Lance Around Orlando

Edward James Olmos Knows How To Grab The Attention Of His Audience

The elderly gentleman walks with an air of confidence as he enters the lobby of the Enzian Theatre. He spots me from across the room and, glancing down at the PRESS badge around my neck, walks directly to me, holds out his hand with a warm smile and says, “Hi, I’m Edward James Olmos.” “I’m LanceAround from LanceAroundOrlando,” I reply, “it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

He continues down the line, greeting press and patrons alike, until he is ushered into the theatre for the presentation of his hit 1988 film Stand and Deliver. My first impression of him was positive and, as the evening wears on it’s only going to get better.

One would think a theatre lover like myself would know Edward from his groundbreaking TV work in such shows as Hill Street Blues, Miami Vice, or the recent Battlestar Galactica. But I’ve never seen him on any of those shows. Then surely I would know him from movies such as Blade Runner, Stand and Deliver, Selena or Zoot Suit. Nope, don’t know him from those either.

The only way I know Edward is from the two episodes where he played Supreme Court Justice nominee Mendoza on the fabulous TV series, The West Wing. That performance, alone, is enough for me to respect this man’s extraordinary acting ability.

His performance in Stand and Deliver, which I see for the first time tonight, is downright magnificent.

Olmos Enjoys An Enzian Meal While Watching "Stand and Deliver" with the Audience

Stand and Deliver tells the true story of charismatic high school math teacher Jaime Escalante, who brough calculus AP to a run down, inter-city LA school. His students performed so well on their AP placement tests, they were accused of cheating!

Edward’s performance is a joy to watch. From the moment he first enters the classroom, he perfectly captures the zany, theatrical Escalante–becoming a teacher so lovable, yet so authoritarian, it’s easy to see how he could effectively motivate a classroom of unruly teenagers.

At the end of the film, Edward comes onstage for an extended Q&A. He speaks about how his performance in this film is routinely ranked as one of the top three performances to have been nominated for, but not won, the Oscar. The award that year went to Dustin Hoffman for Rainman.

Yet I didn’t get the impression that Edward was bragging. He carries himself with a lot of confidence and gives the impression that he’s the kind of person who tells it like it is. He speaks about his confrontations with union leaders–admonishing them that they have to forego greedy politics and better represent the needs of the rank and file. He speaks passionately about the need for quality education in a society.

“I don’t know one pope, I don’t know one president of the United States, I don’t know one king or queen who didn’t get there without the help of a teacher. If it were up to me, I’d start every teacher at one million dollars salary. I’d pay high school teachers more than college professors, I’d pay middle school teachers more than high school teachers. But I’d pay the most to those who teach our youngest. If you don’t get them by the time they’re six, then the battle is almost over,” he proclaims with an air of dignity as the audience erupts into thunderous applause.

Olmos Signing Autographs

Like all great actors, Edward knows how to deliver a line and put on a show. But it’s obvious he has the convictions behind the rhetoric. And he has some great stories to tell.

He speaks about his insistence that he be given full creative control over his characters and that he signs a non-exclusive contract. He’s willing to turn down huge sums of money unless these two conditions are met.

The first day on the set of Miami Vice, he got into a huge tiff with Don Johnson when he insisted that his character’s office door be closed prior to Don’s character’s entrance. Don walked off the set, but Edward demanded he be allowed to exercise his character’s creative control. In the end, Don came back and Edward said he established the precedent of almost never looking directly at Don during a scene. Something must have worked because Miami Vice became one of the most popular TV shows of all time.

When he accepted the role on Battlestar Galactica, he warned the producers that the first time anyone wrote a four eyed, two lipped monster into the script he would immediately pass out in front of the camera and leave the show. Instead of creatures from the black lagoon, he said, the show focuses on planetary (Not American he was careful to point out) but planetary issues. It does not shy away from weighty issues such as reproductive rights, suicide bombing, religion and politics. He believes it is the finest show ever to come on TV.

Olmos Has A Lot Of Fans

When the handsome, elderly gentleman walked into the Enzian, held out his hand to me and said, “Hi, I’m Edward…” I had no idea that I was meeting such a remarkable man.

I hope you have been to the FFF and had a similar experience. If not, what more do I need to say to convince you to come?

