Vindication
As it so happens, today’s morning news on NPR included a review of the movie The Lookout. I was gratified to discover the reviewer had essentially the same things to say that I did. He brought up Memento, he praised the naturalism, and especially, he recognized the acting but praised the movie above all as a triumph of writing. Our only point of disagreement was our opinion of Jeff Daniels’ performance.
If I were a professional reviewer, our agreement would be somewhat disappointing; it would mean I hadn’t seen anything or understood the movie any better than my colleagues, that I was somehow extraneous. But I’m not a professional, so I’m delighted to discover I can, at least in isolated cases, perform as well as one. (This would not be true across the board. I am largely ignorant of camerawork techniques, for example, so I would miss important qualities of a more visual movie.)
A more skeptical part of me insists this is a case of a blind pig occasionally finding an acorn. Nevertheless, it’s rewarding to find I can produce something interesting to read even when I don’t truly feel it’s interesting enough to write down. Good reason to continue exercising the keyboard.