Putney Passions

Last night Russell and I were watching a movie that my brother and father recommended over Christmas.  I loved the film.  Sideways is really interesting mix of beautiful, artsy cinematography, hilarious comedy, love and misadventure. 

I thought it was simply going to be a comedy.  This is certainly how my brother Brian described it to us. “I am NOT drinking any f***ing merlot!!” was the memorable phrase, followed by chuckles…

As I was enjoying the show, I had a thought that maybe Russell wouldn’t like it.  I always imagined him NOT liking “artsy” movies – this one certainly was on the artsy side.  When I asked him, he said of course he liked it – he likes any movie with a good story. 

He reminded me of a recent long haul flight to the states when he saw a movie (I don’t even remember which one it was).  He joked with me that I shouldn’t watch the movie because it would be “too intellectually stimulating for me”.  He joked about this several times in the trip.  I put it down to sarcasm, assumed it was some sort of trashy adventure film and went back to “Batman Begins”.  Apparently this was one of those “artsy” movies that I assumed he wouldn’t like.

Well now, let’s be honest.  I assumed that he wouldn’t like these kinds of films because they would be too intellectually stimulating for him.  Given that most of the music he enjoys I assign as “trash” and a lot of the reading too, I put myself above him in the intellectual / cultural side of life.  I've "known" this for almost 10 years. Damn what an idiot I am!

…and what a wonderful discovery of a more accurate side of Russell

I’m looking forward to seeing a lot more movies with great stories with him.