Super short review: Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, or, Emo Lo-Fi High Fidelity
I ended the last post with the idea that Zack and Miri's romantic relationship gets created by porn: Zack first realizes that he and Miri really do love each other when he watches himself and her on film.
In a less literal, but perhaps more pervasive way, Nick and Norah's relationship is also mediated--in this case, not by film, but by music and recording technology. That much is clear from the trailers, with Norah falling in love with Nick before she meets him for his mix-cds with the handmade designs.
(Those "handmade designs" on the cds are maybe all that sets Nick apart from Rob of High Fidelity, except it doesn't so much mark a character difference as a historical difference--the change from mix-tapes to mix-cds: Rob was a late-punk (second wave, New Wave, No Wave), with a late-punk's celebration of ugliness and blockiness, which matches the mix-tape, which is an ugly thing with very little smooth surface to write on--it's blocky and machinic, not aerodynamic at all, and keeps its secrets on the inside; Nick's aesthetic is the post-punk affectation of ugly, with the high silver chrome of the cd entirely covered in Sharpie-squiggled circles--unlike the tape, the cd is very aerodynamic and doesn't have any secrets, which is the shiny lack that Nick covers up with his OCD markering.)
What makes this film more interesting than it might seem at first trailer-glance ("well-off white kids have adventures in the city" might as well be the distillation of everything I hated about DMZ) is that the romance between Nick and Norah isn't love-at-first sight--she may love him for his mix-cds before meeting him, but once she meets him, she realizes that, like Rob before him, he's kind of a jerk--in a Michael Cera way--who needs music to separate himself from and connect himself to people.
Which is why it makes a sort of sense that Nick and Norah's love, after all their fighting, is registered in the film as the volume meters on some studio recording equipment going into the red as Norah has an orgasm--which may be a way to get around the censors, but is also a reminder that underneath Nick's handmade squiggles, there's a machine at work here.
Recommended or not recommended? Recommended, particularly if you believe that NYC is the best C ever.
In a less literal, but perhaps more pervasive way, Nick and Norah's relationship is also mediated--in this case, not by film, but by music and recording technology. That much is clear from the trailers, with Norah falling in love with Nick before she meets him for his mix-cds with the handmade designs.
(Those "handmade designs" on the cds are maybe all that sets Nick apart from Rob of High Fidelity, except it doesn't so much mark a character difference as a historical difference--the change from mix-tapes to mix-cds: Rob was a late-punk (second wave, New Wave, No Wave), with a late-punk's celebration of ugliness and blockiness, which matches the mix-tape, which is an ugly thing with very little smooth surface to write on--it's blocky and machinic, not aerodynamic at all, and keeps its secrets on the inside; Nick's aesthetic is the post-punk affectation of ugly, with the high silver chrome of the cd entirely covered in Sharpie-squiggled circles--unlike the tape, the cd is very aerodynamic and doesn't have any secrets, which is the shiny lack that Nick covers up with his OCD markering.)
What makes this film more interesting than it might seem at first trailer-glance ("well-off white kids have adventures in the city" might as well be the distillation of everything I hated about DMZ) is that the romance between Nick and Norah isn't love-at-first sight--she may love him for his mix-cds before meeting him, but once she meets him, she realizes that, like Rob before him, he's kind of a jerk--in a Michael Cera way--who needs music to separate himself from and connect himself to people.
Which is why it makes a sort of sense that Nick and Norah's love, after all their fighting, is registered in the film as the volume meters on some studio recording equipment going into the red as Norah has an orgasm--which may be a way to get around the censors, but is also a reminder that underneath Nick's handmade squiggles, there's a machine at work here.
Recommended or not recommended? Recommended, particularly if you believe that NYC is the best C ever.