A year and a half ago, I had never seen When Harry Met Sally.
I borrowed it from my mom's DVD collection (I think my Dad gave it to her for Christmas once, but she never watches DVDs - she likes to stumble upon her favorite movies on television) and brought it back to my apartment last winter knowing that I'd be needing movies to watch while painting for Depending Upon the Nature of the Beast.
I put it in hesitantly one winter afternoon. I say hesitantly because, like my mom, I am skeptical of Nora Ephron movies that star Meg Ryan without Tom Hanks. (You've Got Mail is a favorite shared by my mom and I). I sat down to paint. I instantly (seriously) fell in love, from the first note of music, with When Harry Met Sally. I watched it several times in a row that day while painting.
I have watched it, I would safely say, about 100 times since then, and don't even have to look up because I know it by heart. I find myself saying lines out loud as they come (especially the little scenes where the old married couples are telling the stories of how they met).
And now, at 1 am on a Wednesday into Thursday night, I am watching it for maybe the one hundred and first time and finishing a painting for my upcoming show and feeling nostalgic for my bedroom in my old apartment in which I holed up for a whole winter to paint and watch this movie on repeat.
I love that when I'm old, I'll watch this movie or show it to my kids and it will always remind me of that time in my life. And it will always remind me of painting. And it will always be there for me when I'm painting. Just like Breakfast at Tiffany's and Shopgirl.
It also feels appropriate as a little tribute to Nora. I've been reading her essays and love her even more than I did before.
I hope you're all having a beautiful evening and a lovely summer.
What are your favorite movies to watch while you do what you do?
xo, Amanda
