When I was twelve, a new name got added to the list: Robert Redford.
That's because I saw Ordinary People for the first time. Kind of an odd movie choice for a twelve-year-old, but I was always melodramatic. And a little melancholy.
That film completely changed my life. When I found out it had been adapted from a novel I had to read the novel. Once I read the novel I had to study the screenplay. And when I studied the movie, over and over, it hit me—people made up stories that sometimes got turned into movies. And when a truly beautiful and human director got a hold of it, it became a masterpiece.
It spoke to me on painfully personal levels at the time, and in a lot of ways, was a friend. It led me to writing, and it probably saved my life more than once. Because it taught me how to ask for help.
Is it rational to love Robert Redford for those reasons? Why not? Even if he hadn't also starred in and/or directed some of the greatest movies in film history AND fought viciously for the environment way, way before it was granola-hip-trendy, I'd still love him. Even if his singular achievement in life had been directing Ordinary People, and after that, he'd gone on to host a game show or open a hair salon in Canoga Park.
So, when I leafed through my new Entertainment Weekly tonight and found out he has a new movie coming out in October that's causing whispers he might finally win a Best Actor Oscar, I ran to YouTube to watch the trailer.
When I saw him in An Unfinished Life, I thought "How can he possibly top that?" His performance left me in one of my favorite states of being: emotionally emptied, like a giant box of Legos strewn across an Oriental rug.
Watch this trailer. I think he's about to top that.
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