2002-04-28 - 7:18 a.m. CQ at the film fest Yesterday afternoon, instead of frolicking in the sunshine, or browsing records at Amoeba, or the dozens of other things I would have liked to have been doing, I showed up for my volunteer shift with Maira. It took her almost a half hour longer to arrive thanks to a bus driver who shut the door in her face, and drove away as she pounded on the doors and pleaded "let me in!!" We stood around for two hours waiting to be assigned something to do, or to find something to do, or to ever see the person who was supposed to be in charge of our little section of volunteerland...we chatted about her impending trip to Italy, wine, boys, and about the fact that we were standing around being useless when we could have been sipping syrah or volunteering at the Rhone Rangers wine tasting or just sitting in a pub having a few pints... "They don't care that we're here, so they wouldn't even notice if we were gone," one of us said to the other. We're smart girls and like to put our talents to use. Thus, we gathered up our stuff, tore off our name badges and hightailed it to the pub for pints and fish & chips. I *love* going to a pub on the weekend to chill out and chat, and am so pleased Maira was an enabler. I managed to schlep to the Kabuki to get in line moderately early for CQ, the first film by Roman Coppola (yes, Francis Ford Coppola�s son). This proved to be a smart strategy since the theater was packed by the time things got going. In atypical fashion, perhaps beer-fueled, I sat and chatted with the 19-year-old boy in front of me in line. We had a lively discussion about films and local theaters and I was able to recommend some he hadn�t seen. I have to remember it�s not always horrible to talk to strangers. The boys who sat next to me in the theater also chatted me up, so it would appear that the aroma of barley and hops must make me more approachable. ;-) The filmgoers were milling about and getting quite pissy about there being 3 rows blocked off as reserved for festival VIPs (of course, they could have just gone up to the balcony, but pitching a fit is more fun.) About 10 minutes before the film was slated to start, Francis Ford Coppola and his family arrived to take up some of those seats�He let a wayward filmgoer sit in one of the leftover seats, with the bargain that he "had to laugh a lot" in exchange for the seat. He also was incredibly patient and pleasant to the many people who came up to him to chat or asked for autographs. The charming man seated behind me immediately started a running commentary: "Oh, big deal. Francis Ford�s here. He only had two good films anyway." I somehow managed to suppress the urge to turn around and sweetly inquire "And how many good films have you made?" The jerk�s mouth ran non-stop for the next 10 minutes, slagging off all sorts of creative people, not stopping �till the lights went down�which is when he started kicking my chair. See? I told you he was charming. I think I spotted Lynn Hershman Leeson (Director of Teknolust) in the audience, in addition to the Coppola family. Jeremy Davies, who plays the male lead role in Teknolust, is also the lead in CQ (Paul). I forgot to mention that in Teknolust he is the poster boy for the shy, awkward indie rock boy, down to the natty brown thrift store cardigan sweater. You just want to muss his hair (luckily, it�s already pre-mussed for your viewing pleasure.) I�d been wanting to see Million Dollar Hotel for sometime, and now that I know both he and Julian Sands are in it, I think I�ll need to go to Le Video and grab it after the film fest going is done this week. CQ is definitely worth seeing on a big screen. The movie was very funny, and the shots with the girl and Paul driving through the tunnel had great style and energy. The girl�s erratic fast driving style, through the streets of Rome, reminded me of my time there. I also really liked some of the scenes/lines that were homages to some of Roman Coppola�s favorite films (he mentioned this in the Q&A afterwards.) The specific "homage" I liked was the New Year�s Eve scene with all the Italians and Paul shoved into a tiny Italian car that stops working and they all pour out into the street in front of Castel Sant �Angelo with the bridge full of statues (Ponte Sant �Angelo) in the background�for just a moment you got a glimpse of Fellini�s Rome. Ditto for the scene in Trastevere in the piazza of the Basilica di Santa Maria de Trastevere. All the shots of Rome were lovely indeed� NOTE: I freely admit to my Italy fetish and finally did something productive: I created the bella-italia diaryring for those people who, like me, are in love with all things Italian. I think that should quell the diaryring creation urge for a while. On my way out, Roman was sneaking back to his family, and I was happy to get the chance to congratulate him�of course, my doing so got him noticed by the other filmgoers, so perhaps I should have abstained� any comments? (0 so far) previous - next recently on almostgoldsf... in defense of an email box I came to do battle with SPAM - 2008-05-17 hello 2006 - 2005-12-31 Happy Thanksgiving - 2005-11-14 bon voyage - 2005-11-05 October already? - 2005-10-09