There’s only two days left in the Florida Film Festival. I hope to see you there!

Tania, played by Anne Coesens

After driving around for ten minutes at the Regal trying to find a parking spot, I finally raced into one as a car was leaving. I worked a 9 hour day and came straight to the film festival from work. So yet again, I arrived at the film right before it started, limiting my interviews with the line.

Not terribly thrilled about any of the features showing tonight, I decided on Illégal. Being a horror buff, I’m normally drawn to foreign films because of their creativity and ability to think outside the box.

Illégal is about illegal immigrants who become captured and detained like animals. Tania, the main character, is captured by authorities. The movie shows the struggle she goes through to protect her son, Ivan.

She lived her life on the run; not only with a fake ID but also by burning off her fingerprints. She was taken from her son and placed in a home, which was more like jail. Because she refused to give the authorities her name for fear of being deported back to her native country. She was given a badge number, 9648, which they used to identify her.

This was a very powerful story about abuse, enslavement and determination. Through everything, the captured illegal aliens made light of the situation by having fun such as playing sports and having food fights. Unfortunately, Aissa, Tania’s roommate, couldn’t handle the hell hole and depression she was under. She hung herself in the shower.

What an inspirational, eye-opener about a fight for freedom while being completely violated and even strip searched. If an illegal was captured, they could opt for a voluntary return to their country, however, most feared for their life going back to their home country.

This was such a dark, gloomy, brutal movie about the courage to survive. Illegals were treated horrible and even subject to police brutality. This film was not what I was expecting and threw me for a loop. It left the audience, and myself, completely stunned, speechless, and in shock.

I spoke with some audience members after the film. Kathryn said it was “really intense and hard to see.” She helped market the movie I saw last night, Hamill. She has a degree in Business and Marketing. This is her 7^th year attending the FFF and her 4^th year as a volunteer. She then proceeded to tell me that it’s great to be able to see all the films she wants for free (one of the perks for being a volunteer) and that the FFF was among the “top 20 film festivals in the country.”

Not quite my favorite film because I don’t enjoy watching people get beaten, literally, to death. But it was a great film to bring awareness to what life is like for those detained.

Make sure to join me on a less serious note tomorrow with Super. Nothing like a little comic relief to lighten the mood.

Did You Perform Chekhov In Sixth Grade?

Today was personal.

Number One Son and I head to Winter Park to watch Chekhov For Children. It’s a documentary about a group of sixth graders attending PS75 in Manhattan’s upper west side in the late 70’s. Their enlightened teacher decides they are capable of doing a two and a half hour performance of Chekhov’s dark and realistic masterpiece, Uncle Vanya. 

I’m drawn to this documentary because I suspect I will identify with the teachers and the students. I was the actor in middle school (which, in my day, was referred to as junior high school.) I always had the lead in the plays. I have no doubt I could have done Vanya when I was in sixth grade. Indeed, I won my sixth grade oratory contest by doing Marc Anthony’s famous soliloquy from Julius Caesar.

Then, as an adult, I used to teach theatre classes to youngsters. I recall the shocked expressions on my colleagues’ faces as I somehow got incredible, insightful and mature original scenes from youngsters.

I highly suspect I will be able to identify with both the teachers and the students in this film.

The documentary was well done and enjoyable. While it was not the masterpiece I was hoping for, it made for a reflective hour and a half of film watching. The documentarian was the lighting designer for the play. She had located and interviewed most of the principal actors and the teacher who staged the production.

You saw enough of the sixth graders’ performance of Uncle Vanya to appreciate the scope of the project and just how incredible these young actors were. And even if you aren’t into theatre, watching the interplay between the sixth graders then and hearing their adult versions now commenting on themselves is sure to evoke comparisons to your own school situations of long ago.

At the end of the movie, I found that my eyes had teared up, unexpectedly. Perhaps this film will sit with me long after I have finished watching.

Exiting the theatre, I discover three middle aged ladies discussing the film. They agree to an interview. “I liked it because it was a kid’s view and it took you back to your childhood, says someone who identifies herself as “a theatre goer” but whose friend outs her as “Mary.”

