Triumph of the imagination

Has there been a time when everything felt so unstable, so unpredictable? From the weather, when in Florida iguanas were falling off the trees…to our combustible political climate? So, yes indeed, that’s why we go to the movies, like the movie or not there is an ending, a resolution, and this year’s Oscar nominations offer a sumptuous feast for audiences.

Three original screenlays stand out for me. One Battle After Another, It Was Just An Accident, and Sinners. It’s fascinating that they are all about oppression, revolution and justice, and yet told in such completely different ways. It Was Just An Accident is an outrage against authoritarianism told with such humanity and endearing humor, and remarkably filmed within the constraints of clandestine circumstances. Jafar Panahi’s imagination is a lesson in itself.

Then we have Paul Thomas Anderson’s amazing, One Battle After Another. Inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s novel Vineland, the film is a knockout. The set-up had me wondering if I could sit through a whole movie with that kind of, off the wall, frantic pacing, but it was so engaging, and so funny too, the promise great and the ride exhilarating. A film of such exhuberance that delivers a chilling and madly entertaining indictment of the time we are living in.

And now to Ryan Coogler’s stunning Sinners. It is not just a horror film or a vampire film, it is a riveting window into the brutality of the Jim Crow era, which, lets not forget, lasted nearly 100 years. Set in1932, the story takes place right in the middle of that period, of chain gangs and lynchings and when ‘the Blues’ were considered “the music of the Devil,” the white man’s presumed superiority clashing against the still finely tuned antennas of the Hoodoo African roots of the blacks. But for me, the film was a glorious ode to the Blues, the world where black culture finds its emotional and spiritual freedom and that no one can ever take away. The scene in the first half when young Sammie, played by Miles Canton, is singing, and the crowd is dancing, and glimpses of centuries of musical forms and African dancers float in and out of view, is pure cinematic magic.

Another film I look forward to seeing is Secret Agent, which as I understand, is a well deserved nominee for Best Original Screenplay.

So I leave you with the message that - IMAGINATION IS THE FOUNDATION OF CREATIVITY. For some it is a gift discovered early, for others it can be cultivated and nurtured. Venture out past your comfort zone and you will find it.

In closing a gentle nudge? a plea? …to see movies on a big screen, in a theater, shared in the dark with strangers, your local community. The extraordinary work of filmmakers deserves the effort. Remember it takes a community to make a film. The streaming experience is simply not the same in the casual comfort of your home.

Be well, stay in touch…See you at the Oscars!