"You see an absolutely brilliant film later, as an adult, and you walk out thinking about what to have for dinner. Whereas something like Jaws winds up having a huge effect on me. If only my parents had been taking me to Kurosawa films when I was eight, but no"

This quote by Ann Patchett speaks to the power of film and how it can have an enduring effect on us. She is saying that when she sees a great film as an adult, she is most likely to consider what to have for dinner afterwards, rather than the movie itself. However, she reviews how different her experience of film would have been if her parents had taken her to see movies by the great director Akira Kurosawa when she was eight. She suggests that these films would have had a much higher impact on her, which her experience of movie would have been much richer. This quote talks to the value of exposing kids to art and culture from a young age, as it can have a long lasting impact on them.