The Man
© James C. Hess
A few weeks ago I ventured in the Colorado Rockies to do research for a mystery novel I vow I will finish writing before the end of the year. Because of my masculine tendencies regarding a sense of direction--that is, to say, I all but refuse to stop and ask for directions--I almost found myself in the middle of Nowhere, just this side of Obscure County, in a comparitively pastoral place called Telluride.
Telluride, as some reading this may know, is a relatively quiet and small mountain town in the State of Colorado, known for its film festival, which attracts attention and attendees from around the globe.
When I arrived in Telluride this year's festival had not yet begun, so I took it to mean the person I encountered was left over from last year's festival or was very early for this year's offering.
Regardless, from the looks of him it was apparent his life consists of being in the dark a lot, and living his life by way of shadows and light, gathered to tell stories therein.
At first all he wanted to talk about was his interest, his passion, for cinema. But eventually his energy, apparently fed by soft drink, licorice whips, and popcorn, faded, and he asked me what I did.
I was hesitant to reveal the truth about myself, about being a critic and a writer of such things as screenplays, because my voice of reason suggested loudly from the frontier of my imagination doing so would most likely prove unfavorable to me.
For reasons I cannot explain I decided to ignore my voice of reason on this particular occasion, and blundered forward.
The festival attendee looked at me for a moment, tilted his head to one side, and asked for my name.
I told him. The response was one of undeniable ignorance. He had never heard of me, he said, a determined element of contempt to his tone.
But that didn't stop him. Having replenished his energy level with a sixty-four ounce sugar-heavy soft drink, a great length of licorice, and a bag of popcorn--albeit stale and coated with congealed orange goop, he unleashed his opinion regarding critics upon me.
Stephen King once wryly observed, 'You've been here before'. How true. The number of times I have found myself on the receiving end of criticism regarding critics is almost infinite, and I have learned, after a time of trial and error, it is best to simply listen and not interrupt.
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to James C. Hess's Film & TV Reviews topic, please visit the Discussions page.