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8/4/13 PAUL SCHRADER INTRO 2 "MISHIMA", ...so I went to see legendary film director/screenwriter et al, Paul Schrader, at a showing of his 1985 film "Mishima:A Life in Four Chapters" at the Hammer Museum, & Paul spoke at the beginning and end of the movie, answering audience questions as well. He briefly mentioned his new film "Canyons" at the very end ..., albeit I don't completely comprehend what he said...while the moderator joked "its all Lindsay Lohan"..; most of the talk was about the making of Mishima...a film which I had never seen before, & which is apparently based on a true story about a Japanese writer et al. I had a personal interest in seeing Paul Schrader because he grew up in my same tradition & same hometown of Grand Rapids (MI). Of course he's several decades older & from a different era but we attended the same high school (grand rapids christian) & college (calvin). And of course he was a bit of a notorious legend by the time I was a student...with folklore about how he was a bit of a rebel at calvin college (the story goes that he was on the staff of the student newspaper "The Chimes" and got into some hot water over his reporting about a scandal re a professor having an affair. If I recall correctly, a student went to the college chaplain for counseling about this affair expecting that the counselor-client confidentiality would be respected but the chaplain apparently used the information to get the professor fired; and if I recall, Schrader was critical of the chaplain & so the college became critical of Schrader, etc ..can't recall if Schrader got kicked out of calvin or fired from the chimes or exactly what, but something transpired, & then of course in his movie "Hard Core" he used plenty of calvinist themes , or satired them, & also even filmed some parts of the movie in Grand Rapids. So what I was thinking of asking Schrader, if I had the chance, was whether he was still a Christian, or was he ever? He speaks of "calvinism" often, even as he took the podium to introduce himself this evening, but I wanted to know if he simply still has a personal faith in Jesus Christ or not. Nonetheless,I decided not to say anything...would have rather have spoken with him personally, but didn't get the chance. Tomorrow (8/5) he will return for a showing of "The Canyons" which so far has not gotten many favorable reviews (from some critics who have seen it early) but it hasn't been released yet to the general public. This showing is sold out, but sometimes they have no-shows & release a few tickets to stand-bys. I don't have much curiosity about the movie,so I'm not sure I will even try to get a standby ticket, and my curiousity to see Paul Schrader in person has been fulfilled, so I may leave it at that. I would like to hear him talk, some time, about growing up in grand rapids, etc, but don't know when that might happen,if ever, at least not in los angeles. I don't know if he has ever been invited back to calvin college or our Christian high school..probably not given the nature of some of his films (ie profanity,nudity, etc) . He was asked about his late brother Leonard (also a screenwriter who was less-known than Paul) and Paul lamented that they had "fallen apart" after Paul became more successful & never had a chance to truly reconcile before he died. I still have some questions I would like answered..about his parents, about how calvinism apparently negatively influenced him, etc. Maybe some day.
