The Only True Currency..

I'm a self-proclaimed movie addict. Back in the days of movie rental houses like Blockbuster and Hollywood video, I spent ages 18-20 going through nearly every VHS tape in my local stores library. I think I've seen more movies than I could possibly remember, and so when one sticks in my subconscience it tends to be a permanent addition to my very psyche.

Over the years I've learned one thing about my movie-addiction: I tend to love films with amazing dialog. Oh sure, I love me some Star Wars and Terminator 2 like anyone else would, but I really enjoy films that are written with a language of their own, that sound as natural as listening in on a conversation. Movies like Sideways, When Harry Met Sally and virtually every Woody Allen film from the 70's typify this love of spoken language that i have.

I was in a band that played tours and so I have an affinity for movies about the life of bands on tour, or just the inner-workings of a rock band in general. Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous (and the much deeper and in my opinion better director's cut known simply as Untitled) does the best job I've seen in a movie of portraying the inner-workings of a rock band. It also has Philip Seymour Hoffman in my favorite performance of his as Lester Bangs, the real-life rock critic who greatly shaped Cameron's own early career as a rock journalist.

In a scene between William Miller (the young protagonist of the story played by Patrick Fugit) and Bangs, Hoffman delivers what is for me a truly beauftiful bit of prose. It's almost something to base a neo-philosophical movement on.

"The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what we share with someone else when we're uncool."

The pinpoint accuracy of this sentence floored me the first time I heard it. It puts into perspective what life and relationships are all about. I think what it means is that when we take off all our armor, and when we strip ourselves of all pretension and self-defense, we're left with the core essence of our beings. And if we can somehow shar that nakedness of soul with someone, that's a truly powerful thing, and it's what makes interactions amongst humans so truly powerful.