Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by Victor Khomenko (M) on July 23, 2005 at 20:20:16

The Notebook is a strange film. As you watch it, one part of you is screaming "This is fake! They are taking you for a ride! You are about to be had!". And the other leans back and sez: "So what?"

Even though I shall never consider it a great film, I enjoyed it. I always loved Jamed Garner and Gena Rowlands, and even aged they still look lovely and can act in soft overtones. They make a great couple.

The directing is too traditional and unmistakably American, and comes with a healty dose of syrup, but overall this is one of the few occasions where it doesn't get in the way of YOU thinking. In essence the movie is there as the prompter, a prod, if you will, guiding you but not pushing, letting you do all the work. Every episode opens up in your imagination like a great wine in your mouth, and you simply slide from one to another... and can't get enough... for it touches all the right chords in your mind and body.

But isn't that what a great movie is supposed to do? Yes, but The Notebook still can't quite raise above the somewhat traditional and average level with its one cliche after another, that while handled delicately, these still drag it down.

As I said, a strange movie. A one that I have easy time recommending, and yet would never nominate for any place of significance. But both my wife and I enjoyed it, and that doesn't happen all that often.

It kept us interested well past our bedtime... which is far more than I can say about last night's movie - L'Humanite - a powerhouse of super-intellectual exercise.