Recently, David Newman (aka Durga Das) had a talk and Kirtan concert at the Yoga Sanctuary in Toronto.  When I arrived the atmosphere was fantastic.  There were candles lit around the room.

The first part of the evening was a talk and bhakti yoga session.  Around fifty people were taking part.  David sang a Kirtan song to get us in the mood.  We then did a yoga session.  Finally, we finished with a guided meditation.  I felt very relaxed and blissed out by the end.

The second part of the evening was a Kirtan concert.  There were probably around one hundred and fifty people participating.  Each Kirtan song lasted around 30 minutes.  Kirtan music is Indian devotional chanting.

About half way through the concert, a woman and her daughter sat down next to me.  We started talking and it turns out that she is one of the owners of the Yoga Sanctuary.  We had a great conversation and I found out that the Yoga Sanctuary is about to celebrate its tenth anniversary.  They are going to celebrate with ten days of free events in November.

Overall, it was a great evening and I would attend future events at the Yoga Sanctuary.  It has an amazing spiritual atmosphere and friendly staff.

Technorati Tags: arts and entertainment, Canada, Chris Oldcorn, Concert, David Newman, Durga Das, energy, entertainment reviews, gratitude, Kirtan, Kirtan Chant, life purpose, Meditation, Ontario, personal development, Personal Growth, spiritual, Toronto, Travel, vividlife, Yoga Sanctuary

Rosso come il cielo (Italy)

By ROBERT KOEHLER

A Lady Film release (in Italy) of an Orisa Produzioni. (International sales: Adriena Chiesa Enterprises, Rome.) Produced by Cristiano Bortone, Daniele Mazzocca. Directed by Cristiano Bortone. Screenplay, Bortone, Monica Zapelli, Paolo Sassanelli.

With: Luca Capriotti, Paolo Sassanelli, Marco Cocci, Francesca Maturanza, Simone Gulli, Andrea Gussoni, Norman Mozzato.

A nearly sightless boy’s discovery of the possibilities of recorded sound gives helmer Cristiano Bortone both a cinematic and emotional basis for his human — if somewhat overly calculated — heart-tugger “Red Like the Sky.” Based on the childhood experiences of pic’s sound editor, Mirco Mencacci, the gently conceived film juggles crowd-pleasing sentiments directly from “Cinema Paradiso” about the love of movies with anti-authoritarian views that make the pic classically Italian. Film’s collection of aud awards at fests points to commercial potential in various markets (including the always tough U.S.), though wider international release has so far been choppy.

Ten-year-old Mirco (Luca Capriotti) is first seen being raised by loving parents near Pisa in 1970, but an accident involving a hunting rifle (sloppily staged) leaves him with such poor vision that all he can see are blurs and shadows. Since Italian law prevents blind and nearly blind children from attending general public schools, Mirco is sent to Genoa, home of Italy’s most respected school for the blind, which is run by a rather stern director (Norman Mozzato).

Between the director — who seems to take his own blindness as a license for being harsh to everyone — and school bully Valerio (Andrea Gussoni), Mirco endures a testy welcoming. Pointedly, the school is a Catholic-run institution and Mirco is a vocal non-believer, allowing Bortone to make additional anti-clerical points.

Kindly teacher Don Giulio (Paolo Sassanelli) tries to coax Mirco to learn Braille, but the boy resists, finding some refuge with tubby buddy Simone (Simone Gulli) and stumbling upon a portable reel-to-reel tape recorder. Don Giulio’s class assignment to do a paper on the four seasons becomes a ticket for Mirco to record natural as well as foley sounds to suggest the aural passing of the seasons.

Bortone’s scenario, in collaboration with Monica Zapelli (“The Hundred Steps”) and Paolo Sassanelli, tends to be facile when setting up dramatic points; thus, Mozzato’s director is predictably angry when learning about Mirco’s creative form of audio “writing,” placing Sassanelli’s Don Giulio in the role of the liberal mentor who recognizes a talented diamond in the rough.

