Goodbye David and Margaret (AM)

While I was away, I heard one piece of news from home that made my heart feel funny, made me feel far far away and and made me want to rush back as soon as I could. The news of David and Margaret's retirement. 

David and Margaret. 

Those loveable wags. I've been watching them since I was a kid. Actually, probably since I was a teenager mucking around at J's house where watching SBS was a legitimate choice. The Movie Show was a show about my favourite thing, and in those early days when I watched and liked a lot more movies than I do now, it was a way to build excitement for my favourite thing. Back then, by the time  a movie had reached the point of review on The Movie Show, we'd probably been reading about it in TV Hits for months. But the review meant that the moment had finally arrived, the movie was going to come out (on Thursday, of course) and we were finally going to see it for ourselves. Margaret and David provided the last surge of hype before it was time to pay our $7.50. 

Back then, it didn't matter what they thought, I had already made up my mind whether I wanted to see it. Point Break is a total lemon, David and Margaret? What do I care, Keanu Reeves is in it. You say My Own Private Idaho is flawed and unsure of itself with unnecessarily arty sex scenes, David and Margaret?  What do I care, Keanu Reeves AND River Phoenix are in it. 

Of course, as I got older I listened to what they had to say a bit more and balanced it against my need to see hunks on screen. I learnt a lot from them and I learnt a lot about where my tastes lie (basically a lot of Margaret but with a strong flourish of David from time to time.) Most of the time, you could count on them to refrain from spoilers, though Margaret can't help herself sometimes. But, when Margaret gives a spoiler, it's usually because she's been moved by a scene and feels compelled to talk about it. Which goes to what I think makes David and Margaret so appealing to me, the thing that made me want to watch their show every week. Those guys really, truly, unmistakably feel something about films. They can talk intelligently about them, they can interpret them in ways and place them in contexts that I can't dream of, but the reviews that are the most striking are the reviews of films that they just plain loved. Like this one. 

Because that's how I am too. I really feel something for films. So when I heard the news, I felt some feelings, I realised that these guys mean a lot to me and I would miss them when they go.