Cheryl Gets a Timeout 

Sunday afternoon I savored the experience of slowing down enough to absorb beauty and nuance. I have the talented storytellers and image-makers of the narrative film “Found Memories” to thank, and for that I am grateful, as truly slowing down is such a rarity in my world.  I’m mostly on the fast track and all about getting a lot done while playing hard and working hard.  For hours after seeing the film “Found Memories” I moved gently through my day, even thinking at a mellowed pace.

I love it when a movie transports you into an out-of-the-ordinary state of consciousness. It’s hard to put into words what allows this to happen, but here are a few of the components that came into play for me during Sunday’s experience.

This gem of a film is sprinkled with gorgeous black & white photography embedded into a timeless story about an out-of-time tiny village in Brazil.  It’s a story of life, death and reawakening.  The deliciously slow pacing and imagery are almost hypnotic. We see a countryside full of abandoned railroad tracks, cracked and beautifully aged plaster walls in the villages’ crumbling buildings, and weathered wooden doors. The film’s original title in Portugese -- “Stories That Exist Only When Remembered”/ Historias Que So Existem Quando Lembradas -- embody the spirit of the film which journeyed from a beautiful, simple narrative with gorgeous cinematography into a complex story with subtle shades of fantasy and metaphysics.

For the rest of my day, after watching the film, I found myself looking, feeling, sensing in a deeper way, with a cinematographer and screenwriter’s eye and ear.  Thank you RiverRun for bringing all these worlds, these “others” into our lives for ten days of delights, new experiences and mind-expanding, truly lovely moments.

“Found Memories” screens again at 8:30 p.m. on Monday night at a/perture. Go if you love beauty!