Obo: OL


the digital oasis

I've got a copy of the script... how? Stole it. Script girl left her clip board on the wall when she took five for some reason... so I'm reading it now, sitting outside the Cafe Damascus. Slow going. In French.

Must be market day or something. The churro boys are doing big business, trays of deep fried dough on their heads, working the Zoco and the cafes. Hustlers everywhere, selling all kinds of crap... or trying to buy your shirt, your jeans, your boots... your rings, even your freakin' underwear. Passport too.

"Haunted by his loss, he will return to this location where each step makes the blood pump faster like a step towards love or towards death."

Look up from the page, see the Poet and Naomi crossing the Zoco, followed by a cameraman and the usual clutch of curious locals. She looks great, like a priestess from a lost African temple or an abandoned extraterrestial harem. He looks ET too, like he's a re-animated dreamer... a walking antenna, a creature who functions telepathically. Yeah, he's weird... but when he's beside Naomi, he's beautiful. Without even thinking, I set down the script and tele-photo them myself.

Be damned if they don't stop, look my direction. Feel embarrassed, like I've been caught out. How stupid is that? Check behind me, see if they're looking at somebody else... but the patrons are all sitting looking at the Zoco. Even the guys in the black robes, Tuareg nomads in town for bullets and Gitanes. Blue sand scarves and gold chains. Cool. The movie is watching the audience.

Crazy world, isn't it? We photo our actions, our fantasies. Light hits the earth like words hit the page.

Cameras are everywhere, even in this forgotten town. Buzz in the crew says Cocteau's even bought time on the Marienbad I satellite, which crosses this region 4 times a day. Topographical resolution down to 10 meters real-time. Amigo, that's a spy sat where I come from. Maybe it's looking for water, the ruins of ancient civilizations, minerals of mass destruction... but we're all part of that movie. The digital oasis.

How many ways can you film a single scene? What's he looking for?


8. the Garden of Omar »»