Z/Web

Unusual film; not quite what I expected. The “plot” was publicized: a lonely photomart guy (Robin Williams) develops a crush on a perfect family and decides to adopt them as his own family, so to speak. What starts out as a quirky, rather pathetic relationship soon turns dark and violent. Williams does a good job: he plays this role totally straight, hardly cracking a smile in the entire movie. I liked many things about the film: the family (especially the mom), the way the family fell apart, Williams’ character and the way he reacts to the situation. Unfortunately, not enough happens in the beginning (it’s slow), and when we get to the big pay-off at the end, nothing much happens their either. It’s like the producers chickened out from going all the way with Williams’ character. As it is, the film ends on a flat note: it needed a second twist at the end, something that would explain Williams’ character and his fate better. As it ends now, it feels unfinished and leaves you unsatisfied. An interesting film, worth seeing just because it’s different, but isn’t sure enough of what it is to be a classic.

Director: Cameron Crowe

Some people might wonder why I chose to do a weblog of films and books; a key reason is that I don’t believe in coincidence, and yet throughout my life I’ve just happened to be reading a particular book at a particular time or seen a film right when another event crosses paths. In this case, I find it fascinating that I just “happened” to have watched two versions of Vanilla Sky, but it doesn’t save it for a gimmicky ending: it opens the book with it. Unfortunately for this film, while it makes a very interesting movie and the ending explains everything and makes sense, the ending is still unsatisfactory. I can’t say more than that without giving the plot twist away, and I don’t want to do that. Throughout the film I was gathering clues and trying to figure out a rational explanation for the mysteries of the story: basically Tom Cruise’s character begins to confuse the identities of the two women in his life, one of whom committed suicide but he still sees her. Is he crazy? Is he being set up somehow? The ending, when it came, made total sense: there are hints of it throughout the film to the extent that it’s rather obvious in a second viewing. But the nature of the explanation is unsatisfactory: we want more, something with meaning. Ultimately, that’s where I think the film fell apart: because of the twist ending, all the valuable insight and morality and lessons taught by the first half of the movie are meaningless. Or are they? Some might argue that it makes no difference. Tom’s character certainly grew from the experiences, so change came about. The bottom line: this is a personal film meant to be experienced by each person who sees it. Whatever you find in it is yours: your truth, your reality. I cannot argue that what you see in it isn’t there or doesn’t count, just as you can’t say that about my impressions. For me, the film wasn’t as eye opening as a classic like The Purple Rose of Cairo, but it’s certainly more thought-provoking that a cliche like