Movies

This time of year is normally a busy movie-going time for me. While I have seen some of the major ones this season, my normal passion has temporarily left me. Part of my joy of going to the movies was going with my movie buddy, Cindy. Our taste in movies was close to identical. Not many people I know can take the dark and brutal independent films that I love so much, and still enjoy a light-hearted throw-away chick flick. Not to mention being available on a weekday morning when we'd have the theatre to ourselves.

One of our favorites was the documentary about legendary photographer Eddie Adams. Cindy had actually met a friend of Eddie's, Nick Ut, who was famous for the photo of the little girl running in the street with napalm burns.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1226261/

The last movie we saw together was The Invention of Lying, which was a fun throw-away with Ricky Gervais. The thing we both loved about going to the movies was the shared emotion. We'd learn things about each other that we may not have known otherwise. I had no idea she was reading the article about the LA Times writer who developed a relationship with a homeless person until Robert Downey Jr. played the journalist in The Soloist. Never before had Cindy cried more than I did. She had no idea I was a fainter until Salma Hayak got a morphine shot in Frida and I had to leave. I still don't know if she ever saw the last 10 minutes of that movie.

As I started writing I realized I didn't even know when the Oscars are going to air, so imagine my surprise when I found it's actually on Cindy's birthday! I guess it's a reminder that everything is a reminder when you miss someone close to you. When she got to shoot the Oscars a couple years ago, she was more excited about making connections with people than seeing the big stars. We shared a passion for the heart connection we get from films.

I will find my passion again. How can I resist with movies like The Young Victoria and The Hurt Locker beckoning me? And I will be eating popcorn, watching the Oscars, ooing and aahing at the dresses and the hair, and I'll be thinking of Cindy.