There's a season in your eyes...
Heavy mitted love...*
I jump out of bed. It's 7:30pm. Who wakes up at 7:30pm? I brew some coffee while I jump in the shower. Running late to The Future which sounds rather strange when you don't realize I'm actually talking about the new Miranda July film. But let's run with the unintentional meaning first. Can you actually be late to the future? When does the present catch up to the future? Or is the present always on future's tail coughing up the fumes of exhaust, dust and potential? Did Miranda July want to play with this concept of time? Did she know the wordplay that would transpire if she called her movie The Future? It's like that bar in Manhattan my friend occasionally bartends at called No Idea. Such wordplay confuses me. "Where are you going tonight?" "No Idea." "Oh, I thought you were going out..." Yeah, I think you get it. I think Miranda July knew what she was getting into. I wonder what kind of future she's talking about. Immediate future? Future present? Le futur... Does she claim her movie is what happens after movies? Does her movie portray the shift from postmodernism to...whatever happens after postmodernism? We've been in this consumer use-value ironic stale state of mind for too long. I need something else. I need more heart. And I think Miranda July opens up her chest and ribcage and shows us her beating heart...at times. The same way Lady Gaga does when she interviews. I want authenticity back. But I'll take wordplay over irony any day. I was running too late for the future so J and I decided to see Crazy Stupid Love instead. There are only a few people I would drive forty miles to see a seemingly mediocre movie with. And J is one of them. Plus we were meeting up earlier to catch up on our lives. We meet at the Starbucks I used to frequent all of the time. The same Starbucks I used to go to before work every night. The same Starbucks where I befriended half the staff and they wouldn't charge me for my drip coffee. The same staff I made mixtapes for with lotto tickets tucked in their cases one Christmas. I haven't been to that Starbucks in months since I travel from Brooklyn now. It feels weird to be in a Starbucks in general. Here, in Brooklyn there isn't one close to me. But there's better options for coffee. WTF Coffee Lab, Tillie's, Bittersweet. Plus, I brew my own more often than not because I'm on a budget. I have to start at the beginning of beginnings and my melodrama is shared over soy lattes and mochas outside while we pull drags off of our cigarettes. I can feel myself shaking as I'm telling these stories of what happened. There's so much to tell and there is still so much going on. The caffeine is pumping through my blood. J mentions a friend whose gender is ambiguous and I'm all about queering gender and ambiguity. An hour passes by and I still feel as if we both have so much more to share but we get up and walk over to the movie theater. See a movie trailer about germs and it freaks us out. We talk about our love for pop music and how much we denied pop music in our ignorant youth. We discuss how M83 has collected every sound from every genre of music and made it his own and how genius it really is. Ambient is best. Crazy Stupid Love starts and I'm pulled in immediately because it's Julianne Moore. The best and most underrated actress of our day. Even if she's crying in this "rom-com" I'm crying along with her. I could watch her peel an orange and be aroused on so many levels. Marisa Tomei's "scene" is ridiculous and played pitch perfect. I wish she was my English teacher in middle school. Watching Ryan Gosling play a douchebag was probably the hottest thing in film since Jean-Claude Van Damme was relevant. Gosh I was such a sucker for KickBoxer and Bloodsport when I was young. I loved watching action movies with my father even if he "covered my eyes" during the sex scenes. But when I got a little older and learned how to operate the VCR I took advantage of our illegal cable box. I specifically remember recording a sex scene with Jean-Claude that I could watch in private. He was on a boat making "love" to a woman. I remember the erotic scene was shared on the same video as one of my taekwondo tournaments. In retrospect it seemed rather appropriate to use the same tape. Jean-Claude Van Damme and I kicking ass together on the same film.
Where am I going with this?
