It seems that lately when I sit down to watch a film, I have been leaning toward the action, adventure, thriller genres. And what I’ve been neglecting is that other great love of mine…romance! After all, Beta Girl is nothing if not a hopeless romantic.
So, I decided to go through my collection of DVDs and indulge myself in some good old fashioned love stories. It was a worthwhile pursuit, and I’ve compiled a list of some of the titles I’ve gone through in the past few weeks. This list will be broken into three separate posts.
This movie had its moments. At times falling completely flat, it would turn on its head and suck me back in. What irritated me about this film was the completely unnecessary use of slow, blurred camera sequences that appeared to be making an attempt at artistic beauty, and ended up just becoming very annoying. I found myself saying, “Come on! Get back to the story, damn it!”
There are also scenes and subplots that just lost my interest completely. What salvages the film and earned it a spot on this list was the beautiful love story between Jeremy the coffee shop owner (Jude Law) and the lonesome Elizabeth (Norah Jones). Elizabeth has been having relationship problems and is comforted through the ordeal by Jeremy in her late night visits to his coffee shop. Their interactions are sweet and innocent as Jeremy lends an ear, and some blueberry pie, while Elizabeth tries to work through her feelings.
Eventually, she ends up embarking on a soul searching trip that takes her all around the Country, meeting all manner of interesting characters as she goes. But she continues to send postcards to the shop owner, and his increasing mental romance with her is well established while never outwardly addressed by either party.
My Blueberry Nights is one that you’ll either love or hate, and I am leaning toward love, because of the incredible soft innocence of the romance, which is rare in cinema. And there is a beautiful kissing scene involved at the end that completely melted my heart. The slow bluesy soundtrack appealed to me immensely. The movie also stars Natalie Portman and Rachel Weiss.
Paul Thomas Anderson is the brains behind this wonderfully odd movie. While it probably isn’t for everyone, I found Punch-Drunk Love to be an exquisite tale of love and pain.
Adam Sandler plays Barry, a neurotic and deeply scarred salesman, who is down and out, and close to the brink. While I don’t usually care for Adam Sandler, his performance in this film was so moving. The man’s life is surrounded by mundane encounters and deep, disturbing misery. As he searches for a way to overcome the downward spiral, he finds hope through his newly found love for Lena Leonard (Emily Watson).
Punch-Drunk Love is violent, sorrowful, soulful, and bittersweet. It is actually fairly difficult to put this film into words. There is so much that needs to be seen and felt, that a mere description does it no justice. The atmosphere, the colors, the music….it is candy for your eyes and ears. The intensity with which Barry feels redeemed by love is powerful. At one point he says, “I have a love in my life. It makes me stronger than anything you can imagine”.
In one great scene, Barry and Lena are trying to describe the intensity of their feelings for one another.
Barry: I’m lookin’ at your face and I just wanna smash it. I just wanna f*ckin’ smash it with a sledgehammer and squeeze it. You’re so pretty.
Lena: I want to chew your face, and I want to scoop out your eyes and I want to eat them and chew them and suck on them.
Barry: OK. This is funny. This is nice.
I don’t know why I find that so charming. It sounds awful, but you need to see it in context. Barry’s troubles are vast and his triumphs are remarkable. His issues come across as a true albeit exaggerated and magnified version of the heartache, fear, and joy that should be a part of everyone’s human experience.
Danny Boyle has been in the spotlight quite a bit lately with his smash success Slumdog Millionaire. He is also the man responsible for Trainspotting and The Beach. But I will always cherish most his 1997 film A Life Less Ordinary.I actually first saw this film by accident. I had a friend who worked at the movie theater, and she would always let me in to see films for free (it was a sweet hook-up!). I can’t remember what movie I had intended to see that night, but it was sold out. So I told her to just give me a ticket to whatever was the next movie to start. A Life Less Ordinary was what I ended up seeing, and I came away wanting to go right back in and watch it again.
Ewan McGregor is Robert; a janitor whose job has just been replaced by a robot. In a desperate attempt to get his job back, he decides to kidnap his boss’s daughter Celine, played by Cameron Diaz. In a wacky twist, Holly Hunter and Delroy Lindo play two angels who are charged with the responsibility of caring for human relationships on Earth. Their mission is to do whatever it takes to bring Robert and Celine together.
The movie is very funny, but it is also captivatingly romantic and sweet. Robert and Celine’s growing love for one another is beautifully realized through quirky and poignant dialogue, and odd dream sequences. The film is surreal and the romance is offbeat yet deep. A Life Less Ordinary also contains one of my favorite exchanges in cinema.
Celine: So you’re telling me that successful relationships… are made in heaven? Not founded on the daily practicality… of two people being prepared… to tolerate the imperfections of one another?
Robert: It’s not successful relationships, Celine. It’s love. And it comes from a strange and wonderful place… that we don’t know about.
Celine: So you also reject the idea… that love is merely an emotional adaptation… to a physical necessity?
Robert: Completely.
Celine: Are you serious?
Robert: Fate intervenes in people’s lives. In ours, for instance. Fate brought us together. It kept us together. We were destined for one another.
Celine: Fate had a pretty strange way of making its point.
Robert: But that’s part of the beauty of it. It’s inexplicable, unpredictable… and absolutely beyond control or understanding.
Celine: But you nearly got killed.
Robert: But I didn’t… and here we are.
Celine: Do you have any substantial evidence to back all this?
Robert: None at all.
Celine: And you realize that it’s absurd and irrational?
Robert: I know that.
Celine: Then why do you believe it?
Robert: Because, Celine, I’m a dreamer.
Celine: Well, I guess that makes two of us
