If I haven’t been as active on this space over the last couple of weeks, it’s because it’s been busy, busy, busy. Full of meetings, and discussions, and collaborations culminating in some hectic work travel, my mindspace has just been so preoccupied with work. I haven’t been reading, watching, doing anything other than work.
Well that is until a couple of days back when I was on a long plane ride back home from my work trip. It was a 10-hour journey and I was too keyed up to sleep. Thankfully, there were some good movies to keep me occupied.
The Materialists
I didn’t know much about this movie before I saw it. I went in assuming it was a romantic comedy, and it really wasn’t. But I also really liked where the movie was going with the love triangle trope.
The setup is perfect: the story of a matchmaker who thinks of relationships in terms of graphs and spreadsheets and boxes is torn between two men, and then hijinks ensue. The execution is a little off. I found all three people more cerebral than emotional, but still, I think this approach worked for me. There is a particular line from the movie about marriage being not about finding a soul mate, but a nursing home partner and a grave buddy. It feels oddly jarring, and yet looking at life from a long-term lens (25 years married now), she’s not wrong.
Overall, the movie was good – and I suppose quite realistic as far as the dating game goes – but also slightly too long? And I feel like I didn’t want her to end up with either of those two? (Not a spoiler, I promise.)
How to Train Your Dragon
I wasn’t particularly enthused about seeing this movie, as I have seen all the animated versions, and while I love them, I didn’t have any particular interest in revisiting the story. My kids, however, went to see this movie in the cinema when it first came out, and came back raving about it. So, I decided to watch it when I saw it available on the flight. And I have to say, it’s one of the best live-action remakes ever made. It stays fairly true to the original story, but the action and acting is amped up to the nth level. I enjoyed it, but really wish I had seen this in a cinema hall in 4D like my kids did. Thrilling stuff!
Love Actually
This movie was actually a rewatch. I first saw this when it came out, and my focus at that time was Hugh Grant – the then heartthrob du jour – and I was pretty disappointed with his short screen time and dull story arc (probably the weakest among all the shorts in the movie), and so I didn’t really care for the movie.
This time, I watched everything (did not fast forward any of the parts like I did the last time), and actually came to like the movie. I love the overall theme (the opening and closing scenes at Heathrow are particularly wonderful), the interconnectedness of the characters, and the thoughtful consideration of various facets of love, including friendship, parenthood, and family.
I like that not every story has a happy ending. Some of the story arcs still do feel a little unfinished – thinking of the Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson storyline, and then there are a couple that were just unnecessary and could have been edited out without any impact on the overall movie. But then there are the ones that are so heartbreakingly warm and made me feel all gooey inside, and hit just perfect, and that makes up for all the weaker story arcs.
