h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Thursday night, I saw a French Canadian film called "Starbuck." It's about a humble delivery guy named David Wozniak who, twenty years ago, raised some money by making 600+ donations to a sperm bank. As it turned out, because of a glitch, the sperm bank gave his sperm to over 500 women. Wozniak is contacted by a lawyer for the sperm bank and told that he has over 500 children, 120 of whom want to contact him. Wozniak tried to be anonymous by giving the name "Starbuck" when he made the donations. He claims not to be interested in contacting his children, but the lawyer leaves him an envelope with profiles of the children who want to contact him. He peeks at one profile, that of a famous soccer star. He goes to a soccer game in order to cheer for his son. Growing more curious, he looks at some more. These are a mixed bag. One is a musician who sings and plays for spare cash in the subway. Wozniak becomes a regular part of his audience. Another is a young woman with drug problems. Wozniak visits her in the hospital and tries to keep an eye on her to be sure she is keeping her promise to stay clean. One is a lifeguard at a public pool. Wozniak swims there, and almost drowns [the son saves his life]. Then there's Raphael, who is institutionalized with multiple schlerosis or cerebral palsy. Wozniak visits him. There are many more. The 120 children bring a class action suit to force the sperm bank to reveal Wozniak's true identity. Wozniak's lawyer makes a counter suit, which he wins. Nevertheless, at the end of the film he reveals his identitym and the children gather outside the hospital where Wozniak's fiancee has just given birth. The movie ends with a group hug.

>> One wee question - what was the significance of the gloves being left behind when he went to the theatre? <<

I think it was an attempt by Spielberg to make the film appear more profound than it really was, so that people would debate it more (... so what was the meaning of the gloves?) and make it feel more arty and symbolic so that more academy members would vote for Spielberg as best director and the film as best film for the Oscars

Everyone knows (apparently) that Lincoln took his gloves with him to the theatre: his blood soaked gloves form part of the sacred reliquary of the USA: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/30/lincolns-bloody-gloves-fr_n_842573.html

So in the film the leaving behind of the gloves is an obvious departure from reality / authenticity, and hence the knowledgeable cinema goer would recognise this as something representative of art and symbolism. Some say that Spielberg's Lincoln knew he was going to die, but dutifully went to the theatre, like Jesus Christ, to sacrifice himself for the greater god of the USA constituency, and that in his death, the holy gloves would be passed on to the black man (his butler) which in time, through the power of the gloves, would give freedom to the black man in America or something. Definitely worth a few more Oscars for the film, or maybe not

Xbox Live is back up so I can watch Netflix again on the telly, hurray! Currently watching The Woman in Black to kill time until the Chinese GP starts. I've decided Daniel Radcliffe needs to join my Actors With Ridiculously Blue Eyes Club.

>> I've decided Daniel Radcliffe needs to join my Actors With Ridiculously Blue Eyes Club. <<

I reckon Elijah Wood, more commonly known as Frodo, would be a foundling member of that club.

Yep, he's in there too!

'600+ donations to a sperm bank'

Respect!

PP.

Starbuck actually sounds a good film. Might have to see if I can get it.

I don't know when "Starbucks" is scheduled to be in theaters in your area. It was made in 2011, so it may already have made the transition to DVD. They showed it in an art house theater that's close to my house. For all I know, they used the DVD to screen the iflm.

Details from Rotten Tomatoes:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/starbuck/

Althouth I loved one of the qutoes in the rotten tomatoes site ("The Citizen Kane of sperm donor movies") I can't find release details there. Nor can I find them on the link to the "official web site". Imdb does have release dates, but they're rather hidden in the new format. However, once you've found them: it's been around Europe since the summer of 2012 and was originally French. I remember the trailers in the cinemas here.

Limited release UK in Nov 2012, Limited release in US, this month.

I'm assuming it's not based on a true story, or surely some of the children would have inherited some of his traits, in which case, he would have hundreds of grandchildren.)

I saw it for sale in a shop at the weekend, didn't pick it up but will definitely look into it

I watched Bedrooms and Hallways recently (Tom Hollander plays a fantastic queen in it ), but now Netflix has turned my recommendation list into a gay film frenzy*

Although billed as a film but at 75 minutes long isn't really, I watched Inside the Mind of Leonardo at the weekend. Peter Capaldi was just amazing as Leonardo, but overall it was an absolutely stunning piece of sound and vision. The script was written from Leonardo's own diary notes, complemented beautifully by the cinematography and the acting.

*After typing that I realised that sounds more exciting than it actually is

On a similar train of thought, did anyone else think Ewan Macgregor was uncannily convincing as a camp gay man in I Love You Phillip Morris?

I've always thought he's had a slightly camp air, so when I saw him in that I wasn't all that surprised at how good he was.

His recent films have been quite good, I think. He picks his projects well.

He does indeed. I'm really pleased when actors do that instead of chasing the money *cough* Gerard Butler *cough*

I totally agree regarding Gerard Butler. "Bounty Hunter," in which he chased his ex-wife [played by Jennifer Aniston] was a total waste of talent. Brendan Fraser has wasted his talents too, in such flicks a "Voyage to the center of the Earth."

on the other hand, Gerard Butler is so unutterably gorgeous I forgive him. And he was fabulous in Coriolanus.

My sister used to look after his brother's kids when she was a nursery nurse. Jealous?