Just as Close Encounters of the Third Kind shed new light on the power of music as a communicative force, science fiction can make telepathy and teleportation seem commonplace. It can allow children and their imaginary friends to defy gravity in ways Idina Menzel could never have conceived. Most importantly, it can restore intelligence, introspection, and insight to their rightful places of honor for audiences that prefer to be entertained by violence and destruction.
While delusional creationists keep trying to convince people that man co-existed with dinosaurs, Michael Crichton's science fiction adventure, Jurassic Park, gives audiences a bone-chilling demonstration of what could go wrong with attempts to clone prehistoric reptiles.
Although governments worry about hackers bringing down electric grids, several years before corporate giants like HBO, Netflix, and Sony Pictures fell victim to cyber attacks, a full-length feature by Japanese animation studio MADHOUSE inc. showed audiences what could happen if a massive social media platform like Facebook were to be compromised and fall victim to sabotage.
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Prior to its theatrical release, the Japan Film Festival of San Francisco is screening Kenji Kamiyama's newest film. A thoroughly delightful full-length feature from GKIDS, Napping Princess combines the best of Japanese anime with a delicious musical score by Yoko Shimomura and an enchanting origin story. The plot is loaded with sci-fi gadgets, fiery monsters stomping all over Tokyo, and a talking teddy bear named Joi (who plays a pivotal role in the action). While this film is aimed squarely at children, it's quite likely that adults viewing the film will get a much deeper sense of satisfaction from its story.
Set in 2020, the action takes place three days prior to the opening of the Tokyo Summer Olympics. Although there is an easily identifiable villain, the subplot revolves around a piece of software crucial to the deployment of self-driving vehicles by Shijima Motors, a giant corporation.
Rumor has it that a rogue auto mechanic absconded with a critical piece of coding. Without the crucial code, Shijima's planned parade of new vehicles at the opening ceremonies of the Olympics could go horribly wrong. But there's a lot more at stake than the company's international reputation.
Kokone Morikawa is a Japanese schoolgirl who has trouble staying awake in class. Raised by a single (yet darkly mysterious) father who is deeply devoted to her, in her waking state Kokone is a bright-eyed, cheerful adolescent who is adored by her neighbors. As she waits for the bus one morning, she runs into a childhood friend. Together with his sidekick, Morio is excitedly learning how to use his new virtual reality goggles.
Moments prior to his arrest at a local cemetery, Kokone's father (Momotaro) had left Joi resting against the headstone marking his wife's grave. Once Kokone and Morio find the teddy bear, they discover its timely importance and realize they are the only people who can rescue Momotaro.
As they desperately try to elude the villainous Ichiro Watanabe who has been stalking them, Kokone and Morio realize they must get to Tokyo as quickly as possible. To their astonishment, whenever they vocalize their desires (tickets for the Supertrain, snack boxes), their needs are instantly met by the courteous employees of Japan's high speed rail system.
Not only do Kokone and Morio rescue Momotaro, their adventures reveal the backstory about her mother, Ikumi -- a determined corporate executive with a surprisingly clear vision of the future that no male colleague could possibly comprehend.
I once watched a black-and-white crime film on late-night television in which a detective kept chasing a murderer in his dreams. The clues in his dreams led him closer and closer to solving the crime until one night, while dreaming, he was killed during a shootout with the villain. The next morning (in real life) it was determined that the detective had died in his sleep.
Subtitled "The Story of the Unknown Me," the characters in Napping Princess exist in parallel universes. Thus, the real-life Kokone is the fantasy world's Kokone Ancien; the real-life Momotaro is the fantasy world's action hero, Peach; the real-life Ichiro Watanabe is the fantasy world's villain, Bewan; the real-life policeman, Kijita is the fantasy world's Takiji; and the real-life corporate mogul, Shijima Isshin, is the fantasy world's powerful ruler, Hâtorando-ô.
