Talking About Martha Mason

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Today I had the pleasure of addressing the Shelby Rotary Club and then 75 students at Shelby High School about my dear friend Martha Mason. I learned so much from her about friendship and how to become the person I want to be and, I think, am meant to be.

Before her death in 2009, I made a film about Martha’s life in her small community, Martha in Lattimore. Here’s a link to the trailer:

Thanks to Johnny Presson for inviting me to speak to the Shelby Rotarians and for organizing the event at Shelby High School. Martha was a good friend and a remarkable person. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of her and miss her. It feels good to share her story.
Mary and Johnny Presson

Johnny Presson with Mary Dalton at the Shelby Country Club, October 11, 2013.

GRAVITY

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Alfonso Cuarón popped onto my radar with his 1995 film A Little Princess, still a film I treasure. My son, then three-years-old, sat on my lap in the cinema and was as riveted to the visual spectacle as I was.

It’s important to train them from a young age to love the beautifully rendered moving image and attendant (but equal and inextricably linked) carefully crafted narrative. If parents don’t perform due diligence in the matter, it falls to me to try to bring them up to speed as college students in the film studies classes I teach.

And, Cuarón is one of the directors my students are likely to have encountered. Is this because his films typically deliver in terms of the aesthetic and the narrative? Or, is it because he directed one of their childhood favorites? You can guess the answer to that one.

Among his films, I particularly like Y Tu Mamá También, Children of Men, and – yes – Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

But, it may be time to move another title near the front of the line.

Cuarón’s latest film, Gravity, offers a bold vision of what it’s like to live and work and, perhaps, to die in space. Seldom do I recommend seeing a film in 3D instead of flat, but Gravity is an exception because of how the otherworldly feeling of space is enhanced by the spectacle of 3D.

The story is simple: a medical engineer and two astronauts are on a mission in space when something goes terribly wrong. I don’t want to tell you more; just go and enjoy the experience.

While I can’t speak to the scientific accuracy of the film — though I know there have been some quibbles and some larger disagreements about what the filmmakers get wrong — I can speak to the entertainment value of the movie.

It is high. And, I like Sandra Bullock and George Clooney in the main roles.

Science fiction can be a tougher sell for me than some other genres, but this picture drew me in early on, took me for a wild ride, and dropped me down just in time. While watching the movie, I noticed periodically that I was clenching my fists and fighting the impulse to tap my foot.

Engaging characters. Lots of tension. Great pacing. Perfect length. Exhale.

Happy to have seen this film.

Odds are that you will probably feel the same way.

GRAVITY

BEFORE YOU KNOW IT

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I’m not sure what I expected. After all, how many films are billed this way:

The subjects of Before You Know It are no ordinary senior citizens. They are go-go booted bar-hoppers, love struck activists, troublemaking baton twirlers, late night Internet cruisers, seasoned renegades and bold adventurers. They are also among the estimated 2.4 million lesbian, gay and bisexual Americans over the age of 55 in the United States, many of whom face heightened levels of discrimination, neglect and exclusion.

What I wasn’t prepared for is just how engaging the film is on a personal level. The authenticity of the interviews and observational sequences left me with a deep appreciation for the stories director PJ Raval shares and the three men (and their friends) who have lived them.

Dennis is a lonely widower in his late 70s who is trying to break free from his past in Florida and find meaning for his remaining years in Oregon where Dennis and his female counterpart Dee can openly coexist. His journey provides the most poignant scenes in the film for me.

Robert is a bar owner who lives a completely different lifestyle from Dennis, a daily existence filled with people and music and various festivities within a nurturing community. Robert has a wide embrace ready for everything life has to offer.

Ty is an LGBT activist who thinks about little but marriage after laws allowing it are passed in New York. He is the only one of the featured characters involved in a long-term relationship at the time of film.

The range of emotional tones of the film is broad, but that would be true, I believe about any film about aging. Overall, I find the stories these men tell affirming as markers of the progress we have made socially and of our collective humanity.

You have a chance to catch the documentary Before You Know It Saturday, October 12, at 7 p.m. at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Check outatthemovieswinston.org for more information.

Before You Know It

Jane Campion

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If you want to hear what I have to say about Jane Campion on Triad Arts Weekend recently, scroll down and listen.

http://wfdd.org/post/dracula-ballet-expressions-chopin-and-behind-scenes-mary-dalton?utm_content=buffer33e99&utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Buffer

I am a fan…

Jane Campion 2

Great Double Feature Experience

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And, I’m not saying this just because it’s the rare event of seeing two new films by women directors.

Yesterday was October lovely (if a little on the warm side), but I still ducked indoors and had one of my best double feature experiences in recent memory. Maybe my best since college when I saw (The World According to Garp and Diner).

In A World and Enough Said are delightful films (though the latter contains more than a few uncomfortable moments) and perfectly suited to play together for reasons beyond their matching (and refreshing) run times of 1:33.

I’ve been eager to see In A World since glimpsing the trailer a few months ago. The story centers around a talented woman as she tries to break into the big leagues of movie trailer voiceover work, an area dominated by men, including her own father.

This charming yet modestly quirky love story strikes the right feminist notes with a ball-peen instead of a sledge hammer (love Geena Davis in a small but crucial appearance).

You need the right tool, and this one works quite well.

Lake Bell wrote, directed, and stars in the film. Bell is supported here by a great cast, including Fred Melamed, Demetri Martin, Ken Marino, and Michaela Watkins.

Enough Said is attracting attention as James Gandolfini’s last picture before his death, but it was on my radar anyway because I have a soft spot for director Nicole Holofcener’s slice of life movies (including Lovely & Amazing and Friends With Money). Love her work.

This film pairs Julia Louis-Dreyfus with Gandolfini in a tentative but tender and often funny love story. Of course, this being the movies, there are missteps, which only make the whole thing feel so real. Why do people do such stupid things? (Don’t worry; no spoiler here.)

I have a predilection for this type of intimate drama, but I think the audience for the film is a lot broader than mere me.

Go see for yourself…

In A World