Admit One: My Life in Film by Emmett James

ISBN-13: 9780984258109
Publisher: Fizzypop Productions, LLC
Published: February 2010
216 pgs
Source: Online Publicist

I have to admit I rarely read memoirs or autobiography and tend to be choosy even if I do so. When Lisa of Online Publicist contacted me for a review of this book, I have to say yes because this is a book about movies (who wouldn't love watching movies, right?), but most of all I am intrigued by Emmett James' journey into the film industry.

In Admit One, Emmett James tells his story about his childhood days in England (where he share with us bits of his relationship with his family and friends) as well as how he has stepped into the film industry through hard work and not to mention his creativity mind. I like the idea that he cleverly crafted each chapter with a movie title which has somehow made an impact of his life at that point of time, which I find this to be refreshing and in line with the subject of the memoir.

Reading through these chapters made me think of some movies I had watched when I was a teenager (e.g. Star Wars, E.T., Ghostbusters, etc), while some movies remind me a certain phrase of my life. I may not have watched all the movies he listed, but then I was intrigued and amused by his witty style of writing. Let me show you an example of his writing style (I am afraid the passage is a little long, but I liked it because it made me chuckle):

Throughout my life I have tortured myself by watching certain films over and over again purely for the thrill of being terrified. The Amityville Horror, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Psycho, Carrie, The Exorcist, Halloween, and Poltergeist were all very dodgy films for a kid to be sat in front of, but films that every kid has sat in front of. There was always the distinct possibility that seeing these types of movies as a child could turn you into a person liable to break into little bits upon seeing a priest clutching a Bible or if you witnessed another child place their hands on a television screen. Certain films cause universal reactions no matter where in the world you were born or bred. If you have seen Jaws, you have done the bloody music while flailing around in the ocean. It's a 100 percent certainty. And if you're as stupid as I was, you have attacked your unsuspecting family members with the double whammy - the stupid music and your arm stuck vertically out of the water replicating the fin, cunningly disguised as an arm (and just as deadly). ~ Chapter Eleven, The Amityville Horror (1979), Pg 78

I think my favourite chapter among all has to be Titanic, a blockbuster which I enjoyed immensely and one which still touches my heart to this day. Reading about Emmett James' role in this film has allowed me to get a glimpse of the artiste's life in general and how they had worked hard to perfect their roles to meet the expectations of James Cameron, the well-known director who also received much praise on his recent work, Avatar (I was totally wowed by the special effects).

There are, of course, many more chapters that I enjoyed in this memoir but like movies, it is always best to experience that feeling for yourself. That said, I shall end this post with a few passages taken from the memoir which I think is so true:

People in general want to be moved when they buy a ticket to a film. They enter the cinema with an open heart and mind hoping to be in some way emotionally affected, an openness that is unfortunately rare in today's cynical society... ...There was never any judgment passed by society while within those hallowed walls.

Film holds the power to alter a person's thinking, juxtaposing the huge world and one's small place in it... ...Most intriguingly, though, it holds within its transfixing, flickering light the possibility of pure imagination. Nothing could be more important.

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