The Billiken's Bluff

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints. I saw it going on a month ago now. It was good. In a Do_the_Right_Thing_/_25th_Hour_/_Native_New_York_way ... Bensonhurst!!! What!!, but in Astoria, Queens. It was KIDS.



It was me and my friends growing up, hanging out, doing nothing, but romantized and cinematized.



This dude was powerful.



In a Brandon Jacobs type way. Completely bowling people over. With bravado, brawn.



This guy was effective, like a character out of Fortress of Solitude, verbatim.



He was of steely-countenance per the usual.



But, what stood out was the scene where Dito, main character, and a new Irish student ride the elevated subway tracks, N, R, W, 7 in Western Queens, full of graffiti and what the fuck? Packed trains, smelling people closely.



I can't describe this scene in a way that displays its genius (genus) but it is short, so even if you see it you might blink you may miss it, so A Guide to Recognizing Deft Dialogue, Voice Overs, and Pulling on Emotional Heart Strings in a Complex, not Sappy Way...

This scene:



Irish kid, a tourist in new city, asks dumb obvious questions to Dito like have you ever been to Coney Island?



Dito, who's father gets nervous when he leaves the block for fear his horizon will expand beyond 30th ave, says to Irish kid, Nah, yo, never been out there. (And who has? I haven't been to the Statue of Liberty and I've lived within 15 miles of it my entire life. You have one life as a tourist another as a resident, right? Eiffel tower, Reclining Buddha, Coliseum... check, check, yes ... Empire State Building ... no) Dito, asks Irish kid, how is it being so far from home? Irish kid answers it's not so bad, I'm seeing things, going to Coney Island now actually, on this train. The normal-est dialogue you ever heard. But, behind them, voiced-over, each character narrates, not overtly, but tone-wise you can tell, that Dito's nah yo, really means that he knows his world is too small since it can't include a landmark known world-wide, across oceans, that resides 10 miles from home. He knows he is a bit sad and small. Irish kid knows that he is overwhelmed by the new city, the subway, by the Brandon Jacobs character. The voice over narratives function like a Gregorian chant, on this subway.



Something along the lines of we are laughing all the time to keep from crying. Or like Radiohead what if we could say everything of all of the time. Happy and sad. The dialogue at hand. And a removed, distanced, enlightened narrative that explained YOU. Minor, insignificant, and Meta. The conversations on a subway. And the monologue when you are repeating when you can't fall asleep. What you are really feeling and the easier truth that you will pick up and run with.

And you know what, I will come with you to Coney Island.

All speed and whistles heading west!