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“The Film Club: A Memoir” By David Gilmour Twelve Books $21.99

There are plenty of things you can learn outside of a classroom, especially when it comes to the important stuff in life. Even sitting around and watching a good (or terrible) movie can be an educational experience, in ways that you might not imagine when you’re wandering through the aisles at Blockbuster, desperate for entertainment. Movies can open doors of communication between people who might otherwise drift apart.

“The Film Club: A Memoir,” (Twelve Books, $21.99) is David Gilmour’s account of the three years that he and his young son Jesse spent watching movies and living life. David, an out-of-work television host in Toronto, allowed Jesse to drop out of school on the condition that they would get together to watch three movies a week. It sounds like a pretty sweet way of dodging responsibility, but Gilmour hoped that his son would find some motivation to do more with his life. Both Gilmour men went through periods of feeling lost — Jesse over girls and David over his lack of a career. But their little ritual allowed them to help each other out and to grow as men even as they grew apart.

Gilmour’s book doesn’t skirt the hard truths of growing up. Jesse has issues with drugs, and his relationship with one particular girlfriend leaves dear old Dad worried about his son’s emotional state. Gilmour himself questions whether his experiment is helping or harming Jesse, considering the fact that Gilmour himself prizes the idea of education. They find ways to relate to one another through the films that they watch, and they learn a lot about one another as they talk about the movies. David finds work, and Jesse finds his talent (songwriting). In the end, father and son do drift apart, but only because it’s time for them to stand on their own. Their film club dies a natural death, a rare saving grace of getting older.

You might take issue with the idea of dropping out of school to watch movies all day, but David Gilmour makes it work for his son. “The Film Club” is a moving story of a father reaching out to his son, and like any good movie it stays with you long after the credits are done rolling.