Remember when Lucy gives her advice for a fee of five cents on “A Charlie Brown Christmas?” Well, after lighting a joint, assembling his fold-out table, and putting out the cash fishbowl, independent filmmaker Jason Fisher speaks his mind to contemplative customers in “Conversation for a Dollar.”
In this black and white 30-minute film, several characters, such as a pimp, a widow, the “Rock and Roll Physicist” and the “Insane Psychoanalystanalyst” approach Fisher’s stand and engage in dialogue that is both highly educational and entertaining. Fisher’s conversations range from Thundercats to Taoism, and from Mardi Gras to mortality. At times, he delves into expositions of something like quantum theory, and we have no idea what the hell he is talking about — even when he uses scientific diagrams for assistance. At certain intervals, we welcome customers who ignite a battle of “your mom” jokes (“Your mom is so poor she can’t even pay attention”) or a debate on favorite superheroes.
Fisher’s writing and performance is a display of pure intellectualism with a bad-ass smart-aleck edge. He is oddly charming in the midst of his wisecracks, theories and psychobabble. His script is brilliant; and through Fisher’s casual and streetwise performance, it manages to be super-smart and sophisticated without being pretentious. The film is outright hilarious as well, especially when Fisher shows his pot-fiending tendencies. While contemplating the meaning life with a depressed woman, he offers her a bong hit and advises: “Fully appreciate the warm sunshine, or a cold drink of water, or some chronic-ass weed; you know what I’m sayin’?”
A Boston native and graduate of Emory University in Atlanta, Fisher began writing “Conversation” during his senior year of college. In July 2000, the film opened to a full house at the Brattle Theater in Cambridge. Since then, Fisher has been causing a buzz across the country. The film returns to Boston for a special screening at the Museum of Fine Arts on April 19.
Fisher is a poet, a philosopher, a rapper, a comedian and a scientist. After seeing this film, which crosses Kevin Smith’s “Clerks” with Louis Malle’s “Dinner with Andre” and the aforementioned Peanuts’ Christmas special, one can realize his supreme talent for filmmaking. Hopefully, “Conversation for a Dollar” will be followed up by more films from Fisher.
Try to make it to the MFA on April 19 to witness this warped intellectual creation — a half-hour of the art and wisdom of Jason Fisher is definitely worth your dollar.
For more information on the film and Jason Fisher, check out the website www.illcharacters.com.
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
