Every Saturday, we’ll be posting a new illustration by David Lester. The Mecca Normal guitarist is visually documenting people, places and events from his band’s 27-year run, with text by vocalist Jean Smith.
“My dinner with thespians,” Frank says. “Always so interesting. Turning everything into something. Or nothing.”
“I love that film,” Carol says, changing the subject entirely.
“Which film?” Anita asks.
“My Dinner With Andre,” Carol says.
“I don’t know it,” Anita says.
“One of the perks of being with a mature man,” Carol says, sticking out her chin and giving Joe an overly dramatic glare.
“What’s it about?” Joe asks, taking the bait.
“It doesn’t really have an about, per se,” says Carol. “That I recall. I haven’t seen it for years. It was one of the films Frank and I went to when we were dating, but he’d seen it before. Andre Gregory’s character is having dinner with a man, and the two of them are in a restaurant, just talking. The strange thing is, when I think of the movie, I see what they were talking about in my mind’s eye. Even though I know that the entire film was just the two men having dinner.”
“What were they talking about?” asks Anita.
“I can’t remember, but I don’t think that was the point, really. The men hadn’t seen each other for a long time. One man told stories—he just talked—but when I think about the film, I see what he was talking about. A man in a forest and an enormous feast.”
“It’s the antithesis of Run Lola Run,” says Frank, a film he knows they’ve all seen. “Which, as I recall, had multiple visual versions of the same timeframe. Its linearity was expressed by the woman running, forward through time, but the way it was filmed and cut, inserted additional information.”
“I think you’re talking about Memento,” says Joe. “It cuts between one story line moving forward in time while another one tells the story backward, revealing more each time they switch.”
“Memento,” says Frank. “Maybe you’re right, Joe. Which is kind of what Carol is talking about with My Dinner With Andre, how she remembers it in her mind’s eye, the forest scene that never happened.”
“Now there’s a good trick for a low-budget film,” says Anita. “Have the characters talk about scenes that would otherwise require elaborate special effects.”
Carol gets up, taking empty wine bottles into the kitchen. Joe looks at Ronnie and says, “Boy, you sure don’t say much.”
“Leave the poor woman alone,” Anita says.
“Poor woman? I feel like she’s sitting here analyzing us,” Joe says.
“You might benefit from a little bit of analysis,” Carol says, as she returns with another bottle of wine.
“I haven’t seen any of the films,” Ronnie says. “But I must have seen the preview for Run Lola Run. In my mind’s eye, I have an image of a woman running through the streets, shot from different angles, all cut together. I remember wondering if it had been cut like that for the preview or if it really looked like that in the film. It seemed like a departure from traditional editing. I remember wondering about that.”
“How did you and Carol meet?” Anita asks Ronnie.
“We met at Curves,” Carol says. “Didn’t I tell you that, Anita?”
“No,” Anita says. She’s been wondering about the connection between Carol and the older lady.
“Ronnie has an awesome body for someone her age,” Carol says.
“I don’t think you need to add for someone her age,” Frank says to his wife.
“What’s this?” Joe says. “Frank defending the lady’s honor? Very noble, Frank.”
“You’re right, Frank. Ronnie has an awesome body, period.”
“I thought Curves was for the morbidly obese,” Joe says. “Were you morbidly obese, Ronnie?”
“No, Joe, I wasn’t, but thanks for asking.” says Ronnie, and everyone laughs.
“You never did answer the question, Ronnie,” says Joe. “Did you have a kinky phase in your life?”
“I’m having it right now,” Ronnie says.
“Right this minute?” says Joe.
“Possibly,” says Ronnie, laughing.
