The escapists

Had an interesting conversation with someone who caught "Cowboys in Paradise" at our recent Vancouver screening. It started with her reminding me how I bungled my response to the 'Eat, Pray, Love' question during the Q&A.

Cue dreamy music for a flashback.

Moderator asks me to comment on EPL. It's a predictable question. I should have a response prepared. I'm pretty sure I HAD a response prepared. It's only been asked a million times.

But I don't. Or I'm too tired to remember it. So I fumble and mumble, then recount how I met a couple of Canadian women while shooting in Bali. They were inspired by EPL to travel the world. Not sure if they devoured pizzas and pasta along the way (it certainly didn't show), but there they were in Bali.

They busted the squeal-fuse when my colleague told them he personally knew "Philipe", the expat dude Liz Gilbert found at the end of her self-discovery rainbow. They couldn't wait to meet someone like him. He sounded soooo perfect. And so on.

I spotted them a few days later, each with her own Cowboy.

True story, but neither here nor there as far as the question was concerned. Kinda like the attached picture. (Awesome film, though.)

So... woman reminds me how I bungled my response. "Well, how would you have responded?" I asked her. "I mean, sure, both films have Bali in common. And female tourists, I suppose. But beyond that..."

"The other thing they have in common," she proposed, "is that they're both about people trying to escape to something better."

Interesting notion. Certainly true for the Cowboys but, like many, I was never quite sure what Ms. Gilbert was running from.