Friday 18 December 2009

it's a wonderful life

so t says to me, no she hasn't seen it's a wonderful life.

yes, i know she didn't have a tv when she grew up and there's various other reasons why world of cinema is unknown to her but it's a wonderful life? that's like, that's like, not having heard of christmas trees i splutter.

so straight after she finished work we're off down the movie house to become part of, not being an addition to, the five people who get it together to see a rare big screen showing of this christmas classic. i can scarce believe it, even if i like an empty cinema.

and, despite there being no heating, t is rapt. characters she says, people talking, little in the way of music. a narrative! so different she says from anything we're likely to see get made now.

i've seen it so many times i stopped watching it years ago but there's enough time to have past for me to get over myself a bit. i ease myself around the ending which, really, is as nothing compared to what they'd do with it now, in favour of looking at the minor characters, the faces. and seeing on the big screen is great. some of the stuff james stewart does is sublime. there's a scene where he goes to speak to his brother's wife and just for an instant as his face passes he has such an expression, totally immersed in what he's doing.

it's a shame so few of these old classics get a big screen airing these days probably because when they do, no one goes. i had a list spooling in my head of stuff i'd like to see but, as i've found out in the past, it's easy enough to organise a print and hire the place but, no matter what anyone says, nobody goes. what a pity.

we get back to the house and discover that t's brother and his partner, after much trying, have finally got themselves pregnant. much excitement ensues. we're definitely spending more time in sweden this coming year. i listen, i worry they've got ahead of themselves announcing it. i feel apart, seen it all before, as if i'm back in the cinema watching someone else's life, someone else's hopes and dreams, flicker on the screen.

3 comments:

Marion McCready said...

not seen it's a wonderful life since i was a kid, aah the nostalgia! :)

congrats to t's family, i know what you mean about telling too early, i've been there myself but hopefully everything will be well for them - just glad it's not me lol

Rachel Fox said...

Oo you went all prose poem at the end there.

In Leeds they used to put 'silver screen' films on in one of the city centre cinemas (Odeon, I think). They were on at 11am on a Tuesday or something and you would get folk (most of them over 60) queuing round the block. Tickets were cheap partly. I don't know if such events still go on but IAWL was just the kind of thing they'd show.

I used to be in love with Jimmy Stewart. In a kind of weird Freudian way.

x

swiss said...

it's all a worry! and t's mum next week so not going to hear the end of it!

i don't know why cinemas don't put cheap seats on when they're open anyway - maybe it's soemthing to do with the dostribution deals of their main films. i'd love it. the last film i got shown was big wedndesday. all the surfy people i knew were well up for it - and then no-one turned up. typical!