Stay

2005

Director: Marc Forster

Distributor: Fox Movies

Key Elements: Visuals – Lines – Concept

My Review:

In the spirit of the Twilight Zone, this movie keeps you guessing until the very end.

Sam is trying to help his newest patient Henry, who is planning to commit suicide. Henry, brooding and tormented, talks of the guilt he feels for something he has done, his desire for the girl he loves and the agony of seeing his parents though they are dead.

You won’t pick up on it the first time you watch it, but the movie’s resolution is creatively foreshadowed with loaded imagery throughout.

A thoughtful and artistic movie - Always an incredible watch.

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Quotes:

• If this is a dream, the whole world is inside it.
• Do you know the Tristan Rêveur quote about bad art? It's "bad art is more tragically beautiful than good art 'cause it documents human failure."
• An elegant suicide is the ultimate work of art.There's too much beauty to quit.

Stills:

Stranger than Fiction

2006

Director: Marc Forster

Distributor: Columbia Pictures

Key Elements: Story – Concept - Characters – Message

My Review:

This is a fun movie. The comedy is ironic and dry, but very enjoyable. Harold’s life is being narrated – turns out, a novelist is writing his story – and leading him toward his untimely death.
It’s a wake-up call for Harold that forces him to consider what he really wants from life – a good thing for all of us to consider. And it also asks the question – how important is your death to you?

One thing I really love about this movie is the character played by Maggie gyllenhaal. She’s just really cute. My favorite part of the movie is when Harold plays guitar for her.

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Quotes:

• This is a story about a man named Harold Crick and his wristwatch. Harold Crick was a man of infinite numbers, endless calculations, and remarkably few words. And his wristwatch said even less.
• Little did he know that this simple seemingly innocuous act would result in his imminent death
  - What?
• Get bent, TAXMAN!
• Listen, I'm a big supporter of fixing potholes and erecting swing sets and building shelters. I am *more* than happy to pay those taxes. I'm just not such a big fan of the percentage that the government uses for national defense, corporate bailouts, and campaign discretionary funds. So, I didn't pay those taxes. I think I sent a letter to that effect with my return.
  - Would it be the letter that beings "Dear Imperialist Swine"?
• No, no. It's not schizophrenia. It's just a voice in my head. I mean, the voice isn't telling me to do anything. It's telling me what I've already done... accurately, and with a better vocabulary.
• You were just trying to be nice, and I blew it… This may sound like gibberish to you, but I think I'm in a tragedy.
• I brought you flours. …Miss Pascal, I've been odd. I know I've been odd, and I know that there are many forces at work telling me to bring these down here to you, but I brought these for you because... I want you.
• As Harold took a bite of Bavarian sugar cookie, he finally felt as if everything was going to be ok. Sometimes, when we lose ourselves in fear and despair, in routine and constancy, in hopelessness and tragedy, we can thank God for Bavarian sugar cookies. And, fortunately, when there aren't any cookies, we can still find reassurance in a familiar hand on our skin, or a kind and loving gesture, or subtle encouragement, or a loving embrace, or an offer of comfort, not to mention hospital gurneys and nose plugs, an uneaten Danish, soft-spoken secrets, and Fender Stratocasters, and maybe the occasional piece of fiction. And we must remember that all these things, the nuances, the anomalies, the subtleties, which we assume only accessorize our days, are effective for a much larger and nobler cause. They are here to save our lives. I know the idea seems strange, but I also know that it just so happens to be true. And, so it was, a wristwatch saved Harold Crick.

Stills: