Some of my friends tease me because I hardly ever know anything about movies. They will tell me about the movies they have seen and describe how their reactions to those movies gave them insight, stirred emotions, and told them stories they had not previously heard. I will never have seen the movies, and even though my friends say, “You’ve got to see this movie,” I usually never get around to seeing it. I’m not sure why this is. I don’t dislike movies. I have a deep appreciation for storytelling, and I enjoy art. I know that movies can be incredible displays of human imagination and collaboration. When I go to a movie, I usually enjoy myself.

I’ve tried to analyze my reaction to movies. I remember when video recorders and playback machines first became available. I was reluctant to own one. I told some of my friends that I’d buy them when I discovered a movie I would want to watch over and over again. I had to relent when our children were 7 and 9. In the first place, we were renting VHS machines from the video store fairly regularly. In second place, Disney released the animated movie Fantasia on VHS, and that was a movie that I could watch over and over again. It turned out that it wasn’t the only one. I’ve lost track of how often I’ve watched the first three Star Wars movies. I don’t know how often I’ve watched the Indiana Jones Adventures.

I’m not anti-movie. I don’t seem to get around to going to them very often. My kids can get me to go to movies, but these days, with children of their own, we usually end up going to a movie made for children. I’ve seen Sonic and Minions and Paw Patrol in theaters.

Going to a movie often invokes terrific memories for me. The drive-in theater was one of my hometown’s significant attractions when I was a teenager. Our town didn’t have many attractions for teenagers. One of my early dates with my wife was seeing Easy Rider at the drive-in.

This year, when my wife suggested that it might be fun to go to a movie as part of her birthday celebration, I responded positively. It was a great idea. The film about Bob Dylan, “A Complete Unknown,” is playing at the Pickford Film Center in Bellingham, an iconic theater. We went online and purchased tickets for a matinee showing. The plan was to head to town after I finished an online class, shop in the morning, have lunch, see the movie, and make it home around dark. Of course, things don’t always work out to plans, and we had some other important tasks to do before we headed to Bellingham, so we had lunch at home, did a bit of shopping before the movie, caught the movie, did a bit more shopping, got dinner out and returned home in the early evening. It was a lovely date with a very wonderful woman. Even though it was supposed to be part of her birthday gift, it seemed more like she had given me a gift by suggesting we go to the movie.

Chances are pretty good that most of my friends and people who read my journal have already seen the movie, so I don’t need to go into details. I had expected it to be a complete biopic spanning Dylan’s life and career, but the movie focuses on just the years 1961 - 1965, from Dylan’s arrival in New York as a complete unknown through his genre-breaking electric performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. Bob Dylan is 12 years older than me. I knew all of the songs in the movie and could have sung along. I refrained. It wasn’t that kind of a crowd in the small theater.

I could give the make, model, and year of most cars in the movie. Though it didn’t detract from the power of the film, I did notice that the filmmaker seemed to have only been able to locate one 1960 Studebaker Lark, and that one was not the usual white, black, red, blue, or green that were standard colors for that model that year. It was a teal color and had more clear coat than any car of the ’60s ever had. It showed up in New York and Delaware in the movie.

To an old guy like me, the actors playing Johnny Cash and Joan Baez didn’t look as close to my memories of the singers, but Timothée Chalamet’s performance was spot on. His singing was just right.

I won’t offer a more detailed review of the movie. As I’ve already written, most of the readers of this essay know more about movies and have probably already seen this film or read better reviews than I can write.

I have discovered that in life there are big gratitudes and small gratitudes. I am thankful for some significant things, like health, a meaningful career, and wonderful children. I’m grateful that I met my wife when I did and that we decided to get married when we did. I’m grateful for sunrises and sunsets and snow-covered mountains. There is a lot of gratitude in my life. Yesterday, there was snow and slush in our area. I was feeling grateful for warm, waterproof shoes and a winter parka that I rarely get the chance to wear since we moved to a milder climate. Those are small things, but I like to note gratitudes big and small.

My enormous gratitude yesterday was that I got to go on a “date” to celebrate Susan’s birthday. I’m not particularly nostalgic. I do not wish I could go back and relive past years. I find the present to be engaging. A date with the woman I love was a sweet blend of treasured memory and present joy. There was a short time, back in 2019, when I didn’t know whether or not I would get to celebrate her 69th birthday. Every birthday since has been a gift beyond measure. I am more grateful than words can express.