Nunzio DeFilippis & Christina Weir

So this was the weekend I got to go home - possibly for the last time.

My mother just got a job as President of Naugatuck Valley Community College. This is a huge deal for her, a pinnacle of her career in education. I'm very proud of her, and think this is a great move for her.

The trick is - Naugatuck Valley is in Connecticut.

Aside from the logistical questions of family visits - Christina's family is in Boston, mine was in New York, and now mine will be split between NY and Connecticut - it also means that my parents will likely sell the house.

I grew up in this house and most of my memories are here - heck, we even buried 2 dogs in the backyard. But soon, they'll sell it, and the house will be someone else's - or more likely, torn down so someone can build a 2-3 family house.

But, then again, I haven't lived here in forever. It's not my home, and hasn't been for over a decade. It's always nice to visit and stay with my parents, but it doesn't feel like home. I slept in the basement while here, and while it is comfortable - it makes it clear I am a guest.

The things we hang onto from our youth are never quite the same when we revisit them in adulthood.

And yet, we are loathe to let them go.

So, while home (I swear this is connected in my head), my family and I went to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

I'd read mixed reviews of it - more positive than negative, but many of them laced with a jaded 'it's not quite the same, but it tries' attitude.

I went into it hoping it would be like coming home, but wary that it could never be quite the same.

George Lucas' weird assertions that no-one would like the movie, because it could never match the fan's anticipated version made me worry as well.

On some level, maybe he was onto something. Were the things I hated about the Star Wars prequels (though, truth be told, I only disliked the first one - I felt the prequels got better in sequence) things I tolerated in the originals? Clunky dialogue, too much showy stuff and not enough emotion, that sort of thing?

Or was he offbase, and just took the wrong message from the fan drubbing of his prequels?

Did we dislike them because they could never be all that we'd imagined? Or because they were bad?

And what about Indy? Would I hate in it things I tolerated or even admired in the originals?

Well, I saw it tonight.

And it was great.

Lucas is wrong. Because it wasn't the movie I wrote in my head (don't ask), yet I enjoyed it immensely.

It isn't perfect - the ending is weaker than the rest, and some of the Area 51 stuff pans out in the end to be a bit broad for my tastes, and one character has one switch of allegiance too many.

But it is a blast.

I recommend it.

Shut off the jadedness that comes with age. Just sit back and enjoy it the way you did the originals. I think you'll feel like you came home.

And when you can come home, enjoy it. Because it won't always be there.

posted by Nunzio DeFilippis # 9:53 PM

Comments:

oh, thank god you liked it. i'm getting tired of having this argument with all of my friends who didn't (of course, plenty of my friends loved it like me). so i'm glad to know you're on our side of the divide.

as for going home...i kind of know how you feel. my parents sold off the house i grew up in years ago when i was in college and already moved out and it was very emotional. i love the new house we have and there's a lot of beautiful land around it. but it took a long time for me to form any kind of emotional connection to it where it felt like home. even going back to visit now, "my" room is filled with furniture that isn't mine and a closet full of my sister's excess clothes. at Christmas now since the other bedroom has been converted into the storage room that time forgot, i sleep on the couch while my sister and her girlfriend take "my" room. but slowly over the years, as i've had holidays and brought girlfriends over and explored or took care of the animals while my family was out of town...it's become something of a home. though it's still mostly just "the house where my parents live."

then again, i've lived in a different house or apartment every year or two since i moved out of the house i grew up in, and now i'm in a city that i'm growing to like but still don't feel like i belong...so "home" is an increasingly nebulous concept to me.

wow...that went in an interesting direction. :p

# posted by

Anonymous : May 26, 2008 at 10:43 PM

I haven't had the chance to see Indy in the theaters and it looks like I may have to give that one a pass until it hits DVD. Way too many good/fun movies out this summer and not enough time to take them all in; I've only made it up to 'Prince Caspian' on my list so far and my next must-see-at-all-costs in the new Hellboy, as Del Toro can do no wrong in my eyes by this point. I'm actually anticipating 'The Hobbit' even more than I did the LOTR movies for his involvement. (In my defense, all I knew Peter Jackson from when I heard he was attached to LOTR was 'Bad Taste' and 'Meet the Feebles'. I'll leave my reaction to your imaginations.)

I confess, 'home' is a weird idea to me; I don't typically get a lot of nostalgia when it comes to the concept. The houses where I grew up were always more 'my parents' house' than 'home'. It's not that there was anything wrong with the situation, usually, I was always just kind of living there and most of my attachment to the place I last grew up faded when the last of the dogs that I had to leave behind passed on. I guess it comes down to, for me, home being where my chosen responsibilities are. As a kid, I hadn't any say in the matter, so it was someone else's home.

# posted by

Suzene : June 1, 2008 at 2:52 AM

Keep it! Arrange something so it is not sold!

I cannot imagine my parents selling their house.

At times, they have toyed with the idea of getting another house and renting that one, but even renting is a no-no for me! That will always be my childhood home.

# posted by

Anonymous : June 13, 2008 at 11:32 AM

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