It was her hair that got my attention first.
Princess Leia's, that is. From that original Star Wars movie, now renamed Star Wars: Episode IV -- A New Hope.
The two giant, coiled buns framing her face reminded me a bit of the duo Afro puffs we black women occasionally rock ... an almost staple hairdo for us as little girls.
Somehow, all through my viewing of that Star Wars, I stayed fixated on The Hair. Leia had it all together. Those puffs were perfectly highlighted by her outfit, also memorable in its unadorned, cult-member chicness. (I would later go on to be fascinated with other Star Wars hairdos, including those of Queen Padme Amidala in Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace.
Didn't pay too much attention to Carrie Fisher outside of her Star Wars performances except to note her show-biz parentage -- Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher -- and that she also played a crazy lady in The Blues Brothers and that the movie Postcards From the Edge was based on her book.
In October, I got a closer glimpse of Fisher and her mother at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival. Highlighting the event was the documentary Bright Lights: Starring Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher. Todd Fisher, Carrie's brother, made a personal appearance at the festival to discuss Bright Lights, which aired Jan. 7 on HBO.
As stated in a Daily Mail article, "The documentary deals with the beautiful, sometimes tragic, relationship the Hollywood icons shared, and how they coped with fame and the spotlight through multiple decades."
It shows the raw-yet-warm, comfortable relationship shared by these two, who were living next door to each other ... a relationship obviously hammered out smooth after various adversities, clashes, fences broken, fences mended. The two didn't take themselves seriously; they were just a wisecracking elder mom, being looked after by a wisecracking daughter in full-bloom middle age -- a daughter who may no longer have looked like that character in the early Star Wars movies but who had paid her dues, the receipts of those dues being the lines of care and character in her face.
They were people you would love to have spent a long lunch or afternoon with, shooting the breeze and laughing at everything and nothing. Anyone else who didn't know much about Fisher until seeing that movie probably regretted that lack of knowledge, as I did. She spoke openly of her struggles with mental illness and addiction, and displayed the smoking that probably helped shorten her life.
My favorite part of the film was the banter between the two:
"I have to go and start rehearsals for Star Wars Seven ... ty two." -- Carrie.
"It's like the old days in a way, but I'm like the old days." -- Debbie.
"You cannot keep that phone, that's ridiculous. That's from the early '90s when they first invented cellphones." -- Carrie to Debbie.
"Turn around this way because your rear end is to the camera." -- Debbie to Carrie.
I thought of my own mother and wondered how our relationship would be had Mom lived and she and I resided next door to each other.
Mom: When are you gonna cut those things off your head?
Me: They're 'locs, Ma. I won't call them by their old name, dreadlocks, because you'll just say "Yeah, they're dreadful."
Mom: I thought you would have gotten rid of 'em by now since you've been complaining about them thinning.
Me: Which is why I keep them in an up-do. And you have to admit I keep them looking nice. Besides, 'locs have been around for a while now.
Mom: Yeah, well, these boys wearing droopy pants showing their "draws" have been around for a while too.
The special treat came after the showing of Bright Lights, when a gracious Reynolds was Skyped in to address the audience. I was too star-struck to remember the conversation (my euphemistic phrase for "my memory fails me"), but I do know that she was quite gracious. I phone-photographed her onscreen, catching a blurry image of her gesturing as she spoke, a big movie poster for Singin' in the Rain in the background. Not knowing that we'd lose these two ladies at the end of December -- Debbie, just a day after Carrie -- makes me all the more grateful for the opportunity afforded by the film festival.
Bright Lights demonstrates a lot of things. To me, most of all, it drove home the point that Debbie was more than her old nickname "America's Sweetheart"; that Carrie was more than her most famous character's hair, and that family ties can be the sweetest that bind.
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Style on 01/15/2017