Goodbye Sidney

I had different plans for what I'd be doing this afternoon, so finding time to grieve comes as a particular challenge. I've already been through a massive experience today, and I'll get to that later on this evening, but for now it feels wrong not to pay homage to one of the greatest directors of all time. I'm behind the beat on writing my eulogy for Sidney Lumet, but that's because I rarely push myself to see some of the greatest films of the past. I'm very much focused on the now and my experience in this time. I will say that of the one film of his that I've seen, 12 Angry Men impressed me substantially. It's insane that I haven't looked back on his film career when I loved his first one so much.

Of course, I have said that I'd look back into film history to see films of the late greats, like my promise to immerse myself in the films of Elizabeth Taylor. That attempt didn't exactly fail, but I haven't had time for it. Finding the time to see Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, Network, The Verdict, and Lumet's other works would require more of me than I'm prepared for at the moment. I wish the circumstances were different, and that I could look back on his career right this very moment. His death is a loss to the medium of film, and a vital shock to bring us back from the void of uninspired thought. The impact of this should settle in for me sometime in May, when I do get to view his works once more.