On film and video delights
The joy of creative work!
It is the eve of my 50th birthday, and I find myself sitting at the kitchen table, cataloging another set of delights. There is nothing like a deadline to get a fire lit under me! Thirty years ago, I would have the energy to stay up into the wee hours to finish a task like this. But these days, I will simply embrace author Oliver Burkeman’s advice that “if you’re roughly 70% happy with a piece of writing you’ve produced, you should publish it.”1 I’ll still have the final 25 to finish tomorrow, but that sounds like a fun birthday activity in itself!
Lucy and Rosie, watching the new toaster like a television. (Perhaps around 2013?)
If you haven’t heard the origins of this delight-focused project, you can read more here and join in if you like!
As I sketched out my list of delights, I gathered together a collection that were references to film or video. This list is not comprehensive!2 I keep thinking of more that I could add, and perhaps someday I shall. And if some new ones come to mind for you, leave a comment or pass it along!
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946). This Jimmy Stewart classic is perhaps my favorite movie ever, and certainly in my top three. We watch it every Christmas, we quote it all year long, and the ending never fails to make me cry. The delight comes in how often a ridiculously out-of-context line fits into everyday life. “I wish I had a million dollars. Hot dog!” All the better if you can manage a half-decent George Bailey impression.
About Time (2013). I learned about this Richard Curtis film several years after its release, but it quickly became a top-tier favorite. The premise: a young man learns that he can travel in time and explores ways to change his own life. I was immediately charmed by the performances, but the brain-tickling concept draws me into watching it again and again.
Ted Lasso (2020-). We didn’t begin watching Ted Lasso until 2022, long after I’d been hearing Brené Brown fan-girling over the show in her Unlocking Us podcasts (she even interviews several of the actors). As a person who doesn’t follow a lot of sports, I didn’t see the appeal — but now I get it. The dialogue never fails to delight, and the power dynamics bring a ray of hope into a dark time.
Star Wars: Bad Lip Reading. The entire Bad Lip Reading concept has always been hilarious to me, but I literally wept with laughter while watching their versions of Episodes IV, V, and VI of Star Wars. Our kids have grown up memorizing the original songs from these parodies and we regularly reference them in our kitchen table conversations.
The staircase scene with John Ritter in Skin Deep. There are so many problems with this recommendation. The movie itself isn’t that great, and the premise is terrible: an angry lover uses an overly-high dose of electro-therapy to get revenge on her ex. But John Ritter’s genius physical comedy is at its peak here, and the scene never fails to make me laugh. (Image below: from Three’s Company, another classic from my childhood.)
Gene Wilder. Every Gene Wilder performance delights me — I simply cannot choose just one. We have annual rhythms of watching Young Frankenstein (at Halloween) and Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (every February). My childhood was littered with lines from The Producers and Blazing Saddles. It may be time for a viewing of the complete Gene Wilder catalog!
Stay tuned for more delights coming up tomorrow!
I read this in his newsletter and it is impossible to link to it — but if you’d like to read that letter, let me know and I can forward it to you!
Also, please beware that some of the recommended works might have unsavory language or grown-up content, so take care of your own boundaries.