This book was supposed to be about rock singles, but today I went to see Valerian for the second time and it was so deep and so beautiful that I wanted to capture the sense of immersion in a world of feeling.  Suddenly as I write I feel very heavy, some center of attention in my mind crosses over into a supernatural frequency.  This happens all the time but tonight because I am attempting this I have a deeper frame of reference, I can say “I am here” or “I am there”.  I know so much of what I wanted to create artistically wasn’t art at all but rather the communication of this other frequency, the reality of this other world.

I don’t know if this piece will make it into my book – I still like the formal idea of making it all about pop singles, but because I’m turning my attention in this direction I felt like making the attempt to articulate my feelings about this movie, good and bad.

The first time I saw it I thought it was very slow and also sentimental.  But I found it eerily fascinating and over the weekend it grew on me so I just went to see it again and I love it.  I know it’s going to stick with me forever.

Part of this has to do with the original graphic novel.  Over the weekend I went to my comic store and picked up a promotional booklet that had a story and a lot of quotes from Luc Besson about how much he loved it, and how it was part of the inspiration for The Fifth Element.  I also found the Fifth Element a little cheesy the first time I saw it, but came to love it later.  I’m sure this has to do with Besson’s sense of timing.  Ultimately it winds up being a much deeper emotional experience, quite against the grain of Hollywood at this time.

I have to think about how the link to a long-running graphic novel series affects me.  I’m a sucker for the sense of “establishment” and roots in time.

I’m also rooting for Besson, making an independent film that goes agains the grain.

And I think Cara Delevingne is hot.  Dane Dehaan is also very charismatic.  I think he sounds exactly like Keanu Reeves, which was jarring at first but ultimately Keanu sounds great and so does Dane.  I love Dehaan’s style.  I really bought into the love story and I want to see more of them. 

The first time I saw it I was a little uncomfortable with Laureline’s climactic speech.  I didn’t want to make the emotional adaptation to her.  But the second time I accepted it fully.  In other words, she convinced me.  I had a very similar reaction to The Fifth Element, feeling a little put off the first time but ulitmately being won over.

The depth of the world created in this story is luxurious.  I’m so glad I saw it and I might even convince myself to see it again.  I intend to read the graphic novels. 

I was very disappointed at the horse-race figures for the first weekend.   I hope it does better in Europe than it has here.

I’m not sure this piece will make it into the final version of “A Million Miles Away” but I am finding my own voice and emotional space on the web, getting used to writing freely about entertainment and not giving a damn what anyone thinks.