Sunday, August 24, 2008
Here's another home run from David Gordon Green, fast becoming a favorite director of mine. I don't even understand how he can make a movie that feels both poetic and down-to-earth at the same time. Something this artsy usually feels... if not pretentious, then at least like it exists on some other level. But Green's films feel like they're about real people, and they have a quirky charm and humor about them.
I can't really figure out what I was trying to say next. The film is about a womanizing young man who falls in love for the first time and tries to form a real relationship. This could inspire a pretty typical romantic comedy or something, but somehow it feels like much more; a meditation on the different kinds of love, and on the way we depend on our connections with others, and maybe just on the passage of time. It deals with some big ideas, but somehow expresses them without having the characters sit down and talk specifically about them. A lot is expressed, even when not a lot is happening, and there are a lot of moments that strike exactly the right note and feel perfect, even though I can't exactly explain why. Which I guess is the mark of a great film.
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"I mean, I brought you all the way out here. It's not like I'm the one who needs swimming lessons. And the fact that you're not even trying, well, that baffles me. Really, I mean, what are you afraid of? There's no sharks in there. Suppose a water dog comes walking down those tracks and sees you. What's he gonna say about you, land dog? I mean, if there's times in the world when it's time to take a chance, it's time right now to take a chance. What's this? Water. Get in it. It's just water. Listen, brother. This river goes two ways. That way, and THAT way. You know what I'm sayin'? It's like a puzzle with hands, if you think about it."
Love that.
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