Flickin': Now and Then

Last night was one emo trip for me as I scoured my shelves for a movie to watch. As soon as I saw Now & Then, I knew it was the movie to pop into the DVD player.

IMDB says: A summer when four friends made a promise to return anytime they needed each other. Twenty years later, that time has come.

A summer when four friends made a promise to return anytime they needed each other. That time has come.
In every woman there is the girl she left behind.

Now and Then (1995) starring Christina Ricci, Demi Moore, Rosie O'Donell, Thora Birch, Melanie Griffith and etc. was one of the movies shown when I was an 11 year old trying to find my place in the world. I felt that as the girls were discovering crushes, first kisses, riding bikes (this I learned when I was 18), parent-issues, sneaking out etc., I was one with them with growing up.

I particularly felt nostalgic when Sam (Moore) was driving back to Shelby, Indiana to see childhood friends and Sophie Hawkins' As I Lay Me Down came playing. Somehow it hit me harder now, after 13 years since its first showing since there were lessons I had learned the hard way, traits developed and never knew I had, and people who helped shape who I am now.

Melancholy aside, I find the scene where the girls were painting Roberta's (Ricci) front gate very funny and a light-hearted, almost kilig moment. Sugar, sugar was the particular song then and they were singing along, wearing men's polo (there goes that again) and I couldn't help but reminisce my days as a kid who wore my brother's shirts because I found them more enticing to wear than spaghetti strap tops.

I initially thought that Ricci's character was the one I related to the most, but since last night, I realized it was Thora Birch's performance as Tinny that moved me and shook me to the core. You see, she was the one who had Hollywood dreams, tinkered with make-up at 11 (yes, I did that, too!) and felt insecure not having boobies at that time. Ha! I know!

But more than anything else, it was the fact that she didn't spend that MUCH time with her parents. Like her, my parents were career-people and left me to the care of my yaya. I've never regretted it and somehow it made me who I am today so all is cool. :)

As Demi Moore said in this poignant movie: In every woman there is the girl she left behind.

I am no exception.