Life, movies, and the end of the world.

09 December 2012


I just finished watching Seeking a Friend for the End of the World so please wait a bit while I dissolve in a puddle of tears.

I love movies that don't feel like movies. You know, those movies wherein the actors don't seem like they're acting out their scenes, blurting out lines from a script they have memorized by heart. Movies that feel organic. Movies that make you feel like you're with them, living inside the scene with them - and it's not just because the movie was shot in 3D that makes it realistic or something, but I know you know what I mean. Add to that an intelligent script that doesn't dumb down the audience and a killer OST and you've got the makings of a great movie (at least for me). Seeking a Friend for the End of the World checked everything in the list, and more.

The movie managed to take a subject that has been done so many times in many different ways and gave it a completely different spin that made people (and by that I meant me) relate to it on a more personal level. You see all these big-budget sci-fi films taking out the big guns (and by that I meant special effects) to disguise a crappy story and cheesy lines (and by that I meant 2012) and you have movies like this that don't rely on computers to make a solid point about the end of days... Well I know which one I prefer. At first I wasn't sure if pairing Steve Carell with Keira Knightley is a great idea, but I guess it's a testament to how good they are at their craft that it worked out in the end. Steve is a comedian but he does melancholic parts like this (and in Crazy, Stupid, Love) perfectly that make you really want to sympathize with him and offer him a drink, and Keira is such a beautiful English rose who can do no wrong. I love her and Anne Hathaway.

The movie also makes you think about what you're going to do if indeed the world will end in 21 days. In the film, some people go loco and riots ensue all over the city, while some chose to fight Death square in the eye and opted to take their own lives, in their own terms. Some tried to go back to their families and reunite broken bonds, while some tried to find the love of their lives that got away. What would you have done? If the world is really ending on the 21st, what would you do with the remaining days you have?

If the Mayans are right and the world would really end on the 21st, it would suck so much because I'm really excited for The Script's concert here on 03/31/13. Apart from that one little hitch, I don't think the time we have left is not enough for all the books I'd like to read, movies I'd like to watch, websites I'd still like to visit every day, so I wouldn't spend my last precious minutes on them. Instead, I would spend time with my family and true friends - those who haven't changed even when some people and circumstances have. Also, if time and fate would allow it, it would be nice to know who The One would have been; you know, just so I can rest in the knowledge that I wasn't destined to be lonely and alone.

Here are my favorite lines of Penny (Keira Knightley) from my favorite scene:
"I'm gonna do all the things I've missed out on for so long. I'm not gonna waste my time on the wrong person, I'm not gonna waste my parents' time introducing them to some future stranger. And then more days spent on picking out what you’re gonna wear for nights that don’t mean anything and then, wondering whether you’re with the right person. Or if this is the guy you’re gonna have kids with. All those ridiculous questions... It's liberating, is what it is.”
Have you seen this movie? What did you think? If you haven't yet, I suggest you catch it. If anything, it makes you realize things and lets you reevaluate your life choices and priorities. Have you got a friend for the end of the world?

1 comment

  1. I agree with you, it sounds like a wonderful movie.  If I knew the end of the world was coming, I'd want to help my wife and kids do things they've wanted to, but haven't had a chance yet.

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