Mary then gives me permission to use her real name.  I ask her what she “goes back to.” “I was born and raised in Washington DC, in the city,” she explains, “and the homes we had were all close, the neighbors were close.” “Row houses,” chimes in her other friend, Laurie, attempting to be helpful.  “Row houses,” repeats Mary, “We used to go out and play ball in the park. The movie made me think about friends I hadn’t thought about in years.” Her voice trails off as she goes into a thoughtful reverie.

I ask Laurie for her thoughts. “I liked how the children were talking like adults. It made me feel like when I was 12. I still have the same feelings and I’m 55 now. It made me feel like the movie. It made me a little sad how some of the characters were like Chekhov characters. Life is sad sometimes,” She concludes with a note of deep sadness in her voice.

Teresa offers her viewpoint “I feel like all children should go through some kind of theatrical  presentation like that to show that there are other sides of the world beside their own family life. I grew up in suburbs so I didn’t have the city life. The fact that they were encouraged to perform this play that put them into a whole different world, an adult world, and in the future they could all look back into their 12 year old selves.  They all separated in life, just like Uncle Vanya, just like the play showed,” she concludes. 

It’s obvious that the documentary has created many moments of remembrance, contemplation and insight.

And isn’t that what great filmmaking is really all about?

MindFLUX Filmmakers During The Q&A At The Enzian

“Number one son here”. Here’s the problem: We do not own a time machine and therefore we cannot see all the films at the festival (or kill Hitler.) Today we had a choice between a documentary and some sort of surreal psychosexual thriller. We chose the documentary and, of course, the entire time I’m thinking gyah! Boring! What are we doing here? the other film sounded awesome! I think next year we should just watch films at random so there’s no regrets.

Anyway the documentary in question: MindFLUX. It’s about Richard Foreman, an avant-garde New York theater director, and it’s got interviews with, among others, F. Murray Abraham, James Cromwell, and Wallace Shawn!

Not a very good film though. It’s one of those documentaries for people with no attention span. It plays a soundbite from one person, then it cuts to another soundbite from another person, then it shows like four seconds from one of the plays. I wanted to scream: stop skipping around! I want to hear people talk! I want to see the play! Also whenever someone is talking it does this awful thing where it switches angles every second and also (ugg) switches back and forth between black and white and color. The movie tries so hard to be not boring that it winds up boring.

And then there’s the animation. At one point someone is telling an audition story. And it’s a great story. And he’s a great storyteller. But instead of letting you see the person who is talking, the movie cuts to a really lousy flash-animated dramatization of what happened. Why do this? The animation doesn’t add any information, or any humor. It doesn’t add anything. And in fact it takes away something: I bet the interviewee would be even more entertaining if you could see him.

I dunno I’m probably being too hard on this. It occurs to me that I saw an infomercial for a blender the other night, and it didn’t really make me want to buy the blender. But today I saw a movie that made me want to buy a ticket to a Richard Foreman play! The plays looked good! It’s hard to say for sure because the movie only shows tiny snippets, but they definitely looked like my kind of thing. I am a fan of surreal dreamlogic type stuff, and the sets looked beautiful. Anyway I guess what I’m saying is MindFLUX is probably better than the infomercial I saw the other night.

Oh man what if the filmmaker reads this review and gets disheartened and decides to quit filmmaking and become a banker? Aww don’t do that Mr. film director! Actually I’m glad I saw the film! It was interesting! It just, you know, wasn’t very good.

Several Filmmakers Describe Their Short During The Q&A

One thing that was consistent at the FFF this year was the shorts programs. All of them have been fabulous.

It’s not uncommon for shorts to be a very mixed bag; often excellent films followed or preceded by mediocre films. But not this year. It seems like every short film and every short film program is actually better than the one before. Such is the case with Shorts Program # 3: “Best Foot Forward.”  It’s unusual for me to laugh out loud at a movie. Yet this program had several shorts that caught me rolling in the aisle.

West Of The Moon – Alas, a busy work schedule meant that Number One Son and I missed this short. Too bad. One movie patron identified it as the best one of the lot–and that’s saying something!

The Thief – Likeable short that turns the table on a house robber. Well paced and engaging.

The Interview –  Hilarious futuristic, apocalyptic short about a job interview with what could be the last two people on earth. Great visuals, good dialogue, laugh out loud funny. Great sense of timing and script development.

