Today started like most of the days I don't write about, but when a certain person
beckoned, I came, and the film I saw in the twilight hours at an undisclosed location here
in Austin... I saw THE MIGHTY. It's one of Miramax's secret weapons, known only for
the fact it has Sharon Stone, but mainly for having Gillian Anderson in it. Up until now
everyone has talked about this film as starring them. Bullcrap. This film stars Elden
Ratliff and Kieran Culkin (yeah of that family).The film just happens to be brilliant.

Usually, right about here I begin gabbering about my day, my life, what happened to me
that led me to this film. I really can't think of anything other than the thoughts this film
gave me. What did this film give me?

I remember when I wasn't HARRY KNOWLES, big shot internet guru fanboy. When
thoughts of Vanity Fair and World Premieres were the stuff of rapid eye movement. The
film took me back before I was anything like the person I am today, before I had
confidence, before I spoke aloud, when all I was... all I could see of myself... was a fat kid.

I remember it was third grade, and all of a sudden the world discovered I was fat, that I
was no longer Harry, the kid with an illegal video print of Star Wars that everyone could
watch free at my house, but rather I was fat. I was no longer one of the crowd, I was the
kid who could never get pants that's leg length was the right size to correspond to the
waist size of the pants. And I remember the kid that first noticed... his name was Sean
Gillory, and he discovered that one day I wasn't like him. That's when the teasing began,
when the names and the joyful gang of insults flew.

I went home that day, my head low, my pride lower. I walked along a great stretch of
Austin, along a street called Red River, beside a golf course, along the sidewalk that
enclosed Hancock Center (which contained SEARS which at the time housed Star Wars
Action Figures). Usually I had a group of friends that walked along side me, they were
that neighborhood crowd, but on this day I was fat.

I arrived at home, my cheeks flush red, tears stroking the pudgy cheeks. My parents
rushed to me, and my Dad took me to the front porch and told me, "Sticks and Stones
may break your bones, but names will never hurt you." What bullshit. The names hurt
bad, and he was spouting nursery rhymes. I managed a smile and I shuffled my way to my
room. My sanctuary. I came out for supper, looking at each morsel as if it were the
enemy, an enemy that my fat body didn't need, but my arms and jaw muscles betrayed me,
and I chewed guiltily, stuffing my face, asking for seconds, and felt horrible.

That's when I went to my parent's room where we all watched TV. That night we
watched CYRANO DE BERGERAC starring Jose Ferrer. My salvation, I thought. He
had a big nose, but he knew a score better ways to make fun of it. I decided then and
there that I was fat, it's who I was, and so what if a Sean Gillory pointed it out, I could
come up with hundreds of funnier fat jokes, after all I had to live with it, I knew fat
intimately.

Now usually that's the story I tell people, when they say..."Man, it had to be tough
growing up fat." Yes, some people actually put it that way. Tact, it's kinda important.
But truth be told, I didn't just magically cut my emotions. No. There was this kid name
Angel Pena. Nobody ever talked to him, because he was always taking medication. He
definately had the cooties. When I became fat, he was all alone too, so like the little freaks
that we were, we became friends.

Angel (yes, that was his real name) and I played a lot. He always had a shortness of
breath, but we both loved monsters, Famous Monsters of Filmland. He loved Scooby
Doo and Battle of the Planets. He loved art, as did I. We became quick friends. The sort
of friends that don't really notice things like I was fat, or that he was ill, that I had redhair
or that he was hispanic. Those things just didn't matter. What did matter, what I cared
about was that we were friends.

I went to spend the night at his house one night and that's when I saw how much medicine
he had to take. He had some sort of bad cooties, but heck, I didn't care, I wanted
whatever cooties he had, because he was cool. Kids didn't pick on him, he didn't pick on
me. He was cool. His house was very small, his family was poor. When he stayed at my
house it was as if he had entered heaven. We had over 125,000 comic books upstairs,
organized to perfection, we had posters, toys, movies and video games. It was heaven for
him. We laughed and played and I became better. I was slowly becoming Harry. The kid
who gave other kids a smile, and Angel was the kid I made smile.

Then one day he never came to school. He needed blood badly. He had some sort of
blood disease and he needed bone marrow badly. Problem was he was a super rare blood
type, and... well... I pleaded with my parents to let me give him that red stuff in my bones,
that stuff that made my blood. They knew the facts, they knew mine didn't work, but I
didn't know what the hell they were talking about. Angel liked monsters, Forry Ackerman
and me. We were the same, of course it would work.

Angel died. The next day was the first time I was fat without my training wheels, he gave
me a push down the hill, got me going, and I was on my own.

I remember Angel, THE MIGHTY made me remember Angel. Elden Ratliff and Kieran
Culkin were brilliant. They represent every outsider kid, so much better than movies like
ANGUS or even STAND BY ME. THE MIGHTY is beautiful, it's a parable for the
losses and gains we have in life, the people that gave us something that are a part of the
chemical balance in our minds. They provide the tears of memory and the smiles of the
past.

In the background behind Elden Ratliff (aka THE MIGHTY) and Kieran Culkin (FREAK)
are some wonderful parts. Remember who Gena Rowlands is. She's that fantatstic
Cassavetes actress that captured so many great characters of yore. Her part is small, but
great. Harry Dean Stanton is also wonderful as the weird ol Grand Pa. Sharon Stone is
perfect for the Mom of Kieran's character. That Culkin just made Mac invisible for all
time in my eyes. What about Scully? She's not in the film, but Gillian is, she's completely
invisible in her character. Not a shred of Scully to be seen. Not a look in the eye, not a
gesture of the hand. Her face is different, her hair, her body type. She was a chameleon in
the film, and she was wonderful.

This is the sort of film that will grab you, that refuses to let go of you, that makes you
remember all the people that got you where you are. Man that's a lot of people. Thank all
of ya. This is the kind of movie that MIRAMAX makes, and that makes MIRAMAX. It's
pure gold, pure magic, pure beauty and it is all real.

I have been in tears for 3 hours now. My cheeks are so wet they are wrinkling. I'm not
too sure if that's the film, or my own memories. The film is brilliant. It comes out
October 30th. Don't miss it.