CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE, directed by John Requa and Glenn Ficarra, written by by Dan Fogelman

  Credits roll after “Crazy, Stupid, Love”.  A happy, up-tempo song plays and I wonder if love lasts forever.  Is there such a thing as soul mates?   I stare back at the projection booth and see a tiny blurry version of the credits reflected on the dusty glass.  Someone should take some Windex to it.  The theater is empty. Everyone bolts for the door to return to normal lives as soon as the main action ends.   I stay in my private daze, in the emotional aftermath of a good film.  I don’t have a normal life to return to anyway.  Why break the spell of a good movie?

Movie theaters are rooms that you are supposed to enter and exit on cue.  Wander in, march out.  There is no precedent for standing alone in a movie theater bathed in flickering light with your back turned to the screen, deep in thought about love.

The theater is animated by a churning computer controlled beast behind the dusty glass.  Nobody actually runs the projector.  It has a life of its own.

When the house lights come up in the theater will be no reason for a middle aged man to be standing alone in an empty theater.  This is not how I want my meditation to end. I can’t take my eyes off the fuzzy flighty light on the dusty glass.  I can’t stop thinking about soul mates and heartaches.  A good film like “Crazy, Stupid, and Love.” can do this, if you let it.

I met my soul mate when I was nineteen.  She was fourteen.  I didn’t know it.  She didn’t know.  Good thing too.  We didn’t see each other again for another dozen years or so.  From the very second we met again, a lifetime later, we both knew that we would spend the rest of our lives together, and we did.  Is there such a thing as soul mates?  “Crazy, Stupid, Love.” tries to answer this question and it’s fun to watch it all unfold.

“Crazy, Stupid, Love” has moments of startling authenticity and insight.  It’s a fun, well-written, enjoyable movie.  “It’s Complicated” deals with a similar issues of soul mates and possibility of          life-long love.  Once you truly fall in love with someone, does the love ever stop?  These two companion films are well written, acted, and directed.  I say see both of them.

A good film always makes me want to run home, hug my kids, and tell my wife she is terrific and I love her more than anything.  My daughter finished her first week at college today.  A car crushed her cell phone and she lost her glasses.  It all turned out well in the end.  She figured it out.  She will survive and thrive.  Has she met her soul mate yet?  Who gets to meet soul mates and who doesn’t?

The projector clicks off and the room goes black.  Now what?   The total darkness is comfortable.  I don’t move.  How long can this last?  I’m contained in a flurry of thoughts.  What next?

DRIVE, directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, screenplay by Hossein Amini, based on the book by James Sallis

Friday morning premieres, like at 10 AM are my favorites.  Generally there are only five or six other poor souls in a huge empty theater.  That's what I'm talking about.  I sneak in my coffee and donut, and relax.  I like to arrive during the trailers and let my eyes adjust.  I have the choice of my favorite seat, usually three rows from the back and in the middle.  This puts me at a relaxing eye level view of the screen and fills my peripheral vision.  I don't like anyone sitting anywhere near me -- not in same row, not behind me, not in front of me. 


"Drive" is a feast for the eyes and I really enjoyed this movie.  Hurry in to see it before it becomes popular so you can be ahead of the curve.   I saw it at 9:50 AM screening, and after that I was able to watch the last half of "Contagion" in another theater.  I troll the multiplex.  Unfortunately the last half of "Contagion" was just as bad as the first half that I saw the week before.  I had to leave the theater in disgust when Jude Law's character shows up on the street in his home made germ protector outfit looking like  Buzz Light Year on Halloween.


The look of "Drive" is a big part of its content.  It's not intrusive -- it is an addition.  The cinematography uses classic thirds, not just sometimes -- all the time, every shot.  It's incredible to watch thanks to director of photography Newton Thomas Sigel and production designer Beth Mickle. The story is shown, not told.  The use of selective focus, exquisite lighting, and a galaxy of color completes the whole picture and schools everyone in the power of images.  Film is indeed a visual medium.  

  "Drive" is a good drama, with minimal dialog, and plenty of emotion.  There are a few acts of graphic violence.   And how about quilted Okinawa jacket with a scorpian on the back and blood on the front.  A new fashion wave?  No, but it worked for the Ryan Gosling character, that and his toothpick.  A companion film with remarkable similarities is "A History of Violence".  See them both.  Report back.