'I mean, the world's hard enough as it is, guys. Can't someone say, hey let's be positive? Let's have a good ending to the story.'
So I went to see another film today, once again it's an adaptation of a novel, the distinct difference is the book is called 'The Silver Linings Playbook' written by Matthew Quick. The film jettisons the 'the' in the title and is directed by David O. Russell. Interesting no? Well... Russell unfortunately also directed possibly my least favourite film ever created in the history of existence, 'I heart Huckabees.' When I watched it I had a violent reaction against the entire run of the film and Jason Schwartzman*, in I heart Huckabees he has never been more punchable, as was everything about that film... Gawd. Luckily I wasn't the only one who seemed to dislike the film as Lily Tomlin whilst filming it was involved in several altercations with Russell - just blazing rows essentially which, bizarrely, were caught on tape. The film was just a convoluted mess, I was fifteen when I watched it so perhaps the whole existentialism of the film was way over my head but it irked me. It was a bunch of disillusioned lost adults whining about their pathetic lives and doing bizarre stupid things like hiring existential detectives to spy on them, this would have been funny if the film didn't take itself so damn seriously. It would seem Russell and Tomlin certainly did; what is more ridiculous is the film is supposed to be a freaking comedy. What? Why? There was nothing remotely funny about it. I know I love films that take themselves laughably seriously but this was just... Long-angry-groaning-noise-whilst-clutching-head-and-stamping-feet-with-frustration. And did I mention that Jason Schwartzman has never been more punchable? And Mark Walhberg! Such a beautiful talented funny man... Oh God why? So to surmise, I'll probably never watch I heart Huckabees again, too many fraught recollections of anger, but Russell has gone on to make yet another film about pretty damaged people; only this time they are actually damaged, mentally and emotionally, they have reason to be in the state they are, they tried their best at life and failed and are trying to pick up the pieces. Most importantly the story is a fluid sequence of events with people behaving believably and dealing with their issues in a realistic human way, it's already looking miles better.
So let's get this started. I actually liked this film, once again I'll have to add the source material to my list of books I will never get round to reading. Did I mention I have a bookshelf full of tomes I have yet to touch. All the tomes want is to be touched, oh if only if I could thumb through those tomes... What was I talking about?
The quote at the top is blurted out in a 4am rant from Bradley Cooper's character Pat as he rants to his parents about a book he had just finished reading. Hemingway had, shockingly, decided to give his book a downbeat ending after letting his main characters get together and marry and have children, then he kills off the wife. The book is promptly thrown out of the window** and the rant begins as Cooper's character, Pat, tries to grapple with the possibility that someone could end a book with sadness, it's too close to life, too close to home, too damn depressing! This immediately put my mind at ease when I acknowledged this rant, not only worked as a manic episode for us to observe Pat's state of mind, but it also served to promise at least a happy ending for this film. Or perhaps that's just how my brain works... As the film progressed and Pat worked through his personal demons and interacted with the world, I felt a small inkling of hope that everything would all work out for him, no matter how crappy things got, he would get a happy ending. The film tried it's utmost to emulate a real life sequence of events throughout the story, it worked and I felt convinced, but even with the effort to maintain a realism I still knew it would all work out with happy sparkles at the end. Didn't quite expect the spangly dance costumes and routines, although, as readers of my blog might have noticed, I do love me a bit of Strictly Come Dancing (or Dancing with the Stars) so the ending sequence was a pleasant surprise for me. Plus I agree with Pat, who doesn't want a happy ending? Film and books are a form of escapism from the drudgery of day to day existence, sure sometimes it's interesting and thrilling to read about depressing events occurring, to revel in the blackness of it all, but still, sometimes it's a necessity to see the brighter side of things. So, if I were to immediately summarise how I felt about this film I'd say, it made me happy. To be completely honest I did not expect that out of a Russell film after swearing he was the worst human being ever after watching I Heart Huckabees.***
