Saturday, May 22, 2004
It was a very enjoyable 5 and a half hours, but the movie that really made an impression was "Punch-Drunk Love". It�s one of those precious few movies that Adam Sandler makes that I actually find watchable. It was a rather accurate take on the mixed up gender roles of today, and stylistically it was an unusual and refreshing movie. I loved the way the discordant soundtrack, kinda quirky and awkward, suited Adam Sandler�s character Barry. And when he started to feel the pressure from all the demands made upon him this annoying drum rift would start up, the rhythm matching his bursts of violent bathroom/glass smashing, and you could really feel that frustration. There are some very amateurish camera shots in this one which I found gave a very home-video view from the shoulder kind of feeling, and I thought the jarring multicoloured transitions � so starkly out of place � conveyed the sense of unconformity and discordance of the switched gender roles really well.
It was the story of a man getting bombarded right left and centre with expectations of how he, as a man, was supposed to behave, and feeling so terribly inadequate trying live up to what others demanded and living down what others assumed of him. Barry wasn�t an everyman kind of character � he was a subnormal downtrodden oddball one. A toilet plumbing equipment salesman with seven sisters who enjoyed telling embarrassing stories about their ickle baby brother and not realising the embarrassment they brought (don�t you just hate these stupid relatives?) and strange reasons for doing things. A man finding himself starting a relationship with a woman more suited to the so-called "male" role in their relationship, and being harassed by a pushy con-woman who sent some thugs on his heels. I may not be able to empathise with him and in fact I would in all likelihood be one of the women that frustrate men like him. But he was definitely pitiable.
And well, the modern man has it really tough. Ok, so women have to be the career woman and the mother. But the men have to be the provider-protector, the macho cool (and therefore irresponsible?) �one-of-the-guys�, the sensitive and understanding partner; they have to be aggressive, tough and strong, yet they�ve gotta be feeling, perceptive, transparent and compromising � practically mutually exclusive roles. And they have to do all that without having the excuses like PMS and mood swings and "I�m the weaker sex" to give them avenues to whine and cry and bitch and vent their frustrations. When Barry really lost it and started smashing things up and yelling expletives at his sister, I was totally cheering him on. I think he was better for it, for letting loose. And the ending was one sweet happy ending that I agreed with � him accepting that that was that, and being himself.
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