My favorite line from this 2009 movie. Like the amassed reviews at rottentomatoes, it is a movie with which most people can resonate in their romantic lives. On many levels I relate myself with both Summer and Tom. The non-linear depiction of the ups and downs in a relationship; the juxtaposed snapshots between expectations and reality; the emotional hopping from infatuation to desperation, from affection to desolation, from deep belief to light relief, the film is filled with novel presentation techniques. If only life can be neatly broken down into these categories, or if relationships and feelings can be demystified at all, perhaps life wouldn't be as complicated as we know it.
I think the most powerful theme covered in this movie is the uncertainty in relationships, and to certain extents, life in general. The Chinese sages used the concept "fate" to help people make sense of the happenstance in our life paths; the French counterpart is something like "je ne sais quoi". But it is the tendency for people, esp. people in modernity in which great success have been harnessed from investing in science and technology to grab something more tangible, more explainable, more predictable. In the end, it is a battle between man vs. unknown world. Relationships are full of surprises, fickleness, sometimes with thorny pick, sometimes blessed with infinite mercy. We don't really know.
What is certain is that nothing is certain. Pretty lame hah? So Summer is married to someone else. The movie doesn't focus on Summer's emotional path but can she be certain that she is married to "the one"? Well, no one knows. There can only be hopes and prays, which is why I like the ending of the movie when the cycle begins as Tom picked up the nerve to ask the woman at the interview lounge out. The truth is, the cycle of uncertainty never stops running. Einstein once said "life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep pedaling."
Here is my favorite soundtrack. "Hero" by Regina Spektor:
No comments:
Post a Comment