After Sunrise/Sunset…

Vicky and I saw a couple of wonderful films this weekend. Oh, we did plenty of other things and there's a lot I can actually write about… but not after these movies.

They were Before Sunrise and Before Sunset.

Here's the setup. Tim Clostio had bought me Waking Life for my birthday (or was it Christmas?) 2003. I couldn't stop watching it. It's an incredible film filled with so much: animation, humor, philosophy, weirdness… It was amazing. There's always a part of me that wants to watch it again - if I only had the time.

Cut to about a month ago. Vicky and I were at Costco and I was doing my normal consumer dance through the DVD/music/video game section, when I saw these two movies in a two-pack. I'd heard about them because they're made by Richard Linklater, the same guy who made Waking Life… and I loved Waking Life.

But, for all their pedigree, they did have a few marks against them…
1) Romances about young people almost always make me want to dig my eyeballs out with a spoon.
2) Ethan Hawke. Until recently (after buying the films but before seeing them, oddly enough), I had little respect for his abilities.
3) Most filmmakers forgot how to make romances after 1980… even 1970!
4) Linklater made School of Rock... 'nuff said!

So, I was a bit hesitant to see these films.

Then, this weekend came. Vicky and I were looking forward to either Tim visiting or me going to San Diego to visit Tim… wait. Let me rephrase. I was looking forward to it. Vicky was looking forward to getting rid of me. By Friday night, she was sick of me. Sick. Sick. Sick.

I can be trying at times… or so I've heard.

But Tim called me on Friday and said he couldn't make it.

Oh, shit. That's what both Vicky and I were thinking. We just didn't tell each other.

So, Friday night, both of us sick of each other, we decided to make the best of it with some take-out and a pack of cloves. The trip took less than half-hour but, in that short amount of time, we were still able to piss each other off. I joked. She grumbled. I got angry and my jokes got more personal. She got angry and her grumbling became more severe.

You know that kind of state can't last forever. In our case, it lasted to the end of the half-hour. Everything kind of hit a brick wall and yours truly reduced Vicky to tears.

Basically, I felt like shit. Here, I was trying to deal with things by joking around and I ended up making Vicky cry. On the outside, I held her and told her I was sorry. On the inside, I felt about two inches tall.

It wasn't the best start for a weekend.

Then, we watched these two simple films, beautifully shot, enchantingly written, adeptly portrayed. Each of us were wrapped up in these stories of love and hope. I don't know what Vicky was thinking. But here's what I was thinking: I don't ever want to lose Vicky. I was so lucky in finding her and I hope that luck never runs out.

She didn't know I was thinking this. We didn't talk about it too much because she had to go to bed. (Vicky sleeps like normal people - not like me.)

Now, she knows.