(Stupid side note #1: Is it me, or are those Music Hall chairs just about the most uncomfortable theater chairs you’ve ever sat in. You’d think something that “cushy” would feel better on your butt.)

Anyway, the 200-plus people (my estimate) who did make the screening were treated to a small treasure of a film that will be made all the more pleasurable by what changes writer/director Bob Meyer and executive producer Chase Bailey make between now and when the film gets “locked.” What we saw isn’t the only version. In fact, it is one Mayer himself said he thinks “stinks.” (The audience would clearly differ with that assessment, but then this is all we’ve seen.)

The interplay between Meyer and Bailey, and between them and the audience after the screening, was exactly the kind of thing that makes NHFX such a special event. In a year or two’s time, you’ll probably get a chance to see the finalized “Drunkboat” at a place like the Kendall Square Cinema down in Cambridge, Mass., (Stupid side note #2: Now that place has nice seats), but you won’t get to ask questions afterwards of the writer/director and executive producer.

What we learned last night, beyond the fact that this is a moving, intimate story about a family with an uncle (Malkovich) who’s grappling with some serious issues, including PTSD and alcoholism, is that the film is largely autobiographical. “When I was 14 I bought a boat, I never really knew why,” said Meyer. “I didn’t live near water. We lived in the suburbs. … I guess I just wanted to get out of there.” In real life, however, Meyer’s uncle wasn’t an alcoholic, he said. (See previous posting for the full NHFX blurb on what “Drunkboat” is all about.

The film utilizes Meyer’s old family movies (both color and black & white) to great effect so that, for me anyway, I felt like I was inside the mind of Malkovich’s character, Mort, and his sister, Eileen, played marvelously by Dana Delany, watching them have these little flashbacks to happier times when they were kids.

This is the first film outing for Meyer, who described himself as a painter and theater man with 55 productions under his belt. So how does someone writing and directing their first time out score an actor like Malkovich as his lead? It helps to have grown up in the same neighborhood. “You know the saying, ‘I knew Doris Day before she was a virgin?’” quipped Meyer. “Well, I knew John Malkovich before he was John Malkovich.” And with someone like Malkovich on board it’s a heck of a lot easier to get actors like Goodman and Delaney to not only read the script, but to sign on for the film, he said.

By the way, Malkovich is on a hugely creative roll at the moment. According to the Internet Movie Data Base http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000518/ , Malkovich is currently involved with seven movies, in addition to “Drunkboat,” which are all in post-production mode. I love this guy.

Once they decide on which version to “lock,” Meyer and Bailey will add music by guitarist Marc Ribot, known for his work with both Tom Waits and The Klezmatics, to the already beautiful and somewhat haunting piano work by David Lynch — yes, I think he meant that David Lynch.

It was interesting to hear Chase say, by way of introducing the film, that “This is not a picture lock. We’re one year away, 20 years away, two days away from that. We’re looking to bring the story out and the story hasn’t surfaced yet.”

Well, like Rod Stewart said back in the days before he was slinging syrupy standards on the QVC, “Every Picture tells a Story.” Those who saw “Drunkboat” at The Music Hall last night saw a pretty good story up on the screen. They’ll probably see another one the next time this movie comes around and it will be all the better for having seen this one first. Thanks NHFX!

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