"Moon River, wider than a mile...

...I'm crossing you in style someday." Moon River, by Henry Mancini, sung in Breakfast at Tiffany's starring Audrey Heburn.

Here is the whole song, just for kicks...

Moon River, wider than a mile

I'm crossing you in style, someday.

Dream-maker, you heart-breaker,

Where ever you're going, I'm going your way.

Two drifters, off to see the world

There's such a lot of world to see.

We're after the same rainbow's end,

Waiting round the bend,

My Huckleberry friend--

Moon River and me.

I first got hooked on that song, not from Breakfast at Tiffany's, which made it famous, but from Elizabethtown, with Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst. It plays in the movie. (Though it is not in the store album of the soundtrack--perhaps it is on the itunes version.)

After watching both movies this weeked (Elizabethtown and Breakfast at Tiffany's)--I know, I don't have enough to do!--I am again struck by how very deeply a movie can move a person. I think this is because it too is a work of art, like a book or painting or dance or sculpture. In the same way that a simple picture can change the way we think of the world forevermore, or a written story or poem can give us a certain understanding that makes the difference in our perception of life, or a sculpture can evict emotions and memories in a way which is truly miraculous, so too can a movie can influence.

Point being, the things we see in movies, or in any art, change our view of the world. After Elizabethtown, road trips--even little ones--are a time for me to listen to music and search my soul. A person going through a hard time is a person I pour encouragement into, by way of happy-chatter, personal (and usually homemade) presents, and especially time. And when people make public fools of themselves at something like a funeral, I think of the tap dance and eulogy about organic cooking and comedy lessons. But after Breakfast at Tiffany's I wanted to print out the chords for Moon River and strum on my guitar. Speaking of Breakfast at Tiffany's...

As I came home from meeting some girl friends at Pizza Hut, after studying all afternoon at the Library, I needed some serious chill time. As I straightened my room (to the playlist entitled, "Gentle Melancholy") I thought about Elizabethtown--and then Moon River came on in the playist--and tried to decide what movie to watch. Big decision, huh? I reheated some chinese takeout, made a big cup of black tea, lit a candle, turned out the lights, and watched Breakfast at Tiffany's with my own little kitty-cat on my lap.

Talk about Bachelorette moment!

I thought to myself, "Where's the camera and crew?--Because I'm living in a chick flick."

How ironic.