Anything Goes : What is the most inspiring film/tv show you have seen recently? Which you most remember inspiring you over the years? by David Ashutosh

A short film rather than film/TV. But 'Address is approximate' really inspired me. Such a great use of the music and the medium. Short films I think so often get it wrong.. trying to be short feature films. Here's the link on Vimeo http://vimeo.com/32397612 . I've since heard this piece by the Cinematic Orchestra used a lot on TV but it never quite works as well as it does here. Michael

Please watch the trailer for my show and let me know what you think... we aim to be inspirational! https://vimeo.com/2864541 thanks ! Gaby

as for inspirational films watch Marina Abramovic -The Artist Is Present its an incredible film about and amazing beautiful brave woman and an incredible artist. It made me cry 2x !

Gaby - that link doesn't work. Says it was deleted back in April.

how strange, https://vimeo.com/28645410 ... it was missing the last zero. sorry my bad. thanks !

Got it. Thanks. Looks 'inspirational'. Nice cinematography. I love the bamboo building. Quite something.

Probably strange, but Once Upon A Time, the new television series (just starting season 2 now) has been exceptionally inspirational for me. Finally, some people got together, decided tv was just to freaking depressing these days and instead of showing me gloom, doom, murder, rape, adultery amd death, they opted for Happily Every After, and hope. I had been out of the entertainment industry for 9 years and it was actually this show that made me realize I simply can't do anything else and be happy.

Karen... What inspired you about Dark Knight Rises and Air Force One?

Julie - Your answer is great! Glad I asked. If you haven't seen the film 'Touch' you may want to check it out. The creator developed it with the same general intention it sounds like you like. TV definitely has gotten pretty dark with a lot of shows. I think the Music shows are a nice balance to some of that both the scripted shows (some of them at least like Glee) and then the X Factor, Voice, American Idol, etc... I like a lot of the darker shows depending on how they are done, but I do have to balance them out, especially since I watch so many with my interest in tv writing. Comedy Central has become something of a new best friend, and some healthy connections with friends and family.

Thank you David. Now we just need to find it a home.... the bamboo structure is the green school in bali...http://www.greenschool.org/ a very interesting new school that has a curriculum that incorporates environmental responsibility and eco awareness... also looks super cool. I agree Touch is a beautiful and quite touching show and John Stewart and Stephen Colbert are hilarious and brilliant. Just what people in the States need to off set the dismal political dramas!

I actually saw a film called 'Touch' with Skeet Ulrich many, many years ago, but I'm thinking it's not the film you're talking about. So, who's in this one?

Julie... Touch is a new tv series with Keifer Sutherland. He had wanted a break following 24, but got the offer to do Touch and felt compelled to do it. It is from the series creator of 'Heroes' Tim Kring I think is his name (Krang?). Anyhow, Tim felt like he wanted to do something that mattered to him and made the world better. Like 'Heroes' he has put a lot of international culture into it through having people from different cultures and countries. He seems to value that side of things - bridging cultures. Then, each episode there is something that he tries to stop from happening. It is an exploration of synchronicities that happen and how things are connected. The basic story is about an autistic boy and his father. The autistic boy communicates through numbers and doesn't like to be touched - which is where the name of the show comes from. It has elements of conspiracy and other things like people getting killed sometimes, but less and is less dark and rough, and a lot lighter than a lot that is on tv.

Yah Gay... speaking of dark and dreary and tv eh? Politics can be dreadful. Democracy seems to come at a price at least at the moment. Colbert and Stewart can add nice things to the mix. Tosh.0 I hated for a while, but seems to have grown on me. Dimitri Martin has a sort of folksy comedy that I enjoy, and seems to inspire and not be too angry and dark. I feel like I have watched some sort of timeless storyteller even though he pretty much does short jokes and contemplations/musings vs. stories for the most part. He plays harmonica, guitar and piano sometimes and has drawings, so it adds to the ambiance and I come away feeling creative and more alive. The political shows are fun, but also can be depressing sometimes. It is fun to hear others have been feeling the same. All the awareness over dark things in other states and countries can be a lot. It would be nice if the news had to have the 'good news' for the same amount of time as the bad news. :)

Thanks Karen... Glad I asked. :)

I get laughed at when I say this but Pay it Forward. It is a clear, simple important message all while wrapped up into a good flick.