Mirco, as expressed by Capriotti in a fine child perf, is full of moxie and stubbornness, a ready-made pint-sized movie hero who obviously will triumph over odds.

Alongside these and other calculations, such as Mirco winning the affections of sweet and smart Francesca (Francesca Maturanza), daughter of the school’s caretaker, “Red Like the Sky” plays like a romanticized re-telling of an actual young life that was likely much harsher around the edges. At the same time, Bortone applies a solid command of emotional build and crescendos, as well as pace, to deliver an entertainment that also refuses to insult auds.

A more creative filmmaker would have drawn stronger visual connections from Mirco’s developing love affair with sound and its possibilities, but Bortone wittily shows the ways in which incredible effects (such as the roar of a dragon for a fairy tale story that Mirco and Francesca hatch) can be made with humble means. Sound mix (by Stefano Campus) and edit (led by Mencacci himself) is a superb standout amid a fine tech package, with Ezio Bosso’s score dipping too much into the Michael Nyman playbook.

Camera (color), Vladan Radovic; editor, Carla Simoncelli; music, Ezio Bosso; production designer, Davide Bassan; costume designer, Monica Simeone; makeup, Walter Cossu; sound (Dolby Digital), Stefano Campus; sound designer, Louis Siciliano; supervising sound editor, Mirco Mencacci. Reviewed at Palm Springs Film Festival (World Cinema Now), Jan. 7, 2008. (Also in Rome, Black Nights, Sao Paolo film festivals.) Running time: 100 MIN.

Source: http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=festivals&jump=review&reviewid=VE1117935795

Technorati Tags: arts and entertainment, Italian movie, Rosso come il cielo, vividlife

“Away We Go” (2009). Cast: John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph, Catherine O’Hara, Jeff Daniels, Allison Janney, Jim Gaffigan, Carmen Ejogo, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Josh Hamilton, Chris Messina, Melanie Lynskey, Paul Schneider; Director: Sam Mendes; Screenplay: Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida

Tales of self-discovery have long been staples of the movie industry, but they’ve usually been depicted through adolescent coming of age stories. Rarely has this idea been explored through the eyes of those who are a little older and, at least theoretically, wiser, the 20- and 30-somethings who wonder whether they’ve missed the boat of life. Thankfully, there’s a new film for those who’ve experienced the uneasiness of feeling directionless, the comedy-drama “Away We Go.”

Burt (John Krasinski) and Verona (Maya Rudolph) are a young unmarried couple expecting their first child. They’ve set up house in what appears to be a glorified shack, yet they seem to be doing well financially. They live near Burt’s parents, Gloria (Catherine O’Hara) and Jerry (Jeff Daniels), and they look forward to sharing the joy of their new arrival with them—that is, until the free-spirited grandparents-to-be announce they’re fulfilling their long-held dream of moving to Brussels, a month before the baby is to be born.

Burt and Verona are understandably thrown for a loop; one of the few reasons underlying their current living arrangements is now gone. This revelation thus prompts them to wonder whether they’ve screwed up their lives and to question if there isn’t something better for them elsewhere. So they hit the road to investigate other opportunities, a journey that’s as much literal as metaphorical and that allows them to witness examples of how others get by.

The couple’s trip takes them first to Phoenix, where they meet Verona’s former boss Lily (Allison Janney) and husband Lowell (Jim Gaffigan), an example of the American dream gone sadly awry. Then, in Tucson, the couple visits Verona’s younger sister Grace (Carmen Ejogo), who’s leading a successful but mostly lonely life. Next, in Madison, Burt interviews for a new job and reconnects with an old friend, LN (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a flaky professor steeped in every New Age lifestyle cliché with oh-so-sensitive househusband Roderick (Josh Hamilton). The couple then journeys to Montreal to visit Verona’s old college friends Tom (Chris Messina) and Munch (Melanie Lynskey), proud parents of a houseful of adopted children but whose apparent happiness is overshadowed by a painful secret. And then, quite unexpectedly, they travel to Miami, where Burt attempts to comfort his brother Courtney (Paul Schneider), whose wife has just abandoned him and their young daughter.

