distort - verb - to give a misleading or false account or impression of. (Google)
The real magic of the cinematic art is that it can take a slice of reality and reconfigure or distort it. Setting, a pedestrian place in particular, can be twisted, transfigured, or transmogrified so that it can appear to be somewhere else, a completely different locale, perhaps one that isn't as glamorous as the original.
Case in point: the recently released, Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, produced by and starring Hollywood's current hottie, the actor Timothee Chalamet. The movie, which authentically portrays a slice of Bob Dylan's rise to fame, was shot almost entirely in my home state of New Jersey. Even the scenes that are supposed to take place in Greenwich Village, practically a stone's throw away from Jersey, were staged and recorded in Hoboken. What I found astonishing is that the outdoor concert footage depicting a great lawn in what is supposed to be Newport, Rhode Island is actually one in Echo Lake Park, a bit over a mile from where I grew up in Mountainside, a don't-blink-otherwise-you'll-miss-it hamlet, hugging Rt. 22, famous for being the former home of the infamous godfather of N.J., Gip DeCarlo–also a character in Jersey Boys–whose sons I had attended school with. How the production company found the park, I have no idea. Maybe I don't want to know? The very familiar looking motel used in the film is also not in Newport, but in Cape May.
Since I had known the actual locations before seeing the movie, I found veracity to be distracting. For instance, during the concert scenes, I kept looking for evidence of the Echo Lake Park I remembered: the wooded acres where I would hike with friends in the fall, the lake itself where I would ice skate and the hill where we would sled in winter, the playground where I would watch my daughter climb the monkey bars and listen to her laugh as she negotiated a path through the play set in spring and summer. Although some of the concert audience was C.G.I.ed to seem a lot larger, I could still make out some familiar trees and even a portion of the lake surrounding the extras. As a result, suspension of disbelief became impossible for me, yet not for the Los Angeles natives in the theater, who seemed completely convinced that they were in Rhode Island along with the cast members.
Good for them! They left the house believing Mountainside was Newport. I left the theater believing my little town had finally found its place in the sun, the sun of Hollywood. Who would have thought? Not I. Not in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that the park down the street, 25 miles west of Manhattan, would ever, could ever touch the imaginations of millions the world over. Yet it is. Hmm. Miracles can and do happen.
The takeaway? Never say never? The next small borough featured in a big movie could actually be your own, the one attached to your childhood. It may not have the same name or even the exact same look, but you'll recognize it. And the memories that will come flooding back will be yours alone.
Happy New Year, readers, wherever you are. Although you might disagree, I think 2025 could just be a magical, miraculous year. We'll see. Stay safe and stay positive :).
#word-to-words, #slice-of-life, #blog, #blogging, #editorial, #reading, #vocabulary, #ReadersMagnet, #spilled thoughts, #personal-essay, #writing community, #writing, #truth, #society, #film-review, #movie-review, #A-Complete-Unknown, #BobDylan, #TimotheeChalamet, #gwynenglishnielsen, #Hollywood
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