Impressions of Eat Pray Love

You know me, shy of doing movie reviews. But EAT PRAY LOVE (based on the best-selling novel by Elizabeth Gilbert) is one that sort of wrote itself. The film was produced by Plan B (Brad Pitt's production company), distributed by Columbia and directed by Ryan Murphy from a adapted screenplay by Ryan Murphy & Jennifer Salt.

It was the day after Thanksgiving. The post T-day doldrums had set in. The men were slipping into their dens and watching football games. Most women, including me, were wrapping up in the kitchen. Here was a story I knew would be a sumptuous feast for the heart. Maybe it would give some direction for my own life. It was my Friday ME TIME. So expectations ran high.

'Twas the day after Thanksgiving
as calm as can be
when it suddenly struck me
a movie I'll see!

So out in the car
and down to the shop
I found myself searching
for something to watch.

And there on the wall shelf
as bright as can be
there sat a copy of
Eat Pray Love movie.

I paid the fee gladly
and made off with glee
to screen Eat Pray Love
two times, maybe three.

The first time I saw it
felt something it lacked
but the second time through
the more I relaxed.

Dario Marianelli's music is dreamy and the second time through the humor popped out more than it had before. The focal point is the heroine's recovery - not by therapy but by opening herself up to life again, eating well, praying to a God she doesn't know but is desperate to find and allowing herself love again. We can all relate to that on some level.

I haven't yet read the book so there's no way to do a fair comparison. My sense of it is though that the journalistic prose of the book was not marred by any need to fulfill the needs of dramatic structure. What got my attention to begin with was the TED TALK Elizabeth Gilbert gave about her life after the published form of EAT PRAY LOVE won so much critical acclaim as well as a movie deal.



In the first act we meet Elizabeth played by Julia Roberts. She's a successful writer on assignment in an exotic land and she has the power of influence. Yet she uses the opportunity not to help others but herself. She's miserable in her marriage. A Balinese Medicine Man reads her palm and suddenly she sees herself thrust into the turbulent waters of change. Thus, her conflict comes into sharp relief.

Although I can appreciate how something so deeply emotional can be the catalyst for initiating change, heeding the advice of a toothless sage is not the strongest dramatic premise. This is why there isn't a lot of momentum going into the second act. Non-linear structure adds texture but also disperses dramatic thrust up front.

Many plates of pasta and a series of time-travel like moments follow in which she literally allows herself to expand and communes with the spirit of her ex-husband across the ocean. Learning the language becomes a lengthy montage that lightens the load with a new friend, a handsome tutor and English captions that translate Italian hand gestures (many ways to say the F word).

At the center of the film, Elizabeth moves into dedicated spiritual inquiry by living at an ashram. This is both beautiful and bold. But how do you dramatize inner exploration? Well, it's a memoir so life leads the way. This ties in nicely with the underlying theme of trusting the universe.

The serendipitous events that follow are perfectly relevant to the heroine's quest. First she helps a young Indian girl find the courage to marry a man she's never met. This subplot is deeply ironic because the girl mirrors Elizabeth's own wanderlust and marital sacrifice but it is Elizabeth's meetings with a recovering alcoholic in the temple that helps her realize she must love and forgive herself.

By the time we get to Bali, I just let it wash over me like it does the heroine. That's when I discovered that this is how to watch the entire film. Relax. Let it flow. Let go of your expectations. It is the message of the piece after all.

The theatrical released in August and earned $201,663,417 worldwide. It's out now on DVD, taking in it's second round of profits. All in all, this is another very successful film that proves once more that female-driven films are very bankable indeed.

NaNo - Day What?

My publicist and I are hosting a Meet-the-Author event at Casa de Luz in Austin in support of SCRIPT: A Writer's Guide to the Hollywood Jungle. We'll both be there December 4 @ noon along with some other friends. It's a casual affair. Word is out to local media and screenwriting groups. Weather permitting, it'll be outside in their garden setting. Austin is so cool.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Here in the U.S. we eat turkey & gravy (almost exclusively), sweet potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce or salad, fresh sage bread with lots of butter and pumpkin pie. Cookies, crackers, cider and cheese are standing by on drainboard. The boys are out getting a DVD. Cyrano de Bergerac in black & white didn't set anybody's pants of fire, so I'm being over-ruled.

