Last spring, I helped my friend Jason with a music video for the local band Cassavetes. What started out as a few simple sketches has become a gorgeous video filled with beautiful darkness, tragedy, and a wonderful wall of paint-by-numbers.
When I was in elementary school, I used to love movie day. Of course, it was never a nail-biting blockbuster like Goonies or Ghostbusters - but just a chance to sit on the floor and not think about fractions was enough to get me excited. Although I had a few favorite school films like The Amazing Cosmic Awareness of Duffy Moon and Homer and the Wacky Doughnut Machine (thank God for ABC), I could never get enough of one movie in particular: The Red Balloon. It was a magical tale of a lonely Parisian boy and his adoring red balloon. It wasn’t until much later in life that I realized this film was actually quite well known. A grand prize winner at Cannes and Academy Award recepient, The Red Balloon did in fact existed beyond that AV cart in French class. I think about that movie - its silence, its beauty, its isolation and I can’t help but wonder if they will ever make movies like that again. And, then I realize I sound like my dad.
