Cinematic Journey

I’ve been missing films lately. We’ve watched plenty of them over the course of the last year or so, but I’ve been missing seeing them in theaters. Oddly, I’ve been missing the drive to the theater, walking in the entrance, and the walk to the seats. The anticipation builds as all the cues are registered by my senses: the smell of movie theater popcorn, the vast expanses of carpeted areas, the increasing darkness as you move closer to the theater.

This nostalgia is triggered in part by the fact that this week is the beginning of a long-running, local, annual film festival, and this year (like last year) it will be virtual. There will not be inconveniences of weather or travel or trying to get something to eat quick between films. There will not be any standing in line, filing into the theater or running between theaters to catch the next film during a day packed with films because, of course, when everything is streaming, there is no real schedule. Beyond the week-long window for watching the films, the festival is—similar to how much of the rest of our lives feel—at once strangely convenient and out of time.

And I guess I just miss traveling to and arriving at the destination where I get to go on another journey.