Statham Day

A year ago today I was sat in a room noticeable only for its emotional sterility and unbreakable mirrors.

I was in the room because I was in the middle of a month long stay in the local nut house for treatment for depression.  I was seriously considering killing myself. 

Exactly how I would do this hadn't fully crystallised in my mind yet. It was not something I really wanted to attempt multiple times.  In the meantime I was looking for ways to kill time instead. Unfortunately the usual procession of therapy sessions today had been cancelled and replaced with an open day.  The idea of being surrounded by strangers is enough to send me running for cover at the best of times.  This was not the best of times.

I had been given two box sets of films recently. Each focusing on the work of a different actor.  The first was Paul Newman,  one of the finest actors of his or any generation.  The second set featured four films from the career of Jason Statham. No contest, right?

Exactly

War and Chaos are exactly what you would expect from Statham films co-starring Wesley Snipes and Jet Li respectively. Not in anyway good but ultimately inoffensive.   The Bank Job was even quite fun in its own way.

The one that made the day stand out however was Revolver.  Someone told me later that it is based on Kaballa.  That may or may not be true. What I can tell you is that it was total and utter shite. The plot makes no sense, the acting is appalling and as for the ending ? Fuck! I have rarely felt so angry and never before at a supposed piece of art. This was a film so bad that I as a person who was seriously considering suicide still felt angry at having my previous hours on this planet wasted.

I wouldn't say that the film cured my depression because it didn't. A long time later I realised that if I was capable of that sort of visceral reaction to a film then maybe I could cope with life after all and that you don't have to enjoy every experience.  Sometimes you just have to make it through until something better comes along.

And so, a year later, I still haven't overdosed or jumped in front of a train or off a high bridge or acted out any of the other scenarios I had thought of. For this in some small way I thank the power of shitty films and specifically; The Stath.  And so I name June 23rd Statham Day in the great man's honour.