Carolime Time

Movie directors I’m fond of and more

Sitting on the patio at O’Grady’s, in Toronto’s Church and Wellesley neighborhood, also known simply as the “village”..a friend asked me who my favourite directors are. Earlier in the evening, upon being reminded that I’m an actor, she asked me if I could cry on the spot. Now, this question is a crime in our religion (known as “performian” to those who practice:p), but I forgave D on the spot ’cause I like her and she has good intentions..so I decided to educate her on the “cry on the spot, now, actor!” command: never ask an actor to cry on the spot. Would you ask your mom to cry on the spot? Why would you ask me? One time, when I was young and naiive, another friend made the same request and I did it, only to feel like a fool afterwards. What kind of socializing is this, when you make a friend cry?

Anyhow, I told D how this very same question was addressed yesterday evening at an acting class I audited by Jeff Seymour, the American cum Canadian film and TV transport. A student mentioned how people always asked her this and he suggested we pull out our index finger, poke them in the eye and then say, ha ha ha see now you’re crying too! you’re an actor too!! ha ha ha cackle cackle cackle. Yes..so, who dares to ask me this question? I’ll make someone cry, that’s for certain..sharpening my nails as we speak:)

So when asked about my favourite directors, I had an answer. I’m not really big on listing my favourite directors the same way I don’t like listing my favourite bands toooo much. You know, music, film, categories and genres…they can all fail you. But then, there are some that you love even if they falter a little bit. I think I finally came to terms with this and started to gather my favourites. I’ve always known I have a love for the band Pulp and..and…that’s about it. That’s the only band I’ll always believe in, and Nirvana, but they don’t count because the main guy is dead.

In terms of directors, I can name several that I like and maybe love–but mind you, this is not the be all and end all of my director list, and once it is, it will be much shorter: Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream, Pi), Michael Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Science of Sleep), David Lynch (Mulholland Drive, Elephant Man), Tim Burton (Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), Pedro Almodovar (Volver, La Mala Educacion, Hable con ella) , Frederico Fellini (not 100% on this cat– but loved La Strada and most of La Dolce Vita), Deepa Mehta (Water, Fire)..Upon looking closely into the IMDB profiles of some of these directors, I found that it was often the actors in the movies that I actually loved– like Gael Garcia Bernal, who has been in several movies I’ve enjoyed on this list..and omitted from this list because of a lack of familiarity with the directors. Or Ewan MacGregor, Jennifer Connolly..

The next little while will be spent watchinga number of movies, including Last Tango in Paris, Children of Men, History of Violence, Heaven on Earth, Rudo y Cursi, 8 1/2 and probably many, many more. Oh, and Young People Fucking. I’ve just discovered the convenience of having a TV screen-sized computer in my room with torrent capabilities. Movies in bed!!