David
Gilmour
I
suppose that it is a good sign that, as soon as i finished this book, i ordered it from Abe Books as part of a
birthday present for JAG. That’s
gotta be a sign of success, even by my rather strict criterion!
Normally,
based on the title alone, one would expect me not to enjoy this. I
mean, what is to enjoy in a book about films? I am well-known within
my family for having no patience with films, often quitting them a
few minutes in because they haven’t bothered to catch mine
attention, and i reckon i can better spend my time elsewhere elsehow.
So i am not certain why i picked this up in the library, other than
~ and i promise, i don’t remember that this was the case, i’m
just guessing ~ i may have done so to see if it was written by the
Pink Floyd guitarist. It wasn’t; this Gilmour is a resident of
Toronto, and that, i suppose, may have caught my attention once the
book was in mine hand, as a fellow Canadian. Whatever the
motivation, i did pick it up and, while still in the library, read
the first third of the thing before taking it out.
So,
what is it? Well, as the subtitle indicates, it is the story of a
father, Gilmour, and his son whom he allows to drop out of school on
the condition that they watch three films a week together, films of
the father’s choice. It really isn’t clear what, other than
desperation, put the idea of this approach into Gilmour’s mind, but
against all odds it works. The two talk, Jesse, the son, goes
through some difficult times ~ as does Gilmour himself ~ but
eventually comes out the other side and, as far as one can tell, has
made a certain amount of a success of his life. Gilmour gives a
partial list of the films they watch, and an index to them in the
back, with some interesting comments as he tells Jesse what they
should be looking for while watching them; as he used to be a film
critic, one can assume that he knows whereof he speaks.
The
interesting point, from my perspective, other than the father/son
relationship i’ll address shortly, is that i found myself wanting
to watch at least some of these films, or regretting that i’ve not
had the opportunity to do so, perhaps thereby continuing mine
education in an area where i am evidently, evidentially, lacking.
Dirty Harry,
for example; i know the famous line, who doesn’t, since Reagan
quoted it? but i’ve never seen the film, for one reason or another
~ lack of opportunity, Lynne’s distaste, &c. ~ and now might
find myself looking for the opportunity to do so. Perhaps, as i’m
giving JAG the book, we’ll rely on some of Gilmour’s
recommendations to guide our viewing, as that seems to be what we do
fairly regularly when he visits.
So,
on to that relationship. The disappointing fact is that i find
myself in a very similar position to that of Gilmour; the details are
different, as he is remarried, actually has another child who plays
absolutely no part in the story, is on good terms with his ex-wife;
the general sweep, though, is the same: Broken marriages, a son who
is having difficulties in life, and an inability to know what to do
to help that son, on the part of both parents, all are features of my
life and his. I’m not sure that we are in the position to do
anything as radical as Gilmour did ~ apart from anything else, i am
employed and he was not, and JAG is in school, and Jesse essentially
was not ~ but it is stimulating to see that from a difficult
situation good can arise and result, that boys, sons, can struggle
through difficult times and emerge as mature adults. Thus, in the
end, i am delighted that i have read this book, and i will see if i
can leverage it, in some way, into a stronger relationship between
JAG and myself. Woo-hoo!
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