I was looking through one of my Youtube channels last night, and I realised I hadn’t thought about some of the texts that consumed me as a vidder for a very long time.

To explain, what basically used to happen was that I’d watch something, a film or a TV show, and then, if it took my fancy, I’d write some fanfiction or make a fanvid (a selection of clips from the text, set to a song) that would tell a particular story. Most of the time these were shamelessly romantic, because what always attracts me to a story is the romance in it. No great surprises, there, I suppose!

Anyway, over the years I amassed quite a number of vids, and even more exist on the virtual ‘cutting room floor’ of various hard drives I’ve had since 2005 when I learned how to make videos. One of my favourites was the one I did for David Duchovny and Minnie Driver’s 2000 film and  directed by the amazing Bonnie Wright, Return to Me. I loved this film for so many reasons; the naturalistic dialogue, the beautiful city setting, the poignant ‘hook’ of the narrative, and, of course, the lovely onscreen partnership of Driver and Duchovny, who tell the story of Grace and Bob, and their developing relationship so beautifully that it makes me cry every time. The IMDB sums the story up thus: A man who falls in love with the woman who received his wife’s heart must decide which woman it is who holds his heart. 

There are several great ‘Bob and Grace’ moments; the fist kiss…dancing in the back yard, the bicycle scene…but what caps it all is their final kiss. There’s something so perfect, so beautiful about the way he initiates the kiss with such a gentle touch, and she, so wonderingly, reciprocates. I hadn’t realised what an influence on my own writing moment like this have been over the years, but when I watched the vid I’d done for the film last night, it all made sense.

I think I owe one other thing to Return to Me, as well; another unconscious addition, but there’s a specific shot of David Duchovny (who, like my own Matthew Carter is 6 feet 3 in his socks!), in a grey t-shirt and jeans. That torso…those arms…those long, long legs…*sigh*. I’ve loved him since Mulder, and I think I always will. And if there’s ever a ‘Fever Pitch’ style reimagining of Far From the Tree stateside, he’d make a great Matthew!

So here’s the vid I made – I wanted to capture the way that Grace saves Bob and vice versa; all love stories should be told like the one in this film!