16 June 7:00pm screening
Shattuck Cinemas, Berkeley

I got there a little early to make sure of traffic, so I was able to meet the Director. He was extremely sweet, and so was the writer who seemed a little shy but nice as well. A good deal of the cast attended the screening, and at the end they had them all stand up and it was almost a third of the people present. In fact, everyone who came was either a friend of someone in it or, well, me. It was a lot of fun to talk to them, though. They had a question and answer session afterward with the director, writer and producer which was interesting. Apparently there was a good deal of improvisation from the actors. Knowing Tony's propensity for it one can assume he was one of them. The film was very well received at the Mill Valley Film Festival and one chap thought it took around three million to make rather than the little over $200,000.

It was quite entertaining as well because, as I said, most of the audience were good friends of people in the production. As a result with the opening credits on in when someone's friend appeared there was great applause. I had to do Tony since no-one else was there for him. Also, the film was shot in Berkeley and everyone there knew all the places being filmed. Thus, for example, they did a close up on one of the street signs and people cheered. I joined in occasionally -- one has to show the local love. I've never actually been to Black Oak Books which is quite shocking. I try to avoid bookstores whenever possible as I like my bank account in tact.

The movie is basically from Dante's point of view, and of course Dante is played by Tony Amendola. It opens with establishing shots of the bookstore and finally Tony coming in with a cart of books. We hear an interior monologue from him about how much he loves books, and then the various staff of the bookstore come in and we hear what he thinks about them. There is Marcia, who is obsessed with B movies, Norman who always has a new story of political intrigue and Kate, the surrogate mother. He also talks about the various customers, including Gina who he has a sort of thing for. Yes she's way too young for him. (Yes, that means there is hope for the rest of us. :) We see the bookstore in action, which is not boring in the least. There is everything from banter between Dante and Gina to the horror of a spilled coffee on one of the shelves. That is quite possibly the most disturbing thing in the entire film. That old woman should seriously suffer for such a cardinal sin. The look on Tony's face when she comes tottering around the corner with an empty cup and informs him it is empty because it spilled all over the shelf is just priceless. The colour literally drains from his face and he runs like the wind to the place indicated.

Sundry plotlines begin to emerge, all centering around a mysterious book a man brings in which, in Dante's words, is a "cross between the Gutenberg Bible and a 50s comic book" titled "The Illustrated Book of Failure". Suddenly, those who come into contact with it are given a chance to change their life through a set of choices. There is Gina, unlucky in love, who meets first a baseball jock who likes her, then a middle-aged hustler and finally comes to realize it is Dante who had been there all along. Dante himself, who runs into an old girlfriend in the worst possible way. Zoe, a blonde at the end of her days, still has enough to captivate younger passersby. She decides to hook up with one in the local bookstore at the far back. She doesn't know it is Dante's bookstore, until he happens to shelve a book in that area and discovers her half undressed with some random guy. An argument ensues and she marches out. Later that night, Casablancastyle, she returns to talk to him. His words, and quite possibly the influence of the book, drew her to realize she was making a mess of things. Vowing to reform, she asks Dante to help and forgives him the past.

The most important story of the bookstore, is that of a doctor who takes refuge with his young daughter on the run from a pharmaceutical company called Artemis Brown. He had been conducting experiments with children who had leukemia in order to create a new drug to help. He had decided to syphon off some of the money and turned a blind eye to the fact the drug was not curing, but harming the children. When his wife died, he had a change of heart. Horrified at his actions, he stole a disk with the incriminating evidence and tried to contact the press about it, but was followed by a couple of goons. Leaving his young daughter (I actually met the actress who played her, she looks way older even in these few years. It's amazing how quickly they grow up) with Kate in the children's section, he goes to hide the disk. He ends up putting it into the book, and calls his contact about it, but never hears back. Meanwhile the goons following him start trying to locate the book, which is constantly being shuffled about by the other plotlines going on. It is quite hilarious to see Dante, oblivious to the situation, trying to assist the philistine goons.

Meanwhile we learn of another Dante story (I did warn you he was the main character) in which years ago he had learned of a story from Artemis Brown about birth control pills that killed women and he had refused to report it in order to keep a job which, ironically, he was fired from a year later. At first he will not help with the disk, but Kate convinces him otherwise. She had recently lost her son and was still recovering, so she goes on the warpath to help the young doctor. They say hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. But a mother scorned? I don't know what that's like but you do best to avoid it. Between the two of them and the rest of the staff, they put together a sort of plan. Creating multiple fake duplicates of the disk with the same label, they manage to confuse the pharmaceutical goons. At a reading that night, with a book which remarkably ties into the situation with Artemis Brown, Dante brings up the damning evidence on the two counts. The goons try to stop him, but they are no match for the feisty author. Unfortunately, in the process, a long-time customer of the store dies of a heart attack (I met that actor as well).

Eventually, the excitement is over and everyone but Dante sets forth into the storm outside. Yes we all know you don't really get storms like that often in Berkeley, but you have to allow them some creative license. Dante begins to realize he has always been in love with Gina, and through his randomly pulling books out and quoting we hear some lovely passages from various works such as "The Tempest". There is also the creepy semi-B movie part begins which is just amazingly done. They have the scary green lighting, flickering ceiling lamps, creaky floor and everything. He goes down to restart the circuit breaker when the door slams and locks behind him. Tony does an amazing job throughout this sequence. He really hams it up, and his eyes are just amazing. The door mysteriously opens and he comes out, only to be attacked by the goons. After thoroughly beating him up (yes this is painful to watch), they do something even worse. In front of him they begin tearing pages out of books. Just opening them up and tearing pages out of them. I was practically chewing my fingernails for that. I have about as much of a love for books as Dante does and there is no worse torture for one of us than to watch a book have pages torn out of it. To add to the offense, they begin stuffing them into his mouth. Leaving him practically for dead, the goons leave. Coming in for work the next morning, the staff find Dante collapsed on the floor. He painfully staggers to his feet, an impressive gash across his face (good job makeup department) and acting as though he had several broken ribs. This is an incredible acting job -- through the entire sequence, he makes it clear exactly where he is feeling the pain and almost in different ways in the different areas. Despite moving relatively a lot, and doing a great number of lines, he keeps the audience believing in his injuries. No "Doctor Watson and his moving wound" here. The beating has the exact opposite effect it was intended to. He calls up his contacts, and arranges the disk to be sent to the press, standing up bravely to the goons who return once more demanding the disk. There is nothing they can do, so they finally leave him in peace. Gina is impressed and he finally gathers the courage to ask her out and they head out for the muffin stand.

Overall, I thought it was well done. It could have been better, of course, but I thought it was very classically shot and carried the various stories well. It could have been an extremely confusing movie, but it wasn't which is a definite tribute to the writing and editing job. I had heard there were a lot of surprises in the film, but I didn't find that to be true so I'm not sure where that came from. Yes it is predictable, but there is nothing wrong with that. Each of the characters is fully fleshed out and amusing in their own way, although I don't know how many of the jokes transfer outside of Berkeley. I think my favorite example of that is with the patriot act reference and Dante tells the F.B.I. chap to pick up a copy of the U.S. Constitution on his way out, on the house. There was a cheer and an 'only in Berkeley' from the audience which everyone cracked up with. Zing! Anyway, quite an enjoyable film, especially for us local folks. This is not a film for children, there are innuendos, language and general adult concepts. That being said, they are very minor and it doesn't lower my recommendation of it in the least. The producer announced that they have not signed a distribution contract, so look on your telly channels soon! Tony is just fantastic in this and truly carries the film. If you like him in the least it is not to be missed.