Fifteen years and one lifetime ago, on a continent far, far away, before the world’s saddest day, and before Michael Cera would go on to play Alan, Justin and I watched Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist. We watched it in our cute apartment on the rue du Bois-Melly and we loved it. What I remember though, more than anything, is how the movie made me feel: it made me nostalgic for my college years and it made me miss New York. It made me feel the bittersweet joy of looking back on a well-spent youth that was truly over.
Today, Amazon’s Kindle deals included the book the movie is based on for $1.99, so I bought it for the memorie. But tonight I decided to rewatch the movie. And it produced the strangest sort of double nostalgia. It still made me feel nostalgic for my college years and it still made me miss New York. But it also made me deeply nostalgic for my life from fifteen years and one lifetime ago when Justin and I watched and loved this movie together. I sat here in 2023 and remembered myself watching this movie in 2008, remembering my life in 1996.
In 1996, I never imagined where I would be in 2008. And in 2008, I certainly never imagined where I would be in 2023. That the journey should take such unexpected twists is both the miracle and the curse of life. Who knows where I will be when I watch this movie again.
