Last Call At The Oasis

Wonderful. Shot beautifully. Very Interesting.

That's the impression from the trailer and the reviews concerning the latest documentary about the water situation in the world. This film however doesn't focus on Third World countries, rather on the US (in particular the Western States), Australia and even Palestine. The Toronto Review states:

The Bottom Line:

Doc about more-urgent-than-you-think water issues wisely focuses on their relevance to the U.S.

Erin Brockovich (remember her... the Julia Roberts movie? of course you do), Peter Gleick (yes I know he's in hot water at the moment) and Patricia Mulroy are the main speakers in this film that is praised by both critics and viewers. Rotten Tomatoes website gave it a great rating --85%. And the info about the movie sounds like a movie that could be interesting: "The global water crisis will be the central issue facing our world this century. We can manage this problem, but only if we are willing to act now. Last Call at the Oasis is a powerful new documentary that shatters myths behind our most precious resource."

It's not all doom and gloom about the world water shortages as many docs are. But even with this beautiful and positive spin on a problem that affects ALL of us, here are the box office numbers for a movie that was screened at 4 film festivals: After 3 weeks at the theatres, it's has earned...drum roll please.... almost $41,000! WOW....

Even "What To Expect When You're Expecting" which was rated at 22% by Rotten Tomatoes earned $22.1 million. Ok, it had a wide release and Oasis had a very small release, but that fact in itself reveals another point of Remake 4 Water. People don't go and see documentaries no matter how great they are. They go and see Hollywood movies, no matter how not-so-great they are! Not everyone in the world is going to get pregnant, but WE ALL ARE GOING TO BE AFFECTED BY WATER! We already are. Most of us just aren't aware.....

Yet.

Time for putting a serious message into a fun movie which by the way has already been seen in 185 countries. (Just added another this week!!) Then people will go and see it and afterwards think about it, and not feel they were hit over the head. "These things must be done del-i-cate-ly....." Quote from a green faced women who scared me as a child... C'mon! Let's Do It!

World Water Day Documentary

It came and went. Did you know? If you're like most people, you didn't.

Many thanks go out to Zoe Slusar and Bailey Kerluke of Untitled Productions who made a short documentary that brings up the issue of water awareness. You can see it on their website. It's a pretty awesome short and you can certainly tell the difference between people who want to be and who are film makers, and someone who had no idea what they are doing--like Did I Say Thousand Island? . But I did know that I would never quit.

So it is with Remake 4 Water.

Did you watch the video mentioned above? Did you notice what was said between 5:43 and 6:15? This was just a regular gal who said exactly what Remake 4 Water is all about! I was there when they were shooting to talk to people after their shot, but not before hand--they had no idea about R4W. How great is that? Sooner or later the right people will find out about this and see the validity and marketability of this concept involving restaurants.

Things are still changing. Movies that are made outside the big studios are being seen by the public in masses. October Baby is one that is doing well. It's a story that touches on a social issue, as does the movie Bully . Both of these are narratives which have higher attendance than documentaries, which is good, but they're not happy movies and some say too political or religious, depending.

We are still in a long era of escapism in the movies and I know that a fun movie that has an important but subtle message that affects all of us would be successful. By combining the subject matters while still being light hearted, it will draw people who want to be entertained. By addressing an issue that absolutely needs our attention, it will serve a purpose. C'mon. Let's Do It!