BEFORE: We're just about at the end of January now, so three things are going to happen tomorrow - I'm going to start the romance chain (a day early, but what's scheduled is sort of a transitional film, I promise this will make sense tomorrow), I'm going to total up the methods I've used to watch my January films (cable, Netflix, iTunes and Academy screeners) and also I'll take a look at TCM's "31 Days of Oscar" programming, though I just took a quick look at their method of organizing the films this year, and I can't say that I'm happy about it. I much prefer the years where they do actor linking, like I do, or break down the films based on their stories' locations, or something like that. What they're doing instead this year just seems like madness to me.
Oh, screw it, that's a lot to handle tomorrow so let me do the January breakdown today. The schedule's not going to change, so here are the totals for the month based on screening method. The reason that Cable/On Demand is on the list twice is because about 6 months ago I had to switch DVRs, and I lost the ability to dub movies from certain cable channels to DVD, because of a signal that they broadcast to prevent duplication and this includes TCM, which is a big bummer for me that makes me a lot less interested in their Oscar programming, if I can't save copies on DVD of these great movies. What am I paying these high cable bills for? Three major channels basically just got turned into streaming services for me, where I watch the film and poof, it's gone. What if I want to watch that film again someday, and it's not available on cable or any streaming service at that time, what do I do THEN? Ah, who am I kidding, I barely have to time to watch all these movies once, let alone twice - I just don't like the impermanence of it all, and I like having a collection with physical THINGS, but even those aren't permanent because VHS tapes and DVD all wear out, eventually, or get scratched or covered with dust and become unwatchable.
But anyway, here are the stats for January's films:
11 movies watched on cable (and saved to DVD): Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, Annihilation, Suburbicon, 13 Hours, Only the Brave, Seal Team Six, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, The Beaver, Mother!, Wakefield, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
9 movies watched on Cable (and not saved): Game Night, 12 Strong, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Singing Detective, Red Sparrow, Goodbye Christopher Robin, The Light Between Oceans, The Snowman, Battle of the Sexes
6 movies watched on Netflix: A Most Violent Year, Promised Land, Peter Rabbit, A Futile and Stupid Gesture, Adult Beginners, Game Over Man!
1 movie watched on iTunes: Frank
4 movies watched on Academy screeners: Mission: Impossible - Fallout, Vice, Welcome to Marwen, Last Flag Flying
See, with 20 out of 31 movies watched on cable, I can't cut the cord, not just yet. And I still made a dent on my Netflix list, and I'm still using Academy screeners and iTunes the least, basically just to close the gaps and allow the chain to continue. Cable also costs me the most, but that's OK if it's still providing the bulk of the films. One movie on iTunes cost me only about $3 to rent, and Netflix and Academy screeners are both essentially free for me. So there you go, if the numbers change radically this year I can consider switching over to streaming.
Bryan Cranston carries over from "Last Flag Flying".
THE PLOT: A man's nervous breakdown causes him to leave his wife and live in his attic for several months.
AFTER: Looking back on January now, another thing that I can keep track of is the large number of films that dealt with mental illness or trauma-related incidents, or syndromes of some kind. Last night I mentioned the PTSD that was seen in "Last Flag Flying", "Welcome to Marwen" and "Goodbye Christopher Robin", but let's not forget that I started things off this year with "Game Night", which featured that police officer character who was unable to pick up on social cues, so he came off as creepy. (Not as creepy as the guy in "Welcome to Marwen", but still creepy.). Then there was the lead character in "The Beaver", who suffered from depression and a terrible addiction to puppetry, which might not have been so bad if he had any ventriloquism skill at all, only he didn't. Then there was the double punch of the addiction and self-loathing in "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" and the paranoia and inability to distinguish fantasy from reality in "The Singing Detective". Fassbender portrayed the poor judgment skills resulting from both PTSD and the isolation of working at a lighthouse in "The Light Between Oceans", the abandonment issues and the self-destructive relationship behavior of a detective in "The Snowman", AND the mental illness under the giant mask of a man performing with a band. "Adult Beginners" depicted three people suffering from arrested development, and "Battle of the Sexes" dealt with both a male chauvinist and someone coming to terms with her homosexuality, and this issue was also touched on in "Game Over, Man!". Then there was "Suburbicon", which depicted racial hatred in the 1950's, and also a lot of messed-up people who would kill their own family members to collect the insurance money. Damn, that's a lot of mental illness and social dysfunction for one month. (I'm going to leave Tom Cruise alone for now, because the two characters he played in "Jack Reacher: Never Go Back" and "Mission: Impossible - Fallout" were generally heroic, although somewhat addicted to danger, but really, I don't have time today to crack that nut open...)
