This is the second time I’ve seen it, and my boyfriend’s first. There are many things to get out of it and, though I am one who would want the good memories taken away as well as the bad (the good ones hurt more, in my opinion), my main take-away lesson is that love can bloom even when the lovers’ flaws are hanging about in the room with them and the ugly/boring/cruel side has made itself evident. It’s not society, class, age, blah, blah, blah, or blah, but the bad stuff within us and our inability to see around it to the good, that gets in the way of our relationships.

Many people felt this was a depressing movie. I was actually cheered by the fact that I’m not a heroin addict and that I didn’t feel that their situation was anything like my life. After watching it, I felt all my dreams could come true if I keep my head on straight. I didn’t relate to the characters, yet I had much empathy for them, which says something for the acting and writing of the film.

I felt so smart when I thought it was a story of the divisions within the Church, and I read an analysis, and I was right! Not that I didn’t get a little lost in the digression, though. The story itself, especially the whole coat & fashion fiasco, is really entertaining.

~Brainybunny :D

Although I labeled it ‘worth consuming’, I have to say that I felt the characters were a little self-indulgent in that social-reject-of-the-adolescent-years way. I also felt the awkward syntax of the stylized sentence structure rather unforgivable. If it didn’t happen so often, I would have thought these deletions of pronouns in improper punctuation usage to be typos. But the premise is interesting and creepy. Very atmospheric as a whole.

It’s an excellent portrait of grief. Taking out all of the ‘seven steps’ and whatnot, it follows a more organic path of human emotion. I found myself identifying with the girlfriend, because of my own situation, and at the same time seeing so much of myself in the mother because of her flaws (jealousy, anger, turning away). The way her faults affect her marriage made me really look at myself. Very few movies, even really good ones, have made me take such a close look at myself.

I just didn’t have any connection with the characters. I didn’t have enough sympathy for Hannah’s ‘secret’ or the pride she wrapped around it (under the circumstances). The quirks of the characters seemed contrived, so they just didn’t ‘live’ for me. It all seemed rather formulaic.

I’m reading ‘A Tale of a Tub’ through Project Gutenberg as part of the 1,001 list.

It’s not on ANY of my lists! I’m such a rebel.

I thought it was good, but I wasn’t ‘overcome’ by it. The characters were very dynamic, not just in their own growth/change, but in the perception of them by others. I don’t think anybody came out the same person on the other side of the story (except one character, but I won’t say here). I just started a random novel last night, then I’ll get another one off the PPW list.

I have been reading ‘War and Peace’ and found it topical :D