The Power of Cinema

Sometimes it seems as if my love of cinema is too much. Maybe unhealthy. Particularly for some of those that accompany me to the theatre. Why do I get so angry when a film is terrible? To the point where I actually get depressed. Why do I hit a level of ecstasy when I see a great film? As people say, "It's just a movie. It's not like it's curing cancer."

Maybe a film can't cure cancer but it can save a life. It can show you a corner of the world you never knew existed. It can let you hear a voice that you've never heard before. It can let you live a life you never would have. It can show you worlds beyond our's or the mystery and magic of our own. It can show you the horror and greatness of man. It can give you hope. It can let you know you are not alone. And the right film at the right time can define your life.

Nine years ago, when I was 13, I saw Memento. I didn't know it then but that film would change my life. From that point on, I dug deeper. Not just in film. I looked harder at literature. From watching movies, I learned symbolism. I learned how to think more deeply and examine life in ways I hadn't ever looked at it before. I began to concentrate on details more. Details are the defining things of our lives. A person's favorite color matters. How someone grips a hot mug to drink out of it says something about them.

All of this came from seeing one film. This film sent me down a path I'm not sure I would have gone down without it. I am who I am because of Memento.

But what about the event movies? The big tent poles where things blow up? Or the visuals are so epic the only way to really see them is in 3D on IMAX. Perhaps I hate these because they aren't intellectual enough? Nope.

There is nothing wrong with sitting in a movie to escape, to be entertained, to let a story wash over you and take you to a different world.

There is a reason why the movie industry doesn't die. Why during the Great Depression people still went to movies. Why in the middle of this awful recession box offices records are being set and broken.

Movies give people hope. And they do it for the masses. Populism isn't a weakness, it doesn't make cinema less artful or powerful, it makes it more so. Because cinema can shine a light to everyone in the darkness. It can show you best things people can do, the happy ending you want when the world is anything but.

Films can save lives. They saved mine. I have felt apart for most of my life, different from everyone else. Sometimes to the point of complete and total alienation. But then I go sit in a theatre and I feel like I am home. I feel better. Because in the darkness, we are all united, sharing an experience together, connected to people we've never met or talked to.

And in the darkness, with these complete strangers, I find hope.

And I believe there are happy endings.

Trying to Get into the Entertainment Industry

Getting into the entertainment industry means you spend most of your time unemployed. It means that you scour the Internet and the trades, hoping to find a trail that can lead to employment. Unless, of course, you've been fortunate enough to make some contacts that will pass along work to you. Most likely you made these contacts at some party you managed to end up at, shelling out what little money you have on alcohol. Or you met them on some miserable little project you worked on for free.

It means sitting in a Starbucks all day, everyday hoping to receive a phone call that will finally stabilize your life. Or at least hoping you can get the screenplay done that you've been working on for months. It means watching your bank account die a slow agonizing death as it bleeds out cash with no way of clotting.

Trying to get into the entertainment industry means questioning yourself everyday. It means waking up wondering what is wrong with you. Why would you try to live this life? It is so hard. There must be easier ways. It means wondering when do you give up your dream and get a normal job to try to eke out a living.

But it also means answering those questions. It means remembering the moment you fell in love with the art. It means realizing that you are an artist, you are a creator. You are a chronicler of the human condition and struggling only makes you better at that. It only makes your voice stronger. It means fighting until there is not a breath left in your body, screaming that you will not go quietly into the night. Because you know that there is nothing else in this world that will satisfy you.

It means remembering this from Big Trouble in Little China:
"Just remember what ol' Jack Burton does when the earth quakes, and the poison arrows fall from the sky, and the pillars of Heaven shake. Yeah, Jack Burton just looks the big ol' storm right square in the eye and he says, 'Give me your best shot, pal. I can take it.'"

So give me your best shot, pal. I can take it.