I was twelve going thirteen when I first watched Stand by Me...

Or thereabouts anyway… So before I get into things, I’ll tell you a little bit about myself, my name is Fraser, a 24-year-old cinephile from Kilmarnock who has recently opened a pop-up cinema in Ayrshire.

Now back to the film, it was one of the first films I remember seeing and understanding that it was well made. I remember being enthralled from the beginning. From the moment the scene opens up in the melancholy town of Castlerock with Richard Dreyfuss solemnly looking over the obituary column of the newspaper I was immediately drawn into the world of Stand by Me. And then, the raspy voiceover kicks in and we are told about the death of his best childhood friend, setting the scene before we are transported back to the fifties and introduced to all the main characters.

And what a bunch of characters! I connected with them immediately. This gang of mistfits from a small town where everyone knows everyone, seemed to reflect somewhat on my own life (not that I ever went in search of a dead body) but I was, and still am, a socially awkward misfit.

But I remember watching the film with my best friend and wanting to go on an adventure like it, and we did, well, to an extent. We packed a bag full of food and head off on our own adventure – okay it was a two mile hike up to a reservoir but I still have fond memories of that day and how we echoed scenes from the film, singing songs and making derogatory jokes about each other’s mothers, probably trespassing as well…

I could talk about this film for hours on end, it is one of the films that helped me fall in love with cinema, but I’m going to end on talking about cinema as a whole: this film has a place close to my heart and I’m sure other people have films they feel the same way about. We all have films that we watch over and over; films that are, in a way, a comfort blanket to us. We have films we watch when we’re sad, and films we watch when we are looking for a thrill (DIE HARD!!!) Films that we sit and watch with the family on Christmas Day (Wizard of Oz for me) while Grandpa pretends to fall asleep on the couch but blows his cover when he finds himself singing along.

Music can move people, pictures can move people, put the two together and that’s the golden ticket. Cinema is beautiful escapism, it has the power to make us laugh, make us cry, it can bring people together or tear them apart, (I mean who doesn’t like Jaws?) Anyway for me, I love cinema, I love getting lost in the plot and getting attached to the characters. Cinema is one of the best forms of storytelling we’ve got.