Brief Encounter

Monday, May 12, 2008

After witnessing the awesomeness of The Bridge on the River Kwai, I knew I had to check out some more David Lean. I figured it would be Lawrence of Arabia I saw next, which had been sitting on my queue for a while.

But then I saw a few weeks back that Brief Encounter was gonna be shown by my wonderful K2K ally TCM, so I Tivoed it.

Well, not that I'm surprised, but Brief Encounter is nothing at all like Bridge on the River Kwai. It is a small, short, intimate story that doesn't strain for much emotion. I'm a sucker for a story like this: a man and a woman meet by chance, form a friendship and start to fall in love, only they are both married to other people. They want to be together, but ultimately they are just too decent to start a real affair.

I like the restrain in stories like this... there are plenty of movies about extra-marital affairs, and a lot of times the hidden message is to follow your heart regardless of the consequences.. I prefer a movie like this, or like Age Of Innoncence, that tries to be a little more conflicted. It shows the good and the bad, the reasons for them to be together and the equally valid reasons they should stay with their spouses. I'm not exactly a family values kind of guy, but I tend to care more about characters trying to resist temptation.