An exploration of intimacy.
Chapter 14: It's something really powerful when someone speaks to you one-to-one.
I don’t see how I could have written ‘Smoke’.
I mean, I know I did write it, but when I watch it back the fact of me actually creating it seems very unlikely. That’s because Celeste de Veazey – the actor who performed the script does something that transcends.
Actually, I think ‘performed’ is the wrong word. Totally the wrong word.
‘Alchemy’ works better for me. Only in this case it’s not about turning base metal into gold. It’s about turning black marks, on white paper, into life.
I don’t know how it’s done. That’s because I’m not an actor.
Actors can turn the two dimensions of those black marks on white paper, into three dimensions that exist in time and space. And, occasionally, three dimensions isn’t enough to measure what is going on.
The first time I watched ‘Smoke’ it floored me.
I’ve just watched it again. Over two years on from that first viewing. And it floored me again.
I think it is the intimacy of the piece that makes it so intense. And while the limitations of this form of film/theatre-making are many, intimacy isn’t one of them. You are, quite literally, face to face with another person. And if that person is opening up about themselves the experience can dissolve your surroundings.
It’s just you and them.
And that’s when the good stuff can happen.
At the moment of writing this piece in February 2023 the world of acting is awash with talk of this year’s Oscar nominations. And they’re all good actors. Acting in films that cost millions to make, produced by studios who could marshal all the crafts of a high-tech, mega-industry.
Obviously I am biased, but I’d back ‘Smoke’ in a fight against any of them. And I think it would win.
I know that a film that lasts 5 minutes, that was shot on a phone, and that only cost the £200 the actor got paid, won’t work for everyone, but it does just about the only thing that matters in any work of art.
It connects.
For me, that’s the whole shooting match right there. So why not watch the film and see what you think?
Coming next Friday: God.
But before that here’s ‘Smoke’ featuring Celeste de Veazey for you to enjoy.