I thought Crazy Stupid Love was going to be a poor substitute for The Future but boy were my expectations wrong. I enjoyed the heck out of it. Yes, it was formulaic. Yes, there's a happy ending. Yes, it needed some editing. Yes, sometimes the jokes weren't funny. But you can't go wrong with a cast like that. They even snuck in a Kevin Bacon and a Josh Groban. It was the first time I thought Steve Carell was attractive. The music was awesome. Singer-songwriter stuff I cling to.** Plus Miike Snow remixed, Goldfrapp and The Flaming Lips. It' not that often I wait through the end credits of a movie to see what songs they credit. Especially a movie I thought was going to get lost in the shuffle of summer movies. But I'm not sure I'm in the right frame of mind to properly and objectively watch a romantic dramedy. So my opinion might be way off here. I'm very vulnerable at the moment and there's a part of this black cold heart of mine, to desire a love that lasts twenty-five years like the two main characters. As funny as this movie wants to be, it's grounded in sadness and that's where I connected with it most. Julianne Moore's character struggles with her need for a divorce which is displayed in the opening scene; that particular scene is not played for laughs either. There's genuine pain when she says those devastating words. And as the movie progresses you see her struggle and doubt her decision. We're all ultimately looking for love. Not sure if we found it in fifth grade when we shared an ice cream cone with our cute classmate or in that relationship in college where we were distracted by papers, tests, and getting high. I have a hard time letting go of all the people I have romantically loved. I think that is why I do my best to transition those relationships into friends. It's what I'm struggling with right now. But some people cannot make the transition. It's too messy. Too complicated. Too difficult. They are willing to cut the rope completely and either hold the memories close to their heart, tucked away in a drawer, or burn burn burn them until they are nothing but ash. I can't imagine a world without love, but sometimes I wonder if I would be better off without it. Crazy Stupid Love will renew your faith in it, but doesn't shy away from its cruelties. It's a Hollywood movie that follows the highs and lows of a romantic comedy, but as a viewer you can pull out the "real" moments from the scripted cliches. And with a cast like that, it's not hard to believe in these characters. It's not hard to maybe offer love a second chance.
*lyric from Bon Iver's "Beth/Rest"
**By singer-songwriter stuff I mean music with acoustic guitars, male vocals, usually sad, quiet, reflective. It usually tends to clench at your heartstrings. In this case it was a band called The Acorn which I immediately purchased off iTunes and uploaded it for free at the bottom of this post.
The Acorn- Almanac
I jump out of bed. It's 7:30pm. Who wakes up at 7:30pm? I brew some coffee while I jump in the shower. Running late to The Future which sounds rather strange when you don't realize I'm actually talking about the new Miranda July film. But let's run with the unintentional meaning first. Can you actually be late to the future? When does the present catch up to the future? Or is the present always on future's tail coughing up the fumes of exhaust, dust and potential? Did Miranda July want to play with this concept of time? Did she know the wordplay that would transpire if she called her movie The Future? It's like that bar in Manhattan my friend occasionally bartends at called No Idea. Such wordplay confuses me. "Where are you going tonight?" "No Idea." "Oh, I thought you were going out..." Yeah, I think you get it. I think Miranda July knew what she was getting into. I wonder what kind of future she's talking about. Immediate future? Future present? Le futur... Does she claim her movie is what happens after movies? Does her movie portray the shift from postmodernism to...whatever happens after postmodernism? We've been in this consumer use-value ironic stale state of mind for too long. I need something else. I need more heart. And I think Miranda July opens up her chest and ribcage and shows us her beating heart...at times. The same way Lady Gaga does when she interviews. I want authenticity back. But I'll take wordplay over irony any day. I was running too late for the future so J and I decided to see Crazy Stupid Love instead. There are only a few people I would drive forty miles to see a seemingly mediocre movie with. And J is one of them. Plus we were meeting up earlier to catch up on our lives. We meet at the Starbucks I used to frequent all of the time. The same Starbucks I used to go to before work every night. The same Starbucks where I befriended half the staff and they wouldn't charge me for my drip coffee. The same staff I made mixtapes for with lotto tickets tucked in their cases one Christmas. I haven't been to that Starbucks in months since I travel from Brooklyn now. It feels weird to be in a Starbucks in general. Here, in