This Movie ~ fiction by Carolyn R. Russell

This movie will open with a drone shot that swoops over a dappled body of water towards a glittering urban skyline. Or with its central character facing the camera, answering questions from an unseen interrogator. Or with a traumatic confrontation that will later prove to be a flashback.

This movie will explore a flawed but lovable protagonist prone to making terrible choices in the name of love. Or a flawed but lovable anti-hero whose behavior is deeply amoral but whose wit and charisma make them ridiculously appealing. Or a group of reunited comrades determined to atone for past mistakes by pulling off just one more caper.

This movie will end with two characters who initially hate each other clenched in a romantic embrace. Or with a child or civilization saved against all odds. Or with a mournful theme song that suggests all victories are Pyrrhic.

This movie will squash me flat and formless for two hours while I think of nothing but its femme fatale and her smoke-lit eyes. Or of the countless hours that have no doubt gone into creating its 18th Century royal court gowns. Or of its extras—are they real or digital?

This movie will eat up two hours of my life during which I won’t dwell on the man sitting next to me on the sofa who keeps glancing at his phone, leaning slightly away from me to block any potentially visible texts. Or on the crumpled receipt found half underneath the bathroom trash basket from a fancy restaurant I’ve never been to. Or the way his hands clench when he hears my voice asking what does he want, popcorn or M&Ms, his offhand mumbled answer indecipherable yet blistering.

This movie is one I will watch in years to come to mark the anniversary of an unexpected plot twist, one neither of us saw coming, but which changed our perceptions of everything that came before, and certainly after. This movie has a most satisfying narrative arc. No spoilers, though.

It’s coming to a theater near you.

A Best Microfiction 2024 winner and Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best Small Fictions nominee, Carolyn R. Russell’s creative nonfiction, poetry, and short stories have been featured in numerous publications. She has also authored four books, including a multi-genre flash collection called Death and Other Survival Strategies (Vine Leaves Press, 2023). Carolyn lives on and writes from Boston’s North Shore. More at http://carolynrrussell.com/.