second chances

Rating: 10/10 (7 August 2004)

do not read on if you have not seen the movie. it gives away too much.
i really enjoyed the film. i first saw it over two years ago and it remained somewhere at the back of my mind, tugging at me. i recently decided to buy the DVD and have since watched it several times - occasionally with stop frame or close caption for assistance. my appreciation for the film has grown during the recent period of viewing / study.
it's a love story that transcends dimension. "i'll find you again" the dream version of sofia says to David. here is the notion that love might transcend the limits /confines of one's own mind and actually form a connection between lovers. this is essentially David talking to himself, his internalized sofia also tells him that "it's a problem" because she really is not there (she's dead and he's frozen, dreaming all of this). yet the yearning to make such a connection across impossible ontological boundaries is what our fantasies of true love always tell us. (in a Jungian sense, this is possible, we are all connected through the fabric of the collective mind [by the way, the book sitting on the table when mccabe is talking to David is "memories, dreams, reflections", Carl Jung's autobiography!]) (I also think that the recent movie, "eternal sunshine of the spotless mind" plays with this theme as well). love must try to find a way through the impossible labyrinth of mind and the reality it presumes to know. along with this, one's very own identity / existence is called into question and the adventure of finding love becomes tantamount to finding oneself.
mccabe gently scolds David for being "careless" with julianna. indeed, it is David's guilt which is the "glitch" or bug in the system. it is what derails what should have been paradise, it's the evil seed, the apple. the "sweet and sour" speech is replayed throughout the dream as a leitmotif with a simple lesson to be memorized and not forgotten; an opportunity to not make the same mistakes over again. yes. the little things can embody the meaning of the whole if one has the faith, the determination and the heart to keep up with the "search" - even when it is not exactly clear what it is that is missing.
i also want to mention that the musical tracks which support and interweave this movie are wonderful. the sigur ros track "njosnavelin" is haunting, sad and ethereal. and i never imagined the beach boys "good vibrations" in quite such a context before. i think the choices for the soundtrack were really artful and inspired.