Titles just come to me and I have the Google Keep app that keeps track of these spiritual downloads. The one I grabbed from the list – Unpack Your Feelings – fits what I want to say today. Typically this is how I speak to myself in a Dream Diary entry so I created a new category for this type of blog post.
Is it safe for me to express what an emotional effect the newest version of A STAR IS BORN had on me? The 1976 version is listed as one of my favourite movies alongside The Wizard of Oz. So… going into the Landmark theatre, landing in the comfy reclining seats and preparing myself for what I knew was coming had me on high emotional alert. I knew what I was in for. Beautiful music, romance, addiction struggle, pain, loss. In other words, intense emotion. Was I going to allow myself to feel the emotions? That was the question posed to me from my younger brother Ryan.
Emotion. You don’t have a choice. The music sucks you in. The actors suck you in. You can’t help getting caught up in it. I was struggling for the words to express how I was feeling after the movie and this was the text I sent to Ryan. (featured image & screenshot below) I have since described the feeling as “Tears in my ears”.
This movie allowed me to unpack my feelings. To bring back fond childhood memories when I saw the movie at the age of 8. That experience had me wanting to be like Barbra Streisand. To sing. To love deeply. To be a star at what I choose to do.
It was also the first time I was on the phone long distance with my Aunty Brenda who owned the record. She made me an 8 track tape and mailed it to me. So not only did I get to talk on the phone long distance, I received a treasured package in the mail that I continued to listen to up to the age of 19 going on 20. I had an 8 track cassette player in the 1973 Gremlin I was driving at that age. My older brother Chad gave me that car. Most people had cassette players in their vehicles at that time. (1987/1988)
Barbra Streisand’s song “With One More Look At You/Watch Closely Now” begins with these lyrics:
With one more look at you
I could learn to tame the clouds
And let the sun shine through
~~~~~~
I have been singing this song to my children for years. My 8 year old son joins in now when I sing it and he has never heard Barbra sign it yet. I sent a link to the YouTube video to my daughter after she saw the 2018 – A Star is Born.
Since the day of seeing the movie with my friend Corinne (Saturday Oct 13th, 2018), I find myself watching the YouTube videos of the songs. I wake up in the night with the song “Shallow” playing in my mind. The best part of this video is at the 1:46 mark to 1:49 where Lady Gaga’s character Ally takes the song up a few thousand notches and seeing Bradley Cooper’s character – Jackson’s reaction to it. Fills my heart up fast!
Are you going to allow this movie to unpack your feelings for you also? It is very therapeutic. If you have been stressed out about anything, it reaches inside you and releases it. Love it! Love it! Love it!
Thank you Bradley Cooper for making this movie. What an impact on the world you have made through your artistic expressions. And choosing Lady Gaga for the lead was a brilliant move. What a shining light!
Blessings,
~ Seann Vinyasa-Billson ~