Rather than give away any spoilers, I'd urge you to watch for Napping Princess when it opens in theatres. This is far and away one of the most delightful and satisfying films I've seen in a long time. Here's the trailer:
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While most people are attracted to science fiction for the suspense and fantastic visuals, the mysteries of math can also inspire some fascinating narrative challenges. Many writers like to toy with the existence of a parallel universe (think about the misadventures of Superman and Bizarro). Rod Serling used to experiment with parallel universes in his television series entitled The Twilight Zone.Could there be more than two universes? That question lies at the heart of Nick Payne's intriguing love story, Constellations, which is receiving its regional premiere from TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. First staged in January 2012 at the Royal Court's Upstairs Theatre in London, Payne's drama was nominated for the Olivier Award for Best New Play and won The Evening Standard's award for Best Play as well (only 29 years old at the time, Payne was the youngest playwright ever to receive such an honor). Starring Jake Gyllenhaal as Roland, Constellations was produced on Broadway by the Manhattan Theatre Club at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre in 2015.
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| Carie Kawa (Marianne) and Robert Gilbert (Roland) in a scene from Constellations (Photo by: Kevin Berne) |
If someone tosses a coin in the air, there are two obvious potential outcomes. But what if a multitude of outcomes could ensue? Payne's thinking was deeply influenced by Brian Greene’s research into string theory and the idea of the multiverse (The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory). As the playwright recalls:
“I think I can say with some accuracy that I was seduced by the multiverse because of what it meant for me in light of my father’s death. However maudlin it might now sound, the notion that there might be a universe in which my dad was yet to have died was both curiously unhelpful and quietly consoling. In the quantum universe, chance is our saving grace and our Achilles’ heel. Constellations is a play in which the science at the heart of quantum mechanics is explored through the many and varied possible lives of a single couple. I had written a few plays that were naturalistic in their form and found something unsatisfying about it. [When] I came across the multiverse thing, I thought I could tell a story in a nonlinear way and found that really freeing.”
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Carie Kawa (Marianne) and Robert Gilbert (Roland) in
a scene from Constellations (Photo by: Kevin Berne)
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Set in "The Multiverse. Past, Present and Future," the structure of Payne's play is deceptively simple. Two actors participate in more than 40 vignettes in which particular moments play out with slight variations. Following the awkward first meeting of two strangers at a backyard barbecue, Roland (Robert Gilbert) and Marianne (Carie Kawa) are seen taking different approaches to conversations at critical moments in their relationship. Body language changes, tone of voice may be altered, even the pacing of the dialogue can vary. In some scenes, there may be slight variations in inflection; new facts may even be added to the script. One vignette is performed using British sign language.
While the differences may at first seem minor to the audience, the dramatic consequences for Roland and Marianne can be life-changing. Framed by Andrea Bechert's structural sculpture which twinkles with lights resembling the stars in the constellations above us (masterfully engineered by Z. William Bakal, who is credited as associate lighting director and the man in charge of "digital visualization"), each vignette is bracketed by the enchanting sound design and musical score created by Cliff Caruthers. Having struggled to determine whether Caruthers was using a xylophone, marimba, or electronic instruments to create his soundscape, I was delighted to hear from him that "all the music for Constellations is built from one sample of a sine wave -- my way of thinking about the multiverse."
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| Robert Gilbert (Roland) and Carie Kawa (Marianne) in a scene from Constellations (Photo by: Kevin Berne) |
The average moviegoer might draw a blank at any mention of chaos theory (which Edward Lorenz described as "when the present determines the future, but the approximate present does not approximately determine the future"). However, when referenced to such popular films as 1993's Groundhog Day and 2004's 50 First Dates, chaos theory becomes rife with possibilities and much easier to understand. As director Robert Kelley notes:
“I’m intrigued by the play’s science on a cosmic, quantum, and beehive level. I’m fascinated by the contrast of the vast and the microscopic. I’m daunted by the delicate balance between joy and tragedy. But I’m most inspired by the love that binds two small lives together, despite the unlimited possibilities of the multiverse. In the end, it’s the humanity of Marianne and Roland that convinces me this is a defining play for our times, and all times.”
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| Robert Gilbert co-stars as Roland in Constellations (Photo by: Kevin Berne) |
The scenic elements and this production's winning soundscape are reason enough for audiences to flock to a performance of Constellations. Add in two delicately layered performances by Robert Gilbert and Carie Kawa that have been beautifully directed by Robert Kelley and Payne's thoughtful script about possibility, love, and the randomness of life sets off a shower of sparks to fill the stage with the most intimate kinds of shock and awe.
Performances of Constellations continue through September 17 at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts (click here for tickets).
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