screen |skr_n| |skrin| |skri_n| noun • a blank, typically white or silver surface on which a photographic image is projected : the world's largest movie screen • movies or television; the motion-picture industry : she's a star of the stage as well as the screen. verb [ trans. ] • protect (someone) from something dangerous or unpleasant • evaluate or analyze (something) for its suitability for a particular purpose or application


Saturday, November 17, 2012

The Silver Linings Playbook

One of my favorite movies of the year. I’ve considered myself a fan of crazy David O. Russell for years, but I thought The Fighter was a bit overblown. There’s no good reason why this should have worked. It’s a weird mix of drama and comedy, sports and dancing, mental health and romance. It’s a hodgepodge and it could have gone horribly wrong. BUT IT DIDN’T. I’m not sure why! Everyone involved is walking a tightrope and at the end of it all, I felt SO FULFILLED. I felt so satisfied. I knew I had just seen a great movie. Again, I’m not sure why. But in the way that salmon sushi and cream cheese shouldn’t work in Philly rolls, but it does, the same holds true for the Silver Linings Playbook. There’s video proof that David O. Russell is an out-of-control, hot-tempered asshole. But hot damn, the guy can make a movie. Highly recommended.
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2 comments:

  1. Dr. Hawkins6:25 PM

    I, too, left so hugely fulfilled--and unexpectedly. How did they do it? I do think that some of the hodgepodge has some connection. That is, what starts as a comedic tic of the father's OCD and superstition becomes--in the context of the pathologies of the son and Tiffany--to seem like a statement that the line between madness/quick/normality may be pretty thin. More, if it's not enough the love makes us all a bit crazy, it may be that it's *through* our crazy that we express our love (viz. how the father's Eagles superstition is also his means to spend time with his son).

    All this made me very self-conscious and uncomfortable. And it made me much more in love.

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  2. Dr. Hawkins6:26 PM

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