Read the Book! See the Movie (or not)!

 So last night I was lucky enough to catch “The Time Traveler’s Wife” on HBO…okay, I think I actually own the DVD but it’s still in the wrapping like so many of my DVDs.  This film- and the book on which it’s based- fall under the umbrella of my second-favorite genre: improbable romances (my first-favorite is religious horror. I am a girl of diverse tastes; what can I say?). What I mean by this self-created subcategory is romances that contain an element of magic, a little extra “unicorns and fairy dust” (thank you Ben Nadel for this definition) if you will. Alice Hoffman, my favorite author, always infuses her books with a perfect balance of love and the practical supernatural.  Her characters have some sort of romantic misfortune but always overcome it with the aid of their own determination and mystical powers. It is the ultimate expression of “love conquers all.”

Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife also embraces this ideal. The main characters, Clare and Henry, are destined to be together but Henry’s affliction – he has a genetic disorder which causes him to travel through time with no warning or control- separates them both physically and emotionally on a regular basis. It’s hard to talk about the book chronologically since it skips around through the course of their lives (much like Henry himself does), but they more or less meet for the first time when adult Henry shows up in the field behind child Clare’s house. Of course, at this point he is aware that they will fall in love and be married, but Clare is but an innocent accomplice to his erratic life’s journey.

The film actually addresses this issue far better (one of the very few things it does do better) when adult Clare calls her now-husband to task for knowingly shaping the course of her life and removing all free will.  But a little deeper consideration- and Clare’s own heartfelt recanting on Henry’s deathbed- brings this into question: since we don’t actually have a clear picture of when time begins and ends for Henry and Clare, are they both just pawns in the Universe’s perverse chess game? This is never actually answered and, in fact, it really becomes much less of an important issue when weighed against the core of this tale: there is no question that Clare and Henry love each other, no matter when it began and what the reason.  This is, after all, a love story, and that is what really matters.

As my cousin Nancy pointed out, with a few exceptions no movie ever really does justice to the book on which it is based, and the film version of “The Time Traveler’s Wife” is not one of those. However, there are several things at which it excels. I can’t imagine how difficult it was to condense into 90 minutes a 500-plus page book which spans 85 years, and the writer and director did a pretty good job of adapting the pivotal moments from the book which allow us to see why Henry and Clare love each other, how difficult is their struggle, and why we should care about what happens to them (something I often find lacking in modern romances). But the real hero of the film is the Director of Photography, Florian Ballhaus. His cinematography is absolutely, stunningly beautiful and, more so than any other aspect of the celluloid adaptation, brings to life Niffenegger’s gorgeously tragic world. There is one scene in particular where we see the course of Clare and Henry’s life as their daughter, Abra, grows up; the camera moves from room to room in their dream house and follows the main characters around while they age the five years we know will pass before Henry dies. It is an amazing visual representation of something of which all of us, particularly those of us watching our own aging mirrored in the maturation of our offspring, are painfully aware: time passes far too quickly when life is good.

And this is exactly how I felt when the book ended, but I cannot say the same for the movie which left me exclaiming, “Really?!? *That* is the best you could do?!”  The book has a wonderful, all-loose-ends neatly, peacefully bowed completion. Clare, having lived for nearly five decades after Henry’s death, is rewarded for her life of patience and belief: Henry comes for her (though he has been reappearing to Abra throughout these years), and it is implied that both of their journeys are now at a mutual, joyous end. But in the movie, after Henry’s death, Henry and Clare are reunited in the field where so many of their early meetings took place. In a horribly clichéd moment, after Henry inevitably fades into time, Abra and Clare fold up his clothes (in what is a neat concession to reality, Henry always arrives in time naked) and stroll off into the fading sun discussing how Henry will always be there with them. Ugh, ugh, ugh. I am at a complete loss as to why they couldn’t have filmed the book’s vastly superior ending; if any of you have both read the book and seen the movie, maybe you have an answer?

