Paul Schrader Visits Cinemanila
This year’s Cinemanila Film Festival, being held at Taguig’s Market! Market! Mall, played host to a special guest, Paul Schrader, legendary screenwriter of films like Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ, The Yakuza and many others.
An accomplished director in his own right (Auto Focus, Affliction, Mishima, Cat People, American Gigolo), he was here to promote his latest film, Adam Resurrected. This adaptation of a magical realist novel is about a Holocaust survivor whose damaged psyche permits him to connect and bond with a similarly damaged psyche in a mental institute.Last Tuesday I attended a Q&A with the writer where he shared his wisdom and experience on a number of topics.
A particular favorite was his explanation of using screenwriting (or “storytelling,” as he preferred) as a way to deal with personal problems, by finding a metaphor that could stand in for that problem.
“The trick is to get a good metaphor. If you use a good metaphor it’ll see you through.”
He went on to explain some of the personal problems he was dealing with in particular films of his oeuvre, like loneliness in Taxi Driver, and a mid-life crisis in Light Sleeper.He shared anecdotes about working with actors, like James Coburn in particular. While shooting Affliction, Schrader explained how he had to come up with a way to keep Coburn from defensively relying on his signature loud, booming voice and stay with a more restrained performance as per his character’s demeanor.One topic that seemed to loom over the forum was the shaky future of cinema. Schrader explained how things are changing in the landscape, both because of the economy’s struggles and with technology outpacing companies’ ability to regulate and/or generate revenue from new outlets, particularly the Internet.
With cinemas closing, piracy on the rise, and everyone tightening their belts, it’s a less predictable time, he said, but he never sounded like a defeatist.
He was curious and interested in what would happen in the next few years, what kind of films would be made in this new landscape.Finally, he also gave a bit of a teaser as to his next project, which is being directed by promising young director Nicolas Winding Refn (the Pusher trilogy, Bronson) and starring Harrison Ford.
The project, which sees Ford as a “company man” in the CIA, will begin shooting in February.
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This Sunday, October 25, try to catch the closing film of Cinemanila tonight at 8 p.m. at Market! Market!’s Cinema 6. Raymond Red’s Himpapawid, is the Cannes-winning director’s first feature-length film in a long while.Then move over to Pablo at Cubao Expo and see Marcus Nada’s solo show The Endless Pursuit of a Pastiche-Maker Extra-Ordinary.
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Ramon De Veyra blogs at www.thesecuriousdays.com.