Victims Of Gravity – Quirky little short. That’s really all I have to say about it. Some interesting filming techniques, but no story to speak of.

Time Freak – Another hilarious futuristic short. I haven’t laughed this much at a film in years.

Mercy, Grace And Crab Meat – If Quentin Tarantino were a mormon, he would have directed this short instead of Reservoir Dogs.

Crazy Beats Strong Every Time – Beautifully filmed, well acted, nicely paced, great technical work all wasted on a story involving characters that I cared nothing for. Good talent gone to waste. Pity.

As she was leaving the theatre, Linda said to me, “I thought they were all really good. I thought the actors were good in Crazy Beats Strong Every Time. But I don’t understand the black culture so I didn’t understand some of the dialogue.”

I’m with Linda, not too much about that movie made sense to me. But aside from that, I really enjoyed this shorts program.

Meanwhile, Number One Son and I head to the Enzian for the last film of the evening–MindFLUX. Stay tuned, that review to follow shortly.

Eben Signs While Joseph Answers A Question About Hamill

Matt Hamill was a long shot.

Born deaf, he was raised by a mother and grandfather who taught him to believe in himself; to never give up. After learning to wrestle in a small, rural Ohio town where he was the only deaf person, he succeeded in placing 5th and 3rd in the state and earned a free ride to Purdue. After a disastrous Freshman year, he almost gave up before his grandfather convinced him to transfer to Rochester Institute of Technology in New York where he would go on to win three national collegiate championships.

Not surprisingly, this story of determination and never say die attitude was very attractive to Eben Kostbar and Joeseph McKelheer. They decided to make a movie about Matt’s life. In an ironic twist of fate, their story of making this film parallels Matt’s as they struggle to write the script, come up with the funding and produce a wonderful work of art.

SunnyStefani, LanceAround’s newest correspondent, joins Number One Son and I in the theatre to watch this movie–Hamill. She writes this excellent post about the film. In the meantime, I catch up to some audience members.

“I need time to reflect. It was a great movie. It had great meaning. I like how powerful the message was,” says Tyler Simpson as his date, Heather, nods in agreement. “It was really good,” she adds emphatically.

“Excellent,” raves Kay McKelheer, who is Joseph’s stepmother. (In addition to co-writing and co-producing the movie, Joseph plays Matt’s college wrestling coach.) As I write this, Kay continually looks over my shoulder to ensure I spell everyone’s name correctly. She’s a mom! She then introduces me to Joseph.

“We wanted to make a film where deaf people and hearing people could go to the theatre at the same time and experience it.  This was the first time I experienced the deaf community,” relates Joseph. He’s eager to push the website. He’s eager for distribution. This film means a lot to him and he does not want to see it die.

I read those last few sentences to him and he reacts, “I’m on my fifth year of this film. I won’t be surprised if, in five years, I’m still actively involved. I think this film has certain relevance. It’s going to take time, but it’s going to get out there. It’s not going to happen overnight. We’re not going to quit. It would be a shame if it doesn’t get out there. We know there’s an audience.”

I ask Joseph to tell me something that no other journalist has written about him or this movie. I’m looking for an angle–something personal. I use several other interviewing techniques to try to draw him out. They don’t work. He’s focused and he’s nervous. He wants so badly for this film to succeed.

I tell Joseph about the time I won a national wrestling championship when I was in college. I remember it clearly–the grim determination, the laser like focus–I only succeeded because nothing was going to stand in my way.

That’s how Joseph is now. He’s focused on this movie. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if he succeeds.

It’s a good film and well worth a look.

Producer, Eben Kostbar, with SunnyStefani

After a long day at work, I arrive at the theatre right before the showing, with no time to my usual interviews with FFF patrons who are waiting to see the film. As the theatre was filling, I figured I’d grab some popcorn. Standing in line I see three people signing and assume they, like myself, are here to see Hamill.

The movie is about Matt “The Hammer” Hamill, who was born deaf and raised among those who can hear. His life started with wrestling, and three national collegiate championships later, he turned into a UFC mixed-martial-arts fighter. I was drawn to this movie because of my love for competition and martial arts.

