Moving pangs and BRIEF ENCOUNTER (76)

My move to SF has been almost entirely seamless. I found a way to get down here that did minimal damage to my bank account, I scored a job in the weeks before I got here, I have a place to live and a wonderful girlfriend that has been a huge part of the move feeling so easy - I consider myself quite lucky.

But, no matter how perfect everything goes (and it has) there are, I assume, always wee bits of moving pangs that come along with this sort of large-scaled transition. I worked all morning from home, stuffing envelopes, contacting blogs, semi-boring stuff that involved a lot of me staring at a computer and wishing I was outside doing something warm and exhausting. I'm done now though with all the hum-drum aspects of my morning and I'm excited to be out doing something, but all of sudden I've realized that, I don't really have that many people in SF to do anything with.

I know, I mean I've only been here for two weeks, but the sudden come-to that to a certain degree I'm a bit limited in my social interactions was a bit of a shock. All of sudden, I'm keen to get out in the sun and you know, be hanging out, and I'm struggling to find someone to do so with. It's okay though, this will get better, and I'm lucky enough to have Alex and my awesome roommates and Good Man Freytag to hang out with. This is just a momentary pang, it'll fade.

What I love most about Brief Encounter (76) is how it's a romance film enclosed in the wrappings of noir. It's dark and steamy and cross-cut with these crazy silhouettes. It creates this sort of sinister mood that helps mirror the internal battle the lead character, Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson) faces in her slowly brewing romance with Dr. Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard). Also, the film is told in classic C-A-B format, with the final scene being shown first, and then the story unravelling along with Celia's taut narrative. It's classic noir stylings, and it helps the film move along, ably transcending the romance genre.

Also interesting in the film is the way that as soon as Celia meets Alec, she starts seeing the world entirely different. She's no longer just a happy wife and mother, she's fallen for this man and in the process her world view changes. She can't help but see her guilt and her passion reflected in the films she watches and the relationships around her. Her love for Alec is too much, it consumes her in a way, and it's awesome the way David Lean portrays it.

I'm halfway through the film, just at the moment where Alec and Celia confess their forbidden love or the first time, and I'm completely engrossed. I implore you guys, if you like old films at all, please check out Brief Encounter (76) it is well worth the hour and twenty-two minutes.

Tuesday: Brief Encounter (76)