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April 12, 2005
Is love in the movies lost?
Within the last week, I managed to sneak out to watch a movie in the theaters. I was sick for, well, all of spring break, so my planned cinema extravaganza was filled with Tylenol PM. Therefore, in order to catch up, I decided I must go out and see the newest Joan Allen/Kevin Costner film, The Upside of Anger.
Now, I don’t typically enjoy Costner films, despite the fact that I keep watching them. I managed to stay awake during Dances with Wolves, made it through Waterworld by laughing hysterically at the dialogue, and for some reason viewed For Love of the Game (with any luck, hypnosis will rid me of the memory of the screen’s worst pair of actors - Costner and Kelly Preston). And this was no exception. Despite a wonderful performance by Joan Allen (really, top notch), the film goes nowhere and stays there, relying on hackneyed clichés in the portrayals of Allen’s four daughters and idiotically asking Kevin Costner to infuse some charm into the show (which is like relying on Liz Taylor for marital advice). However, the movie gave way to a far more dire problem that I noticed leaving the theater - the romance in the film was nearly a back story. Costner’s and Allen’s dating, the whole point of the film, is a footnote (and this is a love story! ). This isn’t like those terrible sports films that shove in a romantic subplot to gain the “date-movie” status. This is a full-fledged, lovey-dovey, should-be-playing-“Moon River”-over-the-end-credits sort of film.
Where has movie romance gone?
Come to think of it, movie romance is starting to go the way of the western. Last year, the only truly notable romances were Sideways and Closer. One was a buddy picture more about love of wine than love for love’s sake, and the other was more of a modern Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice then a true romance. No, in order to recapture the magic of movie romance, you’d have to edge back to the late nineties, when Bob and Harvey Weinstein ruled the prestige flicks through their tiny giant Miramax. Then we had Shakespeare in Love, we had The Wings of the Dove, and we had The English Patient.
Yes, The English Patient was the quintessential romantic epic with all of the intrigue factors that seem to be sorely lacking in today’s film flings. First, the romance is the plot, but it’s not the entire plot. There are
side stories (one, involving Willem Dafoe’s finger removal, is particularly uncomfortable and memorable).
But the focus remains on the key lovers in the story, such as Hana the nurse (Juliette Binoche), so tragic she could make Job look like he won the lottery. Sex, tragedy, and windswept desert views ensue, but the film (clocking in at a seat-numbing two-and-a-half hours) never lets up - I’ve seen it three dozen times, and there’s always something new to embrace.
It’s a timeless film for the ages that I recommend to everyone I meet. And, unlike today’s “too cool for romance” films, it has a real love story locked within its tale. Several love stories, actually, but I won’t spoil the fun. See it, see it, I can’t say it enough - put down this paper and get thyself to Hollywood Video.
This love at the movies problem does have an interesting twist, though, that I’d be a fool to ignore. You know those films, Sideways and Closer, those antitheses of the lovely Patient?
They’re great, too - and that’s why I still keep going to the modern-day romances. Hollywood may be growing up and giving us a more sophisticated, almost loveless passion, but they’re doing it with masterful movies.
While you still have to weed through the mundane flicks like Upside of Anger, you also are treated with such treasures as the far too little seen Lost in Translation, or the hopefully-going-to-be-brilliant Memoirs of a Geisha (due later this year). And, if there’s any hope, Hollywood looks to be giving attention back to amour with films like The White Countess and Brokeback Mountain.
So, hopeless romantics, don’t lose heart - the love may be lost, but at least you’ll still gain a great flick for your admission price.
Just try to lay off the Costner, okay?
Posted by msveum at April 12, 2005 02:29 PM
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