Which brings me to "Wakefield", and there's clearly something wrong with this main character, because who would do this? Who would drop out of a relationship, a job, and society in general, just to spend a few months living in his own garage's attic/storage space? Is there even a name for this type of mental affliction, if that's what it is? It's kind of voyeurism combined with a deep-seated need to see how his family would get by without him in the picture. But it's weird, because of all the mental gymnastic he makes, like he's bending the truth around to make it seem like he's doing them a favor. He would never LEAVE his wife, because that would hurt her greatly, and that would also make him a terrible person, by his rules. But somehow sneaking into this attic space (with a large window that conveniently looks right into their bedroom) is OK, even though the situation must still be incredibly painful for her, not knowing where her husband WENT, since he didn't leave a note. In his mind, he hasn't abandoned her, because he's still technically nearby, only he did abandon her, and anyway, what about his job? Don't his boss and co-workers wonder what happened to him, and those papers he took home in his briefcase?
But again, it's really about the relationship here. Many married people probably wonder what would happen if they died, and how long it would take their spouse to get over them, start dating again, get re-married and such. But it's not productive thinking, like since you'll be dead, it won't matter to you, so why dwell on it at all? This guy, however, wants to KNOW, and wants to see it happen first-hand. However, this knowledge comes at a cost, which most people would not be willing to pay. He's got to live in a small space, with no electricity, no heat, no food and no running water. It's like camping out, only with none of the fun. (Correction, camping is not fun. You want to take me to the woods, where I have to crap in the bushes and eat beans out of a can, and have no protection from the elements, and possibly get eaten by a wild animal? Thanks, I'll pass. You take me out to the woods, you'd better kill me, I'll be better off.).
So to satisfy his curiosity, or to find out if his wife really loves him and would miss him, or perhaps to prove a point, Mr. Wakefield endures months of no TV, no cell phone, no toilet facilities (except he sneaks out to use the group shower of a home for mentally disabled teens, conveniently located next door.) and most of the time, he eats garbage from a can, whatever his family threw out that night, provided he can get to it before the raccoons. And again, let me remind you that he's doing this all by CHOICE, it's a self-imposed exile that's hard to believe because it seems so hard to endure. Oh, and if he wants a new toothbrush or a pair of shoes, he has to wait for the "good" trash night, which is every two weeks, and fight off the regular trash-pickers.
I'm sorry, it just doesn't seem worth it. I wouldn't have done this at all, but even if I had, I would have caved after a couple nights with no TV, no internet and no cell phone games. Or the first cold night in the storage space, whichever came first. Even if I were afraid to go back home and face my wife for some reason, even going to couples therapy would be a preferred way to resolve any issues, over living in squalor and eating garbage.
I also have to take issue with all the time-jumping, which is a constant complaint of mine now. Flashbacks are used here to show the audience that the Wakefield marriage might not have been perfect (whose is?) because he was often jealous and controlling, plus he felt that with two daughters and a wife, he was sort of the outsider in his house just because of his gender. On top of that, he worked in Manhattan and often came home late because of his commute on Metro-North, so he wasn't living on the same schedule as the rest of his family, and over time that sort of thing can wear a person down. But, didn't they spend quality time together on the weekends, and vacations and such? I guess if he had started to feel like a stranger to his own family, then moving into a secret living space in the house made some weird kind of sense, like taking that feeling to the extreme?
The plotline says "nervous breakdown", but I don't know if that tells the whole tale here. It seems like maybe he wanted to feel important to his family, to connect with them better, so he tried to show them what their lives would be like without him around? Only he took it too far, and it sort of backfired, because after he'd been gone for a week, he couldn't just walk back in with no explanation, they'd be demanding to know where he was. But then, somehow if he stayed away longer, he hoped it might be easier to come back, because they'd be more grateful to see him again - it's a twisted logic spiral to be sure. I won't tell you how it ends, except to say that it's rather ambiguous - unfortunately that means there's a big build-up to an unsatisfying conclusion, nearly an anti-climax.
The funny thing is, a certain number of people still disappear every year - where do they all go? It's not really that comforting for me to think that a small percentage of them maybe started living in small, confined spaces so they can spy on their grieving spouses. And really, how many people find themselves in that situation? I suspect that most missing people meet much darker fates.
NITPICK POINT: Who throws out the leftovers from their holiday meals? Nobody I know, yet it seems like everyone did in this neighborhood. After a big roast turkey dinner, my family would save whatever was not eaten on the holiday itself, because who doesn't love a nice hot turkey sandwich on toast with gravy the next day? And then came cold turkey sandwiches with mayo, turkey noodle casserole, and eventually even turkey soup made from boiling the carcass. I know we collectively throw out a lot of food in this country, and that's something that needs to be addressed, but I was raised to never throw out any food unless it had spoiled and was no longer good to eat. My mother learned from her parents, who survived the Depression, and made the most out of leftovers. If the U.S. is heading toward another financial collapse, it's a valuable skill that we should all develop.
Also starring Jennifer Garner (last seen in "Butter"), Beverly D'Angelo (last seen in "Vacation"), Jason O'Mara (last seen in "In a World..."), Ian Anthony Dale (last seen in "The Hangover"), Alexander Zale, Tracey Walter (last seen in "Matilda"), Pippa Bennett-Warner, Isaac Leyva, Ellery Sprayberry, Victoria Bruno
RATING: 5 out of 10 Thanksgiving dinners
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