When I was younger, in middle school and early in high school, I was intent on pursuing a career in acting, whether in film or on stage. This passion led to a love of film and theater, and films were incredibly more accessible than theater, which is why every year I tried to catch every Oscar nominee. Since then, I've obviously strayed from that calling, yet the profound affect that films can have on me remains.
Oddly enough, my favorite films of the past few years have been thematically related, but not to my own life. The top three at the moment at "The Darjeeling Limited" (Wes Anderson 2007), "The Brothers Bloom" (Rian Johnson 2008) and "Kicking and Screaming" (Noah Baumbach 1995). I will not bore you with synopses of the films, but will tell you that the common themes are brotherhood and accepting adulthood. Additionally, the three directors are somewhat related and have been involved in each other's projects, which can almost be inferred from the films' styles.
"Kicking and Screaming" was a film that I first saw the summer after my freshman year of college, at a time when I had trouble connecting to the characters. Upon returning it to the library I, for all intents and purposes, forgot about it. The film follows four immature yet close friends in the first semester following their graduation from college. Although there is no evident rising and falling action in the film, the characters change in earnest during this variable period of their lives.
This was not something I realized the first time I watched the film. However, during the past two weeks, I've watched the film twice, struck by the profound similarity of the characters' lives to my own life right now. The film presented me, a recent college graduate, with a glimpse of post-college life in the mid-nineties, and the way these friends relied on each other, while dealing with their own individual struggles. While strangely similar to my own life, the differences, such as the fact that the characters were mostly immature men (brotherhood for the win!), and in the "historic" milieu of the 1990s, separated me enough to not scare me to death.
My appreciation for the film finds its roots in my recognition that my life is simultaneously very similar and very different from these peoples'. The reason for that is the obvious, age-old fact that the transition to the real world is not an easy one, and that the main support system for this transition comes not from my own ability to do things, but my ability to trust and rely on others, while moving forward and knowing what I want.
I guess I can say that this film is, in fact, thematically related to my life, just not because of the brotherhood aspect. Revisiting this film was a great decision on my part, and I hope that I can take some of its guidance to heart, as I continue moving in the general direction of the real world.
Oddly enough, my favorite films of the past few years have been thematically related, but not to my own life. The top three at the moment at "The Darjeeling Limited" (Wes Anderson 2007), "The Brothers Bloom" (Rian Johnson 2008) and "Kicking and Screaming" (Noah Baumbach 1995). I will not bore you with synopses of the films, but will tell you that the common themes are brotherhood and accepting adulthood. Additionally, the three directors are somewhat related and have been involved in each other's projects, which can almost be inferred from the films' styles.
"Kicking and Screaming" was a film that I first saw the summer after my freshman year of college, at a time when I had trouble connecting to the characters. Upon returning it to the library I, for all intents and purposes, forgot about it. The film follows four immature yet close friends in the first semester following their graduation from college. Although there is no evident rising and falling action in the film, the characters change in earnest during this variable period of their lives.
The DVD jacket. If you know me, you might imagine why I picked it up off the shelf in the first place.
My appreciation for the film finds its roots in my recognition that my life is simultaneously very similar and very different from these peoples'. The reason for that is the obvious, age-old fact that the transition to the real world is not an easy one, and that the main support system for this transition comes not from my own ability to do things, but my ability to trust and rely on others, while moving forward and knowing what I want.
Grover and Jane. They are adorable.
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