Writer David Templeton takes interesting people to interesting movies in his ongoing quest for the ultimate post-film conversation. This is not a review; rather, it's a freewheeling, tangential discussion of life, alternative ideas, and popular culture.

"I love Pixar movies! I'm a total fan of anything Pixar!" remarks Argo Thompson, exiting San Rafael's Marin Arts Gallery on Fourth Street and leading the way toward his favorite local Thai restaurant.

Continuing, Thompson says, "Some of the Pixar films--especially Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Wall-E and this new one, Up--are easily among my favorite movies of all time. The stories are just so good. I really appreciate the level of detail and craftsmanship. In Up, even the close-ups of the neckties were amazing! I could see every fiber and thread in the fabric! That's really looking at things, that's really studying the subject of your art, and isn't that what art really is? Art is looking at things, and then bringing them to life as beautifully or originally as you can."

Thompson spends a lot of time thinking about what art is. As the new Executive Director of the Marin Arts Council, and as one of the founders of Sonoma County's legendary Actor's Theater (no longer in existence, sadly!), there are few subjects that get Thompson's conversational juices flowing like the subject of art--all kinds of art.

This afternoon, the subject is the new Pixar/Disney animated masterpiece, Up, directed by Pete Docter and Bob Peterson. It's the story of an old man, Karl, who attempts to make good an a promise to his late wife by tying thousands of balloons to his house and flying to South America, where they had always dreamed of going.

It's a strikingly beautiful, decidedly odd film. Like a balloon in the wind, it meanders, it bounces about, it soars, and at times only glides along, but it never sinks, even when the plot opens up to include prehistoric birds, talking dogs, and an evil adventurer living in a giant zeppelin in the jungles of South America.

"I agree that the movie went to some pretty weird places," says Thompson, having settled at a table and ordered up a beer, "but you have to admit that that battle at the end was one of the most memorable fight sequences ever seen in a movie--two old men battling it out with walkers and canes on top of a zeppelin."

"That was pretty cool," I agree, "but it's interesting that critics have been knocking the film for wither being too mainstream or not being mainstream enough."

"I don't think there is a way, as an artist, to create something that pleases everybody," says Thompson, "and the people at Pixar are artists. They are clearly not interested in just making bland entertainment that takes no artistic or commercial chances." He calls Pixar's attempts to combine artistry with mass appeal "valiant."

"No matter what medium you are using," he continues, "whether we are talking about theater of film or animation, the story is key. It's true of visual art, too. To move people, there has to be some there there. There has to be heart. Up is loaded with heart. That initial image of the balloon in the hands of a boy, leading to the vision of this house lifting off the ground under a thousand balloons, that was incredibly moving. Combined with a story of an old man's regrets at the end of his life, it was so incredibly powerful.

"It had its weird moments--the talking dogs--but it had so much heart."

Speaking of strange stories told with heart, I now bring up the subject of Partly Cloudy, the weird little animated short that played before Up.

"Oh my god! Right!" Thompson laughs. "I have a lot to say about that short."

In Partly Cloudly, we are introduced to an army of storks, delivering babies of all species to their earthly parents, and then we follow them up into the sky to see where they get those babies from. It turns out, babies are created by a vast assortment of cloud people, artists who fashion their kittens, puppies, etc., from bits of cloud, then bring them to life to be carried away by the stork assigned to do the actual deliveries. One cloud, a bit darker and moodier than the others, specializes in making critters with teeth, quills and fangs: crocodiles, sharks, porcupines. This makes the delivery process a little bit scary for the dark cloud's designated delivery stork, who returns from every new job scorched, stung, shredded or mangled.

"It's really a film about the costs of the artistic process," says Thompson. "It's about following one's own artistic vision, no matter how hard. The 'mainstream' clouds are making happy kittens, and bouncing babies, but the dark moody cloud is fulfilled by making the dangerous, edgy critters. His passion is for the edgier themes.

"Actors Theater was a lot like that little dark cloud," he points out, "attracted to dangerous, fringy genres of theater that other companies were always avoiding. I really identify with that cloud, desperately needing a provider--in our case it was donors and subscribers--providers who were willing to put themselves out there and make sacrifices so we could do our art."

Now, as the director of the Marin Arts Council, Thompson gets to play the stork, helping other artists to bring their own visions to life.

"It's true, it's kind of like that," he agrees, "and that's very satisfying work as well, but as this movie points out, it takes a whole lot of commitment and ingenuity to bring art into the world. The folks at Pixar certainly know that. With every new movie, they push the art form further and further. In my opinion, that's the responsibility of every artist, and it's our responsibility as human beings to help them do it."

To learn more about the Marin Arts Council and its current slate of visual and performance events, visit www.marinarts.org.

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