Drew Ott
Wish I were banned.
Anybody else seen it yet?
I saw it last night and quite enjoyed it. It's a nice update to the love story, full of harsh unromantic truths about life and people. All three of the films so far risked bordering on self-indulgence, but miraculously do not ever reach it. It's perhaps because each character's perspective is so strong that nobody is able to win. We understand all points of view, and nothing is ever very clear-cut.
I'm not sure where I was reading this recently, but I heard an interesting idea that after ~30 years of marriage, a couple's identity fuses. In an individual's brain, each drive and motivation battles all the other ones like a free market. A monogamous relationship works, over time, by taking two identities and fusing them into one larger identity. In a good film like this one, you can see that process work--each character fighting hard for their point of view with turbulence and conflict, then eventually some resolution.
At first, I felt some of the dialogue was unnecessary, as if the voice of the filmmaker was coming through too strong, saying whatever random thought was on his mind. Fairly soon, though, I saw that the dialogue wasn't wasted. It was all working toward a specific thoughtfulness. For example, Jesse's explanation of the characters in the novel he's working on. I thought maybe Linklater was just sharing some idea he had, but in the end that discussion became quite poignant.
My only slight reservation was that the ending seemed a touch too nice. Perhaps the characters fight this way often, but after the intensity of their long fight in the hotel room, I thought the romantic mood would be irreparable, at least that night.
I saw it last night and quite enjoyed it. It's a nice update to the love story, full of harsh unromantic truths about life and people. All three of the films so far risked bordering on self-indulgence, but miraculously do not ever reach it. It's perhaps because each character's perspective is so strong that nobody is able to win. We understand all points of view, and nothing is ever very clear-cut.
I'm not sure where I was reading this recently, but I heard an interesting idea that after ~30 years of marriage, a couple's identity fuses. In an individual's brain, each drive and motivation battles all the other ones like a free market. A monogamous relationship works, over time, by taking two identities and fusing them into one larger identity. In a good film like this one, you can see that process work--each character fighting hard for their point of view with turbulence and conflict, then eventually some resolution.
At first, I felt some of the dialogue was unnecessary, as if the voice of the filmmaker was coming through too strong, saying whatever random thought was on his mind. Fairly soon, though, I saw that the dialogue wasn't wasted. It was all working toward a specific thoughtfulness. For example, Jesse's explanation of the characters in the novel he's working on. I thought maybe Linklater was just sharing some idea he had, but in the end that discussion became quite poignant.
My only slight reservation was that the ending seemed a touch too nice. Perhaps the characters fight this way often, but after the intensity of their long fight in the hotel room, I thought the romantic mood would be irreparable, at least that night.
