In the early 1930s, a little girl called Mary was filmed by her father eating sand on a beach, sitting in her pushchair, throwing sticks for a dog, pushing a pram, riding a pony and playing with her family.
75 years later, in February 2024, Mary’s London neighbour created a film from the original home movies to celebrate Mary’s 80th birthday, sound-tracking it with “Remember” by Harry Nilsson.
The result is a very powerful and deeply moving portrait of the nature of time – the things that it changes, and the things that remain the same.
Oh – and watch out for a spectacular surprise at 1:30…
Gosh! When the ’surprise’ appears I fair enough welled up. What an astonishing moment.
Wow! (Don’t reveal what the surprise is, anyone! it is indeed spectacular.)
Absolutely beautiful film. My daughter is named Mary which just increased the poignancy for me.
[...] This film was curated by Cool it, Baby!, who also curated the film posted in The 80-year-old Little Girl. [...]
suprise at 1:30? I did not see anything! what am i missing?!
I edited this piece of film and put it to music. Thank you for featuring it here on your excellent website and for your beautifully written introduction. I wish you had told me about it. It’s nice to be appreciated…even nicer to know about it!
I also made this clip about the 80 year old little girl that you might appreciate:-
http://vimeo.com/4448583
Thank you for such a positive comment Peter. I am sorry not to have told you that your film had been featured on “How to be a Retronaut”. I confess to deliberately not telling, as I wanted you to find it organically, and for it to be a surprise – which you did, and it was. I found this film to be extremely moving, and so have many of the people who have commented on it. Thank you for creating such a powerful way of looking at the passage of time.
For me, the surprise was not the ones Chris mentioned,
but one angled shot on Mary in the pram…& then the complete recognition at the end.
Great choice of soundtrack, Peter.
It was the first item I came to on your site, Chris I visit daily & have recommended it to several people I deem
suitable.