See The Sun

State of Mind

Monday, March 12th, 2007 | Film

Although I love mainstream movies such as romcoms & teenage films etc (The Holiday, 13 Going on 30, Bend it like Beckham, Blue Crush, A Cinderella Story, The Cutting Edge, Freaky Friday, Legally Blonde, Miss Congeniality, The Princess Diaries, Save the Last Dance, She’s The Man, Step Up, Someone Like You, What a Girl Wants…) and even action films (Armageddon, The Island, Gattaca, Pirates of the Caribbean, Spider Man) or currently have an obsession with period dramas, I value the quality of independent film with strong characters and exceptional scripts. It’s just that I live in a place where they don’t get on the big screen and only rarely on DVD. And because they’re complex and hard to summarize I find it hard to pick out the ones I truly like. If a film is too vague, ambitious, or strange, I don’t like it, at least not enough to watch it more than once or not to regret the money I paid for it. So, after watching yet another film that promised to be a ‘film jewel’ I often feel very disappointed.

But now, I stumbled upon a really great film: ‘The United States of Leland’ (State of Mind). Of course, seeing that Ryan Gosling is attached made me want to rent it immediately! And although I found the film to be deeply disturbing I love it. Maybe love isn’t the right word, but I’m so impressed by the performances (not just Ryan but also Jena Malone, I always love watching her, Chris Klein, Michelle Williams, Don Cheadle and Kerry Washington) and the script. One could probably argue that the fact that the actual murder isn’t shown is kind of gloryfing, or at least trivializing the crime. However, the film is so much more, I feel it’s about the duality of good and evil, both being kind of part of everyone. And understanding Leland, coming to know and feel for him, doesn’t mean one approves of his actions. Really, as Pearl says no matter what we can’t undo something wrong, yet we have some power over what happens next, of what we do next. I feel Ryan-fever coming up once again…. Maybe I will try to get my hands on a Region 1 DVD ‘Half Nelson’ after all… I loved him in ‘Murder by Numbers’ and ‘The Notebook’. Another film I’ve yet to see is ‘Stay’, also with Ryan and directed by “our man in Hollyood” Marc Forster (local press titles him this).

Small character-driven films I’ve previously liked: 25th Hour, Deeply, Ghost World, In America, In My Father’s Den, Inside I’m Dancing, Lost in Translation, A Love Song For Bobby Long, Manny & Lo, Saved!, School Ties.

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