I have a new moniker - Mr. Bittersweet. A friend coined it when she found out why I liked Jason Reitman's 'Up in the Air'.My reason? It's because George Clooney by the film's end is where he was at the film's start - alone but with a slightly broken heart.
I guess calling me Mr. BS is just right. I dig sad endings. I dig it when conflicts are not mysteriously resolved. Or when the main protagonist dies. Or when lovers break-up and live separate lives. Most likely when i say a film is great, it almost always does not end happily.
Don't get me wrong. I am not sick in the mind. I just don't regard cinema entirely as a medium for entertainment or for escapism. I sometimes think of cinema as art imitating life.
Life is not a bed of roses. Most of the time, if not always, its thorns prick. You snap out of your nirvana and then reality slaps you hard in the face.
Conflicts, deaths, heartbreaks, infidelity. They hide in the unseen future, anticipating, ready to pounce at a moment's notice. And when they do, life as you know it crumbles.
So, are there depressingly sad movies out there Mr. BS has not yet seen?
I will have to get back to you on that. I used to love open endings, not necessarily sad, but open, when problems have not resolved, when the protagonists are left to continue with the struggle.
ReplyDeleteRecently though, I found myself gravitating towards "happy endings" may be due to the stresses of every day.
ayos ang name a bittersweet. parang chocolate.
ReplyDeletesabi ko dadalasan ko manood movies ngayun pero sadly wala pa rin talaga mapanood kundi dvd ng glee. :)
goodluck sa davao trip.
ayos ang name a bittersweet. parang chocolate.
ReplyDeletesabi ko dadalasan ko manood movies ngayun pero sadly wala pa rin talaga mapanood kundi dvd ng glee. :)
goodluck sa davao trip.
You do have a point.
ReplyDeleteFor sure, most of the characters portrayed in movies were based on real people. They may have just "tweaked" the characters to make them bolder, etc in the big screen.
Mejo nakaka-relate ako. Paminsan turn-off sa movies pag may happy ending. :D
ReplyDeleteThough you've probably seen all of their films (or at least most), almost everything by the Coen brothers have endings like that.
ReplyDeleteBrillante Mendoza's films as well have endings where nothing is resolved. Actually, many many good Filipino filmmakers dig making their movies that way (Ishmael Bernal also comes to mind).
Of course zombie movies have endings like that too, but I doubt personal growth--or the lack thereof--is their purpose :]
I tend to like films like that too. Fuck "resolution".
Check out Casablanca, C. Or, A Streetcar Named Desire.
ReplyDeleteouch.
Mr. Bittersweet, we're opposites. I look forward to happy endings every time I'm watching a movie. I feel like I'm dealing with so many conflicts and heartbreaks and stresses in my life already and wouldn't want to see more of it. :p
ReplyDeletenothing wrong with bittersweet. it's i guess a way to say you're just realistic...
ReplyDeletenot everything in life's about rainbows and butterflies...
as per your question...
ReplyDeleteif i want to get depressed i see Marley and Me...
The Lovely Bones (the new one)...
A Beautiful Life..
and Rape of Virginia P... hehehe
so you dig atonement?
ReplyDeleteah, some wise old men in the olden days (they're probably dead by now) said that those who like sad stories are those who are really happy in real life.
ReplyDelete*hic*
photo cache, saan na ung list? i'm still waiting. hehe.
ReplyDeletelawstude, masaya ang glee. stress-reliever. april pa balik nila.
ReplyDeleteruss, you do have a point. some of have resolutions that are just unbelievable. suspend disbelief na lang.
ReplyDeleteandy, ayos sa term. turn-off. lol.
ReplyDeleteyou're right about bernal and mendoza. have seen only 3 or 4 movies from the coen brothers. i'll try to catch with some of their films.
ReplyDeletesonia, i've seen both. ano pa?
ReplyDeletelen, i know someone who have the same mindset as yours. kaya di kami magkasundo minsan sa movies. hehe.
ReplyDeletegillboard, have seen the lovely bones. i liked it. i do understand why critics lashed out at it.
ReplyDeletebtw, ano ung the rape of virginia p? very interesting. title pa lang.
random student, not a fan of atonement the movie. atonement the book is way, way better.
ReplyDeleteatticus, masiyahin pala akong tao. haha.
ReplyDeleteweh. not the giggly happy type.
ReplyDeletethe type whose happiness and happy, stable look at life cannot be easily shaken by a sad story.
for some strange reasons, i am drawn to this movie
ReplyDeletei really wanna watch it