Can an autistic boxer and an exotic dancer live happily ever after?  It’s not that easy.   And thank goodness, God’s Ears doesn’t portray it that way. God’s Ears represents the independent filmmaker at his finest.  Michael Worth went “all in” to write, produce, direct, edit and star in this award-winning gem of an indie.   

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Noah (Worth) and Alexia, played by Margot Farley, are the central characters of this love–let me rephrase that–connection story.  For years, Noah has lived his life in what seems to be a less than ordinary manner.   At least it appears that way to the people he comes in contact with every day.  His days consist of breakfast at the diner, sweeping up at the boxing gym and appointments with his psychologist.  Oh, and bike rides.  Noah is happiest with the wind in his face while he peddles his only means of transport.   Alexia is a pole dancer afraid to make any meaningful connections.  Then, she meets Noah.  You either get Noah or you don’t.  Alexia seems to get him instantly.    

The boxing gym’s owner, played by John Saxon, gives Noah the opportunity to spar instead of Noah just hitting a bag when no one is around.  Noah has been fighting alone his entire life.  This was a chance to step outside his ropes and get into the ring. Do Alexia and Noah fall in love?  I don’t think so.  Instead, they develop a life-altering bond that pushes them both into a place they never expected to be.   (more…)

“…but when I became a man, I did away with childish things.”

Uhm, no. The whole point of becoming an adult is not to do away with childish things but to get away with childish things. Yeah, sure, in my balding middle-age I’ve given up a few childish things like immunizations and optimism, but other than that most of my free time is dedicated to junk food, sitting too close to the TV and watching “things that are bad for me.”

And Bruce Lee movies. A regular rotation of Bruce Lee movies. Especially “Enter the Dragon.”

In the mid-to-late ‘70s this eleven year old would pack a lunch, grab his allowance, lie to his parents about going to the museum and jump on a downtown bus for a full day of losing himself in whatever schlocky, R-rated grinder was playing that Saturday afternoon. It was a glorious rotation of cheesy horror, kick-ass blacksploitation, urban actioners, and poorly dubbed kung-fu genre flicks, and before my family would move far away from the bus lines, the two best years of bang-for-the-buck movie-going I would ever experience. (more…)