Day 153: 50/50

Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) doesn’t smoke, drink or drive because they’re all dangerous and so when he gets cancer, it puts the danger of those into perspective. His best friend is there for him in ways particular to friends (trying to get him laid, using the cancer to hit on cute women, etc.) and he considers his relationship with his parents from a different angle, which seems to lessen the tension.

I’ve never had anyone close to me be seriously ill so I have no idea what that must feel like. It seems like it would be such a difficult thing to deal with. Kyle (Seth Rogen), Adam’s best friend, is his normal self around Adam and he doesn’t let the whole cancer thing affect what they get up to. Adam is eventually frustrated because he thinks Kyle isn’t taking it seriously but he learns that Kyle has been reading up on how to be there for him and he understands. Kyle has probably found it so difficult to deal with the fact that his friend could die very soon but he knew that what he’s feeling can’t get in the way of the friendship because it’s not about him, it’s about Adam. I liked Kyle and his unapologetically way of being honest. He seemed like a genuine person.

The balance between humour and sadness is well done here. The lighter aspects don’t seem forced and so it helps to feel the darker parts in a stronger way. I liked the film. Good and sad, what more could you want?

8/10

Day 51: Inception

Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his team are employed by very rich people to spend their time in the dreams of others in order to steal valuable secrets. Their newest employer, Saito (Ken Watanabe), is a little different. He wants them to go into the mind of a business competitor and plant an idea. That is so difficult and in order to do so the team risk ending up spending the rest of their lives in limbo. Cobb’s projection of his wife, Mal (Marion Cotillard), threatens to destroy their mission at every step and it puts the whole team in constant danger.

To be able to see into someone’s mind, to be able to walk through their memories and their experiences and their thoughts, just seems like such a beautiful thing. It’s not about being nosy but more because people rarely tell you exactly what they’re thinking, or if they do, they filter it so it’s better for you to listen to. The ideal for me would just be unadulterated honesty at all times. Truly knowing someone seems close to an impossibility because the distance between who they are and who they project themselves to be is massive. In order to know someone, they have to close the gap. That is it for me, I don’t know a lot of things about me or anyone for that matter but I know that: I want to close the gap.

You know, I thought it would be amazing to be able to dream so well that you could actually have a whole life with someone. Or maybe not even a whole life, but to imagine someone so clearly that it’s almost as if they are there with you. But it clearly would never even touch on how wonderful it would be to actually have it in reality. Like is said in the film, you can never imagine a person completely. People are so complex and their every thought and action is influenced by a myriad of different and sometimes contradictory forces. How could you ever hope to dream of that person in their entirety? Sure, you could make an adequate copy and maybe you’d be happy enough. But it would never be them, not really. Imagination is powerful but it can’t be everything.

In the hotel room, Mal accuses Ariadne (Ellen Page) of not understanding what is going on because she has never felt what it’s like to be a lover, “to be half of a whole”. For me, I don’t believe anyone you are with should be seen as your other half. I think you should be complete yourself so that anyone who is with you gets to share in who you are, not make you who you are. If they leave, does that make you incomplete again? It’s all so fragile, I just refuse to believe that it should be the right way of things. You are not defined by the people in your life, you are defined by you. By being the truest version of yourself. I just can’t believe that people are incomplete and it’s only through being with someone else that they can be whole. That seems so sad.

It must just be the hardest thing when someone you love kills themselves. Especially when they do it right in front of you. Mal completely believes that this world is not her reality and she needs to die in order to get back to where she and Cobb built their lives together. And Cobb put the idea in her head without meaning for it to cause this much destruction and so he feels guilty forever after. He keeps going back into his dreams in order to be with her but he can never get past his guilt, and he does know that she isn’t real and it breaks his heart that he can’t go back and fix what he did. But he does get to return to his home and his children. And it doesn’t matter if it’s a dream or not because he gets to finally be with them again and that’s what he has wanted for so long. This is his reality now.

Leonardo DiCaprio is such a brilliant actor. His eyes just slay me in every film, they are so believable. When I was watching the film, I was utterly convinced he was Dom Cobb and that he loved Mal with a passion I can’t even imagine. You just get lost in his portrayal of his characters and it’s lovely to be a part of.

I always forget how much I love this film. It’s just so beautiful. I love when the café and the street are exploding around Cobb and Ariadne, it’s such a great scene. The whole film is just lovely to watch.

9/10

Day 42: 10 Things I Hate About You

Heath Ledger is such a babe. I just need to get that out there. I find his face enchanting and I just want to kiss it anytime he’s on screen. Anyway, moving on.

Feisty teenager, Kat (Julia Stiles), just wants to get through high school with the minimum amount of contact with the assholes that seem to populate the place. Her sister, Bianca (Larisa Oleynik), wants to be able to date but their father is rather protective and so she can’t date until Kat does. And because this is a ‘90s film, it inevitably ends up meaning that a boy is paid to date the girl. And he then falls in love with her.

I know the heart wants what it wants and it doesn’t need to explain or justify itself but I cannot understand why Cameron likes Bianca. She forgets his name immediately upon him telling her it and she shows no interest in him whatsoever. Obviously she ends up liking him and they’re cute together but I just don’t get why he was so focused on her to begin with when she barely even looked at him. I always wish in films the person would just go “right, s/he isn’t interested, I’ll move on.” But that might be too sensible. And it's not as if people are that good at doing it in real life, so maybe it's too unrealistic to expect it to happen in a film.

Beautiful angel Patrick (Heath Ledger) is paid to date Kat but you can see right away she intrigues him and that he likes being around her. When he tries to pretend he’s casually bumping into her at the concert and he watches her dancing, the way he’s smiling is a clear indication it’s more than just about the money for him. I just love the scene when they’re in the pedalo and he’s saying how he gets her attitude and that he can see she thinks if she disappoints people straight off then she doesn’t have to live up to their expectations. And then he says she messed up because she never disappointed him. Ugh, he is so smooth. I would be smitten. Hell, I am smitten and it’s just fiction.

“Don’t let anyone ever make you feel like you don’t deserve what you want.”

8/10