Wow and more wow, we saw some lovely films at the Palm Springs International Film Festival.
However, just arriving one hour ahead, and standing in lineups for that time, didn't guarantee you an easy time always finding a seat once the films were loaded into the theaters. It depended of course on the size of the theater, and the popularity of the film.
We loved the film Grazing the Sky by a young Mexican film maker who worked in the Cirque de Soleil for 3 years, and then took another 5 years producing the film. It was just incredible, a very intimate look into the lives of some acrobats that are in the Cirque, and their trials and tribulations. It was incredibly interesting and the photography was beyond description, just wonderfully super.
Next was Words and Pictures, with Clive Owen and Juliet Binoche, wow and more wow. They are both teachers at an exclusive private school, he's an alcoholic disillusioned English teacher, and she is a very gifted artist and art teacher. They have a bit of a battle of wills, that eventually ends with a school wide debate over which is more important, words or pictures. It is incredibly interesting and very thought provoking, too. She has rheumatoid arthritis, and is very crippled with it. She is losing her capacity to paint, slowly but gradually she is losing her ability to do many things in her life.
More importantly it was shot totally in Vancouver, she lives and works in a studio that had to be somewhere along the Fraser River, and another interesting aside is that in fact Juliet Binoche painted every painting attributed to the art teacher herself. Apparently we found out from the film maker that she also had her knuckes enlarged every day in makeup, prosthetic knuckes, she was very captivating indeed with the most incredible force field of energy, but which was being sapped away by her disease.
The film also touches quite a bit on bullying, as one of the female students is being bullied unmercifully by another male student.
It was truly uplifting, we sure hope it makes it to the main screen world, it was super.
Gloria was a Chilean film about a 40 something divorcee looking for love in bars and nightclubs, in fact, in all the wrong places, and the consequences of her actions due to her loneliness. It was impressive but kind of sad too. Well filmed and shot, it has a grand finale that I won't spoil if you are interested in seeing it. She has 2 grown children and an ex husband who she seems to have been estranged from.
Living is Easy with Eyes Closed was a Spanish film, set in the time of 1966, and the era of the Beatles. There is an English teacher teaching English using the Beatles songs in a Spanish school who idolizes John Lennon. When he hears that Lennon is filming in Almeria he goes down there hoping to meet with Lennon. Along the way he picks up 2 runaway teenagers who he relates to very well, being a teacher and basically a very kind person as well.
It is a lovely slow paced but touching film based on a real ESL teacher who did indeed manage to meet with John Lennon on his filming location. He convinced Lennon to include the words of his songs on his album inserts, which is fact. His runaways both have quite different stories to tell, but he helps them both without being obvious about it at all. It is quite quirky, also deals with bullying in the most amusing manner almost as an aside from the main plot. We really enjoyed it, as it was once of those films you see, not totally riveting, but just gives you a warm fuzzy feeling after viewing it.
The final film we viewed was Love and Lemons, about a young girl who opens her own restaurant with another pair of chefs, using her parents life savings, and they nearly go bankrupt before she figures a way to change their look and menu, and create nearly an overnight success for them.
Her rivalry with a snotty French chef of much fame in the same city is absolutely hilarious, she worked for him very briefly, and his efforts to sabotage their new undertaking in the restaurant was a scream. Another feel good faced paced love and culinary feast, tons of fun, and we hope also hits the big screen eventually, as it was so amusing and uplifting.
We're gearing up here for our annual Board Meeting, where pretty much all owners attend once a year, and they have an opportunity to vote and have a say on the management and daily operations of our park. Then right after the meeting, we're serving coffee, tea, punch and sweet rolls, followed by a 30th anniversary (of the park) dinner open to all owners and renters here in the park. It will be a spaghetti and meat sauce dinner, with garlic bread, and a large self serve salad bar, with a big cake for dessert afterwards.
After that meeting I will have finished my 2 year term on the Entertainment Committee, but the following weekend we will have our big annual Rummage sale, park wide, and I will be working pretty well full tilt on making that a success, too.
Lary will start a two year term on the Board of Directors, who basically run and operate the infrastructure/ physical plant of our park, and make all the management decisions. The physical plant is their area, and I wouldn't want to be involved in that, our park is 30 years old, and facing some natural maintenance and infrastructure issues. It seems more a "guys department" to me, the only thing I would consider doing is being their secretary but I haven't been asked, so that is a relief to me.
That's it for now, thanks for visiting.
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