Celluloid Memories

These are dark times for the Film Warriors…

We have fallen from the path.  Our “endless quest for legend” has given way to the banality of everyday life.  The movie theater, once the battlefield that fed our souls, has been replaced by term papers and fried chicken.  We’ve retreated to the safety of familiar quest items that occupy our Blu-ray players, finding comfort in former battle sites while the war rages on…

I wish I could claim a preoccupation with other endeavors, some new passion that has consumed my life, but that would not be the case.  The truth comes down to a loss of faith from what I once held so dear.  Movies have become vehicles for corporate greed, manufactured cash cows that are created to suck dry the ever dwindling contents of America’s wallet, leaving only the taste of stale popcorn and cheaply made 3D glasses in its wake.

This year has given us one soul crushing film after the next, to the point where I’ve had to shun my theatrical home and find sanctuary with a beer bottle and a 22 inch monitor that revels in glorious quest items from a time when the industry made money, yet still respected the art form.

As a result the blog has grown cold, left to wither and die amidst the raging digital winds of the internet.  I’ve wandered aimlessly, trapped within my own celluloid memories as the cinematic light slowly faded upon a darkened theatrical screen.

I had resigned myself to let the words of this blog slip away into obscurity.  It was a noble attempt at glory up against impossible odds.  I surrounded myself with strong allies, but alas, it seems we weren’t strong enough to shatter the chains that bind us to our reality.  Film is a wicked mistress, mocking us as much as it wants to embrace us.  

This would have been my last post, for when I gazed deeply into the projector I fully expected to find only darkness.  Yet…there was still a sliver of light, this time in the form of a recent quest item called “Hugo.”

I’ll dispense with the usual review of the film (Uncle Billy would have done it more justice anyway), suffice to say that it deals with a young boy and his encounter with one of the forefathers of narrative cinematic storytelling.  At its simplest, “Hugo” is the story of finding your purpose in life and the knowledge that passion never truly dies.  

It’s director Martin Scorsese’s most personal film to date, and certainly one of the best of the year.  I had been resistant to see it, mainly for the reasons stated above, but also because I knew that it would touch my cinematic heart on some level and that I would inevitably follow that fading cinematic light back to this well worn path I had strayed from these past 10 months or so.

Well done, Marty.

Granted, a sliver of light can become quickly lost in the darkness, but a new year ushers in a new sense of hope.  As the credits roll on 2011, one Film Warrior finds himself back in the theater, drawn by an unfulfilled purpose and some lingering remnants of passion.

It’ll be mostly quiet around here as I kick the dust off these theater seats and assess the casualties upon the battlefield, but after the first of the year expect to see some movement upon the path.  Be warned, however, for it may not be in the direction you expected to travel…

“We’re still flying.”
“It’s not much.”
“It’s enough.”

“Deeds, not words…”