The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
the very first film i ever saw in theaters. i was only six years old! and then i saw it endless times from reruns on cable, but i actually haven't sat down and watched this from start to finish in more than a decade. and this was my first time with the extended edition.
there's something irresistible about the world in particular to the fellowship. it's the delicate time spent in forming the world in the frame. the time spent in the shire unto rivendell, from the precious reunion of <PERSON> and <PERSON> to the sudden visual splendor that is the realm of the elves. 462
it's the incredibly small start to the huge epic lying in the distance. it's the small group that is the fellowship, formed out of an irreconcilable state of amounting pressures, all of different backgrounds and trajectories. the setpieces and stakes are all still so small and intimate. and there's enough time given to the fellowship before it falls apart, so that we see the fall and then redemption of <PERSON>. a beautiful moment of hope in the face of despair as we hit credits. everything counted for, this one is the one for me. 352