Stars, Stars, I'm Seeing Stars ...

Wow, what a night. My friend Toby is perhaps one of the most knowledgeable and well-connected people I know! It helps that he works at the Japanese embassy ... so when he e-mailed me last week to ask if I'd like to attend an American premiere for a Ken Watanabe film, I gladly said yes. Turns out that THE premiere (at the Freer Gallery downtown) was the VIP version, complete with Ken himself introducing the film and answering questions afterward!!! (Note: Watanabe starred in The Last Samurai and Memoirs of a Geisha. He is one of my favorite actors!) The movie, Memories of Tomorrow, documents a very successful advertising executive who is diagnosed with Alzheimer's at the age of 49 and traces his and his family's experience with the disease. I cried at least five times throughout the film ... (what a surprise!) ... Watanabe both starred and produced the film and won the Japanese equivalent of an Academy Award for his performance. And, as well, I shook hands with the person between the emporer and me ... the Japanese ambassador!! A very fun, fun evening ... unlike any I've had before!