Day 115: Practical Magic

After the death of their parents, Sally (Sandra Bullock) and Gillian (Nicole Kidman) are raised by their aunts. They learn that they are witches and the aunts teach them about the ways of their craft. Life for the women is difficult because the people of the town see them as different and fear them but they come together when it matters.

The aunts cook up a spell to give Sally and Michael a little push into falling in love. And when Sally was a little girl she made up a spell that called for a man with all the qualities that she was sure she’d never find, so that she could never die of a broken heart. She marries Michael and they have two children and they are very happy. When he dies she is devastated, naturally. Later she meets Gary (Aidan Quinn), who is the man she called for as a child, and the two fall in love and are happy. But in both cases magic was used to bring them together and I’m not sure if that means the love is real. At one point Sally says to Gary that they’d never know if they really loved each other or if it was the magic. But then part of me thinks, does it matter how it happens? They feel like they do, so surely that’s what matters. I think if I was in that situation I’d probably doubt it was real and it would end up driving me mad. But they seem to be fine with it, so that’s alright.

What always gets me about this film is that they are witches so it must be easy to get rid of a body? Like, what is the point in being a witch if you just have to bury someone like the rest of us? And they drove all the way from Arizona back to New England. Google Maps is telling me that’s 1363 miles. Surely they could’ve ditched him somewhere along the way rather than take him all the way back to where they live? No?

8/10

Day 19: Rabbit Hole

So I was saying today that I was going to find a film that is easy to watch and won’t make me cry, something like Jurassic Park, y’know? And then I decided no, I’ll watch a film about a couple who lose their child because apparently I’ve decided to declare war on my tear ducts. Sobs a-plenty, my oh my.

Becca (Nicole Kidman) and Howie (Aaron Eckhart) are trying to pick up the pieces of their lives after the death of their son, Danny, in a car accident 8 months prior. The reminders of Danny around the house have different effects on both of them; Becca seems to dislike all of them and wants to get rid of them, while Howie likes feeling that he is still close by. Their conflicting ways of dealing with things causes a lot of tension but eventually they’re honest about what they want to happen and you can see they’re going to go from there.

The boy who hit Danny seems to be coping remarkably well. Becca accidentally sees him on a school bus and follows him for a while until eventually talking to him. He’s very mature about the meetings he has with her, probably understanding she needs them more than he does. He is quite creative and has made his own comic book about parallel universes. I love the idea that parallel universes could exist but I think it’s more a hope than a true belief. Imagine that regret you have. I'll take a stab in the dark and assume it's because you didn't do something that you really wanted to do. In a parallel universe, you did it and your life has splintered off from the aftermath. It might've gone badly or it might've gone really great but at least you did it. It’s a shame we can’t look in on our parallel selves sometimes and see how they’re getting on and how different they are to us. We could see what the result was to something we agonised over doing but then never had the courage to do. To echo Becca's words, “Somewhere out there I’m having a good time.”

I like the way the film was done with no overly dramatic scenes; it’s more about how their loss affects their lives in little ways, forcing them to face up to who they are now and what it means for them.

7/10