Carpe Marigolds

Yesterday I met a friend to see The Second Amazing Marigold Hotel.  Is that the name of this film?  My confusion over the title aptly demonstrates that I am not a devotee of the first film; in fact, I have yet to see it.

Now I'm not opposed to this movie.  There's no good reason why I haven't seen the first one.  I haven't seen many movies in the past few years, either at the theatre or on DVD/other delivery systems.  The tides will turn again, and at some point, I'll find time to watch movies again.

Luckily I have friends who occasionally insist that we must go see a certain film.  And if I'm free, I go.  Hence, my movie outing yesterday.

I loved this movie, as I knew I would. It appealed to me on many levels.  It was a gorgeous film, as I knew it would be.  And those actors!  They could just read their grocery lists and make it seem like a mystical meaningful experience.  I also reveled in the textures of the fabrics, which were so stunning that I might have sworn I could feel them.

As with Selma, I reveled in the novelty of seeing the seldom-seen human on a movie screen--by seldom-seen, I mean normal humans, not sculpted humans.  In yesterday's movie, it was the older woman.  We occasionally see an older man with a creased face on movie screens, but never have I seen a wrinkle on a woman on the big screen.

The Second Amazing Marigold Hotel shows older human skin in its wide variety.  There was crepey skin and creased skin and translucent skin and thicker skin.  There wasn't much blotchy skin, but that's O.K. 

In other aspects of aging, the movie did less well.  The women were heavier, but not obese--a nice change to see women closer to normal size on the big screen.  We don't see any aged people with mobility issues, although there are scenes where women characters are moving more slowly and deliberately--and more carefully, as we tend to do when we age.  It was wonderful to see older women treated as people with intact sexuality.

The one place where the film is a bit fanciful is that none of these characters seems to experience much in the way of debilitation.  They are not hampered by mobility issues.  They all have well-functioning brains.  No one has a chronic disease or anything more life-threatening, except, of course, for death, an event that is not too far off.

I loved the basic message of the film, that it's never too late to reach for what one wants--but one day it will be too late, and we should all take action while we can.

It's a message which seems essential these days.  The last few weeks have brought the news of deaths of people my age.  In fact, as I watched the movie, my parents went to the funeral of a daughter of one of their good friends, a daughter close to my age.

While I was at the movie, my spouse was buying a motorcycle.  He had such a great time with his brother on this week's road that he wanted to be able to do it more often.

My view:  he's wanted a motorcycle for decades.  We live in a place where he can ride year-round, and we're not very far away from gorgeous natural places (the Everglades, the Keys) where you see more if you're on a bike.  He has proven that he can still ride, despite his back surgery.  He's got a flexible schedule, which means he has that scarce resource of time.  And we can afford a motorcycle without wiping out our emergency fund.  He should do this while he can.

We are all here for so short a period of time.  We should all reach out for what will bring us joy.  That's the lesson of my Saturday.