Almost Famous

I watched Almost Famous for the first time when I was around 16, and it’s never really left my head since. It just hits me on a level nothing else quite has, whether it’s the soundtrack being perfectly aligned with my tastes, or the fact that William is far closer to teenage me than anyone with trying to uphold any real dignity should admit. But for one reason or another, I never went back to watch it. And now, as I’m starting my third year of uni maybe 5 years later I finally set the afternoon aside to watch it. It’s still incredible, but in a very different way. On first watch, I very clearly did not take in the very obvious messages about trying to be someone you’re not, or being fooled by everyone else’s performances of being above you, but we got there in the end.  And as a final point, I honestly don’t think anything will ever match how the end of this film felt just now. In the time since my first watch, Led Zeppelin has firmly become my very favourite band, with Tangerine being my very favourite song. I’ve spent the last 3-4 years thinking that was a totally organic thing to have come about. But today I finally rewatched Almost Famous, and realised the film ends with that very song. That felt like being hit by a ton of bricks. (In a nice way)