It’s no mystery why we all love movies. We need that escapism to get out of the mundanity of life. When I was in the eighth grade, my family went on a trip to New York City. I freaking loved that trip. At one point we got to a a fountain and I threw in a coin and wished that my life were like an anime – or a movie, same thing. I wanted this because at 13 years old I was this stumpy chubby boy who had no ambition outside of loving anime and manga. Fast forward to the eleventh grade I remember winning the city championship football game. It was a night game at UWO’s football field. I remember the bright lights, kids storming the field and in the cool chill thinking that my wish came true. Playing football at A.B. Lucas Secondary school was the anime that I had always wanted (as a teen) and winning that game and watching my people celebrate was the climax. Then we won two more games, the last one being in the Roger Center, that was the OVA.
When I graduated high school and went on to university, I wanted to keep the anime going. I walked onto my university rugby team and continued that movie. Winning big games with another team, with my best friends, playing the sport that I love – it was another great story and one that I reflect on a lot. Through the ups and down of being a young adult trying to figure it out (still trying to figure it out as an adult btw) and spending all that time with your friends – it was great. It was never the perfect ending but it just reiterated how it’s always about the journey, not the destination.
But then I graduated, the pandemic happened, and I worked from home. The movie ended. When you’re a student who’s very active in being a student, the reel just keeps rolling and you know that it’s going to end but you don’t want to think about it. Even now, 2 years out of lockdown – sometimes I feel like I’m the protagonist who peaked and their story ended, something I’m thinking about before I even hit 30. Like jake Johnson’s Spiderman in the animated Spiderman films when it first appears. But growing up, I’ve realized that life is not going to be highlights all the time. You spend time commuting, at work, cooking, etc. and you just forget that life is something you need to actively live to get that story that you want. When you’re immature you don’t realize how important those in-between moments are because you’re just go, go, go.
So in order to keep this movie going, I try my best to interact with as many people as possible. I interact with people so that I can see what stories that they have, to see if our stories can line up somehow. If you’ve got an interesting story or perspective, I want to see how you direct your film. Maybe we can get some multiverse going. And by doing this, I got the scene where I had a short lived romance while on vacation, the scene where I reunite with my friends for the first time since lockdown, and the scenes happening right now as I’m finding the work environment I’m in to be very fulfilling. If you’re going to pen and direct your own film, the film that flashes by you on your deathbed, you want to make it one worth seeing, and one worth telling when you’re long gone.
