Saturday, June 12, 2010

 

Catching Up

  I'm adding a few movies to my list; all of them purchased after my mother's death. I suppose, in a way, I'm breaking an assumed rule, here, considering the name of the site, but a few of my friends use this site as a reference for movies they'd like to borrow and watch. As well, because movies played such a large part of Mom's and my life over the last years of her life, especially after she no longer found the theater experience comfortable, it is impossible for me to watch any movie in any venue, including at home, without thinking of her and speculating how she might have reacted to the movie.
  Poignant story: Yesterday I decided to attend the new version of The Karate Kid [I'm linking to this review because it's the kindest, although I was not as thrilled with the movie as Roger Ebert was; I very much enjoyed Jackie Chan, though, AND, there is one particular scene I can't get out of my head: At the final tournament there is a moment when the bully, Cheng, registers a facial expression of simultaneous confusion and insight; the shot is gone almost as quickly as it appears, but it's startling and left me thinking that Wang Zhenwei is an actor to watch] at our local theater. Aside from the fact that I liked the first (only the original, not particularly the sequels), the original was one that Mom loved and we'd watch whenever we found it on a television channel line-up. Although the theater was fairly packed, the seat in which I sat had an empty to my right. As the movie played, I noticed I was reaching over and laying my hand on the seat during sequences that I found interesting. When my mother and I watched movies, either at home or in the theater, I always sat to her left and she and I always reached over and touched one another when we found a scene or a bit of dialogue significant. Often we'd look at each other and smile, especially when we found our hands meeting in mid-air as they were traveling between us.
  Not sure, as I continue listing movies, here, if I'll mention how I think my mother would have reacted. Maybe...maybe not. I haven't actually purchased many movies since my mother died. Since the collection we have is more than enough for me, even minus those I've donated to the local library, and I don't find myself "losing touch" with the memory of movies I love, as my mother did, thus needing to watch them over and over, it mostly doesn't seem necessary to own any more movies than already exist in the collection. But, there have been a few...

P.S.: For these movies, in the area of the review labeled "Who's Watched:", in the following phrase, "Watched [and/or simply] bought this movie AMD", AMD stands for After Mom's Death.

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