Films 157 and 158 and 159(Wendy and Lucy)
I'm sitting in a cafe in Boston waiting for my show to start. I bought a ticket a few months ago for this amazing French-Canadian singer-songwriter, Coeur de Pirate. She was a featured artist on iTunes awhile back, you know, they had one of her songs for "free" so I downloaded it and fell in love with her voice. I saw that she was coming to Boston, so I snatched up a ticket quickly, even though I don't think this will be a packed show.
Life's been good, aside form the fact that last week I received a letter from our Superintendent saying that I've been dropped down to a part-time teaching position at another school for the incoming school year. Will I be looking for another full-time teaching position? I don't know. I don't want to say that I'm burnt out, specifically, but I am tired of having to look for a new job every summer. Without fail, the past 4 years, I've been let go because of budget cuts. Certainly not because of my performance.
My life runs on a full tank of luck and happenstance, in a positive direction, though, and I've always come out on top of things, so I'm actually not too worried. In fact, a couple of teachers were acting bizarre today, towards the end of the day, so who knows, I may soon find out that I've gotten my position back. The only way that can happen is if other teachers retire or resign. Fingers crossed that I get some good news. This year's group of kids has definitely kept me going and tired me out. I'll be looking forward to vacation, although I will be right back at it, teaching the summer reading program, by myself. I've also got a chance to get a part-time job working at my friend Sarah's LuluLemon store in the Old Port. LuluLemon, you know, is that high-end yoga outfits and accessories store. That will be fun and a great opportunity for me to meet some more people (re: girls) as well as really get myself immersed in the yoga sub-culture, as I am also hoping to get in a lot of exercising this summer. I'm not as fit as I'd like to be or as I believe I once was, even though last weekend I took a 3-hour bike ride through several towns- I was quite tired and winded by the end.
UPDATE: Coeur de Pirate was amazing. She- Beatrice Martin- is adorable and quite a trooper. She played the entire setlist through a fever and what can only be perceived as the flu. She kept reiterating to us, the audience, that she was feeling worse and worse, but it never seemed to affect her voice (even though she claimed it did, and she felt extremely bad for everyone who'd paid for a ticket). It was an intimate show. There were chairs on the floor and stand-room-only in the back. I haven't been to a show at the Paradise ever where there were seats. It was rather enjoyable, because my feet start to hurt after about one hour of standing. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Ended up chatting with the middle-aged man who sat next to me (we seemed to be in the minority as strictly English-speaking dudes, in a French-Canadian crowd, which by the way, where the hell did they come from, in Boston?). We spoke about shows we'd seen and he kept saying that he wasn't "feeling" the chairs, that it just felt weird, otherwise, he seemed pretty cool.
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Film 157
"Wendy and Lucy"
starring: Michelle Williams
This is an indie gem if there ever was one! Michelle Williams is amazing as a girl apparently driving cross-country in order to hook up with a job opportunity that she thinks she has in Alaska. Along for the ride is her dog, Lucy. We do not know where these two are coming from or Wendy's previous circumstances. This is a movie about "the moment." It's about as "in the moment" as life gets, sometimes. Wendy is stranded in a small, rundown (thanks to a crippled(ing) economy. This town could be the face of Any-Small-Town America, and Wendy could be the Poster Child for the circumstances the majority of Americans have found themselves in over the past few years, thanks to a war and a recession. Wendy is broke, her car is a piece of shit that's lasted her a lifetime (I guess, because she is rather devoted to getting it fixed, until the end), her dog ends up lost pretty early into the film (and Wendy is completely distraught over this, as anyone with a pet can understand). Her dog, Lucy, seems to "get her" as well as being her only true companion. We know that she is hungry, a bit lost, confused, quiet, and filled with a desperation and a resolve that gets her through sleeping nights in her car.
Before her dog gets lost to her, she runs out of dog food so she takes a trip to the local grocery store. She's caught trying to lift food by a younger-than-her food clerk and is then brought in for booking at the local police station; all the while, her dog remains tied up outside the grocery store. When she returns, after what can we only assume is several hours in the police station, she returns to the grocery store to find that her dog is missing/taking. Yes, probably sent to the nearest shelter, but she really has no way of contacting and paying for her dog AND for her car to get fixed. She soon develops a sort-of friendship with a security guard who's job it seems is to stand outside the neighboring (strip)mall, which never seems to have any customers. He's just as lonely and looking for company as Wendy is. He offers to help her in the form of his cellphone and number while Wendy gets her shit in order.
