moments of clarity

Beautiful Meg just wrote a beautiful post about the types of movies she likes to watch; ones that make her think and ponder about life. "My movies take their time. My movies are simple and they are quiet and they are beautiful in a way that sneaks up on me and causes the breath to catching my throat." There Meg goes again, her words nailing my thoughts exactly. Hi Meg, I love you.

This weekend I had the incredibly joy and honor to go see a short film made by an incredibly talented local director, Ebrahim Ghaeini. His short entitled Moments of Clarity was exactly the type of film that Meg was talking about, a film that sank deep into my skin and took over my brain matter while I was watching it and for a long time after. I'll spare you a plot summary, mostly because the feelings I felt are much deeper than the plot covers, something I think that speaks to a great director and a great film. Also, I'd hate to color the opinions and conclusions that you would come to when you see the film by giving you my synopsis of the film. This film was tailor made to allow for the viewer to inset themselves and their own story inside of the work. Adore adore adore.

via Moments of Clarity Facebook Page

The director of this film, the actors, the crew, the astounding artist who drew 30 different and delicate portraits of the character Claire, are all passionate artists. They stood before us at this screening and their passion was just seething off of them. In the way they talked about the process of filming, the way they gave their opinions about the film's meaning(s), even just in the way they thanked the people who attended the screening or donated to their kickstarter, you can taste their passion and the care they have for this film. That passion cannot be learned or taught, it runs through your skin. They had it and their film showed that. (Also, Natalia Noble who played Claire had GREAT style. That jacket was on point. Just... the entire crew looked great. Beautiful people. Hi.)

One of the greatest themes I found threading itself through this film was what the life of an artist means and how the brains of artists work. The fictional artists in this film have that same "passion to the point of obsession" mental mechanism as the creators of this film and of artists in general. Jason works and draws portrait after portrait of this woman (who may or may not be real), creating representation after representation of the perfect person, the perfect work of art.

Don't we all do that as artists? I've written poem after poem, sentence after sentence, trying to capture the people I see and love around me in the most perfect way I can. I slave over syntax and metaphor trying to find the perfect one for the person I'm writing about. "This person is a vacuum.. no that's not right, he's a black hole. That sounds better. This person, with his beautiful hands and emotive eyes, he  is something else. Not cavernous space, but something just as heavenly. What are his words?" We hunt and hunt for the perfect shade of paint to capture lover's eyes, the perfect words to hint at how deeply we feel and regret a kiss we never received; we lace our lives with the hunt for the perfect words for these people we make perfect in our minds.

This film reminded me a lot of one of my favorite novels, Paper Towns by John Green. They both flirt with what I think to be one of the most far-reaching and important lines in that novel: "What a treacherous thing to believe a person is more than a person."

Now, although I remain unconvinced that Claire is a real person in the movie, I think what she represents as a manifestation of an artistic muse or idea is much more powerful than what a real person could ever be. And THAT, my lovelies, is what an artist is always hunting for. The people we love become so much deeper and bigger in the pedestals of our brains. It's less scary to love a fictional person because we are in charge of how they act toward us. We make fictional people out of every single person in our lives because their story wraps into ours, we see them through our own filter. How terrifying is that prospect? The person you spend months talking with and dreaming of has as many emotions, worries, and faults as you have. That's overwhelming. It would be much easier to stay solo and write yourself the perfect person, adapted from life into fiction.

Too bad hands clasping feels much better than a pen against a palm. Too bad two bodies curving against each other feels infinitely more pure and vital than unspooling words from your nail beds. Art and life must co-habitate to form a beautifully flawed person instead of false representations of selective traits tailor-made to the artist. Reaching that balance is a gorgeous feeling. There is your aspiration, there is your life, not the perfect representation of something that doesn't exist. A person is a person, after all.

This film brought me clarity and the ending cleansed the entire film, a baptism of new life and a new creative journey. Watching this film is a journey and thinking these big and wonderful thoughts about humanity is a beautiful journey I invite you all to take. To the cast and crew of this film, thank you so much for sharing your passion on screen and for letting us all be witness to this beautiful work.

If you ever have a chance to see this film, loves, please please do. It is so gorgeous to watch and just as gorgeous to think your way through.

Here are some important links and such to the film. Spread the artistic love :)
Moments of Clarity Website
Moments of Clarity Facebook
Moments of Clarity Kickstarter
Blooming Studios Production Company



Moments of Clarity - Official Trailer from Blooming Studios on Vimeo.