Great

Rating: Null/10 (14 March 2008)

Notebook, The (2004)
**** (out of 4)
An elderly woman (Gena Rowlands) has lost most of her memory due to Alzheimer's and is currently living in a nursing home where she is visited by another member (James Garner) who spends the afternoons reading to her. The book he reads her deals with a teenage couple (Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams) from opposite sides of the tracks who fall in love one summer. She's a rich girl and he's a poor boy and of course this doesn't sit well with her snobbish mother (Joan Allen) who pretty much ends the relationship. The young people are deeply in love but due to various circumstances, the two go years without seeing one another until fate steps into play.
Being a major film buff isn't always the easiest thing in the world because quite often you find yourself watching the same thing over and over again. There's always an interesting debate whether current films can hold a candle to the older classics and I'm somewhat split in this conversation. On one hand there really isn't anything new that can be done with films today. No matter what you watch, there's a very good chance a film, of some type, has been made before it. The Notebook really isn't anything new and it really doesn't tell anything we haven't seen before but it really doesn't matter because in that tiresome debate, it really doesn't matter when a film was made. What matters is what the filmmakers do with that story and in the case of this film director Nick Cassavetes has created a masterpiece of innocence, love and fate. As a film buff, I've seen countless love stories but I'm in no way hesitant to call The Notebook one of the most touching and romantic films ever made.
I think the key success to the film is the word innocence, which runs throughout the film and it's the one scene that anyone could connect to. We've all felt innocence in our life whether it be from our first love to our first sexual experience. Both of those issues are dealt with in the film and the director brings so much energy and passion to both segments that it's never too hard to connect to the characters on screen. There's no doubt this film is meant to be a tearjerker, a term which is overused in today's cinema full of bad films but it's the highest compliment here because the film is full of innocence that we can put to rest any ideas of seeing this stuff before and the viewer can simply go along with the ride, witnessing and falling in love for the first time just like the two characters.
A lot of love stories today seem to rely on actions more than words. Quite often we get love stories that are rush jobs and by saying that I'm referring to films that go from point A to B without any motivations. Throughout the film there are several innocents lost, sex for one and losing your heart for another. Quit often these big moments come and go too quickly but the screenplay is smart enough to realize that words can speak a lot more than any actions. Half way through the first sex scene the two stop and the girls asks the guy what he's thinking at that moment. How many films would stop a sex scene so that a honest question could be asked? How many times do we get to know how the characters are feeling or even thinking? In all honesty, the problem I have with most current films is that it appears characters are never thinking. Opening the mind with thought can do a lot of good and that rings true here because these characters thoughts are a strong part of their emotions, which is what the film is about.
The performances are what really brings the film up to another level. The older couple is played by James Garner and Gena Rowlands, both giving superb performances, which were unfortunately overlooked at the recent Oscar announcements. Garner is a very confident actor and he always comes across as looking so natural on the screen. It appears his acting talents have been overlooked for quite some time because we see him appearing so calm and collective on screen that it appears he's making it look too easy. Rowlands has always been given her credit by playing hard edged characters so it's charming to see her in a more quiet role. This was my first time seeing Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams but both really caught my eye. The two of them, again, bring a certain innocence to the screen that it's not hard to follow their story and feel for them in each and every scene.
The one problem I did have with the film are the final ten minutes, which I felt were a bit too ugly for a film like this. I guess I'm going back on my earlier word were realistic was a good thing but I do feel some of this ugliness could have been cut back but this might have taken away from the final shot, which is one of the most beautiful and heartwarming scenes I can remember. The Notebook is your typical love story but every single moment rises to a different level, which is really what makes this film give the true meaning to a tearjerker. The poetic beauty and heartwarming fantasy is something we all look for in our own lives and to see it played out so perfectly on the screen is something very special in this day and age.