Sad State

I hadn’t been to the movies for weeks—primarily because the early summer movies had left me so disillusioned that even the mention of going to the movie theater left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I had given up on modern cinema until I saw the preview for Garden State. It looked promising; unfortunately, the Santa Clarita Valley theaters didn’t even start showing the movie until the third week of September. After much anticipation, I bought tickets on Sunday afternoon.

As I entered the dark theater, I felt both optimistic and nervous. Would I have to endure another two hours of utter disappointment and disgust? Or would my faith in creative film making be renewed?

Things started out great. I was enjoying the tone, music, acting, dialogue—GONE. The film strip burned up and ripped apart right in front of our eyes on the giant screen.

As I left the theater with my refund, realizing that it was Santa Clarita’s only copy of the film, wondering if they would even bother to get another, I can’t fully describe my sadness. Will I ever recover from my despair and disillusionment? To be continued…