Dear helleia,

Thank you for the YouTube channel. It looks interesting! I’ll take a look at its videos this weekend.

Thank you, too, for the Daily Vibes blog. I’ll look at that this weekend, too. The meaning of Samsara, as a film’s name, already intrigues me.

Regarding time management and film — for me, at least, budgeting time for film is hard to justify, particularly when I have other, higher priorities. But when I have some downtime, and everything else is done, watching a good film is downright satisfying. The more I learn, the more I realize how amazingly ignorant I am about so many things. And there are so many things I want to know everything about, right now! But I only have so much time in a day, and due to the necessities of life, much of that time is already spoken for. I think that is fairly normal for everyone. Having read some of your other posts in other areas, I imagine that it is not so much an issue of time management for you, but a huge desire to know so very much, and, due to life, only so much time into which you can fit everything. If that is indeed the case, I know the feeling. I wish I could say that it gets easier, but from my experience, it doesn’t. The more I know, the more I want to know, and there are still only 24 hours in a day. I suggest that you fit your study of film in where you can, learn as you have the opportunity, and not pressure yourself to know everything right now. You just can’t do it.

There is no reason to be shy about your list. It is, after all, YOUR list, which is—and should be—every bit as unique as you are unique. And, as you say, you have only begun your journey.

I’ve heard of Jean-Luc Godard, and I think I saw À bout de soufflé, a.k.a. “Breathless” (1960), at one point, but I don’t recall much about it. I’ll have to put some of his films on my list.

A friend of mine went to school with Wes Anderson, and has the high school yearbook to prove it, so I guess I have two degrees of separation from him. That, and three dollars, will get me a small cup of coffee at Starbucks.

Wes’ films have intrigued me, and I am still trying to fully understand the language of his style. The more I see of his films the more I appreciate him as a director and storyteller. His film The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) inspired me to buy The Collected Stories of Stefan Zweig, but my reading list is long, and my stack of books to read is high, so I haven’t gotten to it yet. If I were to pick a favorite film of Wes’, it would either be Moonrise Kingdom (2012), or The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004). I really like the overall story of Moonrise Kingdom, but the Melvillian leanings of The Life Aquatic appeals to me, too (as you might guess from my forum name). The scene that gets me the most, and gets me all misty-eyed, is when they are in the submarine, they see the fish, and Steve says, “I wonder if it remembers me.” Then he puts his hand on Jane’s stomach, viz., her in utero baby. I also like the sentiment of his words, which reminds me of Karen Blixen’s (a.k.a. Isak Dinesen) words, “… does Africa know a song of me?” from her autobiographical novel Out of Africa.

I have heard that Hayao Miyazaki is a giant in anime, but I have not been able to warm up to anime yet—perhaps to my woeful discredit.

If you are like me, your list of favorite films will constantly change throughout your life. Only after many, many years have I been able to select a solid top five films.

I hope you will not limit your conversation about anything based on how well-versed you perceive yourself to be. No one is omniscient, and we are all ignorant of many, many things. There is no shame in acknowledging the holes in one’s knowledge. The sin of disingenuousness, as it were, is affecting an erudition that one does not possess.

No, I haven’t studied film academically. I’d like to do so, but (like my reading list) my “like to do” list is long, and my time is limited.

I don’t see a PM option on the forum. Yes, you can e-mail me. I suggest that you create an ad hoc e-mail account (if you don’t already have one) and tell me what it is (assuming that by doing so no rules of the forum are broken). Bear in mind, though, that when you tell me, everyone else will see it, too. I’ll send you a note, and when you are convinced that I am the one with whom you are conversing, we can talk privately.

Paalam!

CMI