in his adoptive country as he seeks political asylum, fearing to return to his native Algeria.  Fellag does an excellent job in this role and we completely sympathize with Monsieur Lazhar as a man trying to make a new life while he struggles with a different culture and the shadows of his past.

Monsieur Lazhar's teaching methods are fairly old-fashioned, which causes conflict in this upper middle class, modern Canadian middle school.  As he attempts to connect to the children, he does succeed in reaching Alice (Sophie Nélisse), a direct and perceptive young girl, angered and troubled by their teacher's suicide.  Nélisse is excellent as Alice.  Her pensive, saucer-like eyes and Falardeau's use of simple framing suck you into the character's mind and feelings effortlessly.  Falardeau has done an excellent job of creating a natural, simple, and beautiful story of love, loss, forgiveness, and acceptance.

Prints for Sale on Etsy

I have finally opened my Etsy Shop, Paper Crane Prints, and stocked it with 8x10 prints of some of my work. I have been waiting for some of the craziness of Waiting for Lightning to die down to launch it.  Today, I decided it was an auspicious Tuesday and I might as well do it.  Below is the selection that is for sale at the moment.  If you have requests for photos see elsewhere on the blog, as long as it's tagged "Photos" that means it is my own work and I can do custom prints.  Just send me a message either on Etsy or on the blog.

Temescal Gateway Photo Shoot

I feel like a fish out of water photographing people, at least while they are paying attention to me, but I'm working on getting better at it.  Several weeks ago I went for a shoot with my friend and co-worker Crystal Ackley.  Lucky for me, she has modeled and been on camera as a host for a television show, so it was really a collaboration, making it much easier for me to "direct" in a way.  She wanted to work on expressions and so we focused mostly on sad and pensive expressions.  I think they turned out fairly well, but hopefully we can continue to improve.

Last BBQ Feast: Rudy's BBQ

I picked up Rudy's BBQ up on Jollyville Road and brought it back to the house for a last BBQ feast.  When I was leaving I realized they had built a little shed around a oak tree, which I thought was pretty cool.  But back to the BBQ, extra moist brisket and jalapeno sausage with the usual sides.  So good.  I really like Rudy's but it's not my favorite BBQ place.  That honor probably goes to Snow's in Lexington, but since you can only get Snow's on Saturday mornings and it's an hour and half drive from Austin, I don't get it very often and when there are so many places that are so good in town, it's not always worth planning your travel around a Snow's expedition.  Maybe next time.

More FIlms at SXSW

Thursday I checked out Ernst Lubitsch's classic silent comedy The Oyster Princess with a live score composed and performed by Bee vs. Moth at the Alamo Ritz downtown.  While I liked the idea of live music accompaniment, I didn't really like the music that much.  The film was funny, but I much prefer "talkies" I suppose.  I hustled my dad and brother to the airport and headed back up towards town in time to grab a sub from Thunderclouds before catching Martha Stephens' Pilgrim Song at the Alamo Lamar.  Thunderclouds wasn't as good as I had remembered, I think in large part due to the bread.  Bread makes a sandwich and if the bread is only so-so...  On a positive note, I enjoyed film and thought it was well done.  Finally, I met up with the rest of the family for the Narrative Feature jury prize winner Gimme the Loot at the Stateside Theater.  Thus concludes my film watching at SXSW and I was really happy to get to see all the films I saw, even though a lot of them were films I would never have sought out on my own.  All in all, I had a great experience at the festival and I would love another opportunity to mix work, play, and family in good ole Austin, TX.

Bluebonnets and Alfajores

If you've never had alfajores, I'm sorry.  While exploring the music scene east of the I-10 we passed the Buenos Aires Cafe, where I stopped in for some alfajores maizenas.  They are amazing!  I need to learn how to make these.  A block down we saw some bluebonnets peaking out of someone's garden. The wildflowers are out in full bloom along roadsides and bluebonnets are having a good year.  On the way back to downtown, we stopped back at Buenos Aires for dinner and a pitcher of sangria.  Life's tough in Austin.

Exploring the Music Scene