Review: The Table - 2011

The Table

Director: Ana Barredo

2011

Documentary

I usually start my reviews with a short synopsis in bold letters but when it comes to documentaries it’s kind of hard to point out a main plot. So I’m going to do this a little differently. I guess that it no biggie since I will incorporate everything into the text anyway. It might be nice, bare with me!

Apparently, there’s a “club” or at least a group of individuals that gathers every Thursday with the one thing in common that they have dreams and ambitions to make it in the movie industry. They could be actors, producers, director, writers or basically anything else. They don’t even need to know what they want, they’re welcome anyway. This communion – The table, is there to help each other out, to listen to each other’s ideas and to give feedback. Basically it’s a group of people being there for each other, a friendship with a supportive structure.

But don’t think it’s about nobodies, because it’s not. All the people in The table might not be superstars but there are a few familiar faces in this documentary at least. We see both George Takei of Star Trek fame and director Guillermo del Toro being interviewed. But most are lesser known than that, at least to the common public and I must confess that I myself have a real hard time naming writers for American science fiction shows. Come to think of it, I have a very hard time naming people – period!

Most of the documentary is about Marc Zicree though. I wouldn’t say that he’s the head of the “organization” but he seems to be the founder and spirit that keeps everything going on. Apparently he hasn’t missed a single Thursday meeting in 20 years. That’s respect! I know I should be more familiar with his name, since I am a movie buff and I like sci-fi quite a lot, but I’m not. I’ve learned through this documentary that he’s a screenwriter and that he wrote scripts for various science fiction shows including Deep Space Nine. He also wrote the Twilight Zone companion for which he might be best known. I really don’t know. He seems to be a great likable guy though and I would love to chat some with him. He has many insightful things to say both about the business and on a more personal philosophical level.

I’m not sure about if director Ana Barredo is part of this group herself but she manages to give a great impression of it! I can’t see anything wrong with it. In fact I wish there were such a community here! Maybe I can become a long distance member? This seems to be a loving and caring group of people and you can do much worse than to be a part of it! I salute you, I salute you all!