Day 81: American Psycho

Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) works on Wall Street and spends his time in fancy restaurants with his successful acquaintances but his friendly personality is all a front for the murderous feelings he has inside. As the film progresses, he finds it more difficult to control his urge to kill and he has a bit of a meltdown and confesses all his crimes to his lawyer.

The ambiguity surrounding whether he was actually killing people or it was all in his imagination is quite interesting. It’s good when it’s left up to the viewer to decide what has actually happened. It seems to me that he did kill all those people but he just got away with it because nobody wanted the hassle of properly dealing with something. Like when Bateman goes back to the apartment where he killed lots of women and it’s all painted over and the real estate woman is trying to get rid of him. It came across like she knew what had happened there but knew it would affect the sale of the place so she wants him gone. Money is more important than what happened to the women there. And when he is trying to confess to his lawyer that he killed everyone and Paul Allen (Jared Leto), the lawyer thinks he is kidding because he had lunch with Paul. However, everyone keeps getting each other’s names wrong so it’s more likely that the lawyer just didn’t care enough about who he was having lunch with to get the name right.

I liked the use of mistaken identity to show how similar all the men are. They’re always confusing each other for someone else because they all look practically identical, they’re all going to the same places and they’re all doing the same job (they’re all vice presidents, according to their business cards). It’s difficult to tell anyone apart because they’re all doing so well at being the same. Nobody has any facets to their personality that aren’t replicated in everyone around them, they all come across as shallow and money-driven. None of them really listen to each other, which you can clearly see when Bateman has his various outbursts (like saying how he likes to dissect girls). What he says is usually ignored or dismissed as a joke. Nobody really cares to listen to anyone else, so they don’t take him seriously.

“I have all the characteristics of a human being: blood, flesh, skin, hair; but not a single, clear, identifiable emotion, except for greed and disgust. Something horrible is happening inside of me and I don’t know why. My nightly bloodlust has overflown into my days. I feel lethal, on the verge of frenzy. I think my mask of sanity is about to slip.”

7/10

Day 24: Walk the Line

The film follows the life of Johnny Cash as he makes it as a musician, falls in love, makes a lot of mistakes and then gets back on track. Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon were wonderful here. They had so much chemistry and their voices weren’t half bad either. Watching this film I realised I know little to nothing about Johnny Cash and that’s a damn shame.

While I understand we’re all wanting Johnny and June to be together, it must have been horrible to be Vivian. She had to sit by while he was in love with someone else. And so clearly in love with someone else. Yeah, she wasn’t all that supportive but you can see the sense in that, he was away all the time on tours and she was left to look after the children. Apparently (according to that ol’ bastion of knowledge, Wikipedia) they had only dated for 3 weeks before he was off for 3 years in the Air Force. During the time he was gone they sent hundreds of love letters and when he came back they got married. That’s such a brilliant story. He probably did love her but then with June he had something else, something that seemed to bring him alive.

I’d be interested in watching a film about June because her part in all of this was so important. Like I said, I think she brought Cash alive and she cares for him throughout despite how painful it is for her sometimes. When he falls in the lake she jumps right in after him. She keeps him safe while he goes through withdrawal. That scene when he wakes up and she hands him the raspberries was just beautiful. He looked so happy that she had stayed with him and took care of him when he needed it.

And I love the way she looks at him. So much love and pain in her eyes. And when he’s singing in the prison she just looks so proud of him. Looks are important, y’know? You can hide so much in words but it’s so hard to hide your feelings in a look. While writing this I’ve been listening to/watching some Johnny Cash songs and videos, to get the feel of it. The way they’re looking at each other in the videos... I can’t stand it, it’s wonderful.

8/10