The prez of an upstart distribution company is the first one to greet my 86-year old father after our 2nd screening of 51 Birch Street. "I'm a hardened L.A. type," he tells him, "but you had me bawling."
My father had me bawling, too, I could have piped in. It was called my childhood. But I showed great restraint, which I think they call maturity.
Or just a mature desire for distribution, perhaps.
Let me set the backstory a bit. My dad was the authoritarian type, from that generation of men who never ever talked about themselves. So when I began shooting 51 Birch Street a few years ago, he was, in many ways, a stranger to me. And an enigma.
But during the two weeks in which the film takes place (though it jumps back and forth in time), we begin to talk. For the first time we really talk. And gradually you see a close relationship form, just as it actually happened in real life. I think that's what gets so many audience members sniffling and weeping at all of our screenings.
And now, well, the guy gets me bawling, too. It's good bawling, though. He's proud of the film, proud of me, and happy to go with Kitty from festival to festival to speak after our screenings.
There's not a phony bone in the man's body and it comes through very clearly when he speaks. Everything he says is genuine and straight from the heart, with no bullshit or hype or sugar-coating. As uncomfortable as it might have been at times for me and my sisters, he feels like he's had a new lease on life since my mom died and he reconnected with Kitty (his former secretary). And he feels he has an important message for others - that life doesn't have to end for you when your spouse's life ends, no matter how old you are.
Dad has always had a tendency to ramble and go off topic at family occasions. So it's remarkable to see him speaking so eloquently and concisely. I literally spend half the Q&A's just staring at him with my mouth open, wondering: Who is this guy?!?
I think I've ruined him, though. When he and Kitty go out and about now after screenings, they're often recognized and approached, and they kind of love it. At IDFA, for instance, towards the end of their stay in Amsterdam, they went to see a late afternoon movie. When we met up for dinner two hours later, they sat down and nonchalantly handed over 8 new business cards. 
It's great that the film is affecting people so deeply. And it's fantastic that we're showing it all over the world. But for me, the best thing is introducing my dad after the end credits, and watching him bask in the applause as he slowly, and with great dignity, walks up to the mic.
I think it's overstating it to say his life has been validated by the film. But during those moments I can't help feeling that maybe mine has been.
I believe the word you want to use is "bawling". "Balling" means something else (since you don't allow HTML in your comments the link to that something else is http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=balling).
Posted by: nit-picker | March 17, 2006 at 11:52 AM
Oh, geez, lordy, what a spell-challenged idiot i am! And that's the version that was excerpted in indieWIRE, too. Sheesh.
Kind of a funny slip, though, if you don't attach too much meaning to it.
I've now gone back and corrected it so no one will see my shame (they'll just be confused if they read the comments). But thanks for pointing it out, nit-picker.
I'll get around to allowing html one of these days, too, the minute i have the time to work on my back end settings.
Posted by: Doug Block | March 17, 2006 at 12:23 PM