“Meet Joe Black (1998)” was a movie about the Angel of Death and his earthly dialogue with a wealthy media mogul during his last days.  In the film, the wealthy man acts as a guide to Death who, in the form of a young man, falls in love with the man’s beautiful daughter.  Called by some as a “minimalist masterpiece,” you need patience and focus to get all the movie has to offer.

Here’s one thing I got from the film, and a subsequent clip on T.V. sometime after it was released:  During a particular scene, Joe Black and  “Jamaican Woman” (as noted in the script) are having a conversation about life.  She waxes deeply philosophical in her discourse. At one point she says to him in some sort of summary thesis,

…But the truth is, it bound to happen if you stay long enough. So take that nice picture you got in your head home with you, but don’t be fooled. We lonely here mostly too. If we lucky, maybe, we got some nice pictures to take with us.

Later in an interview, Brad Pitt who played the Joe Black character reflected on that line.  He said, in paraphrased form, “She’s right, ya know…life goes by and every once in a while we get a few snapshots to take with us.  Perfect pictures we hold on to.”

I remember the interview like it was yesterday because of the look on Pitt’s face when he was talking.  I don’t know what he was thinking about at the time, or why he chose that particular quote to talk about, but I thought about it last week out of the blue.  I wondered if our RDC team would get to capture a “perfect picture” somewhere along their Thanksgiving holiday time as they were together with family or friends.

Continue reading Perfect Pictures: Post-Thanksgiving Reflections, “Meet Joe Black” Style →