Sim1A Cliché Fest (contains spoilers)
April 22nd 2011 21:21
A very happy Easter to you, dear readers! Hope you are having a fabulous celebration.
Here, at Fish on Film, I have taken the occasion to treat myself to some viewing that is not related to my uni course of Film & TV History (I have just finished watching a load of old Westerns and needed a break from John Wayne and John Ford). So I recorded a film the other day that I had heard vaguely mentioned here and there and that I thought would provide some light entertainment to go with my bottle of Easter Sauvignon Blanc.
Now, we do like a good weepie here at Fish on Film HQ, and it was certainly that. I think I cried solidly for a whole 10 minutes, letting out a lot of accumulated stress that I was too stressed to notice.
But, in all honesty, I couldn’t tell you if it was actually any good, or what. It was an absolute cliché festival! Every cliché to have ever been invented in Hollywood and film, has been applied here. Thickly.
We have the boy-meets-girl plot. Boy is a tramp, girl is a lady. They have a summer romance. All summer romances must end (‘Grease’ taught us that!). Boy writes to girl. Every day. For a year. Of course, girl’s mother hides the letters. (can’t think of the name of the film, but have definitely seen that before, ‘Message in a Bottle’? ‘Deep Impact’? ).
Girl, let’s call her Allie, finds a new boy to get engaged to. Boy, let’s assume his name is Noah, finds a new girl to nurse his aching heart with. As soon as he has finished building the dream house he and his first love talked about so often (all very ‘Forest Gump’). But of course, boy and girl meet again, many moons later. (‘Castaway’, anyone?) I was heartbroken when, in Castaway, the dumb bitch chooses her boring new husband over the love of her life. And after only 3 years!!! At least Noah and Allie waited seven or eight years before meeting again and then Allie made the right choice and dumped her slimeball fiancé. (Dearest female readers, surely you would have picked Ryan Gosling over scruff pot James Marsden? At least if you’d seen James in this film, you would.)
So anyway, they live happily ever after. Once they have the endorsement of Allie’s mother, of course. Initially, Mother had been against this pairing when it was just a summer romance and Allie was a mere 17-years old. But now that the adult Allie looks set on being with her childhood sweetheart, Mother suddenly confides that she, too, used to love a boy of lowly origins. And she hands Noah’s letters from all those years ago back to her daughter. Are you gagging yet? No? Ok, lemme tell you about the scene where Noah takes his beloved out on the lake to see hundreds, thousands of freshly hatched baby swans. And then lets her feed them. Aaawww. What, you STILL don’t need a bucket??? Ok, fine, how about if I tell you that the old Allie and Noah die together in bed, holding hands? See, I knew that would do it! Ha! (they had me in floods of tears by that point).
So anyway, now that I have given away a plot that is ridden with clichés and nothing new, let’s take a critical look at this cheese party, shall we?
We begin the film with a mature lady, looking out of the window. It soon becomes apparent that she is in a retirement home and the portly nurse there tries everything to entertain her. But, our leading lady is not interested in going for a walk, having a nap or anything else, for that matter. In the end, they push this story-telling dude named ‘Duke’ on her with the words: ‘He’s going to read to you. He’s very funny, you’ll like him.’ Reluctantly, our old lady lets Duke open his book and read a fantastic story- that of Allie and Noah. Over days, he reads and he reads and our lady gets very much into this romance. I think it was at that point that I suspected the lady in the retirement home was indeed Allie, especially as the storyteller keeps saying he’s trying to get her memory back. See, even I, peroxide-superblonde got that much of the story!
The scene that absolutely broke my heart into many, many pieces was the bit when our portly nurse says to our storyteller ‘The children are here!’ and when our leading lady looks confused, the nurse adds ‘His children, not yours.’. The kids, ranging from age 5 to 35 all politely shake her hand and introduce themselves, the 5-year old even hugs her. It’s only then we get confirmation of our suspicions, as our retirement home patient shakes their hands and says ‘Hi, I’m Allie, nice to meet you.’
After grandma Allie’s left, the children beseech the storyteller, aka ‘Dad’ to come home. ‘Mum doesn’t recognise us anymore.’ That’s when my heart went ‘Crack!’ like in a cheap Batman cartoon.
