Issue 62 - Nostalgia

Welcome to Issue 62 of Deep Life Reflections, where I share five things I’ve been enjoying and thinking about over the past week.

In this week’s issue, we explore the significant impact of nostalgia on our lives. We begin with a journey through Quentin Tarantino's brilliant and reflective book, Cinema Speculation, and then travel back to the Great Depression with Peter Bogdanovich’s evocative film, Paper Moon. Along the way, we contemplate the power of nostalgia and its enduring influence on our memories, emotions, and present-day experiences.

Join me as we explore this week’s Friday Five.

1. What I’m Reading

Cinema Speculation by Quentin Tarantino.

In 2022, Quentin Tarantino released his first work of non-fiction, Cinema Speculation. It’s organised around important American films from the late 1960s and 70s, all of which a young Tarantino first saw as a fledgling moviegoer. It includes well-known films like Taxi Driver, Dirty Harry, and Bullitt, as well as lesser-known ones such as Paper Moon, Sisters, and Rolling Thunder. (For the record, Taxi Driver sits in my all-time list of favourite movies.)

Tarantino’s origin story is often framed around his job as a clerk in a California video store in the 1980s, where he decided he knew enough about movies to make one. While this is true, his real origin story begins much earlier. The first chapter of the book, “Little Q Watching Big Movies,” tells this tale. Tarantino’s young and hip single mother in Los Angeles raised him and took him to see grown-up movies when he was only six. The rule was simple: stay quiet and don’t ask questions; this was adult time. So, Tarantino spent his youth watching the kinds of movies that would shape him for life. Many of his films pay homage to the genre movies he grew up with—exploitation films, revenge flicks—highly stylised and filled with pop culture references.

What comes across most in Cinema Speculation is Tarantino’s pure love of film and the entire movie experience. He’s still that six-year-old in the movie theater, watching a double-bill of Steve McQueen in The Getaway and Joe Don Baker in Walking Tall. His knowledge of cinema and the men and women who made it is vast and infectious. Tarantino would have also made an astute film critic, as he understands the historical and cultural currents that shaped cinema’s revolution in the late 1960s, when New Hollywood became the dominant force.

New Hollywood represented a significant shift away from the safe, easily identifiable black-and-white heroes and villains of the 1950s, where the hero walked into the sunset with the girl. These films were made by men who were celebrated for their craft. However, New Hollywood introduced a new kind of filmmaker—those who went to film school and made movies because they loved movies. Young directors like Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Peter Bogdanovich, and Brian De Palma created films about anti-heroes that were real and flawed, reflecting the changing times of the 1970s. We see these traits in characters like Michael Corleone, Travis Bickle, and Harry Callaghan (Dirty Harry).

Tarantino has made nine full-length films, and his long-awaited tenth and supposedly final film remains a mystery. Whether or not you enjoy his films, Tarantino is the one director in Hollywood every A-list actor wants a call from. Cinema Speculation captures some of that allure: a hyperactive, genius lover of film who is still a six-year-old kid at heart, mesmerised by the movies and how they make people feel.

2. What I’m Watching

Paper Moon. Directed by Peter Bogdanovich.

After thoroughly enjoying Cinema Speculation and being a cinephile myself, I watched a few of Tarantino’s favorites, including some I hadn’t seen before. One of these was the 1973 movie Paper Moon, directed by Peter Bogdanovich.

Set during the Great Depression of the 1930s, the film follows a con man named Moses Pray who unexpectedly ends up traveling with a 9-year-old girl, Addie, whose mother has just passed away. They form an unlikely partnership as they journey through the stark dust bowl of Kansas to take Addie to her relatives in Missouri.

There is a suggestion that Moses might be Addie’s father, and it’s perhaps not a coincidence that the roles are played by real-life father and daughter, Ryan O’Neal and Tatum O’Neal. Both are excellent in their roles, particularly Tatum O’Neal, who exhibits a maturity, depth, and presence far beyond her years. Her character is tough and savvy, often outsmarting Moses. Tatum’s outstanding performance earned her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, making her the youngest person ever to win an Oscar—a record she still holds.

Bogdanovich masterfully recreates 1930s America with the help of cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs, who uses black-and-white film to add a nostalgic beauty that complements the Depression-era setting. While the movie centres on two con artists, it’s not really about their con but their relationship. The film is poignant without being sentimental and becomes deeply touching as Moses and Addie discover what they really need from each other.

An interesting anecdote about the film’s title: the movie is based on the book Addie Pray by Joe David Brown, published in 1971. Bogdanovich, however, didn’t like the original title and proposed Paper Moon instead. Unsure about the new title, he sought advice from his mentor, Orson Welles, who responded, “That title is so good, you shouldn’t even make the picture, just release the title!” Following the film’s release, they also changed the book’s title to Paper Moon.

Paper Moon is one of those hidden gems of 1970s cinema. Bogdanovich was one of the New Hollywood artistic filmmakers, recreating the Golden Thirties with the panache and style characteristic of the Golden Seventies. I can see why it’s a favourite of Tarantino’s.  

3. What I’m Contemplating

Nostalgia is a potent force in cinema and in life, capable of transporting us to different times and places, evoking emotions and memories long forgotten. For Quentin Tarantino, nostalgia for the films of his youth has been a driving force in his career. This nostalgia not only fuels his creativity but also connects him with audiences who share similar memories and emotions. Paper Moon is a perfect example of this, drawing viewers into its world with a style and charm reminiscent of the era it portrays—an era long gone.

Thinking about nostalgia reminds me of a fantastic scene in Mad Men, when Creative Director Don Draper makes the greatest sales pitch of all time. His client, Kodak, has produced a slide projector with a rotary tray for storing photographs. It’s tentatively called the Wheel. But Don believes it’s capable of something more. As he flips the projector from slide to slide, contemplating the memories onscreen of his family, he says:

“Nostalgia is delicate but potent. In Greek, 'nostalgia' literally means 'the pain from an old wound'. It’s a twinge in your heart, far more powerful than memory alone…[The slide projector] isn’t called the wheel, it's called the carousel. It lets us travel the way a child travels. Around and around and back home again, to a place where we know we are loved.”

(Take three and a half minutes this weekend to watch one of the finest moments in television.)

For many, the movies of our childhood and youth are more than just entertainment; they are time capsules that capture the essence of those periods in our lives. They remind us of who we were, where we came from, and sometimes, they even help us understand where we are going. Just like Don says, nostalgia lets us travel the way a child travels, around and around, to a place where we feel safe and loved.

Cinema, like all forms of art, has a unique power to connect us to our past and enrich our present.  

4. A Quote to note

“Time moves in one direction, memory in another.”

- William Gibson

5. A Question for you

How do you think your nostalgic feelings about the past shape your outlook on the future?

Thanks for reading and being part of the Deep Life Journey community. If you have any reflections on this issue, please leave a comment. Have a great weekend.

James

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