Really, now, how can I expect to watch so many movies and not have a thing to say? I have curled upstairs now for seemingly endless hours in the Futon Cinema and haven't so much as said a peep about what I've watched outside of scratching down the titles of flicks that I've experienced. For a moment there I was wondering if I was ever going to get back into the habit of commenting on movies at all. I found that lately I've only had the mental energy to watch movies and jot down titles of interesting trailers, to go out and about and score more used films, to troll the papers and see what was coming, what actors were alive and scandalous, and who had their stars and awards and accolades jacked into the common starfucker zietgiest.
For the last month or so I have been studiously combing over 1001 Films You Must See Before You Die. I am happy, for now, anyway, that that is the only title in the series that I have in my home. I can only imagine how distracted I would be if was worrying about places and records or dishes to taste as well. For a film watching man it has been compulsive reading, if reading is really the word for it. A paragraph here, another title review there. Instead of really reading or experiencing life or even watching and enjoying my movies I think I have squandered most of that free time wondering and worrying about the future. My lawn in longer than it should be, I have boxes stacked in my kitchen and my living room that really need to be taken out to the staging area next door and my fridge could really use a thorough cleaning. I see the point to good hard walks, balancing my checkbook, to reading a really great novel, to returning phonecalls to old friends, but have been somewhat slipshod in making those things happen. What I really truly wish to have happen is to see the ol' Futon Cinema relocate to new digs, to have income come rolling in once again, to have the world be something more than a place for me to chase down old, unknown or little seen movie titles that somehow I feel I need to see, regardless of whether or not they are found in some hefty tome of must-sees.
So, to that end, movies continue to stack up, with some piles boxed and bagged and put away even before they're watched. I am compulsive these days in acquisition, always on the prowl for movies in that rickety old tape format only because I haven't seen them and feel that somehow my catalog would not be complete if I didn't watch them. I know that I have too much free time on my hands when I finally find myself watching Road House or Entrapment or Bug. Face it, right now I am not just looking for quality or classics or cult, I am looking for accumulation. I feel like the man who sits at the back of the cheap ticket theater, a guy no longer interested in the occasional full movie experience of popcorn, soda and a feature, but one who combs the entertainment section in order to find movies out in town to watch in order to fill up some endless mental Roledex. I don't know if it's being a completeist or whether it's a case of boredom. It could very well be a perfect case of not having a "real life", but there it is, one of the classic examples of the lifestyle of a cinephile.
I went on the road a few weeks ago and instead of trolling second hand stores for music or cookbooks I sought out old Hollywood Video stores that were shuttering their windows. Instead of landing in Boise and just enjoying my family's ample film collection I found myself spending time and plastic money acquiring new title all along my route. Instead of sitting down and watching some sort of new and family focused flick out of a Redbox kiosk with my kids I turned them onto interesting Chinese and Korean action and horror flicks I had found interesting and important to see. Somewhere along the line I have become one of those guys who watches films day and night but who has forgotten how to live otherwise. I cook, I work, I hang out with pals, but when free time beckons I find myself ready for a two or three movie evening. For instance I spent a sick day in bed the other day, and used that day not so much to sleep and heal but to prop myself up and spin discs instead. I went through four movies that day and by the end of it felt fine, and just a touch dislocated.
As quiet as it's been, the Futon Cinema has not been shuttered, but has been in an expansive, acquisitive mode. The proprietor has been quiet, too, not so much for selfish reasons but to contemplate on the future. Where should I take this movie watching, this blog posting? I look at that 1001 Films and know that in good times, in bad times, in times when family and friends were about and in times when I was wallowing my most critical moments of solitude that movies have always been there. I don't think it could be any other way. But I do think that a break from the back of the cinema is in order. I need to move up, sit amongst the crowd again, break out the p-corn and a Dr Pepper, find a way to catch up with movies in a way that is not so silent, but once again in the midst of the ooh and ahhs and laughter of the rest of the crowd. See you there.
Action!
For the last month or so I have been studiously combing over 1001 Films You Must See Before You Die. I am happy, for now, anyway, that that is the only title in the series that I have in my home. I can only imagine how distracted I would be if was worrying about places and records or dishes to taste as well. For a film watching man it has been compulsive reading, if reading is really the word for it. A paragraph here, another title review there. Instead of really reading or experiencing life or even watching and enjoying my movies I think I have squandered most of that free time wondering and worrying about the future. My lawn in longer than it should be, I have boxes stacked in my kitchen and my living room that really need to be taken out to the staging area next door and my fridge could really use a thorough cleaning. I see the point to good hard walks, balancing my checkbook, to reading a really great novel, to returning phonecalls to old friends, but have been somewhat slipshod in making those things happen. What I really truly wish to have happen is to see the ol' Futon Cinema relocate to new digs, to have income come rolling in once again, to have the world be something more than a place for me to chase down old, unknown or little seen movie titles that somehow I feel I need to see, regardless of whether or not they are found in some hefty tome of must-sees.
So, to that end, movies continue to stack up, with some piles boxed and bagged and put away even before they're watched. I am compulsive these days in acquisition, always on the prowl for movies in that rickety old tape format only because I haven't seen them and feel that somehow my catalog would not be complete if I didn't watch them. I know that I have too much free time on my hands when I finally find myself watching Road House or Entrapment or Bug. Face it, right now I am not just looking for quality or classics or cult, I am looking for accumulation. I feel like the man who sits at the back of the cheap ticket theater, a guy no longer interested in the occasional full movie experience of popcorn, soda and a feature, but one who combs the entertainment section in order to find movies out in town to watch in order to fill up some endless mental Roledex. I don't know if it's being a completeist or whether it's a case of boredom. It could very well be a perfect case of not having a "real life", but there it is, one of the classic examples of the lifestyle of a cinephile.
I went on the road a few weeks ago and instead of trolling second hand stores for music or cookbooks I sought out old Hollywood Video stores that were shuttering their windows. Instead of landing in Boise and just enjoying my family's ample film collection I found myself spending time and plastic money acquiring new title all along my route. Instead of sitting down and watching some sort of new and family focused flick out of a Redbox kiosk with my kids I turned them onto interesting Chinese and Korean action and horror flicks I had found interesting and important to see. Somewhere along the line I have become one of those guys who watches films day and night but who has forgotten how to live otherwise. I cook, I work, I hang out with pals, but when free time beckons I find myself ready for a two or three movie evening. For instance I spent a sick day in bed the other day, and used that day not so much to sleep and heal but to prop myself up and spin discs instead. I went through four movies that day and by the end of it felt fine, and just a touch dislocated.
As quiet as it's been, the Futon Cinema has not been shuttered, but has been in an expansive, acquisitive mode. The proprietor has been quiet, too, not so much for selfish reasons but to contemplate on the future. Where should I take this movie watching, this blog posting? I look at that 1001 Films and know that in good times, in bad times, in times when family and friends were about and in times when I was wallowing my most critical moments of solitude that movies have always been there. I don't think it could be any other way. But I do think that a break from the back of the cinema is in order. I need to move up, sit amongst the crowd again, break out the p-corn and a Dr Pepper, find a way to catch up with movies in a way that is not so silent, but once again in the midst of the ooh and ahhs and laughter of the rest of the crowd. See you there.
Action!
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