My mom is the reason I love movies the way I do. When I was a kid, she took me to the movies often, and even showed me some of her favorites growing up. As I got older, we still went to movies on a regular basis, and she was my most frequent moviewatching partner in my 20s and early 30s. She was a big reason for me having the sense of humor I have about movies, and the movies I watched. She got concerned when I got a little too into the “Friday the 13th” series when I was about 10, and she had good reasons to be so, but about a decade later, she would be an extra- in part because of my love of the first film- in “Scream 2”. We watched a wide variety of movies together, from Pixar films to Quentin Tarantino thrillers. We even got into “Mystery Science Theater 3000” together, and that love of the form extended to the RiffTrax Live! shows of the last decade.
Over the past few years, our shared moviewatching in theatres slowed to a halt, with a 2 1/2 year gap between our next-to-last theatrical film (“Passengers”) and what would be our last (“Toy Story 4”). Part of that is due to me getting married, and us not being able to get together as frequently anymore, but part of it is a dramatic decline in her personal health. My mom has been retired from teaching since 2012, and was widowed when my father died in 2013. The transition to me moving out after getting married was not an easy one, and there was much tension at the start. In 2018, however, a greater challenge presented itself. I started to notice that her short-term memory was not as sharp as it once was, and when she was coming to visit Meredith and I one time, she accidentally got on I-75 to Chattanooga, and didn’t get off for a while; in less than a year, she would stop driving altogether. Now, while her issues with her short-term memory have leveled off for now (though they are still present, and sometimes difficult to deal with), she is content to stay in her house, although we have caregivers there in case she needs anything, as her knees have been an issue for much of her adult life.
Back in December, she had some significant cellulitis in her legs, necessitating a trip to the hospital. After being released after four days, and some cleaning of the house on our part, she has been more than content to just watch movies all day; she will occasionally watch a show like “Community” or “Comedians in Cars Drinking Coffee” on Netflix, but it’s often movies she will gravitate towards. What movies exactly? That is what this blog is about.
There’s a lot to talk about with my mother, and at some point, I’ll share some of an interview I did with her in 2018 that I intended for the Sonic Cinema Podcast. But today it’s about what movies she is watching at this moment in time, and what it’s like to watch them with her at this point in life.
One of the most poignant moments in “Life Itself”, the Roger Ebert documentary based on his memoir, is near the end of the film. His reading of his memoir helps set the structure of the film, and there’s a moment where one excerpt plays. It goes as such, “In the past 25 years I have probably seen 10,000 movies and reviewed 6,000 of them. I have forgotten most of them, I hope, but I remember those worth remembering, and they are all on the same shelf in my mind.” In the past whenever I watch the film, I think about which films would be on that shelf in my mind for me. Since July of 2020, I’ve been thinking more about my mom’s shelf, the ones she thinks are worth remembering, that she wants to revisit. I’ve added quite a few films to our collection in an attempt to help her not only find those that she wants to revisit, that- at a time- she remembered fondly, and it’s been interesting to see which ones have risen to the top in terms of revisits, and which ones she’s less interested in. Some of the ones she’s less interested in, I just take home and add to our collection, leaving the ones she wants to remember, and share with the caregivers that come to watch her. Sometimes, I will sit with her during a watch if I’m there, but if it’s something we’ve watched recently, I’ll probably only half watch while doing something on the laptop. That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy the glimpses I do get at times, and maybe start rewatching myself.
I’m truly blessed to have had a mother that not only shared, and continues to share, the experience of watching movies with me, not just for the act itself, but what she’s shared with me over the years. What follows are some of the most noteworthy films that, of late, have been in her rotation. I think you’ll find she has pretty good taste.
=“North by Northwest”– My mother’s favorite film. Probably Alfred Hitchcock’s most accessible thriller, this spy tale with Cary Grant as an ad man mistaken for a CIA agent is endlessly watchable, whether it’s for Grant’s timeless charm, the precision of Hitchcock’s craft, the chemistry between Grant and Eva Marie Saint, or the iconic set pieces, all with one of Bernard Herrmann’s best scores backing it up.
=“Charade”– Another Cary Grant thriller, this time from Stanley Donan, as a wife (Audrey Hepburn) discovers some secrets from her husband’s past. Grant plays the romantic lead, who might know more than he’s letting on, and Walter Matthau and James Corburn also play key roles in this story, which rides on the chemistry between Grant and Hepburn, and a wonderful Henry Mancini score. A gem, if you’ve never seen it.
=“Blazing Saddles”, “High Anxiety” and “Young Frankenstein”– As long as I can remember, Mel Brooks has always been an important part of my movie comedy diet. These three ’70s parodies are the ones she comes back to most often, and like her, it’s hard for me not to know some of these moments by heart.
=“The Birds”– It’s interesting that this Hitchcock horror film has been her go-to over the past few months, and “Psycho”, which she considered one of the great films, is one she’s not as keen to watch. Maybe because, as with “Jaws”– which she’s also leaned in to watching- the villain is nature rather than man itself.
=“Arsenic and Old Lace”– More Cary Grant, this time a darkly funny farce from Frank Capra which she exposed me to early on, and which has remained a personal favorite of mine.
=“Airplane!”– More broad parody, but not from Mel Brooks. This was another film I was exposed to at a young age, and was instrumental in helping develop my sense of humor early on.
=“Pillow Talk”, “Return to Me” and “Sleepless in Seattle”– Her favorite romantic comedies to watch over and over. The only one I haven’t watched recently with her in “Pillow Talk”.
=“Air Force One”, “The Firm” and “Mercury Rising”– Three modern thrillers she goes back to again and again.
There are more that she’s watched. These are some of the ones that she’s gravitated back to. There’s more I’ll discuss at later dates. For now, this is about the films on her special shelf, that she returns to at this point in her life.
Viva La Resistance!
Brian Skutle
www.sonic-cinema.com
