Next month it'll be the fifth anniversary of the death of my wife's father but that's not the only reason his latest movie is getting rave reviews. He did not begin his acting life being very good and he did not end it much better. Postmortem his talent was the clay and wrap of the skill of computer wizards and even my dislike for the man (don't call it hate because it wasn't) doesn't prevent me from seeing the increasing brilliancy of his on-screen performance. Magda can be proud of the intelligence with which she's managing her legacy. She would be happy, I think, if not for her self-sustaining grief. She tells her staff she stays so long in our mansion's basement screening room reviewing their output from the point of view of the audience but I know what she's doing. She's spending time with a father who for the first time she can rely on to stay.
Even when he bothered to try to pretend there was never half as much love in his live eyes as there are now in his avatar's during emotional scenes. I don't blame Magda for her mourning-slash-fantasy (there's also all the money coming in: our lawyers are clever and our accountants busy). Now he's too good an actor to look directly at the camera but I'd swear sometimes it seems he looks at her as a father should (and sometimes I could almost believe he's looking at me with a subtle expression of vengefulness and gratitude he would have never achieved without my unasked-for help).