I’ll be there in ten

I spent the afternoon today at the Detroit Institute of Arts. I concentrated on the special exhibits. The important one (to me) is paintings in the Impressionism style collected by (I think) the guy who owns the Buffalo Bills. It is a beautiful and modest collection. The show includes paintings by Manet, Monet, Degas, Cezanne, Gauguin and a few artists I hadn’t heard of.

Next was a series of shrines for the Day of the Dead, the South American holiday (see Disney’s *Coco* for an example). Some displays honored a particular person. A few honored groups, such as refugees who died in the Arizona desert and the 49 people who disappeared from a southern Mexican town.

The photo gallery had a film over two hours long showing images of the people of Detroit. I watched maybe ten minutes of it.

I finished off the day at the Detroit Film Theater and a showing of Give Me Liberty. Vic drives a van to offer mobility to disabled people of Milwaukee. He receives instructions from a dispatcher to pick up a certain person and take them to a particular place. It seems Vic is a bit too involved with his customers and too tenderhearted for the things that happen to them along the way. He’s frequently telling the dispatcher, “I’ll be there in ten.” For example, he reluctantly agrees to take his Russian grandfather and his circle of immigrant friends to the funeral of one of their members. It doesn’t go well. And the actual customer has to go along for the careening ride.

The movie is billed as a comedy, which is why I saw it, though it’s too deadpan for my tastes. I checked my watch several times.