The August Passage: A Profile of Arthur J. Mason

I finally figured out that this was the short film I saw 40 years ago on a PBS special showcasing programming from Britain's channel 4. I've been periodically posting on forums and googling for years, so I'm excited about that.

This really stuck with me. I still remember the simple opening of a man being catered to by his butler. And I remember the whole time being unsure if this was, as presented, a documentary, or whether it was fiction, because it seemed so real.

It also stuck with me because of the theme of lost art. It was a tale of something that should have been good but instead pointed up the loss of great work unacknowledged for too long.

Even though the author, Kazuo Ishiguro, is well known, I can't find this on youtube or anywhere else and I'm the first person to put up a review. So I guess this may not have struck people the way it struck me. But for me, it had a real impact, and I wish I could see it again.