A magnifying glass.

The Squid and the Whale

Directed by Noah Baumbach, 2005

Along with Raising Victor Vargas (Dir. Peter Sollett, 2002), these two films are nothing short of amazing when it comes to culling rich material within the minutia of the nuclear family.

Both films are acting as source material for a significant upcoming project that I am most thankfully acting as Director of Photography. They’re careful and deliberate orchestrations between direction, acting, editing, sound design, and cinematography… yes the complete package.

I’ve given myself a self-assignment of watching several sequences over and over again – paying special attention to blocking, positioning, composition. It’s fun stuff, intense.

I’m hoping my anxieties don’t overrun my capabilities, especially since my workload is increasing and I don’t really know how to turn down projects.

Samuel Beckett will kick your ass.

It’s been a minute since I’ve updated this sucker. I’m going out of sequence here and starting with the immediate.

Granted, there are other pertinent things that I should be blogging about, items that include, but are not limited to:

My recent trip to the Philippines

The San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival

Reading

Upcoming short projects

But I’ll skip all that in the meantime and mention that I’ve recently signed on to the directing workshops with Bindlestiff Studio, called Stories High.

I’m blessed enough to be part of a cohort of exuberant Pin@ys, including one amazing Jeannie Barroga.

In this workshoppe, we get to produce our dream production. We go through the ringer getting schooled on a little bit of theory, but most notably, sharpen our teeth with a “budget” and various monkey wrenches typical in stage production.

We’re meeting all throughout April at various Filipino centers (The Bayanihan Community Center, the Manilatown Heritage Foundation Center, and the Mint Mall) which I think is wonderful. We use spaces that are often underused, and in a context that really probes the symbiotic relationship of arts and community. Pretensions aside, we’re damn proud to by Pin@y cultural workers.

We picked plays to produce.

I wanted to do Haruki Murakami’s After the Quake, which had a recent run out at Berkeley Rep, and at La Jolla Playhouse, but the script isn’t available, at least not until May.

So I dug and chose from James Baldwin, David Mamet, and Samuel Beckett. Amen Corner, American Buffalo, and Endgame respectively.

After cramming each one down my throat, I was in contention — each had potential, was mutually attractive. I could have gone with the endearing familiarity in Baldwin’s tone, or Mamet’s grit…

…but try as I might, I stuck it out with my boy Beckett.

Well, not that he’s my boy, I wish! I could only dream of having a coffee with him and getting lost in the wrinkles of existential absurdism. For some reason, the bleakness, the anxiety, the relative hopelessness and claustrophobia that are staples in his productions, are so… so… well…

Let’s just say that Jeannie told us that the plays we chose spoke to us for a reason.

So the name of the game? 3 months of pre-production, 3.5 week run, $10000 at my disposal.

Can it be done?

Yes. It will be.

Oh and side note, here’s a conceptual mindfuck — try reading Endgame in front of St. Patrick’s church, while listening to Marvin Gaye’s Inner City Blues, on an empty stomach. If the physical setting, and imagined maligned mental state doesn’t get at you, shoot me an email and we can schedule an appointment to talk to each other in separate garbage bins and talk about love.