We watched Painting with John on HBO and decided we think John Lurie is entertaining and both really like his art. I followed him on Twitter to see what he gets up to. He recently published a memoir and I bought the Kindle book. Chuck and I have both been reading it and Chuck decided to (finally) check out his music. So, we’re listening to the Lounge Lizards this morning and it is very mellow here.
This weekend, I took time from work and went to the RiverRun Film Festival in Winston-Salem.
We were given free tickets to the Gala a couple of year ago and had a big time. We bought tickets this year and decided it’s more fun for less money. The same band played less dance-able songs and small cocktails are more acceptable when you get a drink ticket included with the price of admission. It was a lot of fun watching all the ways people dressed up for it. And we did dance. But, Prince and Charlie Daniels didn’t inspire us to stay as long this time.
So far, we’ve seen 4 documentaries and 2 feature films. We have one more documentary tonight in Greensboro. It’s part of the festival? But not close and tickets are sold separately.
Friday evening, we saw Care to Laugh. It’s about a comedian living with his aging parents in Los Angeles, trying to work and tend to them at the same time. Making a living at stand up takes a lot of hustle and he doesn’t have any siblings to help look after the old people. He got a significant break while they were filming and he’s able to afford some help taking care of them in the after math. If you get a chance to see see Jesus Trejo perform, go for it. He’s funny and he’s a nice guy.
Saturday, we saw The Raft, which is a retrospective talking to the 6 people still alive who had an adventure in 1973. (Nobody died on the ocean crossing. They’re just old, now.) Neither of us remember much about the original event. I think I remember knowing that it happened. But, I was 13 and it wasn’t the most important topic to me at that time. Chuck doesn’t remember it at all. Their conversations about the expectations of the trip by the man who created the original experiment was fascinating.
After that, was One Last Deal. It’s a Finnish “redemption movie” about an art dealer who thinks he’s spotted an important painting at an auction. It was very sweet with no real surprises. It did make me desperately want a coffee and a pastry afterward.
Before bed, we saw While I Breathe, I Hope. I don’t know if you were aware of Bakari Sellers’ election to the SC House of Representatives in 2006 when he was 22 years old. He served while he was going to law school full time. This film follows him in his run for Lt. Governor (he didn’t win) and his activism in getting the Confederate flag removed from the state house grounds. If he ever runs for the Presidency, I’m voting for him.
Sunday, we saw The River and the Wall. It’s excellent. Five people pedaled, rode horses and paddled from El Paso to the Gulf of Mexico following the path the infamous Wall is meant to take. I wish it would run on every network in the country to be sure everyone sees it to understand exactly what that wall would and would not accomplish.
Our last movie, before coming home, was Datsche. It was a mess. The writer/producer/director was writing it as she went and it shows. The script seriously needed editing before it went into production and that just didn’t happen. The characters could have been interesting if the story had been tight. It wasn’t.
We had leftovers from our dinners twice and ate them for the 3rd supper, with a glass of wine outside a coffee shop on Sunday. We felt very efficient with not wasting food or having to bring a whole bunch back with us. 😂 We were at Camino Bakery (the coffee shop) daily. They’re right downtown across the street from one of the theaters.
Tonight, we’re going to see a Miles Davis biography. Chuck has (finally) become a fan of jazz and we have been indulging. And tomorrow will be dinner-and-a-movie again. I learned about a seafood restaurant in Greensboro when I was doing a Portuguese wine tasting a couple of weeks ago. I hope it lives up to the promises of the wine distributor who pointed me to it.
In addition to movies, we saw art at the South Eastern Center for Contemporary Art. SECCA is one of the venues for the film festival and we noticed that there was a new exhibition up when we were there for our movie Friday evening. So, we went back in the morning. There were some interesting pieces by UNC School of Art students and a small print and watercolor exhibition by local artist, Emily Clare, in the house.
