sweeneytom

Galveston

“I'm dying.” “Aren't we all?” At times cruel but always emotional, Galveston is talented actress Melanie Laurent (who I praised recently with the new Netflix film Oxygen) showing she's also a force to acknowledge behind the camera too Beyond Ben Foster's harrowing performance, beyond Elle Fanning still managing to steal the show despite him, beyond even well-done scenes like the tense long-shot, a real appreciation comes from what I keep thinking of in our brief time with the supporting characters. Maybe it was helped by getting to see one of my best friends last night for the first time in almost a decade and us just sitting by a fire outside for 4 hours and talking about anything and everything we could think of*. I'd been thinking since before that lengthy conversation started, I'd been thinking during it, I'd been thinking after it ended, I'd been thinking during those scenes in Galveston, and I've been thinking since the end credits on Galveston started: we fuck up, we have fights, we get distant, we make mistakes, we love and we lose, but we're still trying to be better and make up for it all, even if there's not much chance or time for it to be successful, and even if the only people we can make it up to in some situations is ourselves. Very little of the dumb bullshit that's in the past is worth lingering on, and you may not even be remembering correctly what it was you've lingered on thinking about all this time. Just keep driving Maybe the one reviewer I saw on here earlier when I did my traditional "like reviews of film I'm about to log because I like seeing different perspectives before I make mine known" Letterboxd thing was right, and maybe this film really didn't deserve those scenes of emotion that almost feel like they were misplaced, from a different film Laurent had planned but spliced in to add time to a True Detective hack's book. And maybe they were also right that maybe this film didn't even deserve all these words written about it. Maybe I'll think back to it a few days, weeks, months, years from now, change my mind, and decide I'll never rewatch it. But maybe the sign on the Galveston poster is right: maybe Hell is real. Maybe we're already in it too. That just makes it more important that we're kind as we can be (or kinder than we have been, in some cases) to, and there for, those we care about, for however long you've known or cared about them, whether it's for a few days or 17 years*. They may need it, and we may need it more *On the rare chance you happen to see this btw: last night really was one of the happiest moments I've had in the last five years of my particular hell, and certainly since February 2020 ended. I told you that when I left, and I'll probably keep telling you that while I'm still here, however brief or long that may be. I really needed that. More than I could ever explain. Thank you so much