Unfiltered // April 2024
Stanley Tucci, writing in Arabic, and a montage workshop
Unfiltered is a quick study of the latest short I’m working on. It’s a behind-the-scenes of my work-in-progress. Inspirations, the idea I’m trying to capture, maybe even the rough script I’m playing with. It’s the process.
In last month’s Unfiltered, I wrote about a yearning. As predicted, my mind is wandering back over into happy solitude territory. My internal pendulum swinging isn’t helping me write this short when my starting point is a braided brioche of emotions.
ANOTHER ERA, ANOTHER ENERGY
Lately, when I’m down or uninspired, I feel better by getting lost in a good 90s film. Last week, I revisited Great Expectations with Ethan and Gwyneth. This weekend, I took a chance on Big Night, co-written and co-directed by Stanley Tucci. He’s also in the film as Secondo, the younger of two Italian brothers who have immigrated to 1950s New Jersey and are running an Italian restaurant. Primo, the older brother played by Tony Shalhoub, is the stubborn chef.
The film is about the tension between family and personal aspirations. And food. It is STUNNING. It took 3 hours to watch because I kept pausing to take screenshots. I already have the urge to watch it all over again and take more. It’s also littered with famous faces like Isabella Rossellini (more on her later), Marc Anthony, and Allison Janney.
The biggest star is Tucci’s yellow sweater. The tone and texture was complimentary to every frame it ended up in. I also want those Ray Bans.
