The Beat Generation (they knew about being hipsters before hipsters decided to ride fixed gear bikes, wear flannel, and skinny jeans) would love this movie and then tell you that it's not raw enough and too hollywood. Now all hipsters have driven out west and settled in Silver Lake (a stone's throw from hollywood) - they keep kicking themselves. Sam Mendes, the director (American Beauty and Revolutionary Road {don't see this one}), held a Q & A at the Tricycle Theater after the first UK screening of this movie. He is really smart and had some cool stuff to say. He was chilled out and said he really just wanted this movie to tell a cool story that his friend Dave Eggers (Real World cast member) wrote with his novelist wife, Vendela Vida.
John Krasinski (The Office) and Maya Rudolph (SNL) play the couple that is trying to figure out their life. They are in their thirties, pregnant, and un-married. They feel stuck and boring where they are and decide to set out and visit old friends in cities around America to find a new place to live (this is a crappy synopsis but I don't really care about writing synops(i)?). I will say this however, John Krasinski was really great in this movie. He and BJ Novak were friends at Harvard and when they were casting for The Office Novak said they should hire Krasinski (I can't back up any of the facts of this story). I never thought he was that great of an actor but he was good in this.
Traveling around America is nothing new for movies. If I ever make a movie I think it will have tons of friends just riding around in cars listening to music. This movie has lots of that which is soundtracked by Alexi Murdoch (this link is awesome, don't pass it by) who is very Iron & Wine-esque; which makes for great driving into the sunset montage scenes. That's why this movie is 'fun'. It is 'worth seeing' for the following reasons: 1) It has a happy, emotional ending which everyone loves, 2) Maggie Gyllenhal, Catherine O'Hara, Jeff Daniels, and Allison Janey are hilarious and 3) it is a cool picture of America and finding a place in America in the age where we all have liberal arts degrees and wouldn't even think about getting a real job for forty years and calling it a day.
With that said, it is kind of a Revolutionary Road but a whole lot less intense. I thought about the song on Wilco's new album, 'Solitaire' while watching it. My brother and I have an ongoing conversation about, what we call, 'freaks'. (Samford grads don't pass up this link) These people that wake up every morning and study a fourth language, memorize poetry, practice their rhetoric, and try and decide if they want to run for office, start a non-profit which enables women in the third-world to start businesses, or join a fortune 500. The main characters in this movie give credence to the life that I think I will choose for myself, though speaking at conferences at Willow Creek about how I am saving the world is attractive. To reference Malcolm Gladwell again, what if instead of being Outliers in the sense of business, politics, or academia, we were Outliers in the sense of being really awesome moms, dads, brothers, sisters, and friends? What if we put 10,000 hours into our families and friends opposed to a sport or a job. I suppose their is some balance to be had in there but I like spending time with my friends more than I do memorizing poetry.
Brilliant, Jones. I don't mean to be trite when I say that in both posts thus far I've thought about quoting you on my facebook wall.
ReplyDeleteThose last two questions you pose are really important and worth pondering.
And for the sake of the record, I believe the word is "synopses."
holy balls. i'm so happy about this
ReplyDeleteKDJ,
ReplyDeleteI echo the comments of my brilliant colleagues.
I loved this, among others: "It is a cool picture of America and finding a place in America in the age where we all have liberal arts degrees and wouldn't even think about getting a real job for forty years and calling it a day."
In a desert land in which the Colorado river is being continually sucked dry, courtesy of people like me and my hipster neighbors living next door in Silver Lake, this blog is a virtual oasis.
-JSD
I liked this movie because of the sweet, caring relationship between the main couple. As they wander somewhat aimlessly through life with their liberal arts degrees, they have each other; they seem to get each other and act kindly toward each other. Or maybe it was just the pregnancy factor, which tends to bring out the sappy aspects of any relationship.
ReplyDelete