swinton

It’s very early on Monday morning as I sit here typing…and I find myself uninspired. While I can can see the sun rising – both literally, and figuratively – it has been a long, cold night in filmgoing. What’s new hasn’t inspired me, and what’s old hasn’t spoken to me.

I find myself in a place where I worry if I’m losing my passion…if film has just stopped speaking to me…or if I’ve run out of things to say.

Into this feeling of loneliness walks the glorious Tilda Swinton, who at SXSW this weekend reminded us all what it is about film that calls to us as an audience. When asked what cinema means to her, she answered:

My guides in this inquiry are my children who are now 16 — they’re twins. They’re like lab rats really, they’re very grateful. When I first started thinking about cinema for them, I started to really examine my own desires about cinema for myself… It was really to do with the children and seeing their eyes opening. And I started thinking about why cinema is good for the soul, and what it gives us. In a nutshell, what it is for me is this amazingly humane opportunity to put yourselves in the shoes of someone else. It’s no more complicated and no less powerful than that. You go in, it all goes dark, and you put yourself in someone else’s shoes and see through their eyes. That’s just mega, it’s so powerful. Even a painter, who can do it, only can do less. A painter at one time is showing you one frame, but a filmmaker can take you into an experience and an existential atmosphere that may be a trip for you. It’s like a magic carpet. This is how I feel about cinema.

Thanks Tilda: I needed that