Not a salutation, lack of calendar or how it feels because I drank so much last night. It was the only movie I saw in between panels yesterday. Happy New Year.

After seeing this movie, I went to a really amazing panel on audio in production vs. postproduction. It was so good in fact, I briefly thought about a career change. Then it was quickly followed up by a decision to not pursue that change as their description of directors seemed highly unlikely to jive with my temperament.

Happy New Year.

After that we went to Vivo for dinner and then to the frog design party and then to a series of bars…until 3 in the morning (in fairness, I lost an hour due to time change!) Happy New Year.

And the whole time, while dissecting the first scene of Apocalypse Now sound design in detail, while eating the most delicious tortilla soup, while ordering greyhounds with vodka, that movie ran through my mind, looping like a cd that has a scratch in it. No, that illustration is not valid. It wasn’t an unwanted thing. It just was.

The movie resonated personally with my life, which is why I had wanted to go see it in the first place. It was a narrative piece about a Marine back from Iraq and was almost two hours long and it was…(sitting here…sitting here…) I’m actually having a hard time explaining what it was. Let’s start with the basics: it was well made, story was extremely well told, sound design was professional (hey- personal application here!) and the actors/actresses were as if they had been those characters their whole lives. But the story itself was a dark subject matter, despondent in its view of that world and throughout the two hours I found myself more in love with the characters and absolutely pained that they can’t resolve anything . It was heartbreaking. There’s the word. It was HEART BREAKING. And I would watch it everyday for a week as it gave me an outlet for something that no one in my life understands. It made me feel sad and afraid, but it also made me feel not alone. The power of a great movie.

If I don’t see another movie here all week (don’t worry), that was worth it to me. I am profoundly grateful to its director, K Lorrel Manning. Thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.