As it turns out, Allie is suffering from dementia and Noah (Duke) is trying to jog her memory. There are moments, when she’s totally lucid and remembers everything, but sadly they only last for a maximum of 5 minutes. And this is where my heart broke for a second (third?) time- grandparents Allie and Noah have a dance, she remembers everything and then suddenly starts screaming and pushing him away because she has no idea who he is. And he (brilliant James Garner) breaks down in tears.
Anyway, like I said, I don’t know if it’s a cinematic masterpiece. There was nothing technical, plot-wise, acting-wise or anything, that made it stand out. So maybe it’s a shit film? I don’t know, make your own mind up.
Oh, in case you were wondering- it’s ‘The Notebook’ I’m reviewing here. Happy Easter. xxx
Here, at Fish on Film, I have taken the occasion to treat myself to some viewing that is not related to my uni course of Film & TV History (I have just finished watching a load of old Westerns and needed a break from John Wayne and John Ford). So I recorded a film the other day that I had heard vaguely mentioned here and there and that I thought would provide some light entertainment to go with my bottle of Easter Sauvignon Blanc.
Now, we do like a good weepie here at Fish on Film HQ, and it was certainly that. I think I cried solidly for a whole 10 minutes, letting out a lot of accumulated stress that I was too stressed to notice.
We have the boy-meets-girl plot. Boy is a tramp, girl is a lady. They have a summer romance. All summer romances must end (‘Grease’ taught us that!). Boy writes to girl. Every day. For a year. Of course, girl’s mother hides the letters. (can’t think of the name of the film, but have definitely seen that before, ‘Message in a Bottle’? ‘Deep Impact’? ).
Girl, let’s call her Allie, finds a new boy to get engaged to. Boy, let’s assume his name is Noah, finds a new girl to nurse his aching heart with. As soon as he has finished building the dream house he and his first love talked about so often (all very ‘Forest Gump’). But of course, boy and girl meet again, many moons later. (‘Castaway’, anyone?) I was heartbroken when, in Castaway, the dumb bitch chooses her boring new husband over the love of her life. And after only 3 years!!! At least Noah and Allie waited seven or eight years before meeting again and then Allie made the right choice and dumped her slimeball fiancé. (Dearest female readers, surely you would have picked Ryan Gosling over scruff pot James Marsden? At least if you’d seen James in this film, you would.)
So anyway, now that I have given away a plot that is ridden with clichés and nothing new, let’s take a critical look at this cheese party, shall we?
We begin the film with a mature lady, looking out of the window. It soon becomes apparent that she is in a retirement home and the portly nurse there tries everything to entertain her. But, our leading lady is not interested in going for a walk, having a nap or anything else, for that matter. In the end, they push this story-telling dude named ‘Duke’ on her with the words: ‘He’s going to read to you. He’s very funny, you’ll like him.’ Reluctantly, our old lady lets Duke open his book and read a fantastic story- that of Allie and Noah. Over days, he reads and he reads and our lady gets very much into this romance. I think it was at that point that I suspected the lady in the retirement home was indeed Allie, especially as the storyteller keeps saying he’s trying to get her memory back. See, even I, peroxide-superblonde got that much of the story!
The scene that absolutely broke my heart into many, many pieces was the bit when our portly nurse says to our storyteller ‘The children are here!’ and when our leading lady looks confused, the nurse adds ‘His children, not yours.’. The kids, ranging from age 5 to 35 all politely shake her hand and introduce themselves, the 5-year old even hugs her. It’s only then we get confirmation of our suspicions, as our retirement home patient shakes their hands and says ‘Hi, I’m Allie, nice to meet you.’
After grandma Allie’s left, the children beseech the storyteller, aka ‘Dad’ to come home. ‘Mum doesn’t recognise us anymore.’ That’s when my heart went ‘Crack!’ like in a cheap Batman cartoon.
As it turns out, Allie is suffering from dementia and Noah (Duke) is trying to jog her memory. There are moments, when she’s totally lucid and remembers everything, but sadly they only last for a maximum of 5 minutes. And this is where my heart broke for a second (third?) time- grandparents Allie and Noah have a dance, she remembers everything and then suddenly starts screaming and pushing him away because she has no idea who he is. And he (brilliant James Garner) breaks down in tears.
Anyway, like I said, I don’t know if it’s a cinematic masterpiece. There was nothing technical, plot-wise, acting-wise or anything, that made it stand out. So maybe it’s a shit film? I don’t know, make your own mind up.
Oh, in case you were wondering- it’s ‘The Notebook’ I’m reviewing here. Happy Easter. xxx
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