Friday, January 31, 2020

“Books saved my life”

A building super (Taylor Schilling) and a tenant who’s a librarian (Emilio Estevez) are talking:

“So you’re really into books, huh?”

“Books saved my life.”

“Saved your life?”

“Books helped me get sober and helped me turn my life around. They were tangible and they were real, something I could get my hands and my head around. So yeah, they saved my life.”
That’s one of the better moments from The Public (dir. Emilio Estevez, 2018), a film that remains admirable even if it jumps a shark.

comments: 6

Geo-B said...

I went to high school in Cincinnati, and since I was in a YMCA band, my father would take me down every Saturday, and I would go to rehearsal and then wander downtown all day and take a bus home. The library was one of my main stops. I appreciate that Emilio Estevez portrayed the city well. There were city artists on display, the steep Mt. Adams (another of my hangouts), and local color details, such as the "over-the-Rhine" area. Estevez had done his homework.

Michael Leddy said...

Now I’d like to watch this movie again with someone who knows Cincinnati. :)

Fresca said...

I'm glad I saw this movie and wish more people had, even though it had major troubles, as we've already agreed.
Its heart was generally in the right place, even if its head wasn't always,
and it takes on a real and huge issue:
where do we sleep when, baby, it's cold outside!

For a truly execrable movie about people being homeless, try "Last Christmas".
Turns out people with nowhere to sleep just need a plucky blonde to come along and sing Christmas carols with them!!!
One of the most offensive movies I've ever seen.

Michael Leddy said...

That sounds awful.

Elaine said...

Lived in Cincinnati 9 years! Clifton and Lower Clifton....Findlay Market! Music Hall! Summer Opera! UC-CCM (conservatory) productions! Burnet Woods! Columbia Parkway! Union Station! The mosaics at the airport...which isn't even IN Ohio...
Taught in Amelia (SW of The City) and later Hamilton County Office of Education, placed in Cheviot at a boys' school, LaSalle...
Must find this movie now...

Michael Leddy said...

I hope you like it, Elaine. As Fresca said, its heart is in the right place.