#moviememories: Nosferatu and Me
A most memorable film for me, of a past where the screening of this silent film was to have been the end of a "romantic" date out … but instead, a tragi-comedy ensued …
The screening was at the Jubilee Theatre in Raffles Hotel, with a pianist on stage with a Grand Piano and a soundtrack score to accompany the then silent film screening. And being the pretentious prat that I was in the early 2000s (not really, but compared to me now, I was the self-appointed Leader of Prat Nation), I thought it would be oh-so-classy to catch this notion of a film, and mayhap impress the lady! Yes, my brain was too warped from the enormous self ego-tripping lol
I remember we sat in the front row, at the corner of stage left, which was directly in front of the piano. Even more chic than planned!
The film started well and good, and I vaguely remember trying hard to be charmed by the performance, until the moment I drifted off to sleep! Of course the ultimate guffaw was when I woke myself up with my own snore!
My eyes adjusted to the darkened theatre pretty quick, and with swiftly darting eye-balls, I noticed the pianist staring down at me - while professionally tinkling the ivories, of course … and of the immediate attendees surrounding me, staring at me disapprovingly, the old fuddy-duddy posers all!
I turned to my date not so ninja-subtly, and gently whispered and asked her why she did not wake me up, to which she replied "but you slept so soundly, I didn't have the heart to…"
WIN.
My embarrassment knew no bounds, and the darkness seemed to envelope me with taunts and disapproving finger wagging … and but of course we waited till EVERYONE left their seats when the show ended, before we made our way outside and eventually home, our individual homes anyways …
And while I did "blame" her for a short time afters (for letting me snore away), I eventually realized ( years later, when I grew out from my long-fermenting mandolescense) that she was a "keeper". Less the matter of embarrassment, and more for self-comfort, now THAT is a sure winner in my book!
… but alas, we never did go on a second (I was too chicken-shit to ask) and she eventually left the company and I did not keep in touch.
Funnily, as I type this out, the music from the video of Nosferatu played in my earphones, and the tune so far sort of matched the chronicled ups and downs of my "adventure" pretty decently, even if only on the first listen (and even if the music was not the original score anyways). Which made me miss her even more, actually.
I wonder how she is doing these salad days. Married with blessed children no doubt, and letting her husband sleep and snore to his comfort?
But like a sunrise across the beautiful landscape, the memory fades and a new day dawns, and poor old Nosferatu slinks back into his coffin …
Cheers
Andy TOYSREVIL