Aside from the excellent writing and cinematography, Michelle Williams' acting is what really sells this film. She has quite the expressive face, which is often deadpan and forlorn, yet has a glimmer of hope in the expressions she gives. Her world consists of getting her dog back and walking around this desolate town. She walks everywhere, since her car no longer works. She walks to the dog pound and back. She walks to the mechanic's and back. She may take the bus once or twice, as well sleep in the park a couple of times, but for the most part she comes back to what she knows and what her dog knows: her car.
This is not a film about people who have given up on life. No, in fact, it's just the opposite. It's filled with people that refuse to give up on life, despite the fact that life seems to have dropped them from its hand. It's one of the best films I've seen because it's not completely hopeless, but it's also not filled with cheery people and happy endings. I won't ruin the ending for you, but it is rather fitting for the story.
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Film 158
"Up in the Air"
starring: George Clooney, Anna Kendricks, Vera Farmiga
directed by: Jason Reitman
Here is another film perfect for the time it came out, because it speaks for/to the time of our country. It's a story about a middle-aged guy, Ryan Bingham (played with ease by George Clooney), who is likable (despite his career- he fires people for a living, as a sort of outsourced job), and who is also unable to really settle. He has a place, which he only visits once in the film, because his place is truly "up in the air" (hence the title). He is flown around the country, hired to speak at conventions in hotels, but mainly he is hired by other company bigwigs to fire employees and help downsize the company given the state of the economy. He likes what he does because, hey it's a job and somebody's got to do it, and he does it well. He is a self-described Termination Facilitator. He doesn't just fire the person, he helps them see the "bright side." Each person is handed a packet which helps detail and explain the next steps they should take in their new search, if they so choose to take those next steps.
Bingham is played well by Clooney and perhaps he used his own life to method act his way through the role. Bingham is like that twentysomething guy who enjoys being alone, on the road, and finding the company of ladies whenever he wants, and someone with Clooney's good looks, its totally feasible. Bingham meets a woman of the "on the road" lifestyle whom he connects with while staying at a hotel in Anytown, USA. They have an instant connection and sexual chemistry because they simply get each other. Alex Goran is played well by Vera Farmiga (whom I've been extremely impressed with as an underrated actress who chooses great roles for herself). We don't know anything, really, about Alex, other than her attraction to Bingham and her need for companionship while on the road. And these two lonely people couldn't fit better together. Or so we are led to believe. There's a bit of a twist that I won't get into, but plays out perfectly near the end of the film when Clooney's Bingham has his revelation of coming off the road and all that lifestyle entails and finally getting the desire to settle down, having found the "right" woman.
But, there's also another woman in Ryan's life. She comes in the form of an attractive, young twentysomething who is an up-and-comer within Ryan's company. She has ambition. She has ideas. Her newest idea is an Internet-based system for firing people, via video-chat. Brilliant as far as capitalism is concerned. Think about all the money her company can save on airfare by doing the job impersonally, behind a computer screen. Natalie Keener is played by Anna Kendricks (a Maine-native, who I believe went to Deering High School). She's a bright new star, who took the job for the wrong reason- she followed a boy (her boyfriend, but still, always a terrible decision). She, too, is great at her job.
Ryan and Natalie's business relationship is classic old-school clashing with the new-school way of thinking and doing things. The two actors play great off of each other. It's a comedy without needing or even maybe wanting to be one. It's a sad set of circumstances that has created their jobs- downsizing in a terrible economy, but they make due with what they have.
I'm already convinced that Jason Reitman is going to only get better and better with each of his films. This one plays out perfectly, thanks to a great story. Look at his track record so far:
Thank You for Smoking
Juno
Up in the Air
Young Adult (which I review below)
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Film 159
"Young Adult"
starring: Charlize Theron, Patrick Wilson, Patton Oswalt
directed by: Jason Reitman
written by: Diablo Cody
Ever wonder what happens to those self-proclaimed and self-absorbed (obsessed) Queen Bitches from high school when they reach middle-age and have refused to really grow up? Well, "Young Adult" is a depressing look at one Queen Bitch's lack of a reality check. And Charlize Theron shines with the perfect level of depression-bitchiness-wit-beauty-and-belief that brings this character to life on the screen. She's not so much a sympathetic character, too, which is okay, because you almost want her to fail at her quest, since her quest is getting back her high school sweetheart (who is happily married and with a newborn baby). In fact, you downright dislike her from the beginning until the end. Charlize Theron plays Mavis, the onetime high school beauty queen who's beauty is undeniable, but does not give her the right (she thinks it does) to treat everyone and anyone with utter disrespect and disregard as she does. She's definitely beautiful (couldn't think of a better actress to play the character, either) and the cool thing is we get a behind-the-scenes look at her, we get to see how she makes herself beautiful, which makes it even better when she becomes unraveled and completely undone (thanks in large part to alcohol and not getting her way/what she wants).
