Friday, July 30, 2010

Cyrus (2010)

The expectation: Quirky independent film with both Marissa Tomei and John C. Reilly plus that kid from the recent Apatow comedy troupe. I did not even know that Catherine Keener was going to be in it- which was a great treat. I hoped for good music and a good story, for an abnormal pace and great acting. For something different.

The result: I think that I was the only person in the theater that liked this film. It was the first time in a long while that someone in the seat next to me answered their phone- not just shut it off when it was ringing but said "hello". The people in front of me talked the whole time as if they could not help commenting. At first I was angry and confused, but then I realized that this movie made people really uncomfortable and I started to really love it for that sole reason. It does have a very strange pace. The filming is often unconventional, and the story is odd. The acting, of course, was superb, but this is not a film you see everyday at the theater. What I really liked about it was that it dealt with a subject rarely broached- the codependent nature of humanity. While that word often has a negative stigma, it can be very healthy for us. We rely on others for support, for comfort, for companionship, etc. We trust others with our secrets and our dreams. Most of us even depend on each other for our own happiness. There is, quite naturally, a range of co-dependencies. This film shows us that range with the relationships between John and Jamie, John and Molly, and Molly and Cyrus. Although it dragged on towards the end, and it ended quite terribly, I got to see this film make people very uncomfortable- to the point where, ironically, they had to rely on others to help them through it. ha.

What to look out for: the crowd, just watch them...
The disconnect between dialogue and visual shots- at these moments, I was really, well, in the moment, not just watching.
John's raw honesty- not very believable, but refreshing.
And the very subtle humor of this crazy story.

Flickr photo by dimnikolov

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