Girl Most Likely

Why is it relevant?

Break up movie.  Struggle for acceptance.  Struggles with post-breakup depression.  Addressing life failures and moving forward.  Matt Dillon.

***

This movie follows Imogene Duncan, a girl who is faking it to make it in the glamorous Big Apple.  She has it all.  A reputation as a hip playwright (without a play to show for it), a cool job, a sexy boyfriend, the very best of friends, and a cool apartment.  A glimpse in the mirror in the opening montage shows she is indeed all that with her well coiffed hair and beautiful clothes.  But her long time boyfriend suddenly and rudely dumps her and her carefully stacked house of cards quickly falls to shambles.

I am pretty certain this movie was intended to be a comedy but it falls short.  The fact that Netflix lists this in both my "drama" and "comedy" queues is pretty telling.  After a faked suicide attempt for attention, poor Imogene is forced to move home to New Jersey with her quirky family, but their eccentricities do little to lighten the overall melancholy.  A bizarre plot twist in the end was actually pretty silly and unnecessary.

Our protagonist is dragged as low as she can possibly go, losing her job, moving in with her mom, losing her apartment, sleeping on her mother’s living room floor, wearing clothes from her high school days (Can life really be that bad when you still fit into your high school clothes?).  Repeated shots of her in the mirror show her rapid decline into depression and inertia.  Hitting rock bottom shows her who she really is deep inside and allows her to take off the mask that she has been wearing.  It’s only then that she finds true success and happiness.  It also shows her that when it really matters, family is the one thing that she can count on to get her through the tough times.  She also finds that her whole family has been wearing it’s own mask and the secret hidden by it turns her life upside down and shows that they way she remembered her childhood was nowhere close to the reality.  

An oft repeated mantra on life and personal growth is “you can’t go home again”.  This movie explores the idea that home is what makes us who we are and sometimes we need to go home and be who we were truly meant to be.  

As an introvert, the person sized Hermit Crab shell her brother invented would be something I would invest top dollar in.  Need a moment to chill out?  Just hop in the shell.  This thing would be perfect in divorce courtrooms, mediation boardrooms, social worker offices and therapy groups.

This movie was passable fair, although it won’t be generous with the laughs if you really need them.  I think a lot of us would relate to Imogene, even if she is a tad whiney and self-indulgent, no matter what stage of our breakups we’re in.  It’s PG-13 so if you’ve got older kids around, you don’t have to wait until they to go to bed to put on this one.  My suggestion would be to watch this when you want a quiet, but not too deep movie, with a little popcorn and a beer.  

Girl Most Likely, 2012. Directed by Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini.  Starring Kristen Wiig, Annette Bening, Matt Dillon and Darren Chriss.

Healing factor:

3 out of 5 Hermit Crabs.

For more info on the movie: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1698648/

Broken Flowers

Why is it relevant? 

Break up movie, portrayal of post-breakup depression and loss, journey of self-discovery. Kick-ass soundtrack. 

The movie follows former lothario Don Johnston (Don Juan, sometimes this movie is just a little heavy-handed), at a pivotal point in his life when he is dumped and falls into obvious deep depression. This movie relies on beautiful, subtle humour, odd synchronicity, and makes no attempt to hide Don’s deeply disquiet soul. The soundtrack, featuring the music of Mulatu Astatke, adds a haunting vibe to the movie that really gets under the skin. 

The movie plays in six acts. First act covers his break up which coincides with the receipt of a mysterious anonymous letter which reveals that he is a father of a now 19 year old son. His best friend convinces him to list all the women that he remembers being with at the time. Don’s list includes five women. His friend does some detective work and discovers that one of the women has subsequently died and therefore could not be the author of the letter. The remainder of the movie is divided amongst his encounters with the four other women and his visit to the grave site to his deceased former love. The title alludes to these women, for whom life has not necessarily been kind following his departure from their lives. Sometimes the damage arose from what he wrought, in others, from circumstance and time. The movie travels deeper and deeper down the hole of emotion as his encounters deteriorate from the first fond and happy trip down memory lane to his final brief and violent encounter.  His quest at first glance may appear to be to find his son and who wrote the letter, but really he answers questions about himself, his impact on others and his place in the world.

This movie is a quintessential road trip movie. The protagonist’s former lovers live spread out across the continental US and he is required to fly and then drive to each of their remote locations. Frequently, shots show his side mirrors in sharp contrast to a more blurry destination ahead on twisty, bending roads, highlighting his uncertainty of what lies ahead of him. Trucks pass him with ominous speed, adding an edge of danger to his quest. 

While it hasn’t been something that I have done, is there really no better way to recover from a breakup than hitting the road? Roadtrips provide a very concrete division in life from what came before and after a relationship as well as removing one temporarily from the scenes and places of all that unhappiness. As well, for Don, it is a more concrete, actual trip down memory lane, mirroring the nostalgia that many feel for former loves after experiencing a breakup. Don takes this trip and is able to answer questions for himself as to what happened to these women and what might have been. 

Favourite quote: 

“I’m a stalker in a Taurus.” - Don Johnston (Bill Murray) 

Healing Factor: 

4 out of 5 Pink Flowers.

Broken Flowers, 2005.  Directed by Jim Jarmusch.  Bill Murray, Jeffrey Wright, Sharon Stone, Frances Conroy, Jessica Lange, Tilda Swinton, Julie Delpy.  Focus Films

For more info on the movie: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0412019/

For your listening pleasure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhHmK68r948