Saying Goodbye to Roger Ebert

I haven't really had the desire to write anything about Roger Ebert's passing. There have been so many obituaries in the past few days and I've felt more comfortable reading them than contributing. Nevertheless, like any other cinephile, I'm incredibly sad. I'm not ashamed to say I shed a few tears. He had a major influence on me and was an inspiration when I started writing; but more than that, I feel there will be a hole in my life that no one else can replace. Whose review will I read first when a new film is released? For almost a decade now, every week, the first review of any film I've read has been his and I'm not sure the feeling I felt reading his generous, funny and incredibly smart review can ever be replaced.

I have a great memory of meeting him very briefly during the 2010 Toronto Film Festival, as I got to wheel his wheelchair to the press screening of Never Let Me Go at Scotiabank theater alongside his wife. It's a moment I'll never forget. Even in his cancer-induced silence, he was as magnanimous and kind as his reviews suggest. He will be missed dearly but he has a special place in my heart that will belong to him forever; and his writing will live on forever.