The Luckiest

The simple things are always the best. I heard Lionel Richie and Diana Ross singing "Endless Love" on the radio a few days back, and what I found remarkable was the simplicity. That's pretty much always the way when people achieve greatness; they do it with simplicity.

As artists we're always looking for the complex route. We think we have to mix things up and make them complicated to be original.

It shouldn't be about being complicated. It should be about being authentic.

Authentic wins every time.

Don't get me wrong, authentic isn't enough. You've got to be good also.

But eventually -- when someone really nails a piece of art -- it's so often when preparation meets.... simplicity and authenticity. 

Ben Folds has always been quirky and strange and funny. "Song For The Dumped" is the song you play to friends to make them laugh, to grab them and turn them into fans.

"The Luckiest" is the song you play for the person you love, when they deserve it. It says everything ---- everything you're afraid to say. Everything you can't say in a simple way because nobody in the history of the world has ever been able to say anything in a simple way.

Except for the artists. When the artists are at their best; they reflect life back to us; in the most simple ways possible.

When it comes to death. What songs resonate? It's "I'll Be Missing You" by Puff Daddy, and "Dance With My Father" by Luther Vandross. These are the things that resonate when we get down to what it's really all about. They're simple, they make the point, and they reach into our hearts and express how we feel. 

"Next door there's an old man,    

Who lived to his nineties and one day,

Passed away, in his sleep.     

And his wife, she stayed for a couple of days,

And passed away.      

I'm sorry, I know that's a strange way to tell you,

That I know we belong."

I woke up with this song in my head. Funny how they get there, don't you think? They just sneak in. It kept popping into my head all day. I'm not sure what "The Luckiest" means to me, although it means many things -- and has been the theme tune to relationships over the years, as well as some people who passed away, as well as often being the song I've listened to when flying home from my home away from home in the middle of the night feeling all profound and caught up in everything. 

What it means on this particular day, I don't know. But I'm glad my subconscious kicked it up and stuck it in my mental playlist for the day. 

"What if I'd been born fifty years before you,  

In a house on the street where you live.     

Maybe I'd be outside as you passed on your bike,

Would I know?"

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Love and Commitment

It's difficult to dedicate yourself for any amount of time. Deep down we want to be in it for the long haul, but that kind of commitment is hard.

What you strive for, is love. You want to give your life meaning and structure. I found that with 'The West Wing,' and it was heaven, we were made for each other. But it ended years ago and I still think I'm suffering.

I've tried. You take it easy and try out a pilot episode of something new. Usually you know straight away that it isn't for you, but occasionally you give it a few more episodes just to see if there's anything there. 

It's so rare. People take it for granted when they find the one, they think it's easy. People committed to 'Friends' and it was a breeze. Same with 'Frasier', too. Life was like a fantasy back then, but now it's harder.

There's so much choice. We want to commit, but we're afraid. What happens if you get three seasons in and realise you want different things? Or you realise they never cared about you at all? We all know what happened with 'Lost', and experiences like that are hard to recover from. 

It's easier when you're young, you'll give anything a go. You experiment and mess around and don't care about the consequences. But when you're an adult, you have less time. You have less optimism too, because you've been hurt so many times by inferior programming. In some cases people lose all drive to watch anything at all. Or they flit from one show to the next without a care for what they're doing.

Deep down we all want the same thing. We want to fall in love with a box-set that we can keep exploring again and again. That's when you know you've found something special, when you keep going back for more.

It's happened to me a few times, and I hope it has for you. If you've not been in love for a long while, don't worry, it'll come along when you least expect it. I remember a few years ago I was going through a particularly bad spell, but then 'Arrested Development' and 'Studio 60' came along. There's hope for everyone. 

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Warhorse Review

Spielberg once spoke about being disappointed with his own complacency as a director with the making of 'Hook', and promised to never work in that way again. Sadly, 'Warhorse' feels like a work full of complacency and predictability.

The film begins promisingly. You sense the Spielbergness of it all -- interesting characters young and old, the complexity of parent/child relations, epic cinematography, and the backdrop of war.

Unfortunately, those early resemblances stick; and don't take us anywhere new. Usually I'm on board with Spielberg's sentimentality and emotional manipulation -- It's good storytelling with a bit of heart. 'Warhorse' falls short in this manner. The scene where the German soldier and English soldier come together to help the horse get out of the barbed wire -- this is such a flagrant attempt at tugging the heart strings that I seriously doubt anyone could ever find it moving or touching. Spielberg is a crowd pleaser and makes movies for the whole family to watch; but even so, it seems too broad and simple in this movie, even by the standards of the lowest common denominator. 

The same can be said for John William's score. He is, undoubtedly, the greatest living film composer, but his work on 'Warhorse' is overly-familiar and predictable -- and the horse's theme reoccurs like clockwork whenever something emotional happens. It's obvious and panderous. 

What I am saying, I think; is that this feels like Spielberg at his laziest, creatively. The elements are there; but it falls short of truly grabbing you, of inspiring. Of course, we expect too much from Spielberg. We expect 'Jaws' and 'Saving Private Ryan' every time. That's not possible, which is obvious; but the problem with 'Warhorse' is that Spielberg doesn't take risks, he doesn't tread new ground. When he's at his best; regardless of genre, he brings something new to the table. As bizarre as this comment might sound -- 'Warhorse' felt like a re-make of some of his older films. It was Spielberg doing Spielberg. 

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Feel Flows

I had a bunch of night shoots and am now, I believe, somewhere near a Sunday, and I'm clinging on to being awake just because the music I'm listening to is so great.

It's like a barrier breaks down when you're super-tired, and the music can get in on a different, deeper level, somehow. I'm listening to one of my favorite film scores by a friend in L.A, and before that I was listening to 'Feel Flows' by The Beach Boys which I only know because of "Almost Famous."

It's weird how these pieces of music remind me so deeply of the films but also of myself, and life. And now some tracks from George Fenton's "You've Got Mail" score are playing--- and wow, it's a beautiful score. I always wonder why a seemingly average rom-com like that resonated with me so deeply. Maybe It's the music. As I write this, the music has had my mind travelling to New York and to women of past and emails lost and I never know where a movie ends and I begin. The music blends the line even more.

I've had something like seven hours sleep in the last three nights and everything about that sucks apart from the fact every piece of music right now is sinking in.

Now It's not film music. It's Fleetwood Mac, with a live version of 'Landslide'. Every line in this song is profound. Do you think you know that when you write it? Do you think the producer or exec who tells you to cut a line is fully aware of everything they're risking losing? Art is hard to do. Impossible to stick by. But occasionally someone does, and what they leave us is magic. I guess when that happens, people are able to have the kind of experiences that I am enjoying right at this precise moment.

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Kid In The Front Row Disaster Filmmaking Competition, WINNER!!!

A reminder of the competition:

The world is about to end. A poisonous gas has descended over the planet, and everyone is about to die. With this knowledge and realisation, you pick up your video-phone, and capture the final two minutes of your life, and in fact, the last moments of humankind on the planet. 

All films must be NO LONGER than TWO MINUTES.

All films must take place in ONE SINGLE SHOT ONLY. NO CUTTING. NO EDITING. 

The WINNER in the Kid In The Front Row Disaster Filmmaking Competition is "LUCKY" by Chloe Thorpe.



The guest judge, actor PETER JAMES SMITH (The West Wing) chose Chloe's film because, against the competition he said he "felt more from it." I agreed. What made this film compelling was not that she had cancer -- but the concept that the actor/director built around it -- that she now feels equal again to those around her, because everyone is dying, not just her. It was a touching concept, which worked due to her subtle performance.

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