[James Brancheau]

Just another excuse to talk about movies, but I love film and, for better or worse, I often view what I try to do with my own work rather cinematically. Though, aside from Fargo, maybe, some of my favorites aren't the most cinematic. Anyway, for me, it's probably Shine. Had me right from his voice at the start. The aftermath, and the psychological burden, and the beauty that cracks through is just stunning. I thought it was the best picture of the decade. (I think it lost best picture of the year to Titanic.)

[Martin Elster]

Hi James,

I started watching movies more recently when I became an Amazon Prime member. Which "Shine" are you referring to — the one from 1996 or 2018? I'd like to watch it.

Martin

[Michael Cantor]

The one with Alan Ladd was my favorite.

[James Brancheau]

Hahaha, I actually never watched Shane. The 1996 one (I'm not familiar with the 2018 movie).

[Julie Steiner]

Given the number of triolets and villanelles I write, I guess Groundhog Day deserves a shout-out.

[Max Goodman]

Interesting, James. Do you think viewing your work cinematically translates to the result? If so, how? To me, movies and poems seem really different.

And Then There Were None made me an Agatha Christie reader as a kid and therefore indirectly led me years later to write a really good stage thriller. I doubt that was the kind of influence to our writing you were thinking of.

Alan Ladd! Groundhog Day! Ha!

[Jim Moonan]

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I watched the Martin Scorsese film Silence last night. A cornucopia of historical cultural entanglement with the nature of spirituality. I loved it. Beautiful cinematography and storytelling. Over 2 and a half hours... Definitely stick around for the last 30 minutes.

Btw, JB, I think most of this was filmed in your neck of the woods...
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[James Brancheau]

Yeah, Julie, I understand that. I get into my own ruts (maybe not such a big deal, but I have a hell of a time pulling myself away from putting things in couplets, for example). If I gravitated more towards writing formal poetry, I'd probably be addicted to sonnets. I think there's a reason they're popular. I'm very fond of villanelles, too, but hard to find great ones, imo. I might find it extraordinarily difficult to justify such repetition.

Great question, Max. Probably more than anything else it's what inspires me to write it down in the first place and to continue working on the poem. It's the visual that's so alluring to me. I dunno how the "finished" poem translates to others. I once had a wonderful dream about flying in a biplane, the sensation and view, and when I woke up, I wrote it down immediately (which I rarely do~ I lose most of my dreams pretty quickly). Turned out to be a pretty good poem. On the other hand, I had what I thought was a cinematic moment of this beached (dead) whale and all of these cloud shadows slowly passing it. I don't think I ever successfully conveyed that scene to the reader, or it just wasn't compelling enough in the first place. As much as I was excited about it. I'm probably thinking more of cinematic moments than movies as a whole, although that's possible too and I think Jim cites a good example.

Yes yes yes, Jim, so glad you brought that movie up. It blew me away. I've only watched Silence once and that was on a 12 hour flight back home (it was so good I almost forgot about smoking). I think it's exactly what I'm talking about. I was so pleasantly surprised. I love Scorsese (just watched The Departed again the other night), but I had heard/read some negative things about it (especially regarding its length) and had been putting it off. But after watching it I was baffled by such criticism. Loved it beginning to end. And, yeah, I found out about where they shot it (at least some of it?) much later. Right outside of where I live in Taipei.