My mother? Let me tell you about my mother…

Why is that, Leon?

2017 is a year filled with anniversaries.

2017 happens to be the “incept date” of Leon Kowalski, the above replicant in the original Blade Runner movie from 1982. This year is also the one where fans would finally be treated to the unnecessary sequel, Blade Runner 2049.

Furthermore, 2017 marks the 20th anniversary of my mother’s passing.

It was 35 years ago that she took me along to see Blade Runner. She had a knack for horror and science fiction, and through means which remain unexplained by conventional scientific methods my mother passed it on. My mother was cool.

As kids, after the parents went out to the movies, Mom always recalled the story around the kitchen table the next morning, me eagerly listening and questioning and visualising the film in the way only a child’s innocently vivid imagination could. By the time I finally did get to see Alien (1979) and The Thing (1982) with my own eyes, I already knew much of the plot and the shock moments courtesy of her storytelling.

Mom had an eerily keen sense for a good movie — like the time she dragged us kids off to see Raiders of the Lost Ark (which, on the basis of the poster in the foyer, I thought was going to be a dumb movie). Boy, was I wrong!

Mother knew best.

She knew to pull me away from behind the computer when Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged showed on TV. She knew there was something that needed to be seen when she made me drive her to the new “cult cinema” that screened Reservoir Dogs.

Reservoir Dogs cinema ticket stub

So here’s to you, Mom, and your fantastic taste in cinema!

Wherever you’ll be seeing it, I’m sure you’re looking forward to the upcoming Star Wars movie. After all, it was you who turned me to the Dark Side.

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