PICK DU JOUR:
Filmmaker’s faith in art, God and U2 pays off

There was a fabulous story in Tuesday’s LA Times by Reed Johnson about Lebanese-Mexican filmmaker Fernando Kalife’s new film, 7 Dias (7 Days). It’s the tale of a rabid U2 fan and his struggle to fulfill a promise (actually, a bet) to bring the Irish super group to his hometown of Monterrey, Mexico.

OK, as U2 fans, we’re compelled to read already.
But, wait, there’s more …

As Johnson describes it:

“Kalife actually lived this improbable life-imitates-celluloid saga, whose cast of characters includes Bono and Larry Mullen of Irish rockers U2 and British supermodel Naomi Campbell.

Here’s the setup:

A Mexican guy with a USC film degree decides to write and direct a movie about a likable dreamer who’s determined to bring U2 to play in his hometown of Monterrey. After losing a half-million dollar bet on a soccer game with a local mob racket, the protagonist (played by Eduardo Arroyuelo) hopes to save his skin by promising the mob boss’ equally U2-obsessed son (Jaime Camil) that he will be able to deliver the band. The mob gives him seven days to make good on his promise — or else.

But rather than doing the logical thing — contacting the band first to see if he could obtain the music and concert-film footage rights he needed — Kalife decided to go ahead and shoot his $1.9-million dramedy, then worry about securing U2’s blessing after the fact.”

Kalife does get U2’s permission through a set of almost impossible “happenstances,” if you believe in such things, and the reader gets some really loveable anecdotes of Bono and (b.s.o.b.h.) LARRY’s magnanimity. With quotes from Mr. Mullen Jr. himself.

I know! So rare. Read on …

Half-way through Reed’s story, we learn that the filmmaker, Kalife, is a believer, as Bono might put it, and had faith that art would imitate life in the same way.

“A highly spiritual man, Kalife unhesitatingly attributes his good luck in recruiting U2 to a beneficent God. A large part of his admiration for the band is based on its well-established reputation for exploring spiritual themes in its music and its activism on behalf of charitable and social causes. “They were not afraid they would be cheesy or corny because they were singing about love, peace and God himself,” he says.

Kalife says that he too has turned to faith to guide him through life’s rough spots. The fourth of eight children, he was born into an entrepreneurial clan of Lebanese immigrants who parlayed two clothing stores into a family business that subsequently branched out into real estate and construction. Both parents were accomplished raconteurs. His father “told me more than 1,000 stories,” while his mother, if “you give her five minutes she’ll tell a story and she’ll make you cry.” . . .

“I believe in God; it is because of him that I’m here,” he says. “Does everybody say this? Of course not. Because it’s better to be cool and noncommitted.”

Woo hoo! Tell it, brutha.

TO READ JOHNSON’S MUST-READ FULL STORY IN THE LA TIMES, CLICK HERE