Christian Bale gets to me.

He does that.

The last time he did that was of course after seeing The Dark Knight. I hadn't seen Batman Begins, but the guy seemed familiar. Kind of a face of a family album. Some googling made me realize that he is indeed family: I have spent my childhood watching him in Newsies over and over again. Couldn't be made to leave the TV set. Lunch had to be brought in. New methods of fast tape rewind had to be experimented on and introduced. Four years ago, more than ten years after the Newsies, I was literally shocked when I made the connection. That this guy is my guy. There is a blog entry on that moment of elevation at another blog, but I wouldn't bother reading it again, so you shouldn't either.

But the thing is that after four years he invaded my life again. And it is not the latest Batman. It hasn't even been shown in Hungary. It is his bloody appearing in important films of my life. And it is my bloody not recognizing it is him.

Christian Bale as Howl

He is in Newsies, yes, I can live with that now. But just an hour ago it turned out that he dubbed Howl in Hayao Miyazaki's perfect film, Howl's Moving Castle. If there is a film I adore, consider perfect, enjoy from the first moment to the last, and wouldn't mind my own child watching from morning till late night (the way I used to do with Newsies,) it is Howl's Moving Castle. Anyone who hasn't seen it: watch it. Watch it and let yourself be submerged in the tale. In the deepest depth of the story. Of lies and truths. Of life. Dubbed by Christian Bale.

Then there is this CD I know by heart. I know teenagers know tons of hits by heart, I also used to (and still do) know many, but this one is special because it used to inspire me into making up small coreographies in my gran's richly furnished living room. It is a soundtrack. You can feel it is one because of the boring parts. But every second track or so is swing, beautiful swing, and that makes up for the boredom. For all those years I have been listening to it I haven't had the slightest ideas about the film it belongs to. But of course now it is not hard to guess that it is a Christian Bale movie. It is Swing Kids. Haven't heared of it until 30 minutes ago. I start watching then I realize it a) has Christian Bale b) I know every beat by heart.

A really lousy studio shot.

It is wierd to watch something you can actually adjust your breathing to. It is also wierd to feel your feet move before your eyes take in the action. Especially with regard to statistics showing that 87 % of human perception is visual.

Finally, a thing I have been aware: he played an alterego of Bob Dylan in I'm not there - The Lives of Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan is the most influential music icon of my life. Funny that I've known this.

So all this time I've been living my life, finding confort in music, books, films, friends, books, hobbies, dance, books, and Christian Bale has been doing his random appearances.

And I had no clue.

What a waste.

But now that I think of it, not recognizing is the best bit of this whole stuff! Not a waste at all! Me living my life, finding confort in music, books, films, friends, books, hobbies, dance, books, Christian Bale doing his random appearances in the background. It is just the way things should be.
Normal.
Then.
I am sure it is FATE that enhances it.
All at once.
Without any effort.
Without signs.
Warnings.
All the randomness gives way to a certain pattern.
And I see it.
Heartbeat.
I recognise him in my favourite things.
Heartbeat.
He gets to me.