Friday, January 4, 2013

Liberal Arts, The Movie...Ever Heard Of It?

Poster of Liberal Arts*

I'm trying something new...live blogging. Tonight we rented a movie neither my wife nor I had ever heard of. It's called "Liberal Arts" and we're giving it a go. And these are some of my thoughts as I watch the before-mentioned film for the first time.

We can tell it's an art house, independent festival-type of film by the previews on the Blu-Ray. I liked the beginning, man feeling out of place in New York, which, I thought was impossible since--according to some, New York City is the be-all, end-all of places to live. I mean, they make it sound like the rest of the 7 billion people on the planet wish they could live in New York. I do like the way the man reads a lot of books and is somewhat oblivious to the rest of the world around him.

But the man is called back to his university alma mater to attend his favorite professor's retirement festivities. The scenery's beautiful...makes me want to see Ohio. And we've hit the "meet cute." If you're unfamiliar with the term, watch "The Holiday" with Jack Black and Kate Winslet.

The professor...will he be okay? I'm hoping so, but with the small independent film you never know if anyone's going to die. 

So far, no deaths, but the relationship we want to see happen between the guy and the girl (see movie poster picture above...) is progressing nicely. And there's the title of the film woven craftily into the script.

Uh oh...the dude's headed back to NYC and the film's only a third finished...something's up...drama is afoot! Interaction, interaction, interaction. The main character learns about the kids....

Man! I think I dropped a piece of popcorn. Ah...I'll find it later if I did.

"Beethoven...whoa!"  We have music and voice-overs and personal reflections--good stuff. I know there are very specific rules for screenwriting. I've studied some of them, but I'm not good enough to know exactly where we are right now in the movie formula. Then again, it's an indie-film so it could go anywhere.

Popcorn kernel--found it.

The arithmetic scene was classic, and Richard Jenkins is pretty amazing. Overall thoughts so far--it's good. The humor isn't forced down your throat. Didn't see a famous vampire trilogy coming. Boy...They Are Brutal...

We're progressing into the last act now. Dilemmas, conflicts, not knowing what they want, Twilight...how will they overcome all that?

So, how does it end? No spoilers here. We are winding down, kind of like life, the life they're trying to portray in the film. 

Ohio...if that's where the film was actually filmed, is flat. The show, is over. We really liked it. Once you watch it, IMDb the actress who played Ana and see what films she's been in...believe me, it's funny!

*Film poster used without permission from the following website: http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/liberal-arts/

2 comments:

  1. Hahaha! I really enjoyed this post. I started watching Liberal Arts, but it lost me somewhere after the 'Meet Cute'.

    Glad you found that popcorn kernel!:)

    http://unpublishedworksofme.blogspot.co.uk/

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  2. I haven't seen this film but I heard an interview with Josh Radnor about it before Christmas. I'm intrigued to watch it now, thanks for the nudge.

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