Parallel Synchronized Randomness

[zustifer]

The Science of Sleep (2006), Michel Gondry. September 9, 7pm. View count: One.

Finally saw this, I don't know what was wrong with us. It's lovely, of course. Gondry is, as ever, a pretty amazing guy. Thinking about it, he seems to really be interested in doomed relationships. This accounts in part for why this movie didn't do too well in theatres, along with the terrible marketing mishaps (misleading trailers, awful 'viral' internet astroturfing); it also hasn't got a normal story arc. It certainly isn't the magical romantic comedy the trailers were trying to call it; no happy ending, no overcoming the odds to find luv.
So of course we enjoyed the heck out of it, I mean, what's not to love? Semifunctional man-child + beatnik-faced, reactive crafter? Plus Gondry? If you can accept it being just some well-written and acted events in the lives of two people, with a layer of dreamy fun stuff made of Gondry's usual highly analog imagery, then, hey. It's good.

Comments

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

See, to me, it's a sad story about a young man who's at the average age of schizophrenia onset. And by "sad", i mean "fucking depressing".

[sanspoof.livejournal.com]

It made me sad as well, but I still enjoyed it. I had not made the schizophrenia connection (I haven't had any firsthand experience with it), but that seems like a really astute call.
I think, given some sense of how Gondry thinks, the character was probably more meant as an exaggeration of the, uh, tyranny of his own creative impulses/imagery. Slash lack of social whatnot, who knows. But I like having your take in there as well.