Sunday, April 29, 2007

Love Actually

Even though I'm going to be watching "Love Actually" with some friends tomorrow night, I can't resist watching it tonight, too.

There's something about a movie that you can watch over and over and over again, without getting sick of it, and without hating it. Ironically, the first time I saw this movie, I hated it. HATED it. I was watching it with my then-roommate. The Portuguese one. I'd been trying to convince her to watch something with me (probably Tarzan, she hates that movie. Monkeys make her nervous), and she'd talked me into this, instead. And there was a part, right in the very beginning of the movie. I saw it, and I said, "Oh, that's what they're doing," thinking about some "friends" of mine. I put it from my mind, because obviously, that was stupid. Ironically, I was right. I didn't know that then, though. Instead, I found other reasons to hate it: the way American females are portrayed as easy (well...), the way the naked couple makes so many appearances, and then there's Billy Mac. And for anyone who has seen the movie, it's not hard to imagine why, as the person I was then, all these things annoyed me. Euridice made me watch it the next night, too. I was not happy. And the next. And then, the next night, I asked her to watch it with me. (She took forever getting home from the Louvre that night, and I was pissed at her for two reason: 1) she was late meeting me and 2)she'd used my card to get in {to make it free for her}, so I couldn't go with.)

Somewhere over those three or four nights, something changed. Now, I love it.

I love the character interactions. I love the way the whole story comes in a full circle, and the way the people within the story are connected in some way, whether they know it or not.

The opening scene always throws me, because there is no speaking, no music, just pictures. I always feel like there should be something there. However, the fact that there isn't just seems to make it more powerful.

I have my favorite parts in this movie, but the thing I really love about it is that every time I see it, I see something new. Or I recognize something in it that makes me think of life as it really is. I think that's what makes a movie. Taking some aspect of life and making it apparent to everyone.

Love hides itself really well sometimes. Other times it's blindingly obvious. Sometimes, love just hits you. Other times, it sneaks up on you. Sometimes, you fall in love with the right person. Other times, the wrong one. As my friend, Natalie, says, "Us stupid humans. Always falling in love with the wrong person."

I like this movie because it has all of that: parts that make you laugh, parts that make you cry, people you love, people you hate, and love in all of its forms.

1 comment:

Melody said...

Who's Billy Mac?