Cinematography is a remarkable achievement of humanity. It is the pinnacle of all the art forms because it takes all of them and more to create a fantastic demonstration of what people are capable of. Hours upon hours are spent into putting it all together so it is recorded through a camera lens, and once it is placed into a -what is now the common practice- digital video piece of software, all the work behind has served its purpose. But what is more impressive is that it can hit the core of the audience.
There have been movies that have brought me to wailing tears -or at least brought me close to it- because I could relate just too well. In some aspect of myself I felt I was in the story. Some of those movies are '500 Days of Summer (2009)', 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)', 'Grave of the Fireflies (1988)', and my all time favorite 'As Good as it Gets (1994)'. Call me a sissy, I don't give a damn - I'll still cry the shit out of a good movie. While we're at it the most depressing movie I have ever seen is 'Revolutionary Road (2008)' and that is saying a lot since I have seen a lot of Korean movies; one fine example is 'Pieta (2012)'. Revolutionary Road didn't make me cry, it was just depressing. That movie is so legendary that I told my friend to watch it, he couldn't get past the 30 minute mark; it was that intense.
Maybe I'll write my thoughts on other movies some other time, but I'll drigress for now. The movie I want to write about in this post is 'The Vow (2012)' starring Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams as the main leads, and directed by Michael Sucsy. It is romantic comedy [chick flick] based on a real-life story. A couple gets in a car accident that gives the wife severe brain injury. When she wakes up, she does not remember anything about slightly before and during her life with her husband, and the story unfolds. For you to better understand this review [or any other review by any other person] you should watch the movie first or at some point.
Before I proceed, I want to note that I decided to write this review after watching this movie for the second time. The first time I saw it was in the movie theaters when it premiered. I either watched it alone or with a friend/s - not a date. Also, I purposely did not catch on any other reviews on this movie. I am writing purely based on my thoughts. I only checked on the movie ratings on IMDB (6.8) and Rotten Tomatoes (29%). The latter one left me a bit shocked. I thought this was a good flick even when I saw it in the theater.
I remember when this movie was about to premiere it had high expectatives. It had Rachel McAdams who is better known for her role in The Notebook - one I consider the most overrated chick flick, ever. I am not saying The Notebook was bad, but the hype that girls were giving it during my college years was suffocating. That movie was just pure romance porn for women. It was so perfect that women just ate it like a box of chocolates when they are on their menses. I guess I can't argue with that movie's success since the chemistry between the Rachel and Ryan Gossling - Daddy Goss as Pete Holmes likes to call him - was quite legitimate.
Then we have Channing Tatum who has a unique charisma on screen and is also a sex symbol. He has also been part of other romantic comedies like Dear John. A movie based on a novel by the same author as The Notebook: Nicholas Sparks. Contrary to my opinion, Mr. Channing-All-Over-Your-Tatum has not received the best reviews by many online critics that I like to follow, but that's them.
I do wonder what that low Rotten Tomatoes score is all about, so I guess this post will be about mostly defending this movie. I think The Vow is an amazing movie - maybe it is only my subjective experience with this film. I will go as far as saying that it is better than The Notebook in terms of how close we get with these characters. By the way, The Vow is based on a real-life couple, but the movie itself does take some major liberties with the actual events. That is something I do remember a friend telling me when it premiered. But that is all fine since this was a major studio film, and people do that to pretty much every movie of this kind - maybe something that could be commented on in another review.
Like I said in the introduction; this is one of those movies that hit me in the core, which is why I decided to give it a second look. This time around I remembered how much I could relate to what Tatum's character (Leo) was going through inside. I say inside because I have never been married nor had a loved one catch real permanent amnesia where she does not remember me, at all. However, what I have experienced is seeing through the eyes of someone I deeply cared about and feel them slip through my hands, and there was nothing I could do. It is particular feeling of romantic loss and desperation that I could sense through Tatum's performance. Watch closely at his performance, and you will probably get it. My small negative criticism may be that Leo comes out a bit too heroic, and that Tatum never looks the part when he is supposed to be looking like he is falling apart, or the line delivery during his emotional monologue in the recording studio.
Sometimes I do not understand where some people come to draw the line between good acting and bad acting - or when someone calls a good casting vs a bad casting. I don't know if any of these two comparisons rely on the actor's mannerisms. Hell, the most recognized actors have certain behaviors that stand out to the audience. Take Al Pacino for example: he is wildly known for the 'sudden' raise of his voice. Fuck, I love that. A good performance in my books is what you do not see on the screen. Good acting is about those moments when the character doesn't necessarily say anything and yet you can feel what he or she is going through. And I got that from both Tatum and McAdams all of the time.
When I first saw Rachel McAdam's character (Paige): all I could think of was "Wow, what a selfish piece of shit bitch. Give the man a goddamn chance!" But then I saw it more closely, and I could understand where she was coming from. Yes, when I first saw it I did take into account that losing five years in what one would perceive a brief moment would be traumatizing, but I also kept thinking "Do you not see this guy is trying real hard?" The fact that the Paige was being so dismissive towards Leo at every turn was very annoying. If you look at the scenes where those two interact, once Leo leaves the scene, Paige just goes back to what she was doing like nothing had happened. But on that second watch I could see get where her head is, and her main issue is "This man that I do not know at all loves me to a degree I do not comprehend. I feel the responsibility that I should return this care and affection back to him, but I do not know how. omg, I feel smothered." And you can get a sense of that throughout most of the movie.
Yes, this movie isn't perfect. There are a lot of places where I could go on and question. Like the scene where Leo sits to eat dinner with Paige's rich family for the first time - a family that was too stereotypically upper class, I understand there are people like that, but come on. In this scene they ask that popular question 'tell what you do for a living so I can judge you'. Leo is the owner of a small recording studio. The argument is brought up by Paige's naive future brother in law brings the flaw in the business model because of new technological developments that allow people to record in their own houses, and Leo gets tongue tied, and gives a poor answer; bringing up one of those classic awkward family moments. Well, the issue here is that Leo is always able to speak well throughout the movie -except when he is faced with the idea of losing his wife- this scene is the exception.
Shit, I recently have started working with audio recording, and it is a lot harder that it seems. All he could have said is "It is true that people can record high quality audio in their own rooms, but what we do is help these people fulfill their musical dreams while providing the expertise that they may not have. It is about that interaction that a musical piece may need in order to reach the next level" And that line would have perfectly fit into Tatum's character. Ok, maybe that's a bit of nit-picking.
There is one character that I am not sure whether to like or dislike -maybe it was meant to be that way. That is Paige's ex-fiancee. See, I get tricked because the character gives an air of 'I am asshole'. Once you learn that he deeply cared about Paige even after he got dumped by her, you kind of have to give it to the guy. I mean, we learn that when he got left behind close to the wedding date the reason why was "You're just not the right guy, there is that spark that is missing. It's not you..." That kind of shit is the kind of shit that can hurt the most; it just is. And I also like how his final scene plays out; where he gets technically dumped a second time; he takes it like a champ, at least on screen.
Only a good movie can allow the audience to start coming out with many thoughts and ideas after watching it, and by me writing this review, I hope you can see where I am coming from. Finally, as any other good romantic comedy, The Vow does have its feel-good emotional cheesy lines my favorite one goes like this "How do you look at the woman you love, and tell yourself that it's time to walk away?"
