Taking Refuge

So, a rough day is enough to precipitate a retreat. Such a wonderful retreat, however. One of the things I always appreciate about Nottingham (in comparison to Salisbury, which, lovely though it is, is a backwater) is that there are cinemas here that screen films I actually want to see. The other week I finally saw Waltz With Bashir, and it was worth the wait. Tonight I went to see The Wrestler (in fact, I immersed myself in it completely, and came up drenched in sweat and tears).

I'll note my thoughts on it tomorrow (clue: I liked it), when I can gather them. Suffice to say, combined with a stop-off at Lee Rosy's, it was a fairly perfect evening and I felt positively resurrected walking home, my day of dissertation-toil and application-frustration well behind me. But for now I just want to note that the feature was preceded by this trailer, the first time I've seen it in full:

Sure enough, Milk is next in my list of must-sees. I don't even care that it could be a bit of an Oscars love-in, or that it's one of those deliberately serious-accessible films. I care that this is almost as 'important' as a film could conceivably be dubbed, and it is as emphatically pro-equality with regard to sexuality as you could say Malcolm X or Remember The Titans were with regard to race (for some reason I don't award Brokeback Mountain this accolade, maybe unfairly, but in some way I don't feel it made the same point).

So within my (admittedly myopic and goldfish-like) experience, this is sort of a watershed event in cinema, possibly similarly to Milk's real-world impact. Gays are OK, in a slightly schmaltzy way. Maybe I'm just emotional tonight, but I can't wait.

-------------------------------

I know, I know, I'm so melodramatic. But here it is, and it's no big surprise; I'm tired of listening to partisan arguments for the time being, and more tired still of participating. It's a shame because I've often learnt valuable things in such discourse, both about myself and the subjects in hand. But the internet is an uncivil place. Maybe it's the anonymity, the testosterone, or the ease of finding allies in a global network. At any rate this over-abundant aggro taints everything, and it's boring.

While I thought I had a sense of humour, I'm clearly not terribly thick-skinned, and I wouldn't care to be either. It hurts me in some way to see so much hatred, both casual and calculated. I can't find the precise quote (I do need to watch Stalker again soon; I will correct this later) but when man is born he is sensitive to all things and drinks them in, and when he dies he is cold and hard as stone. Anyway, this is all a bit E/N but, like, whatever.