Director adn screenwriter Cameron Crowe, known for giving us such blockbusters as "Jerry Maguire", "Vanilla Sky", and "Say Anything", among others, had chosen my hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, and more specifically, my place of employment, The Brown Hotel, to film many of the scenes for his new movie, "Elizabethtown".  Mr. Crowe arrived in April along with a team of writers and producers, checked into the hotel, and declared it home for the next for months.  As a bartender in the hotel's lobby, I became accustomed to seeing him in the wee hours of hte morning, lounging in one of the lobby's sofa, his brow furrowing in concentration as he labored over the masses of paperwork surrounding him.  I tried discreetly to sneak peeks whenever I brought him his standard sparkling water, but my respect for his privacy and his work restrained my curiousity.

With each passing day, more and more Paramount members arrived, and they quickly became like family to us.  They sahred work with us, the pitfalls and the perks, and we sometimes became sounding boards when difficulties on the set roused tensions.

We were all very excited when the actual filming began.  Some of us had been invited to visit one of the sets in nearby Versailles where a funeral scene had been scheduled for shooting.  While touring through the funeral home chosen for the scene, the crew members pointed out all the intricate details; the easel with sympathy cards for the deceased character tacked on the surface, filled out with heartfelt sentiments by the crew members and the casket that the actor would lie in.  Pictures of the actor and his fictitious family members had been carefully placed about the room in frames that had been painstakingly chosen to compliment the decor and the atmosphere of the scene.  Details as small as the thermostat and the light switches had been changed as Mr. Crowe decided.  It was all so facinating!  Learning about the myriad of details involved in even the most minute aspects of a film scene brought a newfound respect for movie making.  It made me feel sad to think of all the movies that were so meticulously made, but were unsuccessful for whatever reason.  After all the work required, how devastating it must be for those involved to have the movie fail at the box offices!

It was after 3:00 am,  and my shift was over.  Before leaving the hotel, I stopped in the lobby to catch some of the filming.  As Istood in the corner watching all the commotion as they tried to film a scene depicting a wedding reception, I was saddened at the thought of it all ending.  The cast and crew would be leaving tomorrow.  I would miss passing Mr. Crowe in the corridor and hearing him say "Hey! How's it going? Are you working tonight?"  I would miss the informative and fascinating discussions with the director of photography.  I would miss the friendly chats with Orlando Bloom as I encountered him walking his constant companion, his dog, Cidi, at 2:00 am outside the hotel.  I would miss happily running all over the hotel in search of hot chocolate for Kirsten Dunst after she shot a scene on an unusually chilly summer day. 

These things, although really very small, were pleasing to me; I knew it was an opportunity I would most likely never encounter again, and one that I would always look back upon with fondness.

The next day, I stood looking out the window from the second floor, watching the crew load what must have been millions of dollars worth of equipment.  Most of the crew had departed earlier that day.  The remaining members were mostly "stagehands".  I watch as Mr. Crowe approached to give instruction to one of the men doing the loading.  After a moment, they were joined by Orlando Bloom.  Watching them in conversation, I silently told them goodbye, and that we would miss them.  As if he ahd read my mind, Mr. Bloom Looked up and noticed me in the window.  He smiled and pointed up at me, saying something to Mr. Crowe.  Both men smiled up at me then, and I'm sure I was beaming as I smiled back.  And then they both waved; not because I was a fan; because I was Jordan, the bartender at the Brown Hotel, and a friend.  If only I had had a camera at that moment, to catch those two famous faces smiling and waving at ME!  I couldn't help it; tears filled my eyes as I waved back, and I hoped that they knew how grateful we all were to them for giving us this experience.  They turned then, and disappeared around the corner, out of my view.

I sighed inwardly, the old cliche "gone but not forgotten" coming to mind.  How true, I thought to myself.  Our brief time with Paramount productions brought us excitement, education, and yes, in many ways, friendship.  As I turned away from the window to get back to work, I realized that I was already counting the days until "Elizabethtown" finally premiered.

I planned to be the first in line.

Maybe Barbara Broccoli went a bit high in her expectations what the public will be able to understand, because the story line is highly complicated. It is slightly better than the current financial crisis because you can understand the story, if you take your brains with you into the film, that is, and then use it. It’s definitely not the brainless boom boom Bond story line of Roger Moore’s time anymore. But then, could Broccoli have got Marc Foster on the set if the story had been one of the usual plot repetitions we have seen since Moore started playing Bond? I definitely don’t think so. If you want to know more about the set and the story of Quantum of Solace, read here.

Obviously, most critics don’t take their brains with them when watching a film, or at least they don’t want to use them on mere films and what to write about them. If you go to see the film yourself, better read up on it a lot beforehand, or you will get bewildered by the story’s many levels. Director Marc Foster creates the picture of Bond's personality and state of mind in relation to the film’s title, Quantum of Solace. It is therefore immensely helpful to read up on that before you start watching the film. It is definitely no Bond to just consume like pop corn, it’s a story you have to follow closely or get hopelessly lost.

