Midday Screening of The Boat People at the Fairfax Cinema

As we enter Swingers Diner Bob’s crooning The Gates of Eden.
I eat aki tuna with wasabi and quinoa. Still worrying if the film’s
Going to screen at all. Come a quarter to I head to the Fairfax, five
Minutes away. The crowd’s about two dozen. The cinema seats
Three hundred. A few more trickle in through trailers for New
Mexico HD services. The film begins. That soundtrack glitch
Hits after five seconds. From then on it’s fine. Russell’s Russell,
Larger than life. Tim and Raquel, Nabil, Maimie, Clara and Dermott
Too run through their lines impeccably. The knife scene raises a
Chuckle. Alan’s murder a frisson. The film, as hard to watch as ever,
Trails some kind of blaze over the biggest screen to ever do it
Justice. Curry’s in Vietnam and I’m in Hollywood. The film ends
And is followed by a short about a man in love with a girl half
His age who lies about living in Alaska. Another short’s a spoof
Of Alive. Canessa in the Andes set in Pasadena. I walk out with
Ravi, go back to Swingers for coffee. Sun shines bright. Twenty years
Ago, N kissed an Irish-American actor in the back of a New York cab;
Now his brother’s drinking coffee with me, talking film-making. Back in
The Fairfax, the Q&A inspires the question: What next? Three other
Film-makers talk future projects. I reply that I haven’t got a clue.