Limbo
Speaking of which, I saw the movie at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival last week, and I really liked it. Director Ivan Sen (who also wrote, edited, and composed the score for the movie) did a lot with a film that was clearly on a budget. But that’s the thing — the movie feels far bigger than it is without losing its heart and soul thanks to what Mr. Sen was able to accomplish. The film competed for a Golden Bear at the prestigious Berlin International Film Festival, and since then has been slowly making its way around the United States. While I know sometimes films that critics laud don’t have the same reception with the general public, I truly believe this is a movie that diverse audiences can enjoy.
I’d like to say in this brief update that while I’m not satisfied with my output on this blog over the past six months, the entries I’ve made in the meantime are better than nothing. Initially, I made a goal of writing one entry per week, whether a blog entry or an essay. But I’ve come to realize that writing these blogs with the kind of thoughtfulness I strive for takes me a long time. There’s an essay I’ve been working on that I’ve stopped and started over the past six weeks just because it’s gotten so long, and with life and everything else and my recovery I just haven’t been able to finish it. I think what’s going to happen is I’m just going to have to extend my timelines for these pieces, because I’d really like to keep writing.
There’s something I want to briefly touch upon in the time that I have. I’m starting to realize that doing the work of something you believe in isn’t necessarily easy. And it may not always be rejuvenating in and of itself, either. At a time where it seems like the movie business is up in the air, and there’s talk about whether feature films will even last as a medium beyond the decade, you can start to question yourself investing so much time and energy into something that’s seeming less and less relevant to daily life. In addition to being a hell of a lot of fun, movies can introduce you to new ideas and experiences, and inspire empathy and understanding. They’re powerful tools for engaging with the way we live. But if less and less people are interested in films, and studios can only find the room in their budgets to greenlight remakes and blockbusters that seem to make a subdued impact with audiences … though as I say this, new movie Challengers is all over social media, and Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire has grossed half a billion dollars as of this week. So maybe the death of the movies is greatly exaggerated.
Look, if the medium ever does die, or becomes something unrecognizable from what it once was, without the soul that made it so terrific as a form of engagement, I don’t want it to go by the wayside with me saying that I didn’t do anything to prop it up and celebrate it while there’s still enough general interest.
Bringing things full circle, the trailer for Limbo is below: