I hope I take advice as often as I give it. This is a general ledger I mentally check in with every now and then, but specifically I’m thinking about movie recommendations today

We recently had a Movie Gifts exchange on this site, where people could sign up to “give” a title to another and “receive” one in return. Everybody had to watch the title given to them, which meant everybody could give a recommendation that they knew would actually be followed up on. And it’s gratifying to have a recommendation followed, which is an aspect I often overlook when receiving one. A movie rec is supposedly for the benefit of the recipient. But any time a movie (or book, album, etc) is recommended, it’s a reveal of something about the recommender, however slight.

It can be as simple as revealing a potential shared trait – a particular sense of humor or an ideal of beauty. It can be a signal of something deeper. I remember a few years ago pushing a graphic novel about depression on my wife. In hindsight, I was trying to outwit my own foolishly macho brain and express fears to her that I was struggling with something I barely understood and wasn’t confident I could get under control.

There’s no need to read deep into my Movie Gift recommendation, The Act of Killing. It’s just kind of a hard sell because a documentary about genocide perpetrators sounds like homework on the surface. But thanks to a forced recommendation, my gift recipient (DJ JD) and I can commiserate over the difficulty of getting others to watch it.

How about it, Solutors: What recommendations have you given over and over to deaf ears? What recommendations have you been given that you just can’t find the time/strength/faith to follow up on? Has anything driven you to recommend something other than just its quality?