BEFORE: Well, I was successful on Sunday morning, I booked COVID-19 vaccine appointments for both me and my wife, two days apart - both at the Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, NY. I'll get my shot on Tuesday (which is now tomorrow) and her appointment is on Thursday. Perhaps when we get our second doses we can schedule them on the same day. I know there are still some senior citizens out there who are having trouble booking shots on web-sites, so I kind of feel a little guilty for taking an appointment now, but we're both legally qualified to do this now, so I figure we should grab the opportunity when we can.
There were reportedly about 4 million more New Yorkers who became eligible on Sunday, and I read that about 500,000 were all trying to book vaccine appointments at the same time on Sunday morning, and there were about 73,000 slots. Somehow I got through twice, so I really feel like I won a lottery jackpot, and then won another one. Anyway, I think that was a successful Valentine's Day gesture on my part, and once we get our shots, then we'll step aside and other people can book their slots, I think it's a bit like when you're on an airplane and the cabin pressure drops and those masks come down, they say you should put on your own mask before you help someone else, like your child, put on their mask. This gives you a greater chance to survive while you're helping someone else, right? So we'll just be two of the several million Americans getting vaccinated this week, and then next week it will be other people, no big deal. I'm not taking anybody else's slot or jumping the line or anything like that, I just got lucky on the first day that I was eligible - and you've got to be in it to win it. We'll get our shots and this helps everyone, really, because then as a society we'll all be a tiny bit closer to herd immunity.
Possibly married couple Keanu Reeves AND Winona Ryder carry over from "Destination Wedding" - though I read that they aren't in any scenes together in this film. I guess they needed some time apart?
THE PLOT: After her much older husband forces a move to a suburban retirement community, Pippa Lee engages in a period of reflection and finds herself heading toward a quiet nervous breakdown.
AFTER: I think perhaps my romance chain peaked on Valentine's Day, which is good, that's the most appropriate time for a film about a couple coming together, even if they hated each other at first and didn't seem to WANT to be in a relationship, on some level. The romance/relationship chain isn't even half over yet, but things might start to get a little complicated in the storytelling - maybe some relationships won't work out, they'll end badly (is there any other way?) or perhaps just END, if you know what I mean. There are no guarantees in life and love, not even life itself, and to all things, an ending, or so I'm told.
This is another one of those "split timeline" films - came out in 2009, that's about the time that trend was peaking, I think - where we follow Pippa both in her 40's and then also back in her teen years, through flashbacks. Thankfully each timeline moves only forward, so it's not TOO confusing, there's no jumping backwards and then forwards again in each of the timelines. And gradually, then we know that the teen years/early 20's timeline is going to end with her being married to Herb Lee, because that's the status quo in the present timeline. There are a few more twists and turns in the teen years, like Pippa moving out from her parents' house to go live with her lesbian aunt and her aunt's girlfriend. The film conveniently never mentions if Pippa was ever influenced by this to try a relationship with a woman, but she did pose for some erotic photos, which were supposedly book covers for lesbian fiction. (Only, why did it take two weeks of photo sessions to produce one image for a book cover?)
In the present timeline, as I said, Pippa is married to Herb, who is 30 years her senior - that puts him in his 70's, and they've moved to some kind of senior living community for his benefit, even though he's still active as a book editor, and also they're slowly growing apart, after Pippa has spent two decades being a supportive wife, raising their two children. "Growing apart" is sort of a euphemism here for each person getting interested in another partner - for Herb it's one of Pippa's neurotic friends, and for Pippa, that's Chris, the thirty-something son of a different friend, he's just left his wife and moved back in with his mother, trying to piece his life back together or perhaps start something new himself. For the moment, that means working as a convenience store clerk.
And Pippa keeps ending up in that convenience store, she's developed some ability to sleep-walk, and also sleep-drive, so she'll come to the store looking to buy cigarettes, but she's not fully conscious. I thought you weren't supposed to wake up a sleep-walker, but what other choice does Chris have? At least he's nice enough to drive her home each time after she shows up in his store again. But is this some kind of metaphor for something, or a sign that Pippa wants to be with Chris, since she keeps showing up at his counter, in her nightgown? I'm not sure this is something that should be taken as an omen of a future life choice to be made.
Overall, I'm just not sure I'm sold on the whole premise here. This film is certainly different from anything else I've seen, and that can sometimes be a good thing - different means original, certainly, but different also means odd. Maybe too odd - there are some plot elements that seem very specific, this is based on a novel from Rebecca Miller, who also directed the film, but now I'm curious to know if the novel was based on specific incidents from Ms. Miller's life, or if it's all just an original, odd story. (Reading up on Rebecca Miller's life via Wikipedia, I'm not seeing much of a connection to Pippa's story, but her rejection of established religion sort of reminds me of the Keanu Reeves character here.)
There are also plot elements, particularly in Pippa's past, that are so worn-out as to be nearly passé - 1950's housewives taking speed, 1960's teen girls doing drugs, and then women in their 40's having midlife crises, looking to get out of their marriages somehow and just drive off with a younger man. Sure, there are a few plot points here that seem original and unique, but the basic framework is exactly that - just so basic. There's one animated sequence in the film, which uses the metaphor of a relay race, as Pippa passes the responsibility of taking care of her older husband off to someone else, but since it's the only sequence of its kind in the film, it sort of sticks out, and not in a good way - it's more like "What is this even doing here?"
I'll give an extra point for the casting - it was very easy to believe that the younger Blake Lively as Pippa would grow up to look like Robin Wright. Very often there are actors cast as younger versions of characters that look NOTHING like the actors playing the older versions - like in "The Debt", which I watched last year. This one's really spot on, though.
Also starring Robin Wright (last seen in "State of Play") Blake Lively (last seen in "The Age of Adaline"), Alan Arkin (last seen in "Dumbo" (2019)), Maria Bello (last seen in "The Company Men"), Zoe Kazan (last seen in "Happythankyoumoreplease"), Mike Binder (last seen in "Reign Over Me"), Monica Bellucci (last seen in "The Passion of the Christ"), Ryan McDonald, Julianne Moore (last seen in "Cookie's Fortune"), Shirley Knight, Robin Weigert (last seen in "Please Stand By"), Tim Guinee (last seen in "Promised Land"), Madeline McNulty, Adam Shonkwiler, Christin Sawyer Davis, Adam Grupper, with a cameo from Cornel West.
RATING: 5 out of 10 cigarette butts on the car floor (Really? Do cars not have ashtrays any more?)
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