so let go…let go…jump in…whatcha waiting for…
i need to write more…
i saw two very excellent movies this past weekend…i find it funny that i just so happened to catch them both within a three-day period because of how closely tied their subject matters are to each other…so instead of vaguely referring to both of them for another paragraph or so and then cleverly introducing them like so many writers like to do…i’ll just drop their names now…garden state (currently in theaters) and american beauty (on dvd…or if you’re an evil pirate like myself…on your computer)…
this was my first time seeing either movie but i have to admit the themes represented in them are not uncommon in many movies these days…both of them revolve around men who have, up until a point in the movie, been living very unfulfilled, uninteresting lives…but through contact with certain lively people (in both cases: a young, beautiful woman) and certain circumstances that transpire, they begin to feel alive for the first time…sounds pretty familiar doesn’t it? indeed, hollywood has slowly sucked the life out of this formula for quite a while…but i don’t think it’s ever been as real as it was presented in both of these movies…i could actually relate with these two antiheroic characters (more so with zach braff’s “andrew” in garden state…but the incomparable kevin spacey made his forty-something “lester” very relatable as only he could do…it’s no wonder he won an oscar for this role)…both seem to be encountering “mental puberty”…a period of life all too familiar with twenty-somethings such as myself…
i could go into more detail on mental puberty…but why waste the white space…i’m sure you can all figure it out what it is…in fact many of us are probably going through it…in garden state, andrew has been on anti-depressants and various other drugs ever since he can remember…he feels detached from his family…he’s despondent about life…he’s at his mother’s funeral and can’t get himself to cry…he gets a wake up call in the form of the lovely girl-next-door-ish wonder that is natalie portman…the rest you’ll have to catch for yourself at a theater near you…
i’m sure this all reads very cliched…but for me it clicked…i could relate with andrew…he felt real…i walked with him through his journey of self-discovery…his quest for a true “home”…and his subsequent search for meaning…it moved me…as only few movies have been able to do…
that was thursday night…saturday night i stumbled across american beauty…and what a wonderful stumble it was…i’ve wanted to catch this film for quite some time now…it garnered a good deal of fanfare because of it’s oscar haul in ‘99 (it won five including best picture and best actor as i mentioned above)…but for some reason it jumped out to me after seeing garden state…so i decided to check it out…and was wowed by the similarities…they both had their hilarious, quirky moments…american beauty was definitely alot darker…which developes out from under it’s perky facade…to alot of people this would appear to be a movie about lester’s mid-life crisis…that is until you realize that nearly every character is experiencing the same thing…from the rigid colonel next door to lester’s emotionless teenage daughter…the older characters just never went through mental puberty up until that point…
to me, lester seemed like a ”grown-up” andrew who never met natalie portman’s character “sam” like he does in garden state…he continued on in his meaningless life…never taking the time to think about what it means to actually be alive in the process…and then one day he wakes up and realizes he doesn’t love his wife, can’t relate to his daughter and hates his job…it’s an all too common story…but director sam mendes covers it in a very unique and fanciful light…lester is definitely the main character (and narrator) but every player holds equal weight as their lives weave in and out of each other’s…it’s cleverly crafted and ultimately a very brilliant film with some consummate first-rate acting as well…
i highly recommend (check screen-it first to judge the content for yourself) both of these films to anyone going through this so-called “mental puberty”…dare i call it “spiritual puberty” as well?…although, i would prescribe these movies to you even if you think you have your life figured out…maybe you will find yourself to be alot like lester…living life but never fully alive…i know one thing for sure…
i need to live more…
there’s beauty in the breakdown…
######Note: This post is from a very old Xanga blog of mine. A very, very old blog. In fact, it’s practically a museum. Be sure not to touch any old references or links. You won’t break them, they are most certainly already broken.