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Emmett James has been in love with movies his whole life. He grew up in a nondescript London suburb where, to him, things seemed very ordinary, even boring. He can remember his first movie at the age of about three, Walt Disney's The Jungle Book, which he largely slept through. The beginning and the end are clear, though, and he liked what he saw. Now, how to stay awake? The answer? Every child's best friend...SUGAR, of course!
In this funny and upbeat memoir Mr. James takes us on a "This is your life" kind of ride by linking his past to the films that shaped his world. The yearly television viewing of The Wizard of Oz and the terror of the Wicked Witch inevitably caused him to have a bladder accident. Plus if it looked remotely gloomy outside he was jumpy, watching the skies for a rogue tornado. Poor kid, England has gloomy weather fairly regularly.
E.T. The Extra Terrestrial inspired a love for the BMX bike and eventually led to a short lived life of teen crime, causing his parents to move the whole family from London to Cambridgeshire, a fate worse than death to the author. Especially when the new home, built in about 900, turns out to be haunted. The author's room is the scene of a hair-raising ghost sighting.
Emmett's love of films inspire him to be an actor and so, at the first opportunity, he moves himself to Hollywood looking for his own piece of the American Dream. He finds it, too.
I happen to be about the same age as the author and as I was reading I was thrust back in time, back to my own movie experiences. When I had to be taken out of Walt Disney's Bambi because I cried and cried when his mother was shot. When my best friend and tough girl astonished me by crying at E.T. (I'd never seen her cry before).
This is a story to take you down your own memory lane and remind you of the wonder and magic of the movies.
4 comments:
I enjoyed _Admit One_ also! What he writes is so true -- we have very strong memories associated with a movie, and it's not always the movie itself, but who we were with or the circumstances around the outing (literally the "bigger picture") that weaves its way into the memory of the film.
I have a friend who is big into movies, it makes me wonder if he is affected in the same way. I know when I read some books or movies I am directly affected in my day to day living - I just read Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult and now I am constantly finding myself considering topics discussed there. It makes it hard to read some books - I guess that's why I stick to genres that tend to be light hearted.
I’m slightly addicted to movies (and sugar) myself. Although at the prices nowadays I watch them mostly at home. Unfortunately I don’t think I can turn my movie watching into an interesting memoir so I might just have to live vicariously through Mr. James and be happy that someone managed to make good on a movie addiction.
i pretty much slept through the jungle book too lolz and i cried when mufasa fell from the cliff
stupid modern day hamlet--at least simba lived lol
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