the whole art as one long attempt to be heard · S6
Something the boy would love enough to induce him to open his mouth and come out—even if it was only to ask for more.
Context
Stripped of the scholarship and the Foundations, the father's entire filmmaking life comes down to a single communicative act he could never otherwise perform: he spent his last sober months building one entertainment compelling enough to make the silent son open his mouth — even just to ask for more — a medium in which the two of them could finally converse. The lethal cartridge was, at bottom, an apology engineered to be received: a way to say I am so very sorry and actually have it land. Every channel he had tried failed, so he tried the only one left, and his deepest wish was the humblest one — to entertain, meaning simply to reach the boy. [sweep · shared-ground entertainment-self fathers-sons]