Hamill captures an inspirational true story about support and determination. This was yet another great film to add to my collection at this years FFF. Although, at times, Matt became frustrated, he found ways to compensate for his lack of hearing through vibrations and an intense focus to succeed at anything.

This film had outstanding transitions. A world was created between those who can hear and those who can’t. It was great filming to be placed in Matt’s shoes by removing the sound during scenes shot from his point of view. The lady next to me was chomping her popcorn with her mouth wide open. As I sat there, I thought, “if only I could disregard that noise and tune out life around me.”

The audience was very involved during this film. The crowd was laughing, clapping, and yelling things like, “He’s down!” during the wrestling matches. At the end of the movie, we had the opportunity for a Q & A session with the producers.

They shared that they initially approached Matt via MySpace after they heard of his inspirational story. The amazing script was the longest aspect of production, taking close to three of the five years they spent creating this film.

Russell Harvard as Hamill

A very interesting fact is that every deaf character was played by a deaf actor because they wanted it to be authentic. The film also featured deaf crew, producers, and makeup artists. They worked with a budget that was very small and plan to release the movie in a small way, such as through Netflix.                                                                                                            

The entire film was shot between 28 to 30 days in Rochester because of RIT–Rochester Institute of Technology–where Matt transferred during his sophomore year after a disastrous year at Purdue. Rochester, NY was diverse and they could cheat it to represent Ohio as well (where Matt grew up.) The editing process took six months because they didn’t want to settle on cuts so they went back to the drawing board a lot.

Matt was involved very early in the process and the movie reflects what actually happened–it’s very accurate. When he saw the film Matt was in tears. He loves and supports the film.

After the film I was waiting to talk with Eben Kostbar, one of the producers, when I ran into Rachel and Tara and asked them about their reactions to the film. Rachel said, “I enjoyed it a lot. I didn’t know if I would like it after I read about it but it was inspirational and different than anything I’ve seen.”

Tara, not being able to top Rachel’s answer, agreed with her and added, “it was real cool to see an underdog movie about a deaf person.” Both girls know how to sign a little, but not fluently. Tara informed me she is taking classes next year to become more fluent.

After the FFF crew shoed us out of the theatre, I meet up with Eben Kostbar. He said, “You get one time to put your work out there. Every person dreams, and I was inspired to do something start to finish that people are gonna enjoy.” He proceeded to tell me that it was a great “story about a guy believing in himself that people are drawn to.”

He originally was working on a thriller when he got together with Joe, his partner. Joe explained that Matt was very responsive to a movie about him. He was drawn to Matt’s story because the story really inspired him. He met Matt and they hit it off right from the start.

Eben said the “cool part about all this was the deaf residential story that I got to know Matt and other deaf people. I was inspired by the deaf community; I started taking classes to get to know and to learn to sign.”

Eben is such an open, down to earth guy. He’s currently working on Free Samples which will be coming out in the Fall. You can join him on Facebook at Hamill the Movie or by going to their website HamillTheMovie.com.

As I finished with Eben, I talked to one more audience member . His name was Jeff and he’s from Venice, FL. “I thought it was great; amazing that [they] could produce such a good movie. The whole package was great; it was an ambitious film.”

I’ll never know what it’s like to just block everything out or never hear the words, ‘I love you.’ But when you don’t give up and put you’re mind to something, you can accomplish anything.

On that note, good night until tomorrow.

The Fantastic Flying Books Of Mr. Morris Lessmore

Mrs. LanceAround joins Number One Son and I for an evening of shorts. Tonight we’re going to the Winter Park Theatre to watch Shorts Program #1: “Down and Out” which ends at 6:25, then race over to the Enzian for the 6:30 showing of Animated Shorts.

This was a good night. We really enjoyed all the shorts we saw. That’s pretty unusual. Here’s a brief review of the first set of shorts:

Sexting – Clever concept, but the execution didn’t work for me. Don’t understand why they chose to shoot in B&w, for example.

The Good Neighbor – Humorous yarn about an overly helpful neighbor and a precocious pet. I don’t think the pet–or the neighborly relationship–stands a chance.

Pillow – The filmmakers enjoyed using excellent, creative filming techniques in support of this weak, non-sensical story.

