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Men, Women & Children (2014)
Men, Women & Children is a Good Movie
Men, Women & Children is a film that tries to intertwine multiple story lines, but should have just centered on one or two. Kaitlyn Dever and Ansel Elgort are excellent in the movie, two up-and-coming who had breakthroughs in Short Term 12 and The Fault in our Stars respectively.
Let's talk about Jason Reitman. Labor Day was a mess, but you felt what Reitman was going for. Men, Women & Children, ditto. The juxtaposition of the characters' stories, a generational technological divide did not have the emotional weight at the end. The Rosamund DeWitt/Adam Sandler plot line was pointless, Reitman's message being that we should forget about what our partner has done, and move on. To continue living without questioning, wondering what else they did. I don't know what the point of the storyline was. The two female blond story lines were also poorly developed I thought and frankly, thrown to the curve in the end.
The cultural references are a bit outdated. The Pale Blue Dot, the Korean couple who neglected their child playing Guild Wars . I felt this was due to Reitman's inability to grasp technology and translate it to film, we get these subtle moments such as Diver and Elgort's interactions where every word and movement seem to mean the world to them.
Jason Reitman is a director that has a lot to say about the world we live in. With Men, Women & Children, he tried to tackle a subject that was too vast, an area he couldn't really grasp. This type of movie should be made by someone who was born in the technological age where Twitter and Tumblr are second language to them. I love his effort to making the film work, but apart from the Elgort/Dever storyline, there was a lot more that could have been explored by simply narrowing the number of stories, focus on characters. Maybe only on high school students. Despite his two last efforts, Reitman is still one of my favorite filmmakers. Up in the Air made me fall in love with film, and he's still got something in him.
Before Midnight (2013)
On It's Own
There's something special about Before Midnight that captivates me so much. Maybe it's the truthfulness of Jesse & Celine or the well-drawn script in which scenes are shot with confidence and bright faithfulness or its just that Before Midnight is a representation of growing up, being parents, dedicating our lives for someone else. Before Midnight is so simple yet so complex, the Before series is an accomplishment for Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke and Richard Linklater. It makes you feel a range of relatable emotions. I'm glad that there are films like Before Midnight. It makes me wonder what extraordinary things the world can do. Bravo!