Actually, on some level their going out was by design. I secretly wanted the space to cook in peace and write. Must have that time alone to let the energy flow freely. With the the right kind of attention, something opens up and if I listen in a certain way, I can follow. At this point, it's like there is another energy present and writing becomes like taking dictation.

Shortly after my last NaNo post, the novel-in-30-days project took a bold cosmic turn. It lifted off, in a manner of speaking, and is travelling through space (or innerspace?) on a mission to complete itself. May catch sight of it again any day now. This is totally fine. It wants to be about parallel dimensions. So I've pulled changed tack on NaNo (this is going to take more time) and am sailing fast on the book release and related projects. There's electricity in the air.

My experience of NaNoWriMo was great in the most unconventional sense. It surprised me with the bright essence of a new story and fuelled progress on another one. You can hardly beat that, even if a novel doesn't come out of it. Meanwhile, Native American material continues to flow in. Right now I'm reading Heyemeyohsts Storm's Lightning Bolt and Sun Bear's Medicine Wheel. Both are richly inspirational.

After dinner, I went for a brisk walk. There's a cold front blowing in tonight. The wind is up from the northwest and rain is in the forecast. I love a good storm. This is Austin's first brush with wintry temps and blustery zephyrs for fall. The leaves have been clinging greenly and overlong. Now they skitter down the lane.

Is it the Lassie or the Fraulein in me that loves to stroll full out, breathing deep? Maybe it goes deeper and further back than that. I'll duck out again tonight with scarf and gloves - to be out where the barometer is falling and the moon is bright behind shifting clouds.

A Writer's Guide to the Hollywood Jungle™

Just a quick note for all the millions of you potentially attempting to purchase the eBook version of Script: A Writer's Guide to the Hollywood Jungle™. Somehow the title page and preface were missing so the system is updating. It may take 24-48 hours before the book becomes available again. Thanks for your patience!

Leonid Meteor Shower - 2010

Tonight is a good one for tuning into the cosmic vibe. If you live in the U.S., we'll be able to see the annual, Leonid meteor shower in the eastern sky, towards the constellation Leo after about 1 am. Best sighting is after the moon sets, several hours before dawn. Here's a link to NASA to calculate best viewing times for your location.

NaNo Memo - Day 15

It's the beginning the third week of the Nanowrimo write-a-thon. Those whimsical thoughts of finishing a novel that sticks to the outline I had when we started out two weeks ago have come and gone. The volunteers at the local NaNoWriMo central have been sending faithful email blasts of encouragement. They are surprisingly effective. Here's my report from the trenches, so far.

1. The 2nd week doldrums are enough to flatten the faint-of-heart or anyone who is crazy enough to try to write a novel in 30 days in the first place. Smooth sailing it is not. Then again, I didn't have a substantial outline firmly in hand when the adventure started. Iffy doesn't cut it, so no surprise there.

2. My story DOES have emotional resilience and is taking me places that are infinitely interesting. It's a smorgasbord of delights. Do they all fit in the same narrative? I can't answer that question right now.

3. The first week of writing dropped me in a deep reservoir of Native American Indian mythos which resulted in research on the animals powers. It's a fascinating area of study and does have a significant role to play here.

4. The second week began with the puzzling question of POV. Is the story third person or is it omniscient? It turns out to include a variety of perspectives and they keep fluctuating between past and present tense. We haven't done the future yet but I'm not ruling that out:}

5. Things seem to have settled on a Diary Of... type format. This is a total gift which I hadn't seen coming but it fits perfectly. The narrator is the writer of diary (whose identity shall remain secret for now) and the through line of the plot takes place among another group of characters.

6. The secondary group of characters continues to flesh itself out and deepen in color and tone. I like them all - which may be problematic. They are an unlikely ensemble that is being brought together by a mission. None of them know it yet. I only found out about it myself a few days ago. I have no idea how I'm going to get them to cooperate with each other because they're enemies. This is extremely good.

7. At the beginning of the third week (which is today) the paranormal experience and inter dimensional realities entered the picture. Poof! It happened one night, literally. This comes through some of my own personal dreams and serendipitous experiences that are happening simultaneously in the "real" world.

So add all that up and you have approximately where I am with my NaNoWriMo project right now. Do do do do, do do do do. We have entered the Outer Limits.