This One Was a Lot of Fun

GaySharkTank.com – Creative film technique with strong, snappy, witty story. This one was a lot of fun. Good flick and just a little too long.

Hello Caller – Loads of fun–great script, well acted. This was a joy to watch from beginning to end.

The Hunter And The Swan Discuss Their First Meeting – Well scripted and well acted fantasy. Quite enjoyable.

Filmmakers Q&A

After The Denim – Thoughtful, well acted drama about being young and getting old. Just slightly too long, but very touching.

After the movies, the filmmakers for Pillow and After The Denim came up for some Q & A. Gregory D. Goyins directed After The Denim. During the Q&A, he mentioned that this was his first film. I raised my hand and pointed out that most first time directors of shorts are obviously young students, often completing a film project for school. I asked him about the path that brought him here, since he obviously did not fit that criteria.

He spoke about being a stock broker for 10 years before returning to his passion–theatre. He applied at many film schools, but despite have a 3.9GPA and having won awards for his work, only Columbia and Dodge College of Film and Media Arts at Chapman University in Orange CA accepted him. Columbia was not offering enough money, so Gregory went to Chapman.

Afterwards, I pulled him aside and asked him point blank if he felt he was discriminated against because of his age. He was gracious and simply pointed out that with his GPA and awards, he couldn’t understand why he was not accepted.

I asked the two filmmakers for Pillow about the vagueness of their script. Was I missing something or was there a lot that was simply left unexplained? They said that they did not have any explanations for various plot points–confirming my suspicions about the weaknesses in their movie. As I’ve said before, filmmaking is, first and foremost, a medium for telling stories. The technical aspects are important–and a lot of fun–but if you don’t have a compelling story, technique alone won’t get you very far.

We rush out of the theatre and get to The Enzian just as they’re closing the doors for the animated shorts. The place is packed!  The three of us have to sit away from each other at three different tables. For the first time in history, we actually get bad food service at the Enzian as no waitstaff comes to take our food order at any of the tables we’re at. Since we rushed from work to the movies and haven’t had any dinner, this was quite an annoyance.

Fortunately, these films are even better than the last group of shorts. This is a great year for shorts. Every short program we’ve seen has been better than the one before. Here’s a very brief synopsis:

Guard Dog Global Jam – What a concept! A popular, Oscar winning short film animator calls on animators across the world to recreate scenes from one of his most popular works–in their style. He then puts it all together to create a new Guard Dog movie. It’s like a play within a play.

The Deep – Already saw and reviewed this short which played before the Opening night movie, Project Nim.

Something Left, Something Taken – Death and mayhem with a potential serial killer in San Francisco. Well paced, well acted, superb directing. This one was really good. It was Number One Son’s favorite short of the night.

The Birds Upstairs – Skeleton birds conceive an unexpected child. What’s a respectable skeleton to do?

Accumulonimbus – A kaleidoscope of a claymation cloud with fascinating shapes and sounds.
 

A Real Tearjerker

Danny & Annie – Very sad, true tale of a terminal illness and the redemption of love. Actual interview from a PBS radio broadcast. This one had many people in the theatre crying their eyes out–including Mrs. LanceAround who identified this as her favorite short tonight.

Always, Only, Ever – Sad tale of lonely heart creatures of some kind.

The Wonder Hospital – You know those mirrors they have in fun houses that distort your body shape–what if your whole world were like living in one of those?

Tales Of Mere Existence –  Lev Yilmaz brings a couple of these dittys to every FFF and they never disappoint. This year was no exception.

Fred – Great voice characterizations backstage at a seedy theatre.

Nosy Bear – Short, maybe kind of cute and uneventful.

Bottle – Sandman, Snowwoman send messages in a bottle. Could this be true love? Destiny? Almost…

The Fantastic Flying Books Of Mr. Morris Lessmore – The title really captures the essence of what this fabulous short film is about. Don’t get it? Neither did I until I saw the film. And I’m glad I did!

I would love to have stuck around the theatre and interviewed some patrons to get their perspectives, but the lack of service means that the LanceAround family is feeling hungry. So we stop by Whole Foods Market on the way home and buy some prepared food to share with Number One Daughter, who had to stay home and get some homework completed.

All in all, a wonderful night of film at the Florida Film Festival 2011!