Thought of The Day 33

Hey, good news – I’ve got a “thought” for you!

Wow, brilliant – and how fitting – here we are on the Sunday special bit of Bitsnbobs, the blog with Bits, and these Sunday Specials are called “Thought of the Day”.

You couldn’t ask for more!

You’re right, I couldn’t.

But there is!!

What – more?

Yes!

No!

Yes, yes – this thought comes from Paolo Sorrentino!

Pasta maker?

That’s racist!

It is?

Yeah – do you think ALL Italians make pasta?

Don’t they?

How can you be so stupid!

Being with you?

Whatever.

So – who is Paolo?

A big cheese.

Gorgonzola?

Will you stop it! He’s a film director.

Wow, brilliant – I can feel that not only are we going to get a Thought on Thought of the Day but we are also going to get a film review!

Yep.

Double brilliant then – as these Sunday whatsits have been morphing gradually into film reviews.

On that note, any chance of a bit of financial help?

Why?

Going to the cinema every week is costing me money.

Tell them you are a journalist for Bitsnbobs – the blog with no ad-sense.

Think it will work?

You gotta try – now – give me the thought.

Ok, Paolo says – “I think that a story only truly comes alive when there’s a danger of failing.”

Hmm, I’ll have to think about that…..

Then Thought of the Day is achieving its goal.

When did Paolo say this?

In an interview about his film – This Must Be The Place.

Isn’t that the title of a song from David Byrne and The Talking Heads?

It is!

Remind me how it goes.

Dum, dum did um did um dum…

No remind me of the words, I know the tune.

It’s a love song – Italians and love songs in the same Thought of The Day, it’s how things ought to be!

If you can’t have pasta?

Now, now….. Is David Byrne connected to the film?

Connected – he’s in it!

Acting?

No…. singing! – In the middle of the film he’s there in a small club singing the title song – it’s a wonderful moment – full of fun and theatricality and surprise.

No acting then?

Performance yes, but in the interview David says he doesn’t act, he stands next to Sean Penn and reacts.

Sean Penn is in the film?

He is, but you might not recognize him, I think he might get an Oscar.

What are you saying – that an actor should get an Oscar when people don’t recognize them?

No, I’m saying that he acts really well.

Let’s start at the beginning – what’s the film about?

An aged and bored rock star, who goes searching for a former Nazi concentration-camp guard.

You’re not selling it.

No it’s brilliant – go see it – it’s the danger Paolo was speaking about – Sean Penn’s character is the last person you would imagine on such a quest but the power of the story telling is that you never question that he does – even though the film starts in Dublin and ends up in New Mexico.

What?

It’s a road movie.

Ah – travel and inner transformation?

Yep – and it’s got everything you want in a movie – great acting, great photography, great music, great images, a great story, great dialogue, heart AND a beautiful woman.

Italian?

Irish!

Are you being a bit sexist here?

Whatever, - what I’m saying is that the film has layers.

Name me one great image.

The Pistachio.

The Pistachio?

Yep.

Why the capital letters.

It’s the biggest in the world.

Ah.

And – you know what I really like?

Pasta? Italian women? Irish?

A film that is a film - created as such, written and imagined as such, not a version of a book or a play; it seems more complete somehow – AND – a cameo scene from Harry Dean Stanton.

You’d like to be Harry Dean wouldn’t you?

Yep, I would.

Who does he play in the film?

Robert Plath.

Who’s he?

Look it up.

Anything you haven’t told me?

Yes, Sean Penn’s character is based on Robert Smith of The Cure.

What do you mean?

He wears lipstick.