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2007-03-08 - 9:27 a.m.

...close encounters...

Ugh. The sore throat continues. Our movie last night was the classic: "Close Encounters.." K had never seen it and was fascinated. In particular because the style of filming has changed so much since the late 70's / early 80s. The movie is very slow-moving, and several of the shots go on for minutes at a time. In many ways the movie is dated, but even by 2007 standards, the special effects were good.

I still remember how impressive the movie was when it first came out, mostly because my dad was a Close Encounters fanatic. He hooked up the television through the stereo speakers so that the first contact with the jazzy mother ship would make the whole house shake. My dad was able to set the mood for me back when I was 11. He loved the whole concept that superior beings would communicate through music, and have the playful hearts of small children.

Okay, so 25 years down the pike, the movie drags a bit, and just like 2001, the film loses in part because the iconic images have been repeated so often by other films and TV shows of this genre. I still appreciate it for the nostalgia factor, and as being the source of many of those images.

But this time, I was more in touch with other limitations to the film. So, Richard Dreyfuss climbs into the mothership, and leaves his traumatized wife and kids without so much as BYE. ?? And also, I had a hard time feeling any joy in alien contact with a bunch of old white guys. There were no women on the mountain. And none of the people whom the aliens invited were allowed to be there. So they will continue to go through their lives sculpting devil's tower out of their mashed potatoes, and probably receiving large doses of xanax or something. nice. Perhaps those elements were discussed when I was 10. But I think I was more into the special effects and the romanticism that my dad imparted to the film.

Meanwhile, K, in his typical early- morning- I've- got- to- hum- something- over- and- over- again- in- the- shower- fashion, has really taken to the five-note close encounters theme. I'm trying to decide if this is better or worse than his OTHER early morning themes (which range from the first seven notes of Yankee Doodle repeated ad nauseum on the syllable "HEH", to some self-invented and oft-repeated medley of a Czech horn concerto and the 1812 Overture). He does this pretty much every morning, from the time he showers until he settles down at the computer. I must be in love because I still find it cute. For a little while.

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