ROBOT AND FRANK

I am so happy I heard Frank Langella discuss his role and involvement in this film in an NPR interview not long ago. He met with the writer and director for hours before signing on and discussed with them what it is to be 70 years old. He asked them to incorporate the suggestions he made into their script and return with the script.  He liked what he read and that they had heard him. He agreed to sign on and for that we are fortunate.  This is a beautiful portrayal of a retired cat burglar who is beginning to lose some cognitive functions, particularly his memory.  His daughter SKYPES him and his son travels regularly to try to help him and visit but it's not working. So the son finds a robot to function as a home health aide.  Lovely voice of Peter Saarsgard as the robot.  Susan Sarandon as a librarian and Frank Langella as a rebellious character play older people respectfully and with a great deal of inner life, humor and intelligence.  Hallelujah!  I loved this film about a relationship between an aging man and a robot who respects him and follows his lead.  Damn, I hope my kids get me a robot when my time comes.

THE IMPOSTER/48 Hour Film Project

After lunch with Liz at LEAF  I soloed to Violet Crown for THE IMPOSTER, a well made documentary about a serial imposter.  A clever young man desperate for attention maximizes people's gullibility by pretending to be a youth from San Antonio who has been missing for four years.  From the moment we see him we see he is clearly a grown man.  There are so many authority figures he interfaces with in Europe and then the U.S. who don't question his obvious hoax.  When he is interviewed by the agent from The Missing and Exploited Children's agency one can only pull out their hair by the hoax she bought as truth:  a boy reports to be kidnapped by the military to be brought to undisclosed destinations with other boys where they are tortured, raped, and repeatedly victimized.  He reports broken bones, cigarette burns, and repeated violation with no physical evidence.  It is only when Charlie Parker, a private investigator matches his ears to a photo of the actual missing boy's ears do we have an AHA moment (are you laughing yet?) This movie is painful in that a beautiful boy already experiencing difficulty in a dysfunctional family has gone missing and no one knows what happened.  Sad. 
On a much brighter note tonight I traveled up to Scottish Rite theater to see films shot for the 48 Hour Film Project.   What fun!  Some of these Austin filmmakers are just brilliant, clever, creative and willing to take such risks with their subject matter.  Nice seeing so many familiar faces as well.

Gender Differences

A daughter moves to a far off land and makes her own way.  Never lets me buy her a thing to set up her new life in an apartment or house.  A son re-locates and is more than happy to have mama set up bathroom, kitchen and go shopping with him for the rest when he arrives. Is this cultural? Is this a first born son thing?  I love it but boy it's really shown it's face!

Josh Moves to Austin

It is with great pleasure, happiness and gratitude that I can formally announce our guy Josh's move to Austin in September. (Can you tell how happy I am?)  For the first time in 10 years the Moskowitz/Alexander clan will reside in the same city.  What was the possibility that a transportation sharing program would recruit him away from Washington D.C. to Austin as a Development Manager?  Did they know how much his  mother would be so grateful????  On those days I have kept my gratitude higher than my expectations I have had the best days.  Today is one of them! (And of course we've already found his new apartment in walking distance from his job...can't take that New York pedestrian thing out of our DNA).

HOPE SPRINGS

I approached this film warily as the situation was so close to me.  I've been married 30 years and I was a social worker for 36 years so seeing a movie about a couple married 31 years who involve themselves in intensive therapy had me cautious.  I loathe seeing bad therapists on film with screenwriters' misconstrued notions about what constitutes good therapy.  And I'm cautious about making middle aged couples look silly when discussing their intimacy.  Happy to say I was delightfully surprised.  Meryl and Tommy Lee Jones are so real and authentic as a couple who have lost any intimacy in their relationship (they sleep in different rooms!!) but clearly have had a foundation together.  Tommy Lee takes a journey on screen that is not an easy or comfortable one and I could have cheered audibly for every one of Steve Carell's interventions with this couple.  Meryl as always is brilliant and sensitive in her portrayal of a middle aged wife yearning for more.  At the end of the film when I called Abe for a lift home he realized he forgot to leave work so I had a glass of wine at Hyde Park Grill and waited for him.  When he walked in to get me I realized how in love I am with this guy after 30 years of marriage and how fortunate we are to be growing old together and forgetting to pick each other up after a film.  It's all worth it.

Annual Unified Auditions

Headed up to Scottish Rite Theater this a.m. where I participated in their annual audition.  An annual event from Austin Creative Alliance and UT RTF where Austin actors are given the opportunity to present themselves in performance of a monologue.  Directors, agents and representatives from UT and theater companies are the auditors.  And so equipped with a monologue from SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE that I've rehearsed over and over and given a very painful back story to I presented my stuff.  And I am so aware that I brought with me everything I've learned from Paula Russell, Ck McFarland and Marco Parella.  I am grateful.

Protesting in Silence

We stood outside of the Capitol gates today for one hour in silence. I'm sure others stood for more than the hour.   We wore targets on our shirts (it's Austin so some people were very creative).  One woman was topless with a huge red target painted on her chest.  I recognized an actor I've recently seen and the rest were men, women, children, toddlers.  Photographers took our photos.  We didn't know each other but we came to protest the targeting of women in these political wars being fought. And the denial of basic rights for healthcare, all healthcare that we choose for ourselves.  We silently asked that the men making decisions leave our reproductive organs alone, and stop making fools of themselves when discussing what happens to us when we're violated.  We know what happens, you don't.  Men need to talk with one another honestly about their attention to our stuff.  They've got an issue with our stuff.  And if you ask me, Freud is well and alive deep in the heart of Texas!