Here’s another film that I loved and movie critics hated. They were pretty much unanimous - this film has way too much sorrow and cheap, pretentious philosophy. It’s only virtues were it’s fine cast and cinematography - which were, of course, all gone to waste.
For me, Part One delivered that most precious of dramatic effects: a catharsis - a thorough wash through of emotions. I felt fresh, cleansed, and invigorated. Perhaps that’s only because I’m confined to my house, like everyone else in the city during the Covid-19 outbreak. Perhaps the critics would have seen the movie differently if they saw it in 2020 instead of 2018. The principal theme of the movie is that life authors utterly unexpected and occasionally catastrophic narratives — and now we are all living through one.
If you, dear reader, have yet to see the film —- stop reading this blog post now. How this story unfolds on the screen is one of this film’s principle delights.
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The film opens onto something like an overture -- a brief story-within-the-story written by the principal protagonist, Will --- the "hero" who turns out to be neither that nor a reliable narrator.
He's educated, charming, handsome. and devoted to both his wife and literature. The poetry that he's currently into is Bob Dylan's 1997 album, "Time out of Mind". So he's hip to Boomer pop culture -- and he's also politically correct -- in that the narrator of his story-within-a-story is a street smart African American and his initial protagonist is gay.
By the way --- those are the only African Americans or gays in the entire film -- leading one reviewer to suggest that this overture was somewhat misleading.
But when this film is misleading is when it’s at it’s best. When it gets predictable — as it does with the quick, breathless romance at the end - that’s when it falls flat.
Will is a pathetic loser - by the film’s own code of behavior. When life knocks you down - your job is to stand back up and keep on going. He was knocked down and then just gave up.
BTW, his therapist was another failed hero. Her job was to reintroduce Will to life - and after pushing him to recall his wife — and acknowledge the truth of why she “left” him — it was too much for him to handle so he blew his brains out in her office. After being mislead by the narrator, the viewer confronts that truth at the same moment —- and thus, perhaps, the catharsis I experienced.
I can’t be too hard on therapists — their job is very difficult and they’re not really very well trained for it —-it’s all on-the-job learning. But this neat, trim, rather methodical lady in her fifties seemed just a bit too narrow minded for her line of work. She was probably much better with doing the paper work.
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The other great narrative segment was the story of Vincent and Javier. The tension of their class-based relationship seems utterly foreign to an American film. This is more like a Mediterranean fable. Life seems to have seriously damaged both of them. Javier is way too rigid about class and personal boundaries —- Vincent seems committed to breaking them. Clearly, Javier’s wife needed to put her foot down and demand that the family move elsewhere - but for the sake of her son, she would not. That dilemma is what takes her life. Cancer was just it’s agent.
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I don’t quite share the film’s emphasis on romantic love. I think it’s just for teenagers like Romeo and Juliet. But I do like the idea of Life as an unreliable narrator — presumably a corollary of God as an underachiever. And other than the last chapter - I love the storytelling and cinematography.
And I especially love the use of Bob Dylan's romantic dirge, "Make you feel my Love". What a strange and sad song - perfectly performed by Dylan (a female character in the story) who sings it sweet and then angry.