The woman in question is Mavis, a small-town of Mercury, Minn. who transplanted herself to the big-city of Minneapolis, Minn. after graduating from high school. She felt like a big fish in a small pond in her hometown, but it seems like the big-city has swallowed her whole and spit her out. She's the ghostwriter of a once-popular young adult book series about vampires (!) but the series has hit its peak and Mavis is looking for some inspiration to finish the last book (even though the audience that once followed her is gone and on to something new).
Her life consists of an apartment that would be a better stand-in for a pig sty. She passes out on her bed. only to wake up and chug down some Diet Coke and take a couple of pills. She can also take a decent amount of bourbon shots whenever she wants. What is great about seeing Mavis as a trainwreck is that she very well could've had it all (perhaps in high school), but as we get to know her personality, we can assume that she is very likely to be single for the rest of her life, because , as a guy, nobody wants to sign up for such a mess, even though she can clean herself up very nicely, it's ultimately what is under the makeup when you take her home and wake up with that no guy wants. Mavis doesn't really have any self-awareness. She is stuck in the past. Especially when she receives an email from an old high school flame announcing the arrival of his new baby. Well, that's it! That's enough to start the ascension (or descension) of Mavis. She packs up her dog and some clothes and heads back to her hometown (where she hasn't been for years, doesn't even tell her parents she's back). And it's all downhill from there.
Upon arriving, she stays at a hotel and hits up the bar, where she meets an old high school peer, Matt Freehauf (played with a supporting role skill by the one and only Patton Oswalt, best known for being a comedian and a one-time sidekick to Kevin James on "King of Queens"). He makes the film work well because Mavis sort of depends on him to send her back into reality, or he at least gives her a reality check. She has no clue who he is at first and then recognizes him as "the hate crime guy" which Mavis yells in the middle of the bar. Matt is beaten in high school because he was suspected of being gay (he's not), which has had a lasting effect on him, mentally, but also physically. Matt is the key to the film's success, because he is the relatable character. He is human, realistic, and just the right amount of self-deprecating. Mavis is the complete opposite (which is interesting for Diablo Cody, who wrote "Juno" and made that character likable and charming, thanks in large part also to Ellen Page). Matt is the speaker-of-truth for Mavis, even though she doesn't want to hear it, and it might not sink in fully. He can see that Mavis is heading for a nose-diving fall right off the cliff of sanity and reality when she makes clear her intentions of getting her high school flame back. Matt knows this won't happen.
The big difference between Mavis and the rest of her hometown, I think, is that for the ones who never left their lives are perpetually stuck on pause. Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson) has accepted mediocrity and the life of a townie, who is married as happily as he wants to be and has a new baby. Buddy and his wife Beth are the typical stuck-in-the-middle couple. Mavis sees bigger things for Buddy, if only they could be together again. I loved watching the contrast of Mavis as she pitted herself against the rest of her town. She's better than them all, she believes, but then she has a breakdown in front of them. It was also interesting to see how Reitman, as the director, and Cody, as the writer handle the apparent, giant elephant in the room: Mavis is clearly an alcoholic AND that's why her life has turned to shit...that's why she is completely unlikable, well, that and she has no clue about who she is now and what kind of wreckage she has created. And she doesn't seem to care about anything. She drowns her inner sorrows. If we haven't all known someone like that in our lives, you might be that person to someone else. Alcohol certainly helps to explain a lot about Mavis and could perhaps be an unwritten character in the film. It's certainly a visible character in the film, thanks to how well Charlize Theron portrays it in Mavis.
I loved this film for its no-holds-barred approach to how shitty life can get for someone who really should have their life together, because of the hands they were dealt earlier in life. It's about all the pieces of a puzzle and how you choose to put them together, or how you can simply let them remain on the table in a scattered mess. Mavis' life is that scattered mess. She needs to hit rock bottom in order to find herself among the mess. Do we really get to see her hit rock bottom by the end of the film? I'm not entirely sure, since alcoholism is something very hard to want to realize in ones' self. Bravo to the team of Cody and Reitman though.
