An Unexpected Movie Night
When I leave work on an evening, I call home. Invariably Miss 13 picks the phone up – she has been trained by my other half as an evil receptionist – this began when she was very young, and would talk to cold-callers for quite some time before they realised there was no hope of getting any further. I've given up asking to speak to my other half, and just talk to Miss 13 these days – she relays information about things I might need to get on the way home – bread, milk, cat food – you name it. Sometimes she tries to sneak things she wants onto the list – you know – M&Ms for example.
Anyway. This evening, I called home and got my other half for a change.
'We are going out to rugby training – myself and 14 have had our dinner – 18 is going out with her friend for dinner – you just need to get something for yourself'.
They knew I would buy a pizza, and I knew I would buy a pizza. I bought a pizza.
What I didn't predict – but should have – was that Miss 18's friend would bail on her, and leave her without a night out, and with no dinner. So that's how the unexpected movie night unfolded – after heating up some of last night's chicken soup, she wandered into the lounge doorway looking a bit lost, and I held an arm out across the sofa.
Strangely enough, she didn't seem interested in watching the documentary about the development of the atomic bomb I was watching, so we set off across Amazon and Netflix to find a movie to watch.
Love Simon.
I remember seeing the trailer for it in the cinema some time ago, and her indicating that I would be taking her to see it in the near future. Somehow that near future never happened though, and we forgot all about it – until tonight.
Turns out it's a wonderful movie. I gather it's based on a book by Becky Albertalli – called 'Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda'. The reviews on the internet speak volumes – it has quickly become associated with other coming-of-age books such as 'The Art of Getting By', and 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower'. We sat enthralled throughout the movie – second guessing the plot along the way. Well – I say 'sat' – Miss 18 used me as a giant cushion for the majority of the movie, in the way the kids often do.
I think perhaps the pivotal moment of the movie comes when the title character tells his parents – it brought everything back about 18 choosing to tell us, in razor sharp focus. I don't think I've ever seen a movie handle anything like that so accurately. Of course I'm not very subjective, because I've been there – I've been the one walking along the street at night, wanting to tell a scared girl that I love her more than she will ever know.
Anyway (big exhale of breath)...
As the credits rolled, and I wandered around the room turning the lights out – the rest of the family had gone to bed some hours earlier – we both wondered if there is a girl version of 'Love Simon' out there somewhere.