This may sound strange, but 'A Little Bit Zombie'. Okay, the message of the film wasn't inspirational in the least, nor was it ever meant to be. However, the way the filmmaker went about making his film is what inspired me. It's a very interesting story; essentially he sold frames in the film to raise the cash to make the film. It was a unique way of funding his project and the fact that he shared his journey along the way was also inspirational to me. If Casey Walker can do it, so can I.

Nice Ian. Maybe we should have a thread at some point that looks at things that inspired people as filmmakers which were not necessarily 'inspirational' just since probably a number of people would post that are not posting on this thread. Along those lines - a film that I have not seen, but it is an 'inspirational film' is the film 'Rodriguez' which was filmed on an iPhone 4 and some say think it may be up for an Academy Award. It won some award at the Sundance Film festival from what I understand. There was a piece done on it for the show 60 Minutes recently. (This past weekend I think).

Color Purple, Ghandi, I-robot, Bagger Vance, those are a few that come to mind

John - Gandhi was a big one for me as well. I-Robot? That one I didn't expect... I would be curious to know what in that inspired you specifically.

Dan - Thanks for mentioning 'Pay It Forward'. It has been a while since I have seen that one. May be worth a revisit.

Rocky II - In the second installment of the franchise, he had moderate success, but still fell back into what was left of his former dull life. He tried to find a place in which to co-exist with 'what was-what is and what could've been. Ultimately we all know what happens, but it was the conflict in the middle that's inspiring.

I bought a few years the extended version of LOTR, and it contained about 20 hours of extras, relating everything they had to do to make these movies so special. All the efforts they put into it, the passion of the people making the props, just the magic of making these kind of movies made me want to be part of this universe. So in my case, it is not the movies as much as the extras that gave me the kick in the butt to start my writing career.

Exlus - I like your mention of the film because of its positioning with others in the series. I noticed that the 2nd Matrix I had a similar connection to and had the poster/print for a while of the movie poster of Neo from that Film/Episode.

Daniel - I haven't seen the extras on that, but I know some of the extras on tv series have been really inspiring for me in terms of the profession. That show/series/trilogy was so epic and I like epic storytelling at least in some cases, and it sounds like it may be worth a view. Something is really great about understanding the whole field more in relationship to writing, you relate differently to the craft. Probably really with just about any facet of the craft it works that way, but of course screenwriters are laying out the foundation for the collective plan - which of course gets reworked along the way much of the time.

8 1/2 - the creative human's condition; and one suspects all of our dream-like fantastic condition as well. 'The Thin Red Line' - people in the extremes, the refusal / inability to be reduced to blunt objects of force Kurosawa's 'Ran' - our folly, splashed over the canvas of eternity Tarkovsky's 'Sacrifice' - where all of us fear to tread

Guinness... Something of an elegant self awareness to your comment/contributions there. Thank you. Brief but beautiful. You seem to have a really nice sensitivity and sensibility.

Josh... I have heard of McQueen, but I don't think I have seen his work. I definitely have heard of Michael Fassbender, but have not seen him beyond just a clip here or there. Sounds like I may enjoy looking into them both (since both were involved in same projects) at some point.

Thank you David. Only being honest and trying to see what was it about each of those works that insired me. Many more, too many to number. Btw McQueen's 'Hunger' is a remarkable piece, though flawed. He is a visual artist and certainly has a feel for space, pace, image. You get the sense that he made it without fear. Very much worth seeing.

Guinness - You are honest, but obviously have the awareness of an artist, although you may be honing your skill set in terms of putting that awareness into forms of your own. If you were a novelist, I would likely really enjoy your writing. Something special there. I think I need to check out your short films.

Thanks for the comments David. The nice thing about honesty and perception is that it is in each of us; and we all have so much to learn. "Everyone is a genius when they dream" - Kurosawa, when talking of his late film, 'Dreams'. I set out to be a novelist once! Once. But really should get back to making films again.