Brooklyn there isn't one close to me. But there's better options for coffee. WTF Coffee Lab, Tillie's, Bittersweet. Plus, I brew my own more often than not because I'm on a budget. I have to start at the beginning of beginnings and my melodrama is shared over soy lattes and mochas outside while we pull drags off of our cigarettes. I can feel myself shaking as I'm telling these stories of what happened. There's so much to tell and there is still so much going on. The caffeine is pumping through my blood. J mentions a friend whose gender is ambiguous and I'm all about queering gender and ambiguity. An hour passes by and I still feel as if we both have so much more to share but we get up and walk over to the movie theater. See a movie trailer about germs and it freaks us out. We talk about our love for pop music and how much we denied pop music in our ignorant youth. We discuss how M83 has collected every sound from every genre of music and made it his own and how genius it really is. Ambient is best. Crazy Stupid Love starts and I'm pulled in immediately because it's Julianne Moore. The best and most underrated actress of our day. Even if she's crying in this "rom-com" I'm crying along with her. I could watch her peel an orange and be aroused on so many levels. Marisa Tomei's "scene" is ridiculous and played pitch perfect. I wish she was my English teacher in middle school. Watching Ryan Gosling play a douchebag was probably the hottest thing in film since Jean-Claude Van Damme was relevant. Gosh I was such a sucker for KickBoxer and Bloodsport when I was young. I loved watching action movies with my father even if he "covered my eyes" during the sex scenes. But when I got a little older and learned how to operate the VCR I took advantage of our illegal cable box. I specifically remember recording a sex scene with Jean-Claude that I could watch in private. He was on a boat making "love" to a woman. I remember the erotic scene was shared on the same video as one of my taekwondo tournaments. In retrospect it seemed rather appropriate to use the same tape. Jean-Claude Van Damme and I kicking ass together on the same film.
Where am I going with this?
I thought Crazy Stupid Love was going to be a poor substitute for The Future but boy were my expectations wrong. I enjoyed the heck out of it. Yes, it was formulaic. Yes, there's a happy ending. Yes, it needed some editing. Yes, sometimes the jokes weren't funny. But you can't go wrong with a cast like that. They even snuck in a Kevin Bacon and a Josh Groban. It was the first time I thought Steve Carell was attractive. The music was awesome. Singer-songwriter stuff I cling to.** Plus Miike Snow remixed, Goldfrapp and The Flaming Lips. It' not that often I wait through the end credits of a movie to see what songs they credit. Especially a movie I thought was going to get lost in the shuffle of summer movies. But I'm not sure I'm in the right frame of mind to properly and objectively watch a romantic dramedy. So my opinion might be way off here. I'm very vulnerable at the moment and there's a part of this black cold heart of mine, to desire a love that lasts twenty-five years like the two main characters. As funny as this movie wants to be, it's grounded in sadness and that's where I connected with it most. Julianne Moore's character struggles with her need for a divorce which is displayed in the opening scene; that particular scene is not played for laughs either. There's genuine pain when she says those devastating words. And as the movie progresses you see her struggle and doubt her decision. We're all ultimately looking for love. Not sure if we found it in fifth grade when we shared an ice cream cone with our cute classmate or in that relationship in college where we were distracted by papers, tests, and getting high. I have a hard time letting go of all the people I have romantically loved. I think that is why I do my best to transition those relationships into friends. It's what I'm struggling with right now. But some people cannot make the transition. It's too messy. Too complicated. Too difficult. They are willing to cut the rope completely and either hold the memories close to their heart, tucked away in a drawer, or burn burn burn them until they are nothing but ash. I can't imagine a world without love, but sometimes I wonder if I would be better off without it. Crazy Stupid Love will renew your faith in it, but doesn't shy away from its cruelties. It's a Hollywood movie that follows the highs and lows of a romantic comedy, but as a viewer you can pull out the "real" moments from the scripted cliches. And with a cast like that, it's not hard to believe in these characters. It's not hard to maybe offer love a second chance.
*lyric from Bon Iver's "Beth/Rest"
**By singer-songwriter stuff I mean music with acoustic guitars, male vocals, usually sad, quiet, reflective. It usually tends to clench at your heartstrings. In this case it was a band called The Acorn which I immediately purchased off iTunes and uploaded it for free at the bottom of this post.
The Acorn- Almanac