After all this travel, however, Burt and Verona still don’t have a suitable model on which to base their lives. They have plenty of examples of what not to do, but that doesn’t give them the template they need to create a happy existence for themselves. Maybe their own model would be the wisest option to pursue, but what would that be? Therein lies their challenge, but maybe it’s one that’s not as difficult to resolve as they thought.

This film is a prime example of how our beliefs evolve over time and how such evolution shapes the realities we create through the law of attraction. The depiction of this idea through a road trip movie is most fitting, too, since that story format closely parallels the evolution that our beliefs undergo in our individual journeys. Simultaneously, the picture provides ample illustrations of creation by default, the materialization of circumstances that occur when people let life happen to them rather than assertively take the reins to figure out which beliefs will yield the best results (perhaps Burt and Verona aren’t as screwed up as they thought they were).

One occasional criticism of the film has been that the character development is at times weak and/or inconsistent, that Burt and Verona are little more than undefined tour guides for carrying the story. However, most journey of discovery stories are inherently about the emergence of self-awareness of one’s beliefs and the creations that go with them. (After all, how can there be full development when that development is itself in process?) In fact, this film’s protagonists actually seem to know themselves better than they often give themselves credit for, something many of us could learn from.

“Away We Go” is a charmer from start to finish, with excellent performances by the entire cast (particularly Janney, Gaffigan, Gyllenhaal and Hamilton). Sam Mendes’s direction is back in fine form, too. The picture is, admittedly, unusual for a summer release, but it’s a welcome reprieve from the season’s typical fare.

So find your way to this film. After seeing it, you just may find new discoveries about your own road of life and the promise it holds for the future. And that’s always worth the trip.

— Copyright © 2009, by Brent Marchant. All rights reserved.

Brent Marchant

A lifelong movie fan and longtime student of metaphysics, free-lance writer/editor Brent Marchant is the author of Get the Picture: Conscious Creation Goes to the Movies (Moment Point Press, www.momentpoint.com). His additional writing credits include contributions to beliefnet.com and to Divine Revolution and Reality Change magazines. Brent also maintains an ongoing blog about metaphysical cinema at www.getthepicturebrentmarchant.blogspot.com. He holds a B.A. in magazine journalism from Syracuse University and resides in Chicago. You can email him at brentmarchant@momentpoint.com.

Technorati Tags: Allison Janney, arts and entertainment, Away We Go, Brent Marchand, Carmen Ejogo, Catherine O'Hara, Chris Messina, Daniels, Dave Eggers, Jeff, JIm Gaffigan, John Krasinski, Josh Hamilton, Maggie Gyllenhall, Maya Rudolph, Melanie Lynskey, Pal Schneider, Sam Mendes, Vendela Vida, vividlife

Movies are essentially the modern-day equivalent of storytelling, that time-honored practice long used for illustrating philosophical, spiritual and metaphysical concepts. But because motion pictures enhance their story lines with contemporary high-tech wizardry, they bring their meanings to life in ways that mere words often can’t. Their messages carry enormous impact, evoking strongly felt responses and conveying their significance with palpable degrees of substance.

This is particularly true when it comes to cinematic renditions of the principles of the law of attraction, a practice also known as conscious creation. As a lifelong movie lover, I’ve found that films of virtually all genres are capable of accomplishing this, too, including everything from comedies to dramas to science fiction and even documentaries. In fact, movies can shed profound light on many of the key concepts of this discipline, and that’s the perspective I draw upon when I look at—and write about—film. To be sure, some pictures are better than others at conveying insights on the subject, but there are many that are real gems of enlightenment.

