Movie at Moma

Grandmother on mother's side was pretty cool. Her NYC lifestyle was far out. 

She was a pretty radical sustainable living advocate, and this was in the 80's. Most of her wardrobe was bought from the homeless guy on the corner. A lot of her hip decor was stuff she found on the streets, all kinds of stuff from Eames chairs, to fancy art. She would customize everything from cushions to curtains, she folded and compressed her garbage, dried and re-used her paper towels, and would spend a lot of time complaining if you did not follow her strict environmental policies. 

She was not poor, but frugal. She knew how to be elegant, but was never over the top. Saving money on all this rubbish allowed her some extra cash to spend on the stuff she liked. We had constant calls from charity associations, asking for Mrs. Stern if she would be making her donation that year. We would get stickers and posters and postcards from many of theses charities, World Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace, Wolves of New England, the list went on. 

Grandma would occasionally donate to cultural institutions, PBS Channel 13, her favorite network, got so much money from her, the Juliard School, always gave us tickets to concerts, the Metropolitan Museum and The Museum of Modern Art, also collected nice checks from my gram's. 

There were benefits, aside from her peace of mind. Good seats, invites, catalogs, and a VIP feeling. 

So the Moma was having a screening of short films, for which some reason Grandma was interested, and had tickets. She took me, her 9 year old grandson, along for the ride. No Ninja Turtles or Charles In Charge for me that afternoon, I was in for some life changing culture. 

The first 2 movies were boring and adult themed. Made me get up and wander off to a drinking fountain and made me analyze and entertain myself with that water mechanism for at least 40 minutes. Bored again, I head back to my seat, as a I reach for Grandma's thin skin hands. The next movie comes up, and as boring as it was, I gave it a try. 

It was the story of two girls who had gotten a new apartment, and were living a dreamy romantic honeymoon lifestyle. It began with the two girls contemplating the wonderful view of their huge loft. The next day, they are eating sushi made by a private kimono wearing oriental chef. Another day, and they have an array of candy spread out on the floor, and binge and laughing like two teens. After a few events I can't recall, one of the girls decides to have a swing set installed in the living room, facing the window. They swing and have fun, and the experience of that great view, is even more exciting. 

Soon, after some disagreement, one of the girls leaves, and next thing we see, is an empty swing, swinging,   

The camera pans over the swing, and out onto the balcony, and tilts down from the skyline, zooming with a soft racked focus down to the streets. There, surrounded by blood and people, the body of the girl that was on the swing. 

The movie ends and lights go on. 

"Wasn't that wonderful?" - grandma says.