Those who knew me well were aware that i had a collection of movies i considered the best visual, auditory, and emotional experiences i had the privilege of tasting. There were 84 movies in the large black zip-up case. They had all passed a series of criteria to get there. First, the story-line had to be authentic; either based on a true story or telling the story of a phenomenon that existed in many peoples’ lives. The actors must have done research into the beliefs and tendencies of the characters they were to play. If the character in the movie was to have suffered a head injury and present with symptoms of a concussion i didn’t want to see what the actor thought this might look like. I wanted to see what it would look like. I loved the actors that did research and put importance into telling someone else’s story authentically. All of the movies in my collection had some sort of resolution in the end. I was a person that became enveloped and consumed by the story being told on screen. If it had a tragic and unresolved ending, i was to have a tragic and unresolved day. Depending on the brilliance of the visual and auditory display, perhaps a tragic and unresolved week. So the story line did not necessarily have to have a happy ending but if it did end in tragedy, some good had to come of it. Facial expressions were important to me. There were 43 muscles in the face alone. I wanted to watch actors that used their face rather than just their voice to portray emotions. It made it more believable. I forgot that i was watching a story and felt that i was there. The music had to be on point. It had to fit the mood of the scene and add to it in some way. The movie got extra points with me if the song had a noise in it to match the visual i was seeing. In 6 underground, during the scene where “4” rode a skate board down a metal bar the song playing had a noise in it as if metal were scraping against metal. It was perfect for the scene. The movie had to be shot from several different angles so that the viewer could see the scenery but also get an up close look at the actor’s facial expressions when something important was happening. Lighting was also crucial. If the director had made use of lighting in a meaningful way it enhanced the experience of the story all the more. I believed casting was important as well. The right actor in the right role drew the viewer into the story.
Before i met my ex i was sure i hated movies. My ex used to watch movies from around the globe and he opened my eyes to a world i didn’t know existed. Ever since then i’d looked at films as pieces of art and i had 84 of them that i loved enough to want in my collection.
I bought a used lenovo thinkpad online and had it shipped to my p.o. box. It was missing a bit of the plastic from the top of it where it appeared to have been scraped or melted by something large and menacing. However, it turned on just fine, saw the internet, and ran microsoft word. It did everything i needed it to do for classes and it was affordable. I was grateful for the find. What it also did was play dvds. I had bought the laptop to take online courses at night but as an icing-on-the-cake side effect it returned to me access to the movies in my collection which i had not viewed in years. And so i watched “the intouchables.”