Day 02: A Favorite Movie
If you ever need an example of how fucked up my world view can be, or how contradictory my nature is, you only need to look at aboynamestu's favorite movie list.
Seriously. How can the same person love both Fight Club and A River Runs Through It? Any Elvis Movie and Citizen Kane? Paul Blart Mall Cop and Raging Bull? The Searchers and Step Brothers?
I do love all these movies and can watch each one repeatedly (I call this re-watchability.) Some engage me on an artistic level. Others are simply fun. Easy to watch. Each of them in their own way are like old friends that I can pick up at anytime (during their running time) and become fully engaged. In a crazy sort of a way they lend a certain comfort, or better yet, continuity to my life.
That being said and like Day 01, because of my black and white nature, picking a favorite is no easy feat.
There are a handful of movies, each very different, that come to mind, when I think favorite, but ultimately I have to go with It's a Wonderful Life.
I watched an alarming amount of television from the 5th to 8th grades. And for some reason, clerical error I think, It's a Wonderful Life fell into the public domain around this time and aired on damn near every station from Thanksgiving until Christmas. With me watching it nearly every time it played. To the point of being able to recite, line for line, the movie as it aired. Talk about your crazy party tricks.
As I've gotten older even though my opinion (in a critical sense) of It's a Wonderful Life has evolved, my love for it has not diminished.
It's a Wonderful Life still delivers that nut punch to my soul and is one of a handful of movies that is guaranteed to make me cry.
For all those that say It's a Wonderful Life is too saccharine. I invite you to watch it again. And consider it on a deeper level. This is a film that is often cited as one of the most uplifting films ever made yet goes into pretty horrible detail about how one man compromises his own life slowly, over time. He watches other get ahead. Do what he wanted to do. Fuck me, he sees his father driven to the grave before his time, because of their bitter, small minded town. Finally, when he can no longer repress his rage, he explodes and abuses not only his kid's teacher but his entire family.
This is a holiday / family classic?
Not to get all Siskel or Ebert on you but most of us live in Pottersville. And are more like George Bailey than we'd ever care to admit. Like Thoreau wrote, "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." Which is why I love It's a Wonderful Life. As goofy as it may sound, It's a Wonderful Life reminds me that life is quite literally what happens while you are busy making other plans. That some unanswered prayers often were or are. And to be brutally honest, about as close to faith as I often can get.
Until I BLOG again..."Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?
Seriously. How can the same person love both Fight Club and A River Runs Through It? Any Elvis Movie and Citizen Kane? Paul Blart Mall Cop and Raging Bull? The Searchers and Step Brothers?
I do love all these movies and can watch each one repeatedly (I call this re-watchability.) Some engage me on an artistic level. Others are simply fun. Easy to watch. Each of them in their own way are like old friends that I can pick up at anytime (during their running time) and become fully engaged. In a crazy sort of a way they lend a certain comfort, or better yet, continuity to my life.
That being said and like Day 01, because of my black and white nature, picking a favorite is no easy feat.
There are a handful of movies, each very different, that come to mind, when I think favorite, but ultimately I have to go with It's a Wonderful Life.
I watched an alarming amount of television from the 5th to 8th grades. And for some reason, clerical error I think, It's a Wonderful Life fell into the public domain around this time and aired on damn near every station from Thanksgiving until Christmas. With me watching it nearly every time it played. To the point of being able to recite, line for line, the movie as it aired. Talk about your crazy party tricks.
As I've gotten older even though my opinion (in a critical sense) of It's a Wonderful Life has evolved, my love for it has not diminished.
It's a Wonderful Life still delivers that nut punch to my soul and is one of a handful of movies that is guaranteed to make me cry.
For all those that say It's a Wonderful Life is too saccharine. I invite you to watch it again. And consider it on a deeper level. This is a film that is often cited as one of the most uplifting films ever made yet goes into pretty horrible detail about how one man compromises his own life slowly, over time. He watches other get ahead. Do what he wanted to do. Fuck me, he sees his father driven to the grave before his time, because of their bitter, small minded town. Finally, when he can no longer repress his rage, he explodes and abuses not only his kid's teacher but his entire family.
This is a holiday / family classic?
Not to get all Siskel or Ebert on you but most of us live in Pottersville. And are more like George Bailey than we'd ever care to admit. Like Thoreau wrote, "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." Which is why I love It's a Wonderful Life. As goofy as it may sound, It's a Wonderful Life reminds me that life is quite literally what happens while you are busy making other plans. That some unanswered prayers often were or are. And to be brutally honest, about as close to faith as I often can get.
Until I BLOG again..."Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?
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