POETRY / FILM / THREE DAY CINEMATIC POETRY CHALLENGE
The 3rd Kind
A Close Encounter with Accuracy
I scoured the web but I just could not see a movie I knew of that featured a “3”. Of course there were options. Many such have been made but I’ve seen scant few of those mentioned, I’m afraid.
But then as I pondered, a thought filled my mind, “What of Close Encounters of the Third Kind? I know that it’s stretching the rules of the challenge, but to find a contender I just cannot manage.”
Jeff Ehren, forgive me for flouting the regs. After my last submissions*, t’was left only with dregs, at least insofar as the films I‘ve observed, thus here I give strict accuracy a swerve! But, like it or not, Close Encounters you’ve got, and so let me briefly synopsize the plot.
In the Sonoran desert, French scientist Lacombe discovers a fleet of old aircraft, long gone and missing in action since the Second World War, now appearing from nowhere. No one knows what for. While in Indiana, mum Jillian sleeps, the windows all open because of the heat, when in her son’s bedroom the toys come to life. The little boy, Barry, observes with eyes wide. Then the power across the whole county goes dead, while ominous thunderclouds roil overhead.
Electrician Roy Neary is called up to work to investigate why all the power’s berserk. Whilst stopped at a crossing, Roy’s engine cuts off while behind him, a set of bright headlights lift off up into the sky and above Neary’s truck. The whole car’s lit up and Roy Neary is struck with a beam so intense that it burns half his face. The spaceship disappears, but then Neary gives chase. He almost runs over young Barry, poor mite, and the spacecraft all fly away into the night.
Roy starts acting strangely, obsessed by events. Between him and wife, Ronnie, things grow rather tense. Roy constantly sees a shape he somehow knows, and his wife one day packs up the children and goes. Meanwhile Barry is by the aliens abducted, all attempts by his mum to protect him obstructed. Roy meets her again out in Moorcroft, Wyoming when to Devil’s Tower many people start roaming, inspired by unusual psychic perceptions. Their arrival on site gets a frosty reception from the army and scientists gathered to share an encounter with aliens from who knows where.
The ETs and Earth dudes have a musical jam. The gig comes to an end and the mothership lands. The spacemen give back all the people they’ve nicked, including young Barry, and Neary is picked by the ETs to join them for adventures galore. They take off. Credits roll, with John Williams’s score.
And so, there you have it! The last rhyme from me in this poetry challenge based on films with a “3”!
With many thanks to Jeff Ehren for tagging me in his Three Day Cinematic Poetry Challenge.
No pressure, of course, but for their potential interest in the challenge, I’m tagging Jennifer McDougall Anthony O'Dugan Will Hull Elle Beau ❇︎ Skye Mo'ipulelehua Kahoali'i Adelia Ritchie Sarah Paris Kyomi O'Connor Carlos Garbiras Haikuster Sherry McGuinn Denise Larkin Eva Rotolo Denise G Lindsay Soberano-Wilson Hogan Torah Eric Pierce Edward Riley Kiki Wellington Gaby Rogut Tree Langdon Laurie Perez Galit Birk, PhD Dave Logan Marcus Christine Stevens Ann Marie Steele TC Hails Carolyn Hastings Melanie J. Christina M. Ward Lucy Dan 蛋小姐 (she/her/她) Orla Kenny Roz Warren Jac Harmony Kent Clark Vincent Pisano Jack Lincoln and anyone else reading this who would like to give this fun little challenge a go.
Jupiter Grant is a self-published author, blogger, narrator, and audiobook producer. Buy me a coffee here: https://ko-fi.com/jupitergrant
*My previous poems about “3” films, for the Three Day Cinematic Poetry Challenge:
