So over the weekend I went to see the cinematic feature Children of Men. Very interesting film. I felt very much like I was watching a holocaust movie...it was extremely intense. But here's the thing. (Oh no, I sound like Shelley...) I could have been ok with the movie...except for the ending. I am still so upset about the way this movie ended, which I am not going to say here, just in case anyone wants to see it and hasn't. Because multiple people told me how good the movie was, I was really excited about seeing it. And the last 30 seconds destroyed my movie-watching experience.
Which got me thinking....why is it that when a movie doesn't end the way we think it should, we get upset? We think that particular film is terrible, or we walk away saying, I would have liked it if it ended differently. Lucas's number one example of this is The Breakup. He claims to have re-written the ending so that he can watch it again. Children of Men is another great example....I walked away feeling so unresolved that I was upset for the next 2 days.
So why do I get so upset when a movie doesn't have a classic "happy ending"? After all, it's just a movie, right? Right. But I have invested myself in this movie and its characters, and I need to know that everything is going to be all right in the end. Because life doesn't always have happy endings. So I need to see it played out on the screen. Call it optimistic, idealistic, unrealistic, any other sort of "ic" that you can think of, but that's how I look at movies. (Books are a different story. [ha ha, I'm so punny.] Books can have "unhappy endings", and I can be perfectly OK with it.) And no, I don't think life is like the movies. But sometimes you just want to see things work out. There is enough heartbreak in everyday life to last a million years....let me step outside of that when I go to the theater.
So clearly I am not over Children of Men. I saw it Friday night and it is still upsetting me.
2 comments:
It is not nearly upseting to you that the movie ending was not fairytale happy, but that so much was left unresolved. That's what really burned you, all the questions.
I loved this movie and felt the ending appropriate to the movie. I give it 4 of 5 Tpacs and (+1 bonus point for the kitten)
I love you.
*sigh*
I was just having this discussion with a friend the other day. I have not seen Children of Men, but the Breakup and Prime were devastating to me.
First of all, in the Breakup, I was so tense with all the arguing. The advertisted movie was comical, the actual film was stressful (in my opinion).
Secondly, each of the two aforementioned movies had horrible endings for the "romantic comedies" we suspected them to be.
I don't go to a movie to experience real life hurt and pressures. I go to a movie to escape reality. Aren't they supposed to be entertaining?
Last week my movie-viewing took me into the audience of Because I Said So, which was darling; however, intense. I wanted to shoot Diane Keaton's character - the overly oppressive mother who should have cut the cord several years earlier. Perhaps she bothered me because I have friends with mothers who are just the same.
Do you recommend I experience Children of Men? Is it worth my $8.50 to end up disappointed with unresolve?
I do enjoy tense action, but typically I know they are going to tie me in knots before I walk through the doors, so the frustration usually remains unseen (that is, unless I am watching Smokin' Aces which was a complete nightmare).
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