A New York City poet has marital problems. She discovers that the only way she can compose a new poem is to overcome the trauma in her past and make a connection between two trains.A New York City poet has marital problems. She discovers that the only way she can compose a new poem is to overcome the trauma in her past and make a connection between two trains.A New York City poet has marital problems. She discovers that the only way she can compose a new poem is to overcome the trauma in her past and make a connection between two trains.
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- TriviaThis film is the result of a project called The Subway Film Series, commissioned by the Bowery Poetry Club of New York. Six New York filmmakers were asked to make films in order to promote the launch of the book Token Entry, an anthology of subway poems edited by Gerry LaFemina. Each of the six films was based on a respective poem from the anthology. This film was based on a pre-existing poem by Cheryl Dumesnil, also titled "Q To the 6 Train." The entire poem appears within the film, including its epitaph by Sophocles.
- Quotes
Liz: You know what sells? Romanticized bullshit. Hippies in the Village, like you. You're a starving artist, living with a banker husband...
Joe: I'm a bookie.
Liz: Yes, yes.
Joe: And my name's Joe.
Liz: Liz. Gee, love your little mise-en-scene here.
[Gestures to a poster of Fighting Nirvana]
Liz: So, you're a starving artist living in the rat-infested home with all these posters of arthouse movies no one ever sees. That is romantic.
Makeida: I want to write about something personal.
Liz: Ahhhh, subways! What could scream New York more than subway trains? We've got the oldest ones in the world. Hey, the 7 is a famous train.
Makeida: Actually, I have been thinking about the Q train a lot lately...
Liz: Wait, wait, hold on.
[Looks up at the sky]
Liz: What's that? Yes, O Lord, that's a great idea!
[Turns back to Makeida]
Liz: . That was God. He says you should write about the 7 train.
Makeida: How is God these days?
Liz: Box office dynamite.
- Crazy creditsThe end credits appear over footage of subway trains.
- ConnectionsReferences Fighting Nirvana (2009)
At first I was thrown off by the main character Makeida's literary agent, played by Cate Weinberg, being a kind of screwball character talking fast and comparing poetry to Twilight. But it worked simply because Weinberg has great comic timing and Rodriguez's dialog for her clicks. And it's not terribly forced either; it fits in at just the spot where the audience can use a break from the drama, and then it comes back to Makeida's conflict and is stronger.
The heart of this film, which only runs eleven minutes but has the weight of something longer, is a good one and features a performance by Audrey Lorea that has a lot of subtlety to it (in other words, the power of it comes from some restraint early on so that when she reveals her pain, it comes out naturally). The camera-work is also very good, grabbing a rich New York feel with its subway scenes. And the song used repeatedly by Rodriguez by Lisa Redford is inspirational in how it has a mix of the sad and hopeful, which is apt for the protagonist. The 'marital problems' referenced in the plot section on IMDb don't seem very fleshed out, but it's not at all a hindrance to the film itself.
What Q to the 6 beautifully reveals, inspired by the poem by Cheryl Dumesnil, is the growth possible through art and experience. It's a small tale that can mean a lot within its dimensions.
- Quinoa1984
- Mar 13, 2012
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- $1,000 (estimated)
- Runtime12 minutes
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