Sunday, March 04, 2012

The Paradox of Choice

Many things are happening this week in the city. Film Festivals of a certain grandeur, film screenings of a certain length and new voices on air -with a certain accent.

This was a busy week. Looking back now -it's already Sunday and a new week is coming up- I feel like summing up all the lost opportunities of this week.  Cinematheque was screening the longest thing Scorsese ever made; it was not a fiction film, but a documentary. A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies is a 1995 nearly four-hour running time documentary where Martin presents his favourite movie-stuff; Cinematheque is a brave Luxemburgish institution which features from grindhouse cinema to utterly high brow, arthouse cinema. On Thursday, in order for them to make the Scorsese Retrospective even more comprehensive, they screened his Personal Journey with a pause in the middle for drinks and snacks; what a cool initiative for cinephiles to mingle.

The very same day Discovery Zone had their opening screening of Monsieur Lahzar (2011) and the party later on. Are you acquainted with the paradox of choice? The biggest variety you have, the worse you feel about it; you feel like going out and have to choose among ten different options? You will feel perplexed, lost in the vastness of pluralism and in the end you will maybe stay at home -because you were unable to make up your mind. 

As you may have guessed, I missed both. I felt daunted by the length of the first and  the interminable networking possibilities of the second. I had forgotten that we had plans with my friends for a concert, and, oh well, that was the easy way out of the dilemma. I like cinema, I like social events, but when they become an obligation it doesn't feel right. Cinema is the answer to everything, though -never forget that.

Last, but not least, I joined Stephen Lowe at Ara City Radio last Friday, to present with him the Friday Flicks. I guess I'll join him every Friday from 13.15 to 13.45 (Brussels time) from now on. Stay tuned!

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