None of my glowing praise would be possible it weren't for the lead actors playing their characters to perfection. Let me tell you something, Bradley Cooper is a gorgeous specimen of humanity, but I was not prepared to be so wholly impressed by his performance. I was more intrigued to see up-and-coming superstar in the making Jennifer Lawrence flex her impressive acting skills in something which was not a big Hollywood Blockbuster which gave her limited range, and you know, actually get a chance to breathe and do some real 'acting'. I always putting 'acting' in 'quotation marks', accept that I am actually taking my fingers off the keyboard to do those finger movements, because taking on a role where you are playing a 'crazy' person, requires some actual skill. From a lesser actor it would be laughably wide-eyed over the top bullshit, but from Lawrence and (surprisingly) Cooper, it's achingly human watching them grapple with their emotions and bouncing off each other. Oh and not once did I want to shout at the screen 'MY EMOTIONS' or 'ACTING!' Which for a film about damaged emotional people tackling their issues head on, was something I honestly expected to do. Although I did have the impulse to throw my arms in the air and cheer when Robert De Niro appeared on screen. Oh, Robert De Niro is in this film! He plays Bradley Cooper's dad, always a reliable source of class in De Niro, dare I say I thought he was past it, but there he was, in an Eagle's jumper clasping a handkerchief and manoeuvring his tv remotes into the right position, getting a blazing huff and being a questionable father figure, so much fun! If I ever said he was past it I take it back, I take it back so hard. Forgive me De Niro.
So some acting heavy weights are in this film, and Chris Tucker makes an appearance too, man that guy gained weight! It took me a while to recognise him, mainly because he really reeled in his talkativeness, but the small scene in the car at the beginning where he lies about leaving the hospital and chats seamlessly with Cooper about his hair was entertaining. In fact even if the characters are bellowing at each other hysterically, or bickering about medication or the football, this film is just fun to watch the characters bounce of one another.
I think back at some paragraph I was talking about Cooper's acting skills being, actually really good, so we'll continue along that vein just a little bit more. All the scenes where he is sitting in the therapist's office are pure acting gold. Seriously, I was stunned by how well he inhabited the character, this coming from the man who had the joy of yelling at Ed Helms 'Paging Dr Faggot' in The Hangover; he has come a long way in my estimations. He believes wholeheartedly he can fix his marriage as long as he tries to be a better person, you literally see his whole being straining to make this happen as he explains his ideology. Not sure why he spends most of the film running around in a bin bag though... It's not even the fact he can sell those quiet moments when he is trying to express himself, it's the loud brash moments that work just as well, the rage he seemingly has inherited from Travis Bickle, bursts to the surface so effectively. Even when he's acting like a right idiot and can barely string a sentence together without being insulting he still pulls it off by being achingly sincere and having, deep down a good moral centre, even if that gets clouded now and again. Seriously, I can't explain how impressed I was by Bradley Cooper's acting skills, the man needs some serious credit here. Sorry, I meant De Niro before, of course. This film is a good case for inheriting crazy from your family...
Then there is Jennifer Lawrence playing Tiffany, it's sickening that I'm older than this girl by a week, she is also 22, except she is a Hollywood star and is dating the guy I fell in love with watching Skins**** when I was 18... She is essentially living the life that I would die for, except I never went to acting school, I doubt I could act given the chance, I've never tried, I'm far too self concious to inhabit someone else's skin, even on a purely professional level. Plus acting involves so much scrutiny from other people, man, that would kill me, I scrutinise myself far too much. So this was a role initially slated to have Zooey Deschanel or Anne Hathaway playing it, if I close my eyes, Deschanel would have been a dreadful choice and my stifling dislike for Hathaway doesn't make any difference, there's a darkness and complexity to the role that I highly doubt Anne Hathaway could act. Lawrence is 21 when she took this role and it's baffling how well she inhabits it. She has her vulnerable moments but for the most part maintains a spiky hard exterior, it takes a lot of maturity to play a widowed woman with so much baggage but she makes it seem effortless. As much as everyone is raving about her, her weight, her rising star, it's still impressive that all this raving on and on about someone is worth something when she can pull a performance like this out of the bag. Plus watching her and Cooper dance, damn that was awesome.