Bond as we know him from the films was no creation of Ian Fleming’s. Quite the opposite: Fleming was violently anti Sean Connery. But it’s what Sean Connery did to and with the role that still defines what Bond is meant to be. After Connery, I continued watching Bond films. I watched all of them once and was terribly bored. Forget Lazenby. Moore was a caricature. Dalton and Brosnan could have been left lying in the cutting room for all I cared. Then I saw Craig’s Bond and Casino Royale. I had a feeling of back to the roots, not only because of the story, but because there was Bond again, not some actor playing Bond.

Maybe critics can’t cope with the fact that Quantum of Solace is a sequel to Casino Royale, as no Bond film ever was a sequel to any other. In fact, if you would watch the films since Moore’s tenure one after another, they don’t even make sense in relation to each other. In this case, being a sequel it helps if you know what went on in Casino Royale. And if you haven’t seen that, do so now, it’s a good film anyhow.

What it comes down to: A lot of people will walk into the film expecting a brainless spectacle as it was presented since Roger Moore, and they will leave the cinema disappointed, because it’s not just a loose string of fantastic gadget being presented, graciously sponsored by product placement. If they are disappointed, it’s to be hoped they try again, it’s worth their while.

Each of Tommy's important character corresponded to a color, which is apparent as each character is introduced. The opening scene shows Tommy's father, Walker, as a silhouette on a mountain, facing a blazing red sky. Subsequent appearances of Walker, or scenes concerning Walker, have noticeable red objects or lighting on screen. Frank, Nora's money-hungry new lover, corresponds to green. He is introduced to the audience in a green blazer and scenes showing Frank's scheming to make money were green. By relating green to scandalous Frank, the audience foresees some tragedy in Tommy's future when his cult associates appear in green uniforms.

As opposed to the other characters, Tommy does not appear to have an assigned characteristic color until he becomes an adult and suffers through traumatizing events. He appears in green as a boy and on stage playing pinball, illustrating Frank's power over him to the audience. However, later in the film, Tommy meets the Acid Queen who allows him to "meet" his father (the scene uses red lighting) during a bizarre "trip". In a later scene that uses yellow lighting, Tommy's cousin, who knows he is vulnerable, physically beats him. Following this, a scene of Tommy being subjected to his sexually perverse uncle, uses blue lighting. The camera then looks over Tommy's shoulder and exposes the mirror, into which Tommy is staring. In the mirror, Tommy sees three of himself: one red, one yellow, and one blue. These images merge to reveal Tommy's characteristic color: white. The conventional use of white in the arts indicates to the audience, the purity and divinity of Tommy's character. Tommy is related to the majestic white as a developing element of the film's farce on Christianity (a topic for another paper). His color was actually revealed at his birth, in the stark white hospital room, but he was next seen under Frank's (green) influence.

A specific example of color is used when Nora and Tommy return from the vacation camp with Frank. As the characters walk up the driveway, the camera reveals that the house's exterior (previously not shown) is green. Nora and Frank are later shown having sex in the green master bedroom. Immediately following, a shot shows Walker, presumed dead, briefly entering and exiting Tommy's bedroom. Tommy walks after him out into the hallway, revealing a bright red carpet. Frank then attacks and kills Walker. Subsequently Nora and Frank, in a green robe, plead with Tommy at the bedroom door to keep the murder a secret; all the while the red hallway carpet behind Tommy is visible.

An interesting use of color is in a scene with Nora, who is depressed about Tommy's state. She sings about Tommy in a room with a white bed, white walls, white satin drapes, and white shag carpet. In an attempt to free her mind of Tommy she gulps the rest of her Dom Perignon, and pitches the bottle at her television. To mark the success of relieving her mind of Tommy, torrents of baked beans and caviar wash out of the television and cover the white floor. Nora then happily writhes around in the muck, throwing globs of it to further cover the white walls.

Throughout the film, a dark crimson red pertains to Nora's romantic or sexual encounters with the movie's male characters. Nora and Walker are seen lovingly embracing in a crimson walled room of their home, Nora falls in love with Frank as they dance in a red ballroom, and a flirtatious moment with Tommy's doctor includes a close-up of Nora's rich, red lipstick. This color correlation, as related to a later, seemingly innocent natured scene, reveals some disturbing incestuous undertones. The previous shot shows Nora in the back seat of their new Cadillac with Tommy, cocktail in hand. She is showing concern for Tommy's state, but appears to be behaving a bit more intimately than a mother normally would with her son. Next, the disturbing scene opens to a view of the same white room that indicates Nora's thoughts of Tommy, but now Tommy is standing in the room gazing into a mirror, and Nora dances around the room wildly in a crimson dress. She dances and sings in front of Tommy, blocking his view of the mirror, appealing to him for some recognition or attention. Having watched the film in a passive state, this scene does arouse some unexplainable unsettling feelings, but actively watching the film and its use of colors in context blatantly divulges the scene's incestuous nature.

The director's control over the visible aspects of a film is crucial to the meaning of any film's story. However, in Tommy, Ken Russell relies heavily on mise-en-scene, due to the fast pace and omitted time of the story, as well as the consistent musical dialog, whose lyrics can be vague. Particularly, the director's use of color and colored lighting allows the audience to relate colors to the personalities of each character. For example, Green implied Frank's menacing, or negative events. Thus, the director's use of a colored visual cue in the frame can elicit an emotional response or expose complex information to the audience.