Reading: Me of Little Faith by Lewis Black
Music: St. Innocent's Academy presents How Can I Keep From Singing?
TV/Movie: Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein
Link o' the Day: WeeklyScript.com

I feel like writing a movie review today. I know it's Halloween, and I should be reviewing something scary and all, but nah.

I ran across an interesting flick the other day--purely by accident, but a good accident: House of D. The movie was David Duchovny's debut as a screenwriter and director. He stars as an American artist living in Paris (with his wife and son who) reveals the story of his past as a boy in Greenwich Village. His widowed mother, played by Duchocny's wife Tea Leoni, is a tragic figure. Robin Williams turns in a skillful performance as Pappas, a mentally handicapped school janitor. The mysterious woman (Lady) locked high in a New York House of Detention (aka House of D) dispenses wisdom through an open window to the street below. It's an odd little story, but also familiar. The story of the boy touches upon experiences familiar to most men (and perhaps women through other characters) but the real hinge of the story is how life can be like a stack of cards--susceptible to the smallest err to all come tumbling down.

It's kind of fascinating to watch. A small lapse in judgment. Something that is imminently forgivable under most circumstances instead sets off a chain reaction that ultimately leads to the end of our young artist's world. It's a train wreck. But redemption is not out of the question. Time heals all wounds?

Duchovny did, perhaps, an uneven job with the film. He claims to have written the script in six days, and I believe that most would agree that if he had picked it up for a few more drafts, he'd have really had something. I'm not saying it's a bad movie. No. It's fairly good. But it could have been better. There are some minor plot points that stretch reality a bit. His main characters are a bit too likable. Maybe this is the starry gauze of remembrance of things past, but I don't think that's what was intended. If it hadn't been for the fact that I just knew there'd be a payoff at the end, I might have switched it off.

And that payoff was well executed. One thing I will praise Duchovny for is that he didn't make the redemption a laundry-list of past sins. He covered the ones that were most important to the character and the audience. And no more.

Life has lots of loose ends. We all have bits of our lives we'd like to revisit and smooth out, but that just doesn't happen. That the boy-turned-adult was able to pull off what he did was good enough for me, and any more might have crossed over into wish-fulfillment fantasy. All in all I was pretty happy with the ending, and had a nice little tear-jerker to boot. It was a nice light touch that had big impact. So in that sense, let's call it a successful freshman run.

And every scene with the Lady in the House of D is fairly brilliant. A great Oracle type character that...argh...well, I won't spoil it. Oh, and the title...House of D...well 'D' could stand for almost anything, right? I mean...beyond 'detention.' I'll leave the surprisingly various possibilities as an exercise for the viewer.

So do I recommend House of D? Sure. It's not in theaters anymore, so it's down to cable or DVD. It's a definite cable pick. And a good recommendation for rental. I could see owning it on DVD, but only for the scenes involving the Lady.

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Today I'll be finishing up the text layout for Mel Simon's latest book of interviews with various television legends (Milton Berle, Steve Allen, Morey Amsterdam, et al). I'll probably start inserting some of the photos today as well, and perhaps starting the cover.

I need to organize some poetry submissions as well. And look over a story draft.

So keeping busy. But a good busy. Hope you are too.

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Today's link visits an old favorite of mine--WeeklyScript.com, a site loaded with movie scripts to read, download, study or just enjoy. There are a lot of good script sites out there, but this is the most computer-friendly in that there are no nasty java surprises, and everything is in .txt format making for easy access and reading.

Cheers!