Life's been good, aside form the fact that last week I received a letter from our Superintendent saying that I've been dropped down to a part-time teaching position at another school for the incoming school year. Will I be looking for another full-time teaching position? I don't know. I don't want to say that I'm burnt out, specifically, but I am tired of having to look for a new job every summer. Without fail, the past 4 years, I've been let go because of budget cuts. Certainly not because of my performance.
My life runs on a full tank of luck and happenstance, in a positive direction, though, and I've always come out on top of things, so I'm actually not too worried. In fact, a couple of teachers were acting bizarre today, towards the end of the day, so who knows, I may soon find out that I've gotten my position back. The only way that can happen is if other teachers retire or resign. Fingers crossed that I get some good news. This year's group of kids has definitely kept me going and tired me out. I'll be looking forward to vacation, although I will be right back at it, teaching the summer reading program, by myself. I've also got a chance to get a part-time job working at my friend Sarah's LuluLemon store in the Old Port. LuluLemon, you know, is that high-end yoga outfits and accessories store. That will be fun and a great opportunity for me to meet some more people (re: girls) as well as really get myself immersed in the yoga sub-culture, as I am also hoping to get in a lot of exercising this summer. I'm not as fit as I'd like to be or as I believe I once was, even though last weekend I took a 3-hour bike ride through several towns- I was quite tired and winded by the end.
UPDATE: Coeur de Pirate was amazing. She- Beatrice Martin- is adorable and quite a trooper. She played the entire setlist through a fever and what can only be perceived as the flu. She kept reiterating to us, the audience, that she was feeling worse and worse, but it never seemed to affect her voice (even though she claimed it did, and she felt extremely bad for everyone who'd paid for a ticket). It was an intimate show. There were chairs on the floor and stand-room-only in the back. I haven't been to a show at the Paradise ever where there were seats. It was rather enjoyable, because my feet start to hurt after about one hour of standing. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Ended up chatting with the middle-aged man who sat next to me (we seemed to be in the minority as strictly English-speaking dudes, in a French-Canadian crowd, which by the way, where the hell did they come from, in Boston?). We spoke about shows we'd seen and he kept saying that he wasn't "feeling" the chairs, that it just felt weird, otherwise, he seemed pretty cool.
.......................................................................
Film 157
"Wendy and Lucy"
starring: Michelle Williams
This is an indie gem if there ever was one! Michelle Williams is amazing as a girl apparently driving cross-country in order to hook up with a job opportunity that she thinks she has in Alaska. Along for the ride is her dog, Lucy. We do not know where these two are coming from or Wendy's previous circumstances. This is a movie about "the moment." It's about as "in the moment" as life gets, sometimes. Wendy is stranded in a small, rundown (thanks to a crippled(ing) economy. This town could be the face of Any-Small-Town America, and Wendy could be the Poster Child for the circumstances the majority of Americans have found themselves in over the past few years, thanks to a war and a recession. Wendy is broke, her car is a piece of shit that's lasted her a lifetime (I guess, because she is rather devoted to getting it fixed, until the end), her dog ends up lost pretty early into the film (and Wendy is completely distraught over this, as anyone with a pet can understand). Her dog, Lucy, seems to "get her" as well as being her only true companion. We know that she is hungry, a bit lost, confused, quiet, and filled with a desperation and a resolve that gets her through sleeping nights in her car.
Before her dog gets lost to her, she runs out of dog food so she takes a trip to the local grocery store. She's caught trying to lift food by a younger-than-her food clerk and is then brought in for booking at the local police station; all the while, her dog remains tied up outside the grocery store. When she returns, after what can we only assume is several hours in the police station, she returns to the grocery store to find that her dog is missing/taking. Yes, probably sent to the nearest shelter, but she really has no way of contacting and paying for her dog AND for her car to get fixed. She soon develops a sort-of friendship with a security guard who's job it seems is to stand outside the neighboring (strip)mall, which never seems to have any customers. He's just as lonely and looking for company as Wendy is. He offers to help her in the form of his cellphone and number while Wendy gets her shit in order.