Now here is the essential premise of the film, it's about a man, Pat, who has been released from a mental health hospital. He was placed there for a 9 month stint after beating a man within an inch of his life; he had his reasons, the man had been having sex with his wife, and he has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. He has the uninhibited belief that if he sorts himself out, maintains good health and loses weight and becomes a better person then his wife will come back to him; everything will work out in the end, you know apart from the restraining order. He refuses to take his medication, he refuses to acknowledge there is anything drastically wrong with his behaviour as long as he works hard at being a better person things will get better. This earnest belief is quite endearing and helps because the man has no filter when speaking to people; he's pretty socially inept and this is coming from someone who feels the constant need to monitor everything she says. So he has some rude tendencies, he's a bit bullish, a bit pervy, but he's not crazy, he wholly believes this. Then he meets Tiffany who is a widow, she suffered and dealt with the death of her husband by sleeping with the entire staff at her place of work; she also had to see a doctor for her depression. In stark comparison to Pat, Tiffany accepts she's a bit crazy, and in her own words embraces it: 'There will always be a part of me that is dirty and sloppy, but I like that, just like all the other parts of myself.' She does some questionable things but she drags Pat out of his funk and distracts him from himself and it's satisfying to see them bounce of each other. Most importantly there is a level of healing going on, they both gradually learn to let their respective spouses go by coming to rely on and love each other, in their own ways.
What's quite odd is that film is pretty unapologetic about the fact that the main characters, not to mention Pat's Dad, Pat Sr (De Niro) are very damaged people. It's clear Pat has inherited something from his father, who also has issues handling his rage and has some minor OCD tendencies as well a superstitious side. The film isn't asking you to feel sorry for these people, we are merely observers as they are arguing and raging at one another for their own reasons you can understand why they are upset even if they aren't processing it very well or dealing with it very healthily, you don't feel sorry for them, it's almost played for laughs, but there is a very real feeling to it. People just letting rip at one another for ruining things that are seemingly the most important things in the world, for not understanding them, for being wrong! It reminds me of when I was at home with my family and we would find ourselves in blazing rows, we would torture one another with our words and god knows it wasn't healthy but it all came out. Nothing was fixed, we just did it because we couldn't process our emotions very well, we kept it all bubbling under until we exploded at one another, it never reached fisticuffs but it's a recognisable occurrence.
My point is, although it's quite humorous to see the characters being inappropriate, Pat and Tiffany's lack of social skills, Pat Jr and Pat Sr arguing and raging when things don't go their way, it all just comes from a lack of understanding. Pat Jr doesn't understand why he feels this way, he just assumes that's how he's supposed to feel because he's never been given any indication anything was wrong until he was sent to a mental health facility and even then he strained against any changes they could provide instead determining his own way of fixing his problems. It's quite a beautiful ideology, that everything happens for a reasons, that every cloud has a silver lining and you have to find it, and he's going to find it. It's optimistic and the film is stating that even though these people aren't mentally healthy, they are still trying their hardest to be better, to be good, even if they go about it in the most bizarre of ways, like entering a dance competition, or bookmaking and betting all the earnings on one game in order to save up enough money to open a restaurant, or by simply running to stay healthy and reading the books on your ex wife's teaching syllabus. I think it's a really well done just happy film; and trust me, I was surprised by how much I liked it, especially given my scepticism regarding David O Russell...
Definitely go see this film, it's already been nominated for Golden Globes, hopefully this will translate to Oscar buzz, it would be nice for a happy film to get nominated once in a while. As far as I know it's been out for ages which means I suppose I can't demand people should go see it immediately... It was on an early singular showing at the cinema and I figured it would give me a reason to get out of bed. Seriously find a way to watch this film before award season rolls around. The acting is top notch, the cast is stellar, the film moves along at a decent pace, none of it feels wasted, everyone has room to breathe a little; I also truly appreciate a bit of a dance number at the end of any film, plus the reaction to the scores cracked me up immensely. It was just a heart warming honest film and it wasn't being sanctimonious, it was being fun and realistic, it left me with a nice big smile on my face, hey go figure, that's reason enough to love something.
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