I want to leave you with some recommendations and a request for same. Here are my favorite improbable romances in both book and movie form. If you can think of any that I might have missed and should read/see, lay it on me! Oh, and by the way, I came up with my rating system:

The novel The Time Traveler’s Wife makes my cup runneth over; the movie of the same name leaves my glass half empty.

Book recommendations: Anything by Alice Hoffman, but Practical Magic and Here on Earth in particular; anything by Richard Matheson; Like Water for Chocolate (even better than the movie, believe it or not!)…

Movie recommendations: “What Dreams May Come,” “Chances Are,” “Made in Heaven,” “City of Angels,” “Starman,” “13 Going on 30,” and “Kate and Leopold.” There are many, many more but these are the ones that came to mind first.

Eat, Pray, Love...Think and Thank

I just saw “Eat, Pray, Love.” Originally I intended to do a review of it, but I think instead I am going to talk about the things it made me think about (and maybe I’ll review it later, perhaps after I’ve read the book). I have to say that I have heard from a number of people that it wasn’t their cup of tea, and I can definitely see why. One reviewer, the smarmy guy on the NYC taxi cab news show, said that Julia Roberts’ Liz is suffering from “rich lady problems” (that’s paraphrasing), but I completely disagree. I do see how many people would have trouble understanding what the character is going through; in fact, I almost emailed a younger friend of mine to tell him not to bother seeing it because I was certain he couldn’t relate to it at all. But for me, the movie (and, I am guessing, the book) touched on SO many things I am dealing with and have been dealing with in the past 18 months that it was downright cathartic to see “Eat, Pray, Love.” And here is what I took away from it.

I have an amazing life. I have so much to be grateful for. I am so very, very lucky and blessed.

If someone had told me in April of 2009 (or June or August or November), or maybe even a few nights in the last seven months, that I would be saying those words, I would have seriously questioned his/her sanity. My life has definitely undergone some remarkably significant changes in the relatively recent past, and I would be lying through my fingertips if I didn’t tell you there were many times in there when I was not at all sure I could live through those changes. Literally. They say that that which does not kill us makes us stronger, and I am the absolute living proof that that is often, in fact, the case. What I went through almost killed me (emotionally, spiritually, and physically), but the woman I am today- the person I am today- is so much stronger and better and healthier and happier than the woman who existed before all of this pain came my way. And the truly exciting part is that I’m not even close to done growing yet! I have so much more to look forward to; I’m really just at the start of my journey, having come out the other side of these changes. And the possibilities are limitless! I can go anywhere (soon), I can do almost anything I want to… the only barriers to my happiness and success are the ones I choose to accept and place in my own way, and I am here to tell you that I am DONE with that!

Some of the changes that happened in my recent past were not my choice, and I have to say that for a long time I would gladly have chosen to go back to the way things were. But I have gradually come to recognize that the place in my life I am now is so much better not only than where I was but even where I could be if those changes hadn’t occurred. Some of you reading this are smiling, no doubt; I know many of you have told me these same things, but as you well know- you can’t tell me anything. ;) Seriously, I would not be in this sound, solid, sane place without all of you. You have listened to me cry, you have called me on a daily basis, you have put up with my snail-paced learning process, you have tolerated my clinginess and my isolation, you have reminded me that I can fall in love again, you have encouraged me when I am doing well and held me up when I wasn’t. I’m sure all of you know that “Footprints in the Sand” poem/story/allegory, but in *my* story it is all of you who have carried me when I was unable to walk; it was your footprints on the beach of my life.

It all begins with being mindful and grateful.

Some of what I lost, I lost because I wasn’t mindful of the good things in my life (even though there were better things ahead); this, too, I am done with. I am going to try to be grateful for at least one good thing in my life every day, and I am going to be mindful and acknowledging of even the little things that have led me to this unexpectedly joyful place in my life. I am not foolish enough to believe that there isn’t still struggle ahead, and that I won’t have to work not to fall into my old, easy habits of just paddling along. But, as Don Miguel Ruiz says in The Four Agreements, “Always do your best.” If I am always doing my best (notice the absence of the word “try” there, by the way), then even when my best isn’t of the highest caliber or doesn’t quite get me where I’d like to be going, I can be content knowing that it was, in fact, the best I could do right then. And maybe later on, my best will be a little better for having accepted that.

