esrosedotblog

FIFTY

The blog is about me but this bit is about John. Yet, given my bent for the self-centered focus, I can make it about me if given half a chance. Let's see.

The PS Film Fest is over and my partner attended FIFTY films in ten days. I say attended as there were a few that he walked out of. I think that this is a signal achievement. It is the highest that he has ever attained. When I attended the Fest, John always saw more films than I did. I could never get much above 25-30. Three a day was my max and I usually pooped out after 7-8 days. I lacked the motivation, stamina or the discipline to make it go. I think that my exhaustion was based on the fact that I was not nourished by the surroundings of the Festival. John is. He likes the running, the talk, the poor eating, the lack of sleep, the whole thing. He has friends that he kibitzes with (I hate kibitzing) who he sees year to year. And so on. None of this works for me. I am a loner and thrive on routine. The Festival is anything but.

One way we are alike, is that neither of us is distracted by celebrity. John caught a glimpse of Kevin Costner on the way to something else, but did not waste his time sitting listening to him talk about his 'work'. Yes there is a chuckle behind those 'quotes'. I like the early Costner but, as I have mentioned before, a lot of these guys that we like early are unbearable later when they become impressed with themselves and lose their direction. Costner hasn't been interesting since DANCING WITH WOLVES.

You can lose a lot of time on the talk parts of the Fest. Directors show up to explain, actors come along to discuss their interpretation, lighting and other technicians elucidate the inobvious and generally, the whole original point of the cinema is undermined by talk. It usually adds nothing and indeed, if you have to explain what you did, it probably wasn't done all that well in the first place. Show don't tell. So, efficiency of film viewing is enhanced by ignoring the star-sucking side-show.

There. I have made it only, maybe, half about me. Of course, there are those opinions which I have thrown in (me me me) which I sorta attribute to John but I am the one carrying on. Not bad though.