A few days before the Dallas International Film Festival began, I met this dude in Starbucks in Fort Worth, over by the hospital district. We talked for a second or two and then I drove over to his car in the parking lot. Somehow, I was able to control my Toyota and stop it long enough for him to lean into the passenger’s side window.
He handed me the goods. The package was a tiny orange prescription meds bottle, with a normal looking “script” affixed to the outside. Man, I am so glad there were no hidden cameras, catching this deal go down on film. With a little imagination, under the right circumstances, this could have looked really, really bad. But luckily, I wasn’t hauled off to jail.
Ha … the tiny bottle of “drugs” contained breath mints, and the label was actually promotional information about a film called “Carried Away.” By mere chance, I had met the director, Tom Huckabee that day in Starbucks. He was doing an interview with another journalist, and I overheard. After they wrapped, I introduced myself and said I too would be covering the film festival.
Small world.
In addition to the controlled substance (just breath mints, I promise), Huckabee also gave me what looked like a very sketchy bootleg copy of the film, on a plain DVD disc — the name of the film, and the director’s phone number handwritten on the disc with a sharpie. We’re talking director’s cut, I guess you could say. (You have to love independent films … when the director is out representin …)
Well … who am I to argue with fate? I watched the film, in the comfort of my own movie cave, high on a sugary placebo from far too many breath mints.
Nice film. (And it has already taken home some impressive awards.)
I must confess, my initial expectations were low … since I met the director so casually. (Someone suggested he was actually stalking me and Starbucks was a sure bet, because it is where I mainline caffeine and Wi-Fi … That’s crazy talk.) Then the first roadtrip scenes takes the audience down the highway, within two blocks of the PingWi-Fi world headquarters … you even see the bell tower of my children’s old school. But, hey … long gone are the days when Texas film required apologies.
“Carried Away” is fun and pretty good. I mean who don’t love a whacked out, drug-dependent granny … especially if she is instrumental in the healing of her son and grandson’s strained relationship?
Mark Walters
I love irony as well. And I just gotta say, my private screening was teeming with coincidence. As I said, on the right day during filming, I probably could have hit the production team with a rock from my balcony. Second, I watched the film on the anniversary of the launch of the Titanic. (Who knows how I know this fact …) Stay on board with me … I will reel it in … The grandmother (Juli Erickson) sings a song to her grandson … all about the old, good ship Titanic in the film. I believe the odds of viewing that on Titanic day are 364-to-1.
"Carried Away" cast, Huckabee (right)
The film — despite its humor — also takes issue with prejudice as the elderly woman uses the N-famous racial dialect of her day … albeit without malice. Rest assured her grandson chastises her for that one.
I won’t lie … I could have lived without the dorsal nudity of the elderly woman, but it added to her zaniness.
Bryan Massey, Adam Dietrich
The story works, and the film is well done. The characters are believable, for the most part. Gabriel Horn doesn’t blow. He does a nice job as the good-intentioned, confused grandson, “Ed Franklin.”
Another upper — the film team does a nice job painting a picture of the cross-country trip, with on-location shots in several states, even beyond this big one.
There is also a cameo by the North Texas band, The Theater Fire, who perform original music on the soundtrack.
While I won’t OD on negativity … I will say one member of the cast might have detracted from the sincerity a bit … In a nutshell, I thought his melodramatic portrayal would be more at home in dinner theater.
Anyway … a nice little slice of life — funny at times, sometimes sad .. And a roadtrip to boot! “Carried Away” takes home 5 pings on the 7-pings scale.
Know what I sayin?
