Wellness & Dakota Skye
I haven't seen three films in the theater, I'm using that term loosely, in a long, long time. It started Thursday night with In Search of a Midnight Kiss. I first heard of the film when I was in Los Angeles back in August. The Downtown L.A. Film Festival was starting the week after I left and films that were a part of the festival were being heavily promoted. I picked up a postcard flyer at a pre-showing of some shorts. Later a trailer for the movie ran. It intrigued me and I made it my goal to see this movie. Well that's all fine and good but it wasn't showing until after I left and Charlotte isn't where smaller films are shown. A month later the only places it was playing were in L.A. and Portland, OR. As much as I wanted to see it I wasn't about to fly back out to L.A. or Portland just to watch the film. Lucky for me a week ago IFC's web page showed it was playing in Charlotte. Thursday ight I left straight from work to head to the Ballantyne Village Theater. They serve beer at the theater. How can you not love a place like that? My expectaions were pretty high but I wasn't disappointed. I especially liked that it was shot in black and white. The big thing though was it forced me to admit that I'm a sucker for star-crossed lovers stories, or even where they work out in the end. I think it allows me to live vicariously through the characters while I remain stunchly single. It lets me feed that tiny piece of me that actually wants to be in a relationship. The only thing that really bothered me about In Search of a Midnight Kiss was the main character's roommate. His character bugged the shit out of me but I can't describe how or why. Three and a half stars out of five. I know there was no plot summary but I got lazy and the title explains the premise. One really cool thing was seeing all the places in downtown L.A. that I had been and have pictures of up on screen.
The next two films I watched on Saturday and today were part of the Charlottte Film Festival. When I stated I used the term theater loosely it meant that Wellness and Dakota Skye were shown in a classroom at Queens College (It will always be Queens College to me, never University). Getting to the festival and then downtown afterward was an adventure thanks to the lack of gas in Charlotte. I actually enjoyed taking the bus and walking around to get everywhere. It felt good. It makes me want to sell my car now instead of in a year. But back to the films.
Dakota Skye caught my eye because it had Dakota in it. I love, yet hate, North Dakota. Then of course the main character, Dakota Skye, had a super power. She could tell whenever someone lied to her. That sounded way too interesting to not see. She found her arch-nemesis in her boyfriend's best friend who just arrived in town from New York. She couldn't tell if he never lied to her or she was incapable of detecting his lies. If anyone gets a chance to see the movie it has my recommendation.
The real treat was Wellness. I've never had a film make me so emotionally invested in a character before. The plot revolves around a naieve, or deluded, salesman named Thomas Lindsey in a small town in New York trying to gather as many people he can in three or four days to attend an investment opportunity seminar. The product to be invested in is called Wellness, a breakthrough in the healthcare industry. The whole thing is a pyramid scheme. Wellness doesn't really exist. There were promises from his regional manager that the product was on the way along with his sales materials. They never arrived and after Thomas wrote a check a check to his regional manger for exclusive rights for sales in the district the manager left and stopped taking Thomas's calls. It was gut wrenching watching Thomas try and sell people on a product that didn't exist. He did his damnedest to succeed but how could he? He was doomed to fail. Two things for me really made the movie. First was Jeff Clark's portrayal of Thomas. I swear to god I've never felt such sorrow, outrage, pity and just plain sadness for a character as I did for Thomas Lindsey. The movie needed to end earlier than it did. Not because it overstayed its welcome but because I could barely take the emotions. My eyes welled up in the theater. But it got worse once I stepped onto Selwyn Avenue. I couldn't help but cry. I've gotten weepy at the movies before, a little mist in the eyes. But I've never full on blubbered like I did today. Recalling Wellness as I write this entry is making my eyes well up. That is why I feel drained. It didn't help though that my dad's current boyfriend person's family was denied refugee status by the U.S. government. The government said pissoff and now his family is stuck in Cambodia. I barely know the guy but I hate shit like that. I feel terrible for him, which is way worse then he feels right now.
