Stories Within Stories
Great films and books unravel hidden stories, details, and messages within bigger stories…
In a normal movie, you identify with one, maybe two characters. In “Love Actually,’’ it’s nine interconnected stories about one thing we all need to live.
It’s also a character test: Which of the characters touch you? Which reminds you of yourself? Which do you aspire to be like? Which ones disgust you? Which reminds you of earlier versions of you or situations you’ve faced?
I saw “Love Actually’’ five times in the theater in 2003 and then every year thereafter on DVD. It’s become an annual tradition each December.
It wasn’t until this year (after seeing the film 21 times) that I bothered to watch the deleted scenes, learning it was a 3.5-hour film cut down to two hours (even more stories to learn about).
When my friend, director Robert Orlando made “The Divine Plan,” I wound up seeing five versions of the film: twice on my iPad, once in a Church, once in an auditorium and then finally in a state of the art theater with surround sound.