As I like to do with these blogs, I’m turning this back around on you, my friends and readers. Tell me what you’re grateful for, tell me what you’re mindful of, tell me what you’d like to change in order to be more appreciative and aware. I will end this by telling you that today I am grateful for a good movie that helped me to focus my thoughts and feelings in such a positive and progressive way. 

I'm in Lesbians with Scott Pilgrim vs The World

So, last night I *finally* (and by finally I mean I had to wait two whole days after it opened) got to see “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.”  To say that this was the movie I was most looking forward to this year would not be a big overstatement, and I am overjoyed to tell you that I was in no way disappointed by it. Scott Pilgrim is a comic book or video game come to life, and even though I am not a comic book geek or a gamer gal (despite the best efforts of some of my friends and my son) I found it wholly delightful, entertaining, and fresh.

Michael Cera plays the titular character, and though- as with all his movies- he is basically playing Michael Cera, he does add enough depth and originality to his portrayal to make the character likeable and compelling. You want him to get the girl! Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s imbues his lady love, the aptly named Ramona Flowers, with just enough slacker charm and world-weary sadness to allow us to see what he sees in her. Too often in modern romantic movies you’re left wondering, “Why the hell would s/he go through all of this for him/her!?!?” but that is most certainly not the case in Scott Pilgrim. The secondary characters are equally well portrayed.  My particular favorite is Kieran Culkin (now surpassing Macaulay as my favorite Culkin!) as Wallace Wells, Scott’s gossip-monger gay roommate with whom he is forced to share not just living quarters, not just an actual bed, but several awkwardly intimate moments. Other standouts include Brandon Routh (almost unrecognizable in a white-blond wig) as a smug vegan who has his comeuppance and Anna Kendrick as Scott’s supportive but savvier sister. The sweet-faced Ellen Wong does a wonderful job with a thankless role, that of Knives Chau the girl whom Scott throws over for the enchanting Ramona.

But it is the big special effects and small touches that really make Scott Pilgrim an original and completely engaging film.  Sh*t is blown up, fights are had…no, gang, I did not accidentally step into a theater showing “The Expendables!” Scott Pilgrim is also full of action, and definitely should be topping Stallone’s meatfest in the box office (yes, yes; I’m going to see it. I just think Scott Pilgrim is a way more creative, exciting movie and deserves more box office love for its efforts).  It does things no movie before it has done, and – not unlike “Sin City” before it- will definitely be emulated in upcoming movies that spring forth from the comic book world. I don’t want to spoil the surprises and cute little touches that are sprinkled throughout the film, but I will say that you should definitely hit the loo before you go in so that you don’t miss something and then have to walk back in to your friends yukking it up over something they won’t be able to explain to you adequately later. Scott Pilgrim is a movie to be seen, not to be heard (about).

I’ll leave you with one final piece of advice re. seeing this film: don’t hang around after the credits. There’s a cute little videogamesque sequence at the end, but it is definitely not worth doing the potty dance if you actually bothered to listen to me, went before the movie, but then drank the equivalent of the River Nile in Coke during the film. *That* you can have your friends (or, you know,  me) tell you about!

So, since this is my first movie review, I need some sort of star-like rating system, and I’m looking to you, blog-reading pals, to help me out. I was thinking of giving a movie a certain number of “boobs” (it being me and all), but that seems kind of crass and besides- who really wants FIVE boobs!?!?  Cookies? Meows? What about “words,” since so many of you are amused by my use of the affirmation “word” or “word up?”  Hmm…  “I give Scott Pilgrim 4.5 WORDS!” Eh…I don’t know. What do you think?