Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

Se7en (1995)

Mills: I don't think you're quitting because you believe these things you say. I don't. I think you want to believe them, because you're quitting. And you want me to agree with you, and you want me to say, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're right. It's all fucked up. It's a fucking mess. We should all go live in a fucking log cabin." But I won't. I won't say that. I don't agree with you. I do not. I can't.

Re-watching this movie last night these lines of dialogue from Brad Pitt's character really smacked me upside the head -- him and Detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman) are arguing about how cynical to be in the world, in their jobs, and that's how Mills' ends the scene. And obviously Mills' perspective is proven to be naiveté by the end of the film, given what the horrors that rain down upon him and his exact reasons for having been hopeful (i.e. his wife), and yet... something about Pitt's earnestness in the moment, the plea, rang so true. Maybe it's just his willful ignorance in the face of what's right in front of him -- I want some of that. But it weirdly gave me some hope, in these dark days. I guess when the head in the box shows up I'll realize I was a fool just like him, but at least today I choose hope.

Anyway! Besides being the 25th anniversary of Showgirls today (which we covered this morning) today is also the 25th anniversary of David Fincher's cynical serial-killer classic Se7en, and realizing that is giving me goosebumps because I have such distinct memories of seeing the both of these films, and I can't believe that was what was happening in such a short period of time. I mentioned in that post this morning (for the thousandth time) my Showgirls screening, but unlike that one, which I saw with my high school best friend, I saw Se7en with my first boyfriend. (I talked about him some in my first piece on Call Me By Your Name.) This might have actually been the very first movie we went to see together? I think it's possible. I'd just moved up to the city to go to college and so we could do things, like go on dates and... things. (You know what things.) I remember walking out of the theater with him so vividly though, feeling like I'd just been punched upside the face. And it's a nice memory! That said I've got more on Se7en coming later today, so stay tuned...