I've got to say, if nothing else, the NaNo exercise is a great way to keep the pen moving across the page. It's also very good for loosening the death grip of the inner critic. He (mine is usually male - although a b@#!h version sometimes shows up too) can't stop me from writing freely in a stream-of-consciousness mode as long as I promise to let him have at it later on. A more balanced approach to writing alone is worth the effort. I have NOT been uploading the story in sections. In fact, I may not upload at all. That's not the point.

The top photo is the Egyptian god Thoth, the scribe of the gods, and a moon Deity often depicted with the head of an Ibis or Baboon (these animals are nocturnal). He's also author of the Book of the Dead and an arbitrator in the afterlife. The Egyptians invoked Thoth to help them with writing or communication.

Photo #2 is a Monarch butterfly. Everyday on my walks this summer I passed a patch of flowering ground cover and enjoyed the butterflies flitting here and there. A few weeks ago, right before starting the NaNoWriMo, I found a dead butterfly at my feet and brought her home as a reminder from nature of stages of growth and transformation.

The Brit List 2010

It's a small world after all. A few years ago Hollywood starting collecting names on a list (ironically named The Black List) of the best unproduced screenplays and writers in and around town. Our friends across the pond have their own version, The Brit List. The 2010 Edition was just released by an anonymous agent (gotta love the pr). These lists are turning out to be the equivalent of the making it on the society page. Many of the writers and projects on these lists get noticed and a good percent get produced.

Just passing it along. I'd like to pursue this further when I have more time. Getting hold of the list is easy enough. Finding the loglines and, if possible, copies of the scripts themselves, there's the rub. Deadline Hollywood has the story.

The way I go about lists of writers and projects is to work down them systematically. One idea invariably leads to another and reveals at least the scent of the buying trends. It always pays off. Fortunately, someone else has done the legwork already and found the loglines and the backstories to the writer/producers. Go here for A Look Inside the Brit List.

Nano Nano, Coming up for Air

A week in and already the writing has taken a few unexpected turns, offered up some previously uninvited characters and deposited me in an underground reservoir that runs very deep in Native American territory. Fascinating. I only had the vaguest notion that this was coming. A friend offered up a wonderful book on the animal powers called Medicine Cards (by Jamie Sams and David Carson, with illustrations by Angela C. Wernecke) – which I devoured in an afternoon. I am still digesting it and will get a copy of my own.

This has led to books by Hyemeyohst Storm (an author I’ve had on my reading list since finding Lynn Andrews' book Medicine Woman) and Joseph Campbell's book The Way of the Animal Powers - from which I hope to find further direction about how to proceed with the material. I’m not sure where this is going but can tell you that it’s already an amazing journey. My word count (which the local nanowrimo support group sends emails about regularly) is off-schedule. So now it's time to spend some time writing in the direction this is taking. The goal of finishing an entire novel in three more weeks time has not been abandoned after all.

So, you might say the whole project has taken on a life of its own:) It feels like a gift - for which I’m grateful. Last night I attended an Austin Indian Powow put on by the American Indian Heritage Foundation. Indians from all over the United States were there including Cherokee, Choctaw, Crow, Navajo, Cheyenne, Kiowa and others. They were doing a brisk business in arts and crafts under the tents but I went right for the pavilion to watch the dancing and hear the drumming.

My first impression proved to me that I had come with negative expectation - that the magic had left the heart of these traditions long ago. In fact, being in the presence of the Indians was quite a magical experience for me. Even my dreams are somehow in alignment with this ancient wisdom.

The biggest surprise was the chant-like singing that accompanied the drums. It was mesmerizing. The opening song to the ancestors was especially moving and I had the sense that only the dancer truly experiences the dance. I would like to have joined them, though not in that context. Maybe there will come a time when I will.

It turns out that the American Indian Film Festival is taking place in San Francisco right now at the American Indian Film Institute. How's that for synchronicity? Wish I could be there. Here's the link for AIFISF details. November (I have also just learned - now who has the red face?) is National American Indian Heritage Month and it has been since 1990. Thanks George W. Bush for that one. All this synchronicity. Maybe I'm just tapping into the collective consciousness. It happens. I'm always the last to know:}

Credits: The artwork at the top is called Black Horse Woman by Terrance Guardipee. The child's photo is by Ralph Barrera/Austin American Statesman. Lower photograph from Austin Powow, depicting the Zotigh Singers(led by world champion drummer Dennis Zotigh). They sat around the south drum. There were four drums, one for each of the four directions with a fifth drum in the center.