The part that we had gotten a glimpse of was in the main exhibition area and it is fantastic. There are 2 mixed media exhibitions going on at the same time.
One is called Archives Aflame. It’s a collaboration between a Japanese artist whose father was at Hiroshima and an American artist whose father worked on the Manhattan project. It was devastating.
The other is Somewhere in a Dream I Got Lost. It is a powerful look at racism. Lonnie Holley uses everything in his art. Paint, sculpture, music, video. Found and created.
We try to get to SECCA a couple of times a year and sometimes, our timing is bad and we miss a change. We were really glad we didn’t miss this. It would have been worth the trip by itself, even if we hadn’t had other things to do while we were there.
We went to the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University today. Ostensibly, it was to see this installation, entitled Precarity, by John Akomfrah. But, of course, we saw everything else while we were there, too. It is based on the life of “Charles ‘Buddy’ Bolden, the first person known to have explored the sonic tonalities of the music we now call jazz.”
There is a single row of benches in the room. And, in the beginning, we had to stand by the wall because all the seats were occupied. When a group got to their starting place and left, we sat at the end of that bench. But, it was too close for me to see all 3 screens without a lot of head turning. So, I moved back to the wall.
It’s a curious piece. There’s no actual narrative. But, it’s still very moving. Some of the triptychs are the same scene from different angles. Some are different scenes entirely. There is old footage from the time of Bolden’s life in addition to new footage of … I guess, ghosts of his life.
I’m glad I saw it.
Additional addendum: Â I’m very excited! We are going to see a bunch of movies at the RiverRun Film Festival in Winston-Salem. We have tickets for 8 feature films and 2 shorts collections. And our AirBnB hostess has given us tickets to the gala Friday night. Hotcha!
Thursday 3/30
Lost in Paris “Fiona visits Paris for the first time to assist her myopic Aunt Martha. Catastrophes ensue, mainly involving Dom, a homeless man who has yet to have an emotion or thought he was afraid of expressing.”
Friday 3/31
Little Wing “Little Wing tells the story of 12-year-old Varpu (Linnea Skog), who’s quickly growing to adulthood, and about her mother (Paula Vesala), who doesn’t want to grow up.”
I Am Cuba. Â “This sprawling vision of Cuba from 1964 was poorly received upon release and largely forgotten until the 1990s, when directors like Martin Scorsese pushed for its restoration. Alternatingly dreamlike and neo-realist, I Am Cuba attempts to characterize the Cuban revolution and the suffering of its citizens through an anthology of four varied vignettes.”
Our AirBnB hostess has given us tickets to the Gala.
Saturday 4/1
Pushing Dead, “When a struggling writer, HIV positive for 20+ years, accidentally deposits a $100 birthday check, he is dropped from his health plan for earning too much.”
Strange Weather. “A poignant, lyrical drama about a mother (Holly Hunter), who, in an effort to deal with the grief over the death of her son, travels the back roads of the deep south to settle a score.”
Sunday 4/2
Sacred. “Møre than 40 filmmakers travelled the globe to witness religious celebrations and interview people from all sorts of background.”
Thursday 4/6
First Lady of the Revolution “the remarkable story of Henrietta Boggs, a Southern belle who takes a life-altering journey through marriage, civil war and audacious democratic reforms to become the First Lady of Costa Rica.”
Frantz. “In the aftermath of WWI, a young German who grieves the death of her fiancé in France meets a mysterious Frenchman who visits the fiancé’s grave to lay flowers.”
My son will be house/cat sitting on the weekend.
Addendum 4/3:
After seeing I am Cuba and the Cuban shorts, Chuck was intrigued by the other films in the Cuban series. Â So, he’s going back while I’m working on Saturday, 4/8 to see Memories of Underdevelopment and, since he’ll be there anyway, Â Purple Dreams.
Additional Addendum 4/17:
We both got sick and neither of us returned to see the Thursday or Saturday films.
I am the Audience 