I watched a lot of TV being sick.
I watched a lot of TV being sick. One of the things I saw was a movie called "The Soloist". I don't know if the movie itself is brilliant, but I was really impressed with the acting performances. It's based on a true story of an African American man who developed schizophrenia while at Juilliard (I think I have that right). He ended up homeless on the streets of LA where a journalist found him and started writing about him, eventually writing the book the movie is based on.
The first thing that's a noticeable problem about the movie is the white saves black story trope. Except that a) nobody gets saved, not that somebody apparently didn't try to do that, and b) that's the two people - the reporter who falls under officially white and the musician who falls under officially black. Anyway, the acting is sufficiently intense that I felt probably too emotionally drawn in by the story of what happened to the musician, whose name is Nathaniel Ayers. Nevertheless, it is a really painful story about the whole cycle of mental illness and homelessness. No, this isn't separate from the additional issues of being African American. I think it's worth watching, especially if you are also touched by classical music, but only when you are not in a down mood, already.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103415385
The first thing that's a noticeable problem about the movie is the white saves black story trope. Except that a) nobody gets saved, not that somebody apparently didn't try to do that, and b) that's the two people - the reporter who falls under officially white and the musician who falls under officially black. Anyway, the acting is sufficiently intense that I felt probably too emotionally drawn in by the story of what happened to the musician, whose name is Nathaniel Ayers. Nevertheless, it is a really painful story about the whole cycle of mental illness and homelessness. No, this isn't separate from the additional issues of being African American. I think it's worth watching, especially if you are also touched by classical music, but only when you are not in a down mood, already.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103415385
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