The Film That Waited Down The Road

The film was just three roads away. It sat on top of the TV in a girl's house, there in its DVD case. The film was in many other places too. It was on a DVD rack in France, on an old VHS tape in Japan and being downloaded by a pensioner in Tennessee. The movie existed. People all over the world had spent time with the characters and had gotten to know them well. But I had never met them.

I knew about them, I'd heard about the movie - but for some reason, had never seen it. What a sad fate - to have one of your favorite movies sitting on top of the TV, only a six minute walk from where you are, without ever taking the time to acquaint yourself.

I'd been to the girl's house many times. I'd lent her films, she'd given me books. All the while, the film I needed to see was sitting there, on top of the TV, not even getting played. Meanwhile, the character's came out in a cinema screening in Norway, and they got chopped up into chunks on YouTube; they lived on, but not for me, I didn't know them.

And then the girl glanced at the things sitting on top of her TV. She mentioned something about the film. I responded, "For some reason, I've never...," she knew where I was heading. She was shocked. So was I. I knew I should have taken the time to get to know the film and characters by now, but I hadn't.

"Take this," she said, as she thrust the DVD into my hands. I went home, and within two hours - my life was a little bit better. Even though I've never met them, there are people walking out of a screening in Norway who I have a bit more in common with, there are girls down the street who I am more similar to than I realise, there are people in Japan who don't speak the same language as me, but we've shared the same experience, gotten to know the same characters, and had our lives changed in small ways.

Isn't it amazing how there are all these characters out there just waiting for you, who may end up being important to your life? They're waiting on DVD shelves in New York, they're being defined in the editing suite in London, they're being penned by a teenager in Germany. They exist for you. I hope you find them.

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Competition Winners.

Congratulations to Alyson in South Carolina, USA - who'll be receiving 'Lost In Translation' on DVD, and Oliver in West Sussex in the UK who won 'Jaws' on DVD. They both correctly identified the quote I posted as being the words of Tom Hanks.

For everybody's viewing pleasure - here is Tom Hanks' acceptance speech for his AFI Lifetime Achievement award. His words sum up everything that is wonderful about the movies; and it really makes you realize how remarkable Tom and his career are.



Thanks to everyone else who entered the competition.

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Competition - Who Said This?

Here's a little competition. I'm going to have it run for a few days and then randomly pick two winners. The quote below was said by somebody in the film industry, it's one of my favorite quotes/speeches; and all I need is for you to email me and tell me who said it!.

"Hey, I got an idea -- let’s go to the movies. I wanna go to the movies. I want to take you all to the movies. Let’s go and experience the art of the cinema. Let’s begin with Scream Of Fear, and we are going to have it haunt us for the rest of our lives. And then let’s go see The Great Escape, and spend our summer jumping our bikes just like Steve McQueen over barbed wire. And then let’s catch The Seven Samurai for some reason on PBS and we'll feel like we speak Japanese because we can read the subtitles and hear the language at the same time. And then let’s lose sleep the night before we see 2001: A Space Odyssey because we have this idea it’s going to change forever the way we look at films. And then let’s go see it four times in one year. And let’s see Woodstock three times in one year and let’s see Taxi Driver twice in one week. And let’s see Close Encounters of the Third Kind just so we can freeze there in mid-popcorn. And when the kids are old enough, let’s sit them together on the sofa and screen City Lights and Stage Coach and The Best Years of Our Lives and On The Waterfront and Midnight Cowboy and Five Easy Pieces and The Last Picture Show and Raging Bull and Schindler's List -- So that they can understand how the human condition can be captured by this amalgam of light and sound and literature we call the cinema."

I have two prizes. One is a 'Lost In Translation' on DVD (Region 1, USA) and one is 'Jaws' on DVD, Region 2 (UK, Europe). So - who said those wonderful words? Email your answers to kidinthefrontrow AT gmail DOT com

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