Admit One

by Emmett James

I thoroughly enjoyed this memoir of a young British boy who grows up with the desire to be a movie star. Emmett James grew up loving the movies and looked forward to seeing one every Saturday. Each chapter opens with the title of a movie that correlates to an incident from his own life. Here's a quote from the introduction:

I wrote this book under the guise that the key to experiencing film, without losing relevance and meaning, is context. The environment, mood, personal history and circumstances in which a person sees a film changes that film in a necessary, unique and exciting way. It creates a whole new story - a living, breathing film. The film of one's life.

Interesting. We could say the same thing about experiencing a book, couldn't we?

It was interesting to read about a young boy growing up in England in the 1980s because it was so different from my life growing up female in the 60s in America. And yet going to the movies was a highlight for us both. His movies were Jungle Book, Grease, ET; while mine were Old Yeller, Big Top, and West Side Story.

I loved running across British terminology and wished I'd made a written note rather than only a mental note of all the fun words as the mental note fades so fast. The only word that comes to mind right now is nick, meaning to shoplift.

When Emmett moves to LA he receives quite the culture shock and makes some interesting comments about things that I take for granted as part of the American life style. He talks about the sunny climate and that the only season in LA is the Oscar season and what a big change there is in throughout the whole area in getting ready for it. He had many interesting experiences trying to land acting jobs. Poor guy!

All-in-all, an enjoyable book with some nuggets of insight into life. I liked it.