osiverse. That explanation is not forced by any means. It's necessary, just because Tej, as the new Lady Vorpatril, needs to know all this detail. It's amusing to listen to the explanation coming from Ivan's viewpoint - it's a bit twisted, I think, but fun to read.
Frank Ferrante and three friends, Ryland, Conor, and Cary, are trying to save a life. It is the life of Frank Ferrante himself. Frank is a 54-year-old man who has abused food, alcohol, drugs--including heroin, but in return they have abused him even more. Frank has spent a life giving in to every temptation until he weighs 290 pounds plus, has Hepatitis C, is nearly diabetic, and has alienated his family. But he also has the three friends whom he met at Cafe Gratitude, a raw, organic, vegan café. The three who run the café have a plan for getting Frank to redeem himself. They offer to put Frank through a regime of self-love, affirmations, natural vegan foods, yoga, and colonics. Over the 42 days we see Frank go through pain and effort as he ingests a lot of things that are not greatly pleasant. Franks diet consists of obscure concoctions like wheatgrass juice and coconut milk smoothies. He eats just nuts, fruits, and vegetables. And he affirms his new attitudes with mantras like "I, Frank, do love me. I am a perfect human being, radiant beauty and divine energy. I am divine. I now hold in my mind this new image of myself as a thriving, flourishing, gloriously beautiful human being." He uses these affirmations in trying to overcome pangs of guilt over people that he has hurt over the years.
While his improvement over the 42 days leads to many positive results, those results fall short of what Frank and the viewer might have hoped for. Pictures of Frank a few years later show he as lost a lot more weight and at least appears to be smiling.
What makes the film watchable is the fact that in spite of it all Frank himself has a winning personality. Whatever Frank has done before--and it is pretty bad to his siblings, his wife, and his daughter--Frank comes through as a man who can take his hard knocks and still laugh at them. He wants to lose weight and to break his drug habits so that he can redeem himself and fall in love one more time. He clearly has a way with beautiful women and people who still love him in spite of himself.
MAY I BE FRANK made in 2010 runs very parallel to Joe Cross's FAT, SICK, & NEARLY DEAD, also produced in 2010. Cross started out a bit heavier than Ferrante did. His regimen seemed to have involved less spirituality though he also depended a great deal on whole, natural foods. Cross did not have the problem with his relationships that Ferrante had and at the end of the film Cross seems to have healthier interactions with his family, though we cannot tell if that was just an aspect not covered by the film. Frank is perhaps too frank about matters of defecation. These sequences run on too long and try the patience of the viewer.
A story of the guilt-ridden overcoming their past and redeeming themselves will always have an audience. The viewer has to accept Frank more or less like his family does, not forgetting the ugly parts of his past, but trying to like Frank in spite of them. I rate it a +1 on the -4 to +4 scale or 6/10.
May I be frank? There are two ways to look at this film. One can see it as a portrait of Frank Ferrante and how his viewpoint changes over six weeks as he struggles to redeem himself and earn release. There may even be something to be learned from his new attitudes. But if the viewer takes the film as a recommendation for its unconventional medical views on health, that could be a mistake. Frank's loss of weight and his spiritual changes are perfectly consistent with mainstream views on health. Wheatgrass cocktails are probably a lot healthier for what they are not, e.g. sugared Coca-Cola, than for anything special that they are. Odd concoctions like wheatgrass juice have no demonstrated clinical value. Ryland, Conor, and Cary are not trained medical practitioners, they just run a café. It is not at all clear that Frank's rapid weight loss is not simply the result of commonplace dietary improvement. And the spirituality might have just given him motivation to stick rigorously to his diet. In any study Frank would be just one datum point, not evidence of any powerful medical truth.
I think that the James Bond finish to ARGO was not meant to be taken literally, but to put the audience into the frame of mind of the escapees in their last minutes in Iran. The sequence as presented, while exciting, makes no sense; it is the kind of scenario that was likely running through the escapees' minds as they sat in the airplane waiting to leave Iran.
I just saw ARGO at the local library and then followed your review and comments.
When I watched the film, I had already suspected that the final suspenseful "chase" scene did not occur.
As you mentioned in MT VOID, many films bare little resemblance to reality. One you left out was THE SOUND OF MUSIC featuring the von Trapp family. The only true facts were there was a family and nun, they lived in Austria and came to America. The rest is re-written fiction. The actually leaving of Austria by the von Trapp family was pre-announced to the town, who met them at the train station and helped them load their bags. They took the train to Italy, and boarded a ship to the United States. There was never any suspenseful "chase" scene. The temperament of the characters was revised to help out the story line, and the songs were chosen for audience appeal and not what they normally would sing. Mrs. von Trapp complained bitterly at this misrepresentation. If the film had been true to the story, it would never had the appeal that made it popular.
In the ARGO film, there is one other discrepancy that I am surprised that the director did not catch. The laws in Iran are very strict, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, literally. So if a driver accidentally struck and killed a pedestrian, they would be tried and put to death. As a result, foreign citizens always hire "local" chauffeurs to avoid legal problems. Yet the film has the foreigners and principal characters driving the cars.
Overall, I found the film well done.
Good morning, Mark and Evelyn. It is a bit windy outside, so I sit here at the computer writing the first letter of comment of the day. With luck I can get a couple more of these done before moving on to the serious writing: literature review section re-write of my dissertation. Fun and games.
I have always enjoyed Fred and Ginger's movies. Remember that line about Ginger Roger's dancing abilities? "She was a better dancer than Fred Astaire because she did all of her moves backwards." Or something like that.
I have yet to see the movie ARGO, and the points you raise make the movie a worthy movie to watch. Now that it is available on DVD, Val and I will probably rent it someday - once the initial wave of sales and rentals peters out - and see what all the hoopla is all about. Anything that piques interest in history, old or recent, is a good thing in my book. I remember when this all went down, too. Your point about creating a dramatic ending instead of being dead-on accurate to what really happened is to be expected about Hollywood: they're in it for the bucks, so it's not surprising. Still, ARGO touches on a subject that is reasonably pertinent to now, so it's worth viewing for that reason alone. Besides, the American public loves a happy ending, especially one where "we win." Or something like that.
Lots of reviews this time, folks, and a fine mixture of movies, television shows and books (oh, my!). Two weeks from today George R.R. Martin will be in town for two events: the opening weekend of the "Deeper Than Swords" exhibit at the Cushing Library of Special Collections (where the science fiction and fantasy collection is housed) at Texas A&M University, and also Martin will be the special guest of honor at Aggiecon 44 that same weekend (March 22-24, 2013). The "Deeper Than Swords" exhibit runs through most of the rest of this year, and displays works by Martin and other goodies from the collection. Cushing Library is the home of his papers, etc., so this is a major coup for TAMU. Here is the link for the exhibit: http://deeperthanswords.library.tamu.edu/index.html.
Thank you for explaining the stylistic criteria for MT VOID. I have never had any problem with your weekly newszine, and appreciate your producing it. Will you two be at LoneStarCon 3? If so, we can finally meet since I am hosting the fanzine lounge. Which reminds me, this coming week--it's Spring Break, so not teaching Monday-Friday next week--I will hopefully be finalizing my plans/layout for the lounge and what kinds of things will be occurring there. Hope to see you folks there.
We had a heavy snowfall yesterday, but the temperature is above 50 today so all that is left is water... LOTS AND LOTS of water. Evelyn says our back yard looks like a Louisiana swamp.
ARGO is a very enjoyable film, but I have to say it is not worthy of all the