The Dragon Tattoo

Today Gary and Diane returned from Phoenix. I drove to La Quinta to visit Steve and Mary; they live opposite the 6th hole on one of the courses that will be featured in the big celebrity golf shindig starting Wed. At 4 PM I head for the Camelot Theatre and my last film of the fest. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was everything I had hoped. Clocking in at over 2.5 hours it went by like it was minutes. This crafty thriller is very true to the book, the characterizations are right on and it kicks butt. I jump out of my seat 3 times. I am sure Hollywood will try to remake it and fail, so see it in the original made-for-Swedish-TV version. You wont’ be sorry.
BTW we had weather here, real weather. On my way to the theatre we had a downpour. This was a real gully-washer and I had to drive through a dozen or more badly flooded intersections. When I drove home there wasn’t a trace of the flooding. Oh, and morning before last we had a 4.3 earthquake, too. Other than these two anomalies we have had constant 70-75 degrees and very few clouds. This morning [Tuesday] I can’t see 10 feet in front of me for the fog but it’s dissipating rapidly. The temperature is supposed to drop at least 10 degrees until Saturday and there are chances of thunderstorms through Friday. Time to get out of here. The Golf Classic should be a hoot with all the rain!

Movie anyone?

I went exploring this morning and learned a bit about Palm Springs and it’s environs.
I went to another film this afternoon. Brotherhood is a dark Danish drama, which won Best Film at the Rome Film Festival. It’s the tale of two very different guys, members of a white supremacy group who develop a dangerous relationship. Yes, another Gay-themed film but this was so-o-o much better. Beautifully filmed, mostly at night, it had a very authentic feel and the performances were terrific. It was not formulaic, had good twists and a great dénouement. Later in the evening I saw Merantau from Indonesia. This martial arts movie purported to be new in style and scope just seemed so usual. It was only film I saw in a theatre where there were any empty seats. I think there were at most 50 people in the theatre. They seemed to enjoy it and clapped enthusiastically at the end… I don’t know what I missed.
Tomorrow I have a slim chance to see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and I am going for it. Keep your fingers crossed.

Movies, movies and more movies

The photo is a wind farm in the north end of the valley. It is claimed to be one of the greatest producers of wind energy in the world. Some of the blades are 60' long.
Friday Morning we had breakfast at the club and headed into town for our first film, La Mission. The Bratt brothers production was a pleasant surprise. When it started I had the impression it was going to be a bit heavy-handed but as it progressed it became subtler and more nuanced. Benjamin Bratt plays an old school urban Hispanic single father who discovers an unsettling secret, which drives him to anger, violence and despair. The Mission District of SF is the setting and most of the characters are devotees of the “low-rider” culture. The music is varied and exciting. The casting involves many unfamiliar faces but the performances are well wrought. The film was shown in the Annenberg Auditorium at the Palm Springs Art Museum. Our ticket stubs afforded us access to the Museum and we took a quick tour before dinner. There was a very nice Art of Glass exhibit as well as their regular collection of Southwest Art. There is a sunken sculpture garden dominated by several pieces by Dale Chihuly included [I believe] one of the Venice Canal chandelier installations. We had dinner at Restaurante Guilermo, which turned out to be mediocre at best.
Saturday morning I saw “Today’s Special,” a light and delightful foodie movie about a young chef forced to take care of his ailing father’s failing Tandoori restaurant. He rediscovers his heritage through a mystical cabbie that teaches him the basics of Indian cuisine. It was funny, and appetite enhancing.
I turned right around and saw “Is It Me?” which was a waste of time. This incredibly clichéd and predictable gay comedy of errors was weighed down by old jokes, terrible music and acting that was so ham-fisted I could have been watching a silent film.
The evening film was much better. “Handsome Harry” is a carefully crafted melodrama about a mature man being set adrift trying to cope with a violent event from his distant past. Jamey Sheridan is not only “Handsome” but gives an exceptionally nuanced portrayal of a lost soul in search of redemption. He is supported by the likes of Steve Buscemi, John Savage, Aiden Quinn and Campbell Scott. A truly fine jazz soundtrack carries us through the half-dozen variations leading to a heartbreaking coda. I have 2 more scheduled on Sunday and I’ll try to squeeze in one more.
Getting around here is pretty easy. I expected it to be a smaller community but it is sprawling. Hwy 10 makes it pretty easy to get from Palm Springs to Rancho Mirage, to La Quinta and Palm Desert; everything seems to be between the highway and the mountains [which are snow-covered].

Palm Springs & the PSIFF

8:45AM and the Airport Express leaves STS on time headed to SFO and then Alaska Airlines to PSP for 5 nights and the Palm Springs International Film Festival.
As we were boarding the bus we were told very succinctly that if we were going to OAK that once we reached Petaluma we were to exit the bus and board the bus that would be right behind us. That would take you to OAK. There were several passengers already on their computers and phones by this time and of course they had to ask the driver “What do I do if I’m going to Oakland?” Then one guy who was not paying attention got up to exit the bus looking for the bus behind us. We were on our way listening to a cacophony of oh-so-important phone calls by a half dozen oh-so-important passengers. We stopped for additional passengers at Days Inn and Double Tree and pulled into Petaluma about an hour later. We arrived at SFO in another hour,
Having packed only a carry-on I proceeded to the security line, which took about 20 minutes.
I took a cue from the Clooney character in “Up In The Air” and dressed and packed for security. Slip on shoes, no metal jewelry, bag of liquids in a front pocket of my bag, computer out, money [change] and anything metal in my jacket, which was removed, made the passage through the gauntlet pain-free. I must research non-metal belt buckles or find comfortable trousers that don’t need a belt. Of course with my round-in-the-middle physique that is not going to be easy. I keep so much crap in my pockets that a belt is the only solution.
At the gate we learned that the plane from Seattle was going to be a hour late. When it did arrive at about 1:15PM the turn-around was fast and efficient. We were in the air in a half hour. We arrived at PSP at 3PM. It is a lovely modern if artsy airport and I found my way to the curb without a hitch. There was Gary in the red Jag convertible.
We stopped at the Festival will-call to pick up the tickets that I had purchased on-line. There appears to be an unending supply of clueless 20-somethings who are so-o-o sure that they are the only people on the planet. The young woman I had to deal with could not read; I mean she simply could not read. I had the computer receipts and correspondences instructing me in the proper retrieval of my tickets and she could not read them. I had to do it for her with numerous “Could you spell that,” “huh?’ and “let me ask someone else.”
We took the scenic ride back to “The Lakes” passing all the Rolls Royce and Maserati dealers, the celebrity street names and wall-to-wall very up-scale strip malls. It is truly a different world down here. Not unlike the visual impact of Monte Carlo, not the architectural or natural setting, simply the display of wealth.
Diane and I took Cali for a walk so I could see where one deposits the poop bags. There are deposit stations throughout the compound and each one as extra bags for pickups on the return. Everyone has a golf cart and every home has a golf cart garage. The fronts of the homes are very much the same; there are only minor architectural differences. The landscaping is identical throughout. There are community swimming pools on about every other block; they are heated on a rotating schedule, half on odd numbered months, half on even numbered months. The backs of the houses [they are constructed in blocks of 4 usually with two larger and two smaller units] have small patios that open onto the golf course. As far as you can see there are palm trees and green grass… and homes, many, many homes.