ARIK DEVENS

2023

What a year. What a wonderful, terrible, all the things year. I can’t really believe it’s already almost over, but here we are. I will be traveling for the rest of the year, so this is my last opportunity to sum things up with a final entry. It’s a tradition I’ve been doing since 2015, something that just doesn’t seem possible even as I know it’s true.

This has been another challenging year for movie watching. I set a new, and wholly unwanted record, for fewest entries on the site. I really thought 2022 would be the nadir, but... that’s life for you. To be honest, the reason I haven’t had time is the best possible one, it’s because I’m now a father to two incredible young kids who take up all my time, and I remain a husband to the best partner I can imagine.

Still, I do hope that time will begin to turn in my favor again. It should, all things being equal, but I am wise enough at this point not to make any predictions about when that will happen. What I will do is what I did last year, just celebrate the fact that I found as much time as I did, and enjoy the memories of these incredible cinematic experiences. Especially given the ending of this year, which sees us still in the middle of a terrible war, one which affects my family directly, but thankfully not in the sense that any of us is currently in harms way.

My hopes for 2024 are almost entirely non-film related. I hope that people will lose the selective empathy that is driving so much of the division and hatred around the world. I hope people will rediscover our shared humanity and build a better future together. I hope my children will continue to grow into curious and delightful small people. I hope my wife and I will continue to grow together, the branches of our shared tree intertwining more and more together. I hope for peace and love and safety and calm. Thanks for reading everyone and I’ll see you next year. - Dec 12th, 2023