The Full Review
This is the full review from "THE WEEK" newspaper in Walworth Wisconsin in the fall of 2007. (Notice the length of time he spends talking about the restaurant biz! )
DID I SAY THOUSAND ISLAND?
Written and Directed by Patti DiVita
Jaime Foard
Rado Bily
Amy Russo
Not Rated
105 Minutes
Reviewed by David Malsch
During the brief life of the Black Point Film Festival that I co-founded and ran for five years, I watched a lot of movies. We would receive hundreds of entries every year submitted for our approval from all over the world. We did suffer for our art back then, trying to make Black Point great, and despite some of the films we had to sit through it was worth it in the end. It's been three years since the festival ended and I still miss it terribly. I miss it selfishly but also regret not being able to still offer it to the loyal cinemaniacs and filmmakers that supported us through it all. In retrospect, I think Black Point started something never done before in southeastern Wisconsin and I believe its spirit still lingers on there today for both film and music aficionados. I'm proud of what we did and I'm even more proud of the people keeping indie film and music alive there today.
A couple of months ago I got an e-mail from a woman named Patti DiVita who asked if I would be interested in seeing her film, Did I Say Thousand Island? She was once very gracious and supportive of Black Point and I encouraged her to send it to me. At the time she contacted me I was so overloaded with films--I had 53 screeners sitting on top of my television that I had to get through--but I promised her I would take the time to watch her movie. Eventually I did and I'm really glad because despite the lack of strong production values it contains in it a small gem of a story that I know like the back of my hand and have an immense love for--the food service industry.
I started working in bars before I was legally old enough to be in them. I started out as a DJ in a bowling alley well before I graduated high school. In fact, the owner never realized my true age until he read about me being in the graduating class in the local paper. From there, I became a bartender and waited tables in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin for over 20 years. I don't regret those years because I learned more about the world and about the people in it by working behind a bar than I would have ever learned just by sitting at it. I did burn myself out doing it that long but I really do miss it and have nothing but good memories and stories to tell from all those years. Black Point was to be my path out of that business. It was a big reason I decided to start the festival outside of my love for film and music.
Did I Say Thousand Island? is a film about the business and love of food service told from the point of view of those in the middle of it. It’s told mostly through the voice of its lead character, Cathy (Jaime Foard), who on the verge of her 30th birthday is wondering where her life is heading. She works in a resort town in the Rocky Mountains outside of Denver, Colorado as a waitress. In a profession not always looked upon as legitimate and more as a fall back to something else, Cathy and her co-workers and friends are actually quite happy and content in their chosen fields. This is a film about these people and for these people and Devita is not ashamed about it. There have been plenty of films made about this profession but rarely do they embrace the people or the job quite like this film does.
Ms. DiVita, who has spent her life waiting tables, has taken her talent for writing about it to the next level by somehow, remarkably, turning it into a film. Make no mistake that this is an independent, low-budget film with unseasoned actors at the helm but it has more heart and gusto than any big-budget mainstream film about the hospitality business. I enjoyed this film for that reason--I knew these situations and I know these people because I have spent the better part of my entire life with them and love them to death. This industry is a tough one but it is also a rewarding one and Did I Say Thousand Island? reflects that wonderfully. Jaime Foard is also a terrific find and gives the film a strong and promising lead actress to root for.
Somehow Patti and I had missed each other all those years living and working in the same small resort town of Lake Geneva. We’d both been doing the same type of work yet somehow avoided either meeting each other or waiting on each other along the way. If Black Point was still around I guarantee that our paths would have finally crossed with her film and my festival. I hope Patti continues down this path as a filmmaker because she shows more promise in her first film than most struggling filmmakers ever show. Filmmaking is a hard business just like being a good waitress but somehow Patti DiVita is showing a knack for both. She deserves a nice big tip for this one.
DID I SAY THOUSAND ISLAND?
Written and Directed by Patti DiVita
Jaime Foard
Rado Bily
Amy Russo
Not Rated
105 Minutes
Reviewed by David Malsch
During the brief life of the Black Point Film Festival that I co-founded and ran for five years, I watched a lot of movies. We would receive hundreds of entries every year submitted for our approval from all over the world. We did suffer for our art back then, trying to make Black Point great, and despite some of the films we had to sit through it was worth it in the end. It's been three years since the festival ended and I still miss it terribly. I miss it selfishly but also regret not being able to still offer it to the loyal cinemaniacs and filmmakers that supported us through it all. In retrospect, I think Black Point started something never done before in southeastern Wisconsin and I believe its spirit still lingers on there today for both film and music aficionados. I'm proud of what we did and I'm even more proud of the people keeping indie film and music alive there today.
A couple of months ago I got an e-mail from a woman named Patti DiVita who asked if I would be interested in seeing her film, Did I Say Thousand Island? She was once very gracious and supportive of Black Point and I encouraged her to send it to me. At the time she contacted me I was so overloaded with films--I had 53 screeners sitting on top of my television that I had to get through--but I promised her I would take the time to watch her movie. Eventually I did and I'm really glad because despite the lack of strong production values it contains in it a small gem of a story that I know like the back of my hand and have an immense love for--the food service industry.
I started working in bars before I was legally old enough to be in them. I started out as a DJ in a bowling alley well before I graduated high school. In fact, the owner never realized my true age until he read about me being in the graduating class in the local paper. From there, I became a bartender and waited tables in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin for over 20 years. I don't regret those years because I learned more about the world and about the people in it by working behind a bar than I would have ever learned just by sitting at it. I did burn myself out doing it that long but I really do miss it and have nothing but good memories and stories to tell from all those years. Black Point was to be my path out of that business. It was a big reason I decided to start the festival outside of my love for film and music.
Did I Say Thousand Island? is a film about the business and love of food service told from the point of view of those in the middle of it. It’s told mostly through the voice of its lead character, Cathy (Jaime Foard), who on the verge of her 30th birthday is wondering where her life is heading. She works in a resort town in the Rocky Mountains outside of Denver, Colorado as a waitress. In a profession not always looked upon as legitimate and more as a fall back to something else, Cathy and her co-workers and friends are actually quite happy and content in their chosen fields. This is a film about these people and for these people and Devita is not ashamed about it. There have been plenty of films made about this profession but rarely do they embrace the people or the job quite like this film does.
Ms. DiVita, who has spent her life waiting tables, has taken her talent for writing about it to the next level by somehow, remarkably, turning it into a film. Make no mistake that this is an independent, low-budget film with unseasoned actors at the helm but it has more heart and gusto than any big-budget mainstream film about the hospitality business. I enjoyed this film for that reason--I knew these situations and I know these people because I have spent the better part of my entire life with them and love them to death. This industry is a tough one but it is also a rewarding one and Did I Say Thousand Island? reflects that wonderfully. Jaime Foard is also a terrific find and gives the film a strong and promising lead actress to root for.
Somehow Patti and I had missed each other all those years living and working in the same small resort town of Lake Geneva. We’d both been doing the same type of work yet somehow avoided either meeting each other or waiting on each other along the way. If Black Point was still around I guarantee that our paths would have finally crossed with her film and my festival. I hope Patti continues down this path as a filmmaker because she shows more promise in her first film than most struggling filmmakers ever show. Filmmaking is a hard business just like being a good waitress but somehow Patti DiVita is showing a knack for both. She deserves a nice big tip for this one.
What you doing these days kiddo. Am still hanging in there trying to survive.
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