In August, I will have graduated from college a full five years ago. My college experience was exhilarating. I seemed to go from extreme excitement to extreme terror in the same week. There was just so much to see and do; it was almost overwhelming.
I entered film school as a clever little know-it-all and, within two weeks, was immediately in over my head. I was shown movies that, had I lived to be 100, I never would have known existed. I came to realize that film is an entire universe all its own, with multitudes of genres and subgenres from every country in the world. There’s no way that I could ever see them all. But, by God, I was going to try.
College was a time of discovery. I discovered the films that touched me and those that left me cold. Movies that I truly loved and those that I merely respected. It equipped me with the proper analytical tools to go out and continue my own cinematic education, away from the guiding hand of the instructors.
Unfortunately, life can distract you from your plans. Between weddings, funerals, relocations, and job searches, I found that I wasn’t spending a lot of time on my continued education. I just sorta accepted that I wasn’t going to be able to see all the movies that I wanted to, and left it at that.
Recently, however, I find myself with a great deal more free time. And, if I’m going to host a movie podcast, I figured that I had better challenge myself, lest my complacency give way to irrelevance.
That said, I’ve put together a list of the movies that I’ve always been meaning to see, but somehow haven’t. Over the next several weeks and months, I’ll be slowly working my way through these films, blogging as I go.
First up on the list is Ingmar Bergman’s Wild Strawberries. People have been saying for years that this film is right up my alley, but I just never got around to seeing it. That’s all going to change in the next couple of days. After that, it’s on to Fanny and Alexander, another Bergman film.
All told, the next few blog entries are probably going to be pretty heavy on Bergman and Akira Kurosawa, whose work I have criminally neglected.
So, check back frequently for updates on my self education. I’m looking forward to taking this trip, and eager for you guys to come with me.