Lock Down Life – The Power of Comfort Films.

As I have posted about previously, I have been spending time during lockdown catching up on movies I never got around to seeing for various reasons, but I’ve also been indulging in a few old favourites. Some of these have very much been “comfort” films. The cinematic equivalent of a tub of ice cream and your favourite blanket on the sofa. 

My comfort films often feel like good friends giving me a big hug and can help swing a mood back to at least neutral if not a turn it into a good one. Of course, comfort films are a very personal thing and mine will not be yours, but we all do have at least one film guaranteed to make you feel good. 

Recently I gained a new one. Just at the start of all this, I watched Blinded The Light. The way it depicted how the music felt when Javid connected with the lyrics and the sound knocked my socks off. It was the closest I’ve ever seen to that feeling depicted on screen. It doesn’t matter who the artist is when you connect like that it’s something else and now I don’t need to try and put into words, I can point at those scenes. It moved from being a film I’d simply watched for the first time to the comfort film category when on a day when I was feeling a bit low my niece asked if she could watch it with us all in the living room. It was just what I needed, even though it had only been a few weeks since I’d seen it. 

My regular fall back comfort movie is The Cat From Outer Space. I saw it at the cinema as a kid and it’s part of the stories told about my childhood. (Ok, I may have clambered over the seats trying to get to the cat of the screen as it looked like my neighbour’s pet. Thankfully said neighbour was in charge of the cinema so we weren’t asked to leave!) 
When I signed up to DisneyPlus recently it was the first film I watched on the platform. 

My ultimate comfort movie, the one that if I mention on social media that I am watching would have certain friends checking that I’m alright is Fierce Creatures. For some reason, this tends to pull me out of some very deep doldrums. It has already had a viewing in the last few weeks! 

Old favourites are like old friends now, Battle Beyond The Stars, Field of Dreams, Still Crazy, Flight of the Navigator, The Boat That Rocked, Blow Dry, Jungle Book – there’s actually I have quite a lot of them, far too many to list. 

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Author: anne-marie

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