Aside from the excellent writing and cinematography, Michelle Williams' acting is what really sells this film. She has quite the expressive face, which is often deadpan and forlorn, yet has a glimmer of hope in the expressions she gives. Her world consists of getting her dog back and walking around this desolate town. She walks everywhere, since her car no longer works. She walks to the dog pound and back. She walks to the mechanic's and back. She may take the bus once or twice, as well sleep in the park a couple of times, but for the most part she comes back to what she knows and what her dog knows: her car.
This is not a film about people who have given up on life. No, in fact, it's just the opposite. It's filled with people that refuse to give up on life, despite the fact that life seems to have dropped them from its hand. It's one of the best films I've seen because it's not completely hopeless, but it's also not filled with cheery people and happy endings. I won't ruin the ending for you, but it is rather fitting for the story.
........................................................................
Film 158
"Up in the Air"
starring: George Clooney, Anna Kendricks, Vera Farmiga
directed by: Jason Reitman
Here is another film perfect for the time it came out, because it speaks for/to the time of our country. It's a story about a middle-aged guy, Ryan Bingham (played with ease by George Clooney), who is likable (despite his career- he fires people for a living, as a sort of outsourced job), and who is also unable to really settle. He has a place, which he only visits once in the film, because his place is truly "up in the air" (hence the title). He is flown around the country, hired to speak at conventions in hotels, but mainly he is hired by other company bigwigs to fire employees and help downsize the company given the state of the economy. He likes what he does because, hey it's a job and somebody's got to do it, and he does it well. He is a self-described Termination Facilitator. He doesn't just fire the person, he helps them see the "bright side." Each person is handed a packet which helps detail and explain the next steps they should take in their new search, if they so choose to take those next steps.
Bingham is played well by Clooney and perhaps he used his own life to method act his way through the role. Bingham is like that twentysomething guy who enjoys being alone, on the road, and finding the company of ladies whenever he wants, and someone with Clooney's good looks, its totally feasible. Bingham meets a woman of the "on the road" lifestyle whom he connects with while staying at a hotel in Anytown, USA. They have an instant connection and sexual chemistry because they simply get each other. Alex Goran is played well by Vera Farmiga (whom I've been extremely impressed with as an underrated actress who chooses great roles for herself). We don't know anything, really, about Alex, other than her attraction to Bingham and her need for companionship while on the road. And these two lonely people couldn't fit better together. Or so we are led to believe. There's a bit of a twist that I won't get into, but plays out perfectly near the end of the film when Clooney's Bingham has his revelation of coming off the road and all that lifestyle entails and finally getting the desire to settle down, having found the "right" woman.
But, there's also another woman in Ryan's life. She comes in the form of an attractive, young twentysomething who is an up-and-comer within Ryan's company. She has ambition. She has ideas. Her newest idea is an Internet-based system for firing people, via video-chat. Brilliant as far as capitalism is concerned. Think about all the money her company can save on airfare by doing the job impersonally, behind a computer screen. Natalie Keener is played by Anna Kendricks (a Maine-native, who I believe went to Deering High School). She's a bright new star, who took the job for the wrong reason- she followed a boy (her boyfriend, but still, always a terrible decision). She, too, is great at her job.
Ryan and Natalie's business relationship is classic old-school clashing with the new-school way of thinking and doing things. The two actors play great off of each other. It's a comedy without needing or even maybe wanting to be one. It's a sad set of circumstances that has created their jobs- downsizing in a terrible economy, but they make due with what they have.
I'm already convinced that Jason Reitman is going to only get better and better with each of his films. This one plays out perfectly, thanks to a great story. Look at his track record so far:
Thank You for Smoking
Juno
Up in the Air
Young Adult (which I review below)
.................................................................................
Film 159
"Young Adult"
starring: Charlize Theron, Patrick Wilson, Patton Oswalt
directed by: Jason Reitman
written by: Diablo Cody
Ever wonder what happens to those self-proclaimed and self-absorbed (obsessed) Queen Bitches from high school when they reach middle-age and have refused to really grow up? Well, "Young Adult" is a depressing look at one Queen Bitch's lack of a reality check. And Charlize Theron shines with the perfect level of depression-bitchiness-wit-beauty-and-belief that brings this character to life on the screen. She's not so much a sympathetic character, too, which is okay, because you almost want her to fail at her quest, since her quest is getting back her high school sweetheart (who is happily married and with a newborn baby). In fact, you downright dislike her from the beginning until the end. Charlize Theron plays Mavis, the onetime high school beauty queen who's beauty is undeniable, but does not give her the right (she thinks it does) to treat everyone and anyone with utter disrespect and disregard as she does. She's definitely beautiful (couldn't think of a better actress to play the character, either) and the cool thing is we get a behind-the-scenes look at her, we get to see how she makes herself beautiful, which makes it even better when she becomes unraveled and completely undone (thanks in large part to alcohol and not getting her way/what she wants).
