The People We Know

This is of course a dated entry. However, I think about stories a lot and the most recent one to crop back into my mind is ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW. Overtly metaphorical dialogue aside, this is the only film I know of the accurately attacks the themes of an information age. What is so curious about my generation (Born in 1986) is our unwillingness to admit to a change in social interaction. The school I went to was largely comprised of students who fashioned their lives after previous generations. I think this is expected for any child in adolescence. All people originally look to their parents generation and select what generational traits they want imprinted onto their own lives. The advent of the computer, more importantly the internet, has created changes that roll miles outside of the box of how we receive information.
This dials in on the backbone of the film. Information + Technology = Social Change. No matter what time period I look at information is the key to why there are social trends, fashion trends, economic trends, and so on. Each piece of information we receive jointly effects our attitude toward a situation.
This film specifically decides to focus on Technology as the driving force to social ambivalence. Miranda July, Director, hones in with such accuracy on chat rooms and the questions they raise. She poses an expectation that the modern day man/woman should own a computer and have access to the internet. The two central characters (played by John Hawks and Miranda July) use no technology in the film and in turn have the most social quirks. It pains me to watch these two desperate character as they try to form a fragile romance with a completely inept and dated skill set. Meanwhile John Hawks, lives as a single father in a house where his sons are on the computer from the moment they leave school. Dissected by two brilliant child actors we get to see the true effects of technology.
These two children create a bubble around themselves, closing out their distant father. A bubble of complete artificiality, in a virtual world where sex is easy, innocence is lost anonymously, while an alter ego is created. What is so brilliant about July's depiction is how age creates a direct relationship to social consciousness. The youngest child, no more than seven, finds himself in a sex chat-room, and demonstrates his naiveté through one of the most memorable and funny scenes in the film. Through this scene July demonstrates both the dangers of such chat-rooms as well as the agelessness of the internet. When the young boy finally arranges a meeting in the park, he finds himself face to face with an estranged forty year old woman. Fortunately, July brings us to the cusp of disaster, but we can hold hope in humanities inherent morals. Youth in this film is close to losing their physical innocence to older counterparts, however, they continuously find narrow escape and are pushed back to retreat in their online worlds.

Best Film Endings

PRINCIPLE ENTRY

NOTE: This blogged is manned by two filmmakers. We will undersign to say who puts down the entry.

We were having a conversation on what films have the greatest endings. List I came up with.

1)Barton Fink (Why did that seagull fall into the ocean?) (Oh and for the record this film came up with the undisclosed box, not PULP FICTION!)

2)The Godfather (Shutting the door is both the perfect thematic device as well as the perfect close to a three hour epic.)

3)There Will Be Blood ("I'm Finished." Appropriate line for a character who has decided the flow of the entire film.)

4)A Clockwork Orange (Pitting absolute anarchy against societies constraints, we are left with a pit of despair knowing that anarchy wins out. Dismal, but the perfect thematic ending.)

5)A History Of Violence (A family that got to know one man has to find a space for another. When he sits at the table, the gravity of silence can be taken in a number of ways, but in any case it is poignant and thoughtful)

6)No Country For Old Men (Whoever thinks this is a non-ending is incorrect. The story is about Tommy Lee Jones, and this is the end of his thematic narrative. He tells the most heartfelt story as he realizes his uselessness in this modern day of violence.)

7)Good Will Hunting (For films that make me happy and make me think this is the tops. I like to think that I would choose emotional fulfillment over financial security as well.)

8)Magnolia (After the most epic night in cinema history, we close on a quiet scene of a man looking for love from a woman with a deeply troubles past. Playing off the greatest themes of the film, (retribution, redemption and forgiveness.)

9)Raging Bull (Nothing is more tragic than watching Robert DeNiro in front of the mirror. His only friend lift is his reflection, as he pumps himself up, trying to hopelessly recapture a time when he had something of substance.)

10)Citizen Kane (This is often considered the pinnacle. Perhaps the first perfect thematic ending, to a pathetic life. The only thing that held meaning is buried deep in the back of a rotting mansion.

CL + RZ