The cursed movie. That’s the name my mum gave to Roman Holiday, a 1953 romantic comedy she saw as a kid.

Sundays after church were for candy and cinema. My grandma would give her four children what little she could spare for them to have at least one day of carefree fun.

Cinemas were divided on two levels, luneta y galería, and they could only afford the cheaper section at Cine Gloria, near their home.

Usually the matinee would have what became comedy classics, like Laurel & Hardy, the three stooges, and the like. My aunt hated these shorts and preferred feature lengths. My mom never expressed a dislike for comedy shorts, but never praised them either.

When Roman Holiday came out, cinemas were usually sold out. Gregory Peck would make everyone swoon, and once my mother had a chance to watch the film, the projector failed four times.

Later in her life, once my aunt bought a satellite dish, we would wait for Roman Holiday to come up in Showtime, Cinemax, The movie channel or Turner Classics. Every fucking time the movie came up, something would happen. Signal loss, power shortages, the cat peeing on the VCR, you name it. My poor mom just catch a break.

My dad eventually bought it on Blu-ray for her. They never watched it and still is unopened in the house. There’s no one now to watch it now.

-Sam J Valdés López