Think of some key law of attraction concepts, and look at how many films out there provide excellent illustrations of those principles. For example, understanding what beliefs we hold and how they create the reality around us is a prime consideration for making the law of attraction process work. Moviegoers can gain insight into this by watching pictures like the metaphysical primer “What the #$*! Do We (K)now!?” (2004), the romantic comedy “Under the Tuscan Sun” (2003) and the ballet world drama “The Turning Point” (1977). Similarly, going beyond surface perceptions to see what underlying beliefs are driving our creations is important to have a clear understanding of what intents we’re putting out. This notion is explored effectively in the Woody Allen comedy “Whatever Works” (2009), the gripping psychological drama “Ordinary People” (1980), the French farce “King of Hearts” (1966), the riveting character study “A Beautiful Mind” (2001) and the heartfelt father-and-son fable “Big Fish” (2003).

Bearing these examples in mind, then, it’s easy to see how movies exemplify a whole host of law of attraction principles, including the following:

* Drawing upon the power of choice and free will in the creation of our reality, for better or worse, is examined in such films as the gut-wrenching drama “Sophie’s Choice” (1982), the edgy dark comedy “After Hours” (1985), the unconventional family drama “Housekeeping” (1987) and the futurist yarn “Brave New World” (1998).

* When our beliefs don’t pan out as we’d like, it’s time to choose new ones and embrace change to achieve more rewarding materializations, as evidenced in pictures like the offbeat drama “The Truman Show” (1998), the gender-bending comedy “All of Me” (1984), the romantic fantasy “Peggy Sue Got Married” (1986), the never-ending saga of “Groundhog Day” (1993) and the heartwarming road trip tale “Away We Go” (2009).

* Facing fears is precisely what’s called for when making changes in our beliefs and in our lives, for without the courage to do this, we’d surely stay stuck in place, a theme plumbed in the soul-searching sci-fi drama “Signs” (2002), the courageous leap of faith character study “An Unmarried Woman” (1978), the Alfred Hitchcock classic “Vertigo” (1958), the otherworldly romantic comedy “Defending Your Life” (1991), and a trio of heroic tales (all from 2005) “The Constant Gardener,” “Syriana” and “Good Night, and Good Luck.”

* Being willing to exceed our personal limitations is often crucial to achieving hoped-for aims, a proposition put to the test in envelope-pushing offerings like “What Dreams May Come” (1998), “Phenomenon” (1996), “K-PAX” (2001), “The Lathe of Heaven” (1980), “Brainstorm” (1983), “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (2004) and “Pleasantville” (1998).

* Experiencing the awesome joy and power of creation is, of course, the desired objective of this process, and the fulfillment of this goal is brilliantly depicted in titles like the gentle comedy “Being There” (1979), the Christmas classic “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946), the high-flying historical adventure “The Right Stuff” (1983) and the poetic, dreamy fantasy “Wings of Desire” (1987).

Consider what’s possible when the inspiration from all of the foregoing examples is combined. The satisfaction in that can be beyond measure, all because of the law of attraction, and, thankfully, movies help to effectively showcase that for us.

In future editions of this column, I’ll share my thoughts about new film releases—and, on occasion, entries from the DVD library—that examine these and other law of attraction principles. So, in the meantime, pop some popcorn, turn off your cell phone and enjoy the show!

Copyright © 2009, by Brent Marchant. All rights reserved.

Brent Marchant

A lifelong movie fan and longtime student of metaphysics, free-lance writer/editor Brent Marchant is the author of Get the Picture: Conscious Creation Goes to the Movies (Moment Point Press, www.momentpoint.com). His additional writing credits include contributions to beliefnet.com and to Divine Revolution and Reality Change magazines. Brent also maintains an ongoing blog about metaphysical cinema at www.getthepicturebrentmarchant.blogspot.com. He holds a B.A. in magazine journalism from Syracuse University and resides in Chicago. You can email him at brentmarchant@momentpoint.com.

Technorati Tags: arts and entertainment, Brent Marchant, entertainment reviews, spiritual cinema, spiritual movies