The woman in question is Mavis, a small-town of Mercury, Minn. who transplanted herself to the big-city of Minneapolis, Minn. after graduating from high school. She felt like a big fish in a small pond in her hometown, but it seems like the big-city has swallowed her whole and spit her out. She's the ghostwriter of a once-popular young adult book series about vampires (!) but the series has hit its peak and Mavis is looking for some inspiration to finish the last book (even though the audience that once followed her is gone and on to something new).
Her life consists of an apartment that would be a better stand-in for a pig sty. She passes out on her bed. only to wake up and chug down some Diet Coke and take a couple of pills. She can also take a decent amount of bourbon shots whenever she wants. What is great about seeing Mavis as a trainwreck is that she very well could've had it all (perhaps in high school), but as we get to know her personality, we can assume that she is very likely to be single for the rest of her life, because , as a guy, nobody wants to sign up for such a mess, even though she can clean herself up very nicely, it's ultimately what is under the makeup when you take her home and wake up with that no guy wants. Mavis doesn't really have any self-awareness. She is stuck in the past. Especially when she receives an email from an old high school flame announcing the arrival of his new baby. Well, that's it! That's enough to start the ascension (or descension) of Mavis. She packs up her dog and some clothes and heads back to her hometown (where she hasn't been for years, doesn't even tell her parents she's back). And it's all downhill from there.
Upon arriving, she stays at a hotel and hits up the bar, where she meets an old high school peer, Matt Freehauf (played with a supporting role skill by the one and only Patton Oswalt, best known for being a comedian and a one-time sidekick to Kevin James on "King of Queens"). He makes the film work well because Mavis sort of depends on him to send her back into reality, or he at least gives her a reality check. She has no clue who he is at first and then recognizes him as "the hate crime guy" which Mavis yells in the middle of the bar. Matt is beaten in high school because he was suspected of being gay (he's not), which has had a lasting effect on him, mentally, but also physically. Matt is the key to the film's success, because he is the relatable character. He is human, realistic, and just the right amount of self-deprecating. Mavis is the complete opposite (which is interesting for Diablo Cody, who wrote "Juno" and made that character likable and charming, thanks in large part also to Ellen Page). Matt is the speaker-of-truth for Mavis, even though she doesn't want to hear it, and it might not sink in fully. He can see that Mavis is heading for a nose-diving fall right off the cliff of sanity and reality when she makes clear her intentions of getting her high school flame back. Matt knows this won't happen.
The big difference between Mavis and the rest of her hometown, I think, is that for the ones who never left their lives are perpetually stuck on pause. Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson) has accepted mediocrity and the life of a townie, who is married as happily as he wants to be and has a new baby. Buddy and his wife Beth are the typical stuck-in-the-middle couple. Mavis sees bigger things for Buddy, if only they could be together again. I loved watching the contrast of Mavis as she pitted herself against the rest of her town. She's better than them all, she believes, but then she has a breakdown in front of them. It was also interesting to see how Reitman, as the director, and Cody, as the writer handle the apparent, giant elephant in the room: Mavis is clearly an alcoholic AND that's why her life has turned to shit...that's why she is completely unlikable, well, that and she has no clue about who she is now and what kind of wreckage she has created. And she doesn't seem to care about anything. She drowns her inner sorrows. If we haven't all known someone like that in our lives, you might be that person to someone else. Alcohol certainly helps to explain a lot about Mavis and could perhaps be an unwritten character in the film. It's certainly a visible character in the film, thanks to how well Charlize Theron portrays it in Mavis.
I loved this film for its no-holds-barred approach to how shitty life can get for someone who really should have their life together, because of the hands they were dealt earlier in life. It's about all the pieces of a puzzle and how you choose to put them together, or how you can simply let them remain on the table in a scattered mess. Mavis' life is that scattered mess. She needs to hit rock bottom in order to find herself among the mess. Do we really get to see her hit rock bottom by the end of the film? I'm not entirely sure, since alcoholism is something very hard to want to realize in ones' self. Bravo to the team of Cody and Reitman though.
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