Happiness
And thus arriveth my long awaited return to the realm of movie review and critique! Yes, beloved fans and casual readers alike, feel free to collectively sigh in relief, as I've not left you entirely alone in this dark and dreary abyss we know as DailyBooth. Let's hope I remember how to do this!
Now here's a film probably not too many of you have seen, or even have heard about for that matter. And for the better part of you, it's because of its NC-17 rating in the North America, and many places didn't even carry the film because of its dealings with the issue of paedophilia and other sexual activity. Also, based on the general pictures I see around the site, many of you had barely stopped pissing your pants at The Nightmare Before Christmas when this movie came out (1998). But, being a little older, I strongly urge you dear reader: Give this movie a chance. It's a dark comedy, and if you can get into the right mood, this film is brilliant. Not that the film isn't brilliant without it, but to truly enjoy it one ought to be alone and in the mood to see something that's clever, offbeat, and honest.
I've been trying for the past twenty minutes to write a first paragraph that doesn't just end up with me rambling, saying: "OH! And *blank* is great too!" and "OH! *blank* scene is so perfectly done!" or "OH! The scene where *blank* was so funny I nearly pissed myself!" and "OH! I was so moved when *blank* told *blank* that he wouldn't fuck *blank* but would just *blank*-off thinking about *blank* instead." [Seriously, that last one makes sense in the context of the film] Going back and watching the whole movie to describe it scene by scene is so tempting, but I can't really do that, what with not wanting to spoil it for anyone and all. I also can't get into the actors, as their are a ton of "main" characters, and I wouldn't want to detract from any one of their performances, as even the child actors do a fantastic job in this film. And while the cinematography, music, lighting, and all that are done well enough, they aren't particularly jaw-dropping or vomit-inducing.
It's a hard movie to review, as it follows multiple stories, sporadically jumping from one to the next, the only connection being that the females involved in three of the stories are sisters and the fourth story is about the parents of these sisters. One story involves a man succumbing to, and dealing with the consequences of his paedophilic urges, another one involves a man and his unrequited sexual and emotional urges, another deals with the development of a young female out of naive realism into some type of reality where she tries desperately to retain a belief in the goodness of people, and finally the last story deals with a couple whose love life has stalled to the point of each party feeling apathetic towards one another and themselves, choosing to maintain a close physical distance but completely removing themselves emotionally from one another. And while juggling these four stories, and the complications that arise within each one (as no story arch has a straight forward 'from A to B' suspense-climax-resolution style), you'd imagine the movie might become extremely convoluted; even moreso than these last two sentences! But director Todd Solondz does an excellent job of keeping the stories distinct, yet paces the film in such a way that no story ever seems to be forgotten about or allow you to have your emotional connections to each set of characters fall out of focus. Each story presents its own unique set of problems and resolutions, and allows the audience to identify with at least one, if not all of the characters involved.
And that's the true genius of this film: The relation of the audience to the characters. Yes, the individual situations are extreme compared to the mundane 'everydayness' we all (presumably) deal with, but the general driving forces behind each of these stories are entirely real to any individual member of the audience. Firstly, one story arch deals with the desire we recognize we have that we also resent ourselves for having, having an internal struggle between that for which we have both an affinity and an aversion, and what happens when we allow our passions to override our intellect. In another story, the issue dealt with is the desire to be 'nice' and be a good person, but at the same time having a certain resentment to the fact that nothing desirable necessarily comes from it. It's not that we don't want to do what we perceive as moral (i.e. "the right thing"), and we would do it even if no reward came to any party involved, but that doesn't mean we're content or discontent with the event, just that it holds a certain frustration for us. Another story involves frustration in yet another different way, as the character has the desire and will to act, and yet doesn't because of (primarily) social conventions. This failure to act, combined with how he acts out based on his failure to fulfill his honest desires and the seemingly unrelated circumstances that come with living in a society, ultimately cause him to be unable to ever become fulfilled, and how he deals with this realization. And lastly, the final story deals with a set of characters who have lived out these frustrations, or a certain variation of them, to such a point where in their elder years they are entirely numb to the idea of relationship or connection, not caring enough to commit outright suicide but wishing to race to death so that the constant undertow of agony and anguish can finally end.
If there were an overall motif between the stories, despite how generally this might apply to a vast majority of films (at least from the 90's generation-Xers), I would say it would be aggravation with the mere temporality of being a being-in-the-world.
YA KNOW! A COMEDY!
I remember saying earlier in this review that I recommend watching this film alone. And I stand by that, but only for the first viewing. Let every part of this movie sink in, and really think about the motivation behind each story that happened. Then watch it with someone else, and see what they think (whether they've watched it before or not doesn't really matter).
Until next time true believers!
