Gift
For this film, I really want to start with what I learn and how touched I am. Director Linda said, “(This experience has) taught me that each of us has a lot of power to change things. You just have to do it one person at a time” (AsiaXpress). I empathize with her. We are always more powerful than we thought. We are becoming better and stronger everyday.
Linda continued, “documentary filmmaking for me is a way all of us can witness the lives of others, see the world from inside the point-of-view of someone we might not otherwise understand” (AsiaXpress). For me being a journalist is a way of witnessing and documenting the lives of others. I will always remember the first profile story I wrote. It was my sophomore year. There was an old man, Jonny Votta, a very little man, known as “NYU Timekeeper”. He stood at the crossing near Silver, the CAS building, and shouting at students about how much time do they have to get to class. People think he is a crazy homeless. I interviewed him. We had a nice and long talk. I learned a lot about him. He was doing that to keep students safe voluntarily. From then on, I would say hi to him when I saw him and tell people around me the truth. About a few months after, He never showed up again at his shouting spot. I learned from the news that he died from heart attack. It was the moment I made up my mind that I would be a journalist. I was so glad I had a chance to get to know him, to document his life, to emphasize with him. He could be a strange crazy old guy in my mind. Like Jimmy was a homeless artist, seemingly crazy, at the beginning of the film.
Linda was talking about what’s next, she said:“ Now it’s time to start representing peace. People are hungry for some good news, stories of the things that unite, not divide, us. We need media that provides us with images and language of a better way”（Cinema Asian America）. I agree with her. I think many American media, which aims to profit, are compromising everything to rating, to catch audience eyes with sensational subjects. On the other hand, Chinese media, completely controlled by government, with not so much competence, often reports uplifting stories and is assigned with very limited space for negative news. I’m looking forward to see the time when media become more balanced.
Access, Luck and More
Empathy and curiosity are Linda’s source of access and luck. Her empathy results in “a movie that evolves naturally from the filmmaker's compassion for her subject”. She remains off camera as much as possible and “her immense act of charity is never permitted to become the film's focus.”(The New York Times) I really like the way she used little narration and let Jimmy talk for the most time.
The most unexpected moment is 9/11. Linda said: “I found I was unable to just stand there, taking pictures of him coughing in the smoke and I impulsively brought him home,” she continued: “The story changed at that point. I wasn’t quite sure where it was going, but I just kept shooting”. Neither of Linda and Jimmy can predicted how significant they become in each other’s life. This is Linda’s film as well as Jimmy’s film. Linda was talking about how jimmy inspired her: “After 9/11, it was such a scary time, especially here in New York, and I wasn’t sure what to do next. But no matter what was happening, Jimmy just kept drawing. And so I just kept shooting video.”(A Manoa Journal Blog)
In the film, before Jimmy is going to move out Linda’s apartment, He was sating there with a sad face. Linda said that they don't even know each other a year ago. Jimmy replied that I know you before that, somewhere in my heart. This is my favorite moment. For me, it tells a lot about Jimmy. He is emotional, passionate and philosophical, a true artist. Jimmy is such an incredibly inspiring person.
