My Christmas trip to America has been great so far, despite a few minor complaints: A teenager who can't fully kick jet lag and has the mood to match it, bitterly cold weather without the offsetting benefit of any snow. But the family time has been really good and the logistics have mostly matched that.
One thing I thought had the potential to derail me was that I was getting a weird error when I tried to post my review for All We Imagine as Light, which I watched via screener last Monday and which opens in Australian cinemas on Boxing Day. I had intentionally watch it a number of days before the start of my trip because I wanted to give myself ample opportunities to write the review, whenever the mood struck me or the time allowed me. And I ended up getting it written a few days ago in our AirBnB.
When I went to prepare it for posting, though -- knowing I'd actually post it some eight hours later when it was Monday morning in Australia -- I was getting an error on Wordpress that a database connection could not be established.
I had first gotten this the day before, when I'd gone to paste the text of my review into the site just as a form of backup (in case anything should happen to my computer), but I was headed out the door and I waved it off as a weird temporary thing.
Well, it may have still been temporary, but it was still happening 24 hours later.
I'd make small bits of progress, getting into the body of the review itself, but then when I tried to upload a photo and save it, it would crash back into that error again. And after a while, I wasn't even getting back into the review or even the screen where I'm meant to log in.
I looked this up online and determined that the most likely explanation was a password issue. This did not make much sense, though. I haven't changed that password in nearly five years, which is obviously a security problem, but has never presented any other sort of problem. In fact, I'm not even sure I know what the password is, though it's probably saved in my browser. It's possible they put an expiration on the password, but if so, I did not receive a notification of it. But because I couldn't get the login page to load, I couldn't even try to reset the password, if that's what was wrong.
Then I wondered whether it was an issue with the particular WiFi connection I had in our AirBnB, knowing that I was probably grabbing at straws. So I went over to my father's house next door -- yes, convenient location for our AirBnB -- and had the same issue.
Then I started to worry about a more sinister possibility: The film festival guys had cut me off.
I don't know if I've told you about this, but ReelGood, the site I write for, also has a short film festival that runs each year in March. (I'm sure I've told you, but maybe not recently.) Both things grew out of the same creator, but he stepped away from both in 2020, and since then they have grown apart both in function and in staff. I don't have anything to do with their festival (except when promoting it in the weeks beforehand) and they don't have anything to do with my website.
Because the festival is, arguably, the more prominent usage of our brand, they have at times wondered if the thing I'm doing -- basically just reviewing feature-length movies -- is actually consistent with their focus on short films by Australian filmmakers. Theirs is very specifically focused on the country where we're located, and mine barely ever has that focus, though I am slightly more likely to try to make sure Australian films get covered than any random film website would be.
So it was easy to wonder if some change had been made to my access or something, poorly timed for just before Christmas.
I emailed one guy from the festival, who has helped me with technical issues in the past, but got a bounceback email that he is no longer with the festival. Which I would have known if I'd been able to attend this year's annual general meeting in November, but I had a conflict and couldn't. So I emailed another guy, a guy I know much better but who is less technically oriented, and waited with bated breath. I of course didn't accuse them of anything, just wondering if they knew anything about any possible change.
The guy got back to me once it was Australian morning again, and no, he didn't know anything.
And then I got back on the site and it was working fine.
Who knows?
So yes, the review is now up and you can read it here if you want.
And though this movie would not have anything to do with Christmas, being set in India and all, it does have the credentials of an awards hopeful released in the holiday season (it's already been nominated for a Golden Globe and an Oscar will likely follow). Besides, the concept of light is certainly a seasonal one.
So I hope you'll let a little light into this darkest time of the year -- in the cold state of Maine, at least, where we're truly having to imagine the light -- with a really good movie.
And if I don't talk to you again before Christmas, have a merry one.