BEFORE: Quantum physics, of course, is just an attempt to explain the workings of the universe, but tonight's film offers up a different explanation. This looks like it might be a good mindfuck movie, where reality itself is subjective. Linking from last night's film, Marlee Matlin was also in "Hear No Evil" with Martin Sheen, who was also in "The Departed" with Matt Damon (last seen in "Courage Under Fire").
THE PLOT: The affair between a politician and a ballerina is affected by mysterious forces keeping the lovers apart.
AFTER: This is all a riff on free will vs. destiny - but if you could SEE destiny, what would it look like? In this case, destiny looks like a bunch of men in suits. It's comforting to think that the universe has a plan for you, but do the architects of that plan have to be so damn creepy?
The title characters here are the adjusters who make subtle changes in the lives of humans, which turn out to create turning points in the grand design, in order to bring about...um, something. Look, some things we're just not meant to comprehend, right? The agents can see the connections between people and events on their little magic iPads, and since events have consequences, they know what they have to do to effect change upon the world.
Problem is, it's tough to change the world in secret if someone spots you - the main character gets a peek behind the curtain, as it were, and sees a bit more of how the universe works than he's supposed to. Next problem, he falls in love, and the relationship he wants is definitely not part of the plan. But human nature dictates that if we're told we can't have something, or someone, we want it even more.
Me, I'm just glad that SOMEONE is seen running things - where are these people most of the time when things aren't going right? Ah, but those things might be all part of their plan - like if you forget your coat and go back inside to get it, maybe that prevents you from crossing the street at the wrong time and getting hit by a car.
The suggestion here, however, is that single people are more ambitious, more unfulfilled, so perhaps they accomplish more. I don't know if I fully agree with that, it seems like too much of a generalization. But certainly there must be times when married people sacrifice for their spouse, like if someone didn't take their dream job in another city or something.
But I think it's about time that the concept of a supreme being got some new paradigms. Why is heaven often depicted with people wearing biblical-type robes, with wings and halos? Doesn't that all seem very old-timey? Would you be shocked if you died and heaven looked like that, and you had to fly around and play the harp all day? Why can't heaven look like, say, an office building or a library? And why can't they wear more modern clothes up there? This sort of spins off the concept, and fashion sense, of a film like "Heaven Can Wait".
I'm reminded of the questions that James Lipton asks all of his guests on "Inside the Actors Studio", one of which is, "If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?" I've determined that my answer would be: "Glad you're here, now we can start to get things really organized."
Ah, many linking regrets tonight - once again I wish I had gone to see "Men In Black 3", perhaps after "Seven Pounds", because both films feature well-dressed agents who work in secret to keep things running. And if I didn't have the next 3 months blocked out, I could have picked up on the political angle and went with "The Ides of March" next. Oh, well.
Also starring Emily Blunt (last seen in "Gulliver's Travels"), John Slattery (last seen in "Iron Man 2"), Michael Kelly (last seen in "Law Abiding Citizen"), Terence Stamp (last seen in "Red Planet"), Anthony Mackie (last seen in "The Manchurian Candidate"), with a cameo from Jon Stewart.
RATING: 7 out of 10 press conferences
Heaven and Hell, if they exist, have many points of intersection. "Welcome..." the Being says to you as he pulls open a door, "to ETERNITY!!!!" And he reveals an immense library with a million books on shelves. "It's your job to make sure every book is in its proper place," he continues, as the two of you approach a platform with a silver lever in the floor. He pulls it, and with rumbling creaks that escalate in intensity...the library revolves around its axis and dumps its entire catalogue on the floor, which continues to rotate until the slurry of accumulated fact and fiction is completely randomized.
ReplyDeleteTo a librarian: this room is Hell.
To you: this is Heaven. A project that's RIGHT up your alley. If I know you, you'd slide the last book in its place, step back, enjoy the sight...and then pull the lever again on your own.
"I think I can arrange these books so that if you walk from Book One, Shelf One to Book (infinity minus one), Shelf (infinity minus one), the titles will read as a coherent story. Only one way to find out, right?" And then you start sorting the books, this time by sentence structure.
I liked "The Adjustment Bureau"'s take on the Higher Power. Wisely, they only defined as much of the hocus-pocus as was completely necessary. There's the "Chairman," and he's written a plan for all of creation. And the agents' job is to anticipate and correct deviations from that plan. All via means that are almost completely mundane, apart from their ability to move instantly via conduits behind common doors.
The idea of angels as civil service employees -- dedicated ones who take their work seriously, but still -- is what makes the movie. They had me, from the moment where the agents are discussing the Matt Damon problem.
"Remember the Alejandro case?"
"Come on. This isn't as bad as _that._ ...Is it?"
"In the end, they just leveled with him."
A rare case of movie characters choosing the simplest, most obvious, and rational solution to a problem.