It’s countless times I’ve watched that little gem and now I simply
need to write something about it.
Tipou, please forgive me, I know you hate that film
This film comes under the vest of a light, entertaining little comedy, but for me it’s much, much more than that.
It’s revealing some very human insights and is full of metaphorical images. It’s full of love, not mere “sexual” love but intense, truly human love. The essence of this kind of love is so wonderfully expressed by the last song at the end: “Love of heaven… Be to you!”
I think that every family would need someone to sit on a pillar. Someone who just watches, to see behind the masques, someone who sees the inner truth and longings of a person.
Uncle Cullan helps Kendall to rediscover not only her real love. At the beginning, she is the one who cares much about the “material” aspects of life, e.g. when they talk/not talk about marriage. She is so firm in saying that first Ross has to get out of insolvency before she even thinks about marrying him. When she decides for that “mad diving guy”, who has nothing to offer her, those material things have lost their importance for her. For a woman like her, that’s quite a development!
And then of course there is Ross, who is terribly in need of someone who really recognizes his true nature, his true talents.
The uncle pushes Ross further and further until he finally admits his fears. The true reason why he gave up the guitar. Fear. His many failures in business were only a symbol for the fact that he was not living the life he was meant to, because he was afraid his musician life wouldn’t be what the “world” expected him to do. AND his art was such a subtle, important and heart-filling thing to him that he worried more about not being good enough in it, much more than he worried about his many failures in business (macadamia nuts…LOL).
I think this is the real great message of the whole film. We are so unhappy, so lost, when we do things which we believe are expected from us. If we try to fit into la life that is not our true nature. The world is full of people who ignore or deny their true nature. The scene where Kendall explains to Ross the economical rules about that “sunk-cost-fallacy” (
?) stuff is a good example. Ross thinks he got the clue, but he understood quite the contrary. (One of the many really hilarious scenes BTW).
Well, of course, I found the film also very funny. The Mr. Tang part is incredible. The green tea smoothie and the straw. The tofu-ham. The Japanese song. Ross trying to explain what is a carnivore. Ross standing in the red wine lake with naked feet. Ross stumbling over his own feet. He’s so clumsy, even when he kisses his new love for the first time. Incredibly clumsy in almost every of his moves. Those scenes are simply delightful. Never thought that Rufus could play such a clumsy guy!!! (but I also never thought he could play such an annoying, “ugly” man as Albert, BTW).
About the character of Ross, I know some of you say he’s a wimp.
Well, he has nothing of a hero. For me he is just an innocent, pure soul who lost his way. He tries so hard to be “responsible”, but he worries about the wrong things. If there hadn’t been his uncle, I’m sure Ross would have become a very sad, unhappy man, married to the wrong woman, doing the wrong job, living a wrong life.
I simply love Ross, but more like you would love a brother or a dear friend. I don’t find him very attractive as a man (though the hair/eye/face/hand- cuteness factor is over the top, IMHO), but I really love him as the very human being he is.
Confronted with Giles (he is lost, too… but as I wrote in the woodlander thread, I find Giles incredibly strong, proud and very brave, not weak at all), Ross sure is a weak character. He needs to be sustained. He needs to be guided.
But he is not a wimp. He is a little boy who took the wrong direction. Finding his way back into music, I think he will finally grow up. His delicate soul will find a way to expression through his music.
And I think he will be a very happy person. Like everyone who lives his true talents, who worships the gifts he has been given.
I could go on and on like this… but I will stop it here. Have I told you that I LOVE this film? No?
?) stuff is a good example. Ross thinks he got the clue, but he understood quite the contrary. (One of the many really hilarious scenes BTW).
