why i watch movies

"if dreams are like movies, then memories are like films about ghosts," (1)

i like films. i like curiling up in the corner of my beat-up couch, in the dimly-lit and comfortably well-worn apartment after an honest day's work, and staring at the oddly squared flashing screen quietly telling strange and exotic tales. grappling a hot cup of green tea and a warm blanket in the winter, a glass of ice prune juice in the summer, i let myself be temporarily transported to fanstatic imaginary realms. some frighten me like the menace of the self-mutilating, demon-possessed child in "Exorcist"; some anger me like the man-made　apocalypse during WWII in "the Pianist". some invigorate me like the long-endured and awaited triumph overcoming tragic circumstances in "Shawshank Redemption"; some mesmorize me like the restrained but subtly expressive HK 60s ambience in "In the Mood of Love". Mostly though, movies that make the deepest impressions are ones that touch me a personal way. All of us in everyday life, an event takes place with us as first persons, we experience it, and are left with impressions -- thoughts and feelings stemming from first-hand experience of the happenings that linger if only momentarily. like traces of alcohol that remain after a sip of red wine, they are reminders of moments that flash before our eyes, then slip hurrily by and are gone forever. some residues stubbornly remain long after, some float away gently like dandelion in the autumn wind. yet they all serve their purpose, expire and evaporate. having acquired a taste of paradise but is now gone, we seek more. movies are engines that manufacture impressions. they make us laugh; they make us cry. they make us presidents of the United States, and prisoners-of-war in Vietnam. our lives are artificially enriched if only fictionally, but we can still cherish our impressions, which are personal and real. this is why i watch movies -- to breath the air of the Himalayas, to touch the soil of a Roman coliseum, to hear the birds of the Amazon, to taste the fruits of the Caribbean. afterall, films are the business of selling experiences, and we are in the interest of living them.

1. "Mrs. Potter's Lullaby", Counting Crows