Where's The Beef?

Saw a little flick called NOISE tonight out at the Laemmle 5 on Sunset with a girlfriend and a male friend of hers. Interesting night. Let me tell you about it in a roundabout way...

We followed up the movie with dinner at a vegan restaurant. I have to admit it was my first actual culture shock experience in Los Angeles. The menu just didn't register. All I saw were leaves and beans...and...soy shrimp. (pause) Soy shrimp. (pause) Soy...shit. What?! In fact there was soy chicken, soy turkey...soy tennis shoe as far as I'm concerned...! What the FRACK is soy shrimp...?! That doesn't compute. Also there was something called seitan. Not to be confused with Satan, though I'll bet they resemble one another. Look...I'll eat sushi, any ethnic food on the planet, and occasionally tofu...but I draw the line at soy shrimp. I can't...it just...what?! You vegans are just plain weird. Pass the bacon. As in...the real stuff. There were other things earlier in the night that didn't quite sit right with me either...

I thought the movie we gobbled popcorn through (NOISE) was amusing partly due to its original premise, partly due to Tim Robbins. What was particularly interesting to me was that the movie had Mr. Tim Robbins, Bridget Moynahan, William Hurt, a Baldwin...and YET opening weekend saw maybe a dozen people in the theatre. Maybe. Y'all will have to tell me: is this normal? No Q&A...no promotion...people in jeans and flip flops sitting indifferently through what I thought was a very sweet and funny film.

Here's my beef. It takes a Name/Names to get an indie made. AND YET. The Names could (apparently) give a shit about their own performance after the fact? (These are questions, not statements...btw.) AND SO. No butts in the seats. Therefore...no one sees said flick and it makes no/little money. Ridiculous? (Yes, I know there's only about a million variables here I'm not considering, but boil it down with me.) I wasn't around for The Big Time for independent film but I will tell you this...now ain't it. Film festivals seem to be...dying. Or at the very least, indifferent. Indie film sometimes feels more apathetic to me than studio pictures. Definitely more impotent. But whose fault is that? The stars? The filmmakers? The system? Sometimes seeing an indie film is like eating a vegan meal. Very unsatisfying. So often, they lack substance. What's even sadder is when they have substance sans support as is more often the case.

Now, I feel their pain. Unless you have goo-gobs of money to shell out on designer labels and Name clients... It can be hard offering an audience a whole "meal" when you have to spend so much for the prime rib. But is that what indie film should be about? The Name client(s) take their astronomical chunk of the small money pie, get to carry a picture, and at the end of it...whatEVah. Never mind ART. Never mind promotion of the sweat and toil of those who really DO care. 'Course without the prime rib...no one wants to eat it. Follow?

If I were in that film--I would be SO PROUD of it. I'd call everyone I know and would drag their sorry ass to the theatre...I'd be promoting myself and that film because what I do is an extension of what I believe in. There's a lot of NOISE out there. And I'm not simply talking car alarms (see film). What amazes me the most about tonight...was the silence. The lack. The scarcity. The indifference. About a piece of work that people put a lot of time and effort in. It felt hollow. And there was definitely a lack of buzz about NOISE. Which is sad to me...I liked it. Where was the director? Where were the Names? Let me ask you this: do you show up for your work...and/or do you expect other people to?

If a tree falls in a forest but no one hears it...does it make a sound? If a film gets made but no one sees it..? And I think y'all should...GO. SEE. IT. It's amusing social commentary and the best indie film I've seen this year. So...if you want to make a difference in one filmmaker's life...go get NOISY. This picture should be cared about. At least, in my humble opinion.

Now...about the tofu...my stomach didn't feel so great on the way home...so I don't buy that vegan stuff being... healthier.

Food for thought.

--Eve White