The second thing that made the film work was its super low budget and less than stellar production values. Normally shoddy camera work and crappy sound doom a film but in the case of Wellness I believe it made it more real and believable. It wasn't slick like Hollywood movies and becasue of that it was able to suck me in and fuck with my sensitive side, big time. I mean I've been sick to my stomach ever since I left the auditorium. Honestly though the production values were bad. Ambient sound drowned out dialogue and the focus would zoom in and out on ocassion. Man it made it so good. There's no way Hollywood or moneyed production values could have moved me the way Wellness did.
By the end of the year I have to make a short film, minimum of five minutes in length. No matter how crappy, lame, cheesy or super awesome it is I have to do it. To make just one short film for myself, that is my goal. Any encouragement anyone wants to give me would be greatly aprreciated. No criticsm though, i don't have the ego for it. Sometimes it does work because it makes me say fuck you I don't care what you think. We'll see.
Definitely go see Wellness.
Now I'm off to search for gas. I feel as though it's going to be like Mad Max soon.
The next two films I watched on Saturday and today were part of the Charlottte Film Festival. When I stated I used the term theater loosely it meant that Wellness and Dakota Skye were shown in a classroom at Queens College (It will always be Queens College to me, never University). Getting to the festival and then downtown afterward was an adventure thanks to the lack of gas in Charlotte. I actually enjoyed taking the bus and walking around to get everywhere. It felt good. It makes me want to sell my car now instead of in a year. But back to the films.
Dakota Skye caught my eye because it had Dakota in it. I love, yet hate, North Dakota. Then of course the main character, Dakota Skye, had a super power. She could tell whenever someone lied to her. That sounded way too interesting to not see. She found her arch-nemesis in her boyfriend's best friend who just arrived in town from New York. She couldn't tell if he never lied to her or she was incapable of detecting his lies. If anyone gets a chance to see the movie it has my recommendation.
The real treat was Wellness. I've never had a film make me so emotionally invested in a character before. The plot revolves around a naieve, or deluded, salesman named Thomas Lindsey in a small town in New York trying to gather as many people he can in three or four days to attend an investment opportunity seminar. The product to be invested in is called Wellness, a breakthrough in the healthcare industry. The whole thing is a pyramid scheme. Wellness doesn't really exist. There were promises from his regional manager that the product was on the way along with his sales materials. They never arrived and after Thomas wrote a check a check to his regional manger for exclusive rights for sales in the district the manager left and stopped taking Thomas's calls. It was gut wrenching watching Thomas try and sell people on a product that didn't exist. He did his damnedest to succeed but how could he? He was doomed to fail. Two things for me really made the movie. First was Jeff Clark's portrayal of Thomas. I swear to god I've never felt such sorrow, outrage, pity and just plain sadness for a character as I did for Thomas Lindsey. The movie needed to end earlier than it did. Not because it overstayed its welcome but because I could barely take the emotions. My eyes welled up in the theater. But it got worse once I stepped onto Selwyn Avenue. I couldn't help but cry. I've gotten weepy at the movies before, a little mist in the eyes. But I've never full on blubbered like I did today. Recalling Wellness as I write this entry is making my eyes well up. That is why I feel drained. It didn't help though that my dad's current boyfriend person's family was denied refugee status by the U.S. government. The government said pissoff and now his family is stuck in Cambodia. I barely know the guy but I hate shit like that. I feel terrible for him, which is way worse then he feels right now.
The second thing that made the film work was its super low budget and less than stellar production values. Normally shoddy camera work and crappy sound doom a film but in the case of Wellness I believe it made it more real and believable. It wasn't slick like Hollywood movies and becasue of that it was able to suck me in and fuck with my sensitive side, big time. I mean I've been sick to my stomach ever since I left the auditorium. Honestly though the production values were bad. Ambient sound drowned out dialogue and the focus would zoom in and out on ocassion. Man it made it so good. There's no way Hollywood or moneyed production values could have moved me the way Wellness did.
By the end of the year I have to make a short film, minimum of five minutes in length. No matter how crappy, lame, cheesy or super awesome it is I have to do it. To make just one short film for myself, that is my goal. Any encouragement anyone wants to give me would be greatly aprreciated. No criticsm though, i don't have the ego for it. Sometimes it does work because it makes me say fuck you I don't care what you think. We'll see.
Definitely go see Wellness.
Now I'm off to search for gas. I feel as though it's going to be like Mad Max soon.