Year 13, Day 101 - 4/11/21 - Movie #3,805
BEFORE: J.K. Simmons carries over from "21 Bridges", and since this is the middle of a three-film set, I could easily drop it - April's still just a bit too full right now, and I'm going to have to drop a film or two in the coming weeks. But I like J.K. Simmons, I want to make sure he's included in my year-end round-up, so I'll look for a political documentary I can also drop. Or I'll double up again, most of those docs are pretty short, usually.
I've got two good reasons to keep this one in place - first off, it's got Sebastian Stan in it, and I just watched episode 4 of "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" - I don't need to tie my TV series viewing in with my movies, that's not how my linking works, but just maybe it's a sign. Also, this way I can give a birthday SHOUT-out to Mandy Moore - sure, her birthday's on April 10, but I can start watching this film late on April 10, in her honor, and then count it as my film for April 11.
As things stand, I'm in a bit of trouble, since I went through the HBO Max platform and found a LOT of films, new and old, that could be added to the list. I like to have a main watchlist of films, and also a secondary list - the second list contains both films that I'm considering adding to the main list, and also films on streaming platforms, that I don't have on either a DVD or my DVR, which both still feel more tangible to me somehow than something that streams. I like to maintain the primary list at about 180 films (though recently I increased the max limit to 190) - if the list is any smaller than that, I find it hard to make connections, and if it gets much bigger, then my task seems hopeless, like I'm not making any progress. After watching over 3800 films in 12 1/2 years, I keep thinking the pool of films to watch is going to get smaller, only it doesn't.
And with the HBO Max additions, that secondary list just went up from 250 to 300 - I spent half of today just typing up cast lists and looking for connections, most of which will never be used, only a small percentage of those potential links will ever be important, but I have to color-code my list so that I'm at least aware of them, because you never know. More films on the secondary list is good, right? Because it gives me more options, it helps me make the connections between the holidays, or between where I am and where I need to be on a certain date. But too many films is also bad, because it can give me too many options, and I don't need five paths to choose from, I'd really prefer to just have the linking suggest one obvious one.
I'm going to treat the combined list like the ice-cube bucket in our freezer, which is supposed to be automatic, but in 15 years it's never really worked quite right. It's got a piece of metal that hangs down over the ice, which can be put up into an "off" position, or allowed to hang down, which tells the freezer that there's space in the bucket, and it's time to make some ice. When it's made enough ice, the pile of ice SHOULD reach the piece of metal, keep it from hanging down, and stop the production of ice temporarily, until there's space. But what ends up happening is that the ice production will stop when there's ice ready to come out, and then it makes this grinding noise, because the motor wants to dispense the ice, but the piece of metal's in the OFF position, so it just gets stuck with the ice half-dispensed, the cubes freeze in place, and over the years I've gotten used to that sound. Hearing it means I need to reach into the freezer, dislodge the frozen ice cubes, and get the motor working again - but then I've touched the ice, which is potentially unsanitary. Anyway, this whole process is supposed to be automatic, with the ice cube maker turning itself off when it's not needed, and me reaching into the freezer only proves that something's not working right.
The ice maker and I have negotiated a deal, under which I'll monitor the amount of ice in the hopper, and when it's up near the top, I'll flip that piece of metal up, so the ice cubes won't get frozen in place, and I won't hear the grinding noise while I'm trying to watch a movie. And then when the amount of ice gets really low, like almost to the bottom, then I'll flip the piece of metal back down. It's still not an automatic process, but it's the best way for man and machine to meet somewhere in the middle on peaceful terms. That's where I am right now with my watchlist, the bucket is now overflowing with ice, so it's time to turn the machinery off for a while, stop adding films, for the love of God. I've got another huge list of films that's newly available on Netflix (obtained a month ago while scrolling aimlessly through their recommendations) - but I'm not going to add them, not now while the bucket is full. In two months the 300 films on the secondary list should be back down closer to 250, and I'll consider adding them then. Because 190 on the main list and 300 on the secondary list makes nearly 500 choices overall, and that's way too much. That's bigger than my list was when I started, back in 2009 - so, really, how much progress have I made? Maybe the ice bucket is just always going to fill up again, and I'll never, ever be done.
I don't think my TCM "31 Days of Oscar" stars are going to recover, though - they seem to be in freefall, and I'd started out so strong. Here's the line-up for tomorrow, Monday, April 12, so you can set your DVRs:
THE PLOT: A man struggles with the tragic memories of his past to make sense of his present, but soon realizes that time isn't the enemy he thinks it is.
AFTER: How about THIS for an unintentionally pandemic-related film? An old man apparently never leaves his apartment, socially distant either by necessity or by choice, and he's slowly running out of food, drinks too much and his utilities are about to be shut off for lack of payment. And he seems to be suicidal - any of this hitting too close to home? But this film was released in 2017, pre-COVID, so there's got to be another cause here. As the man begins sifting through his memories, and the flashbacks start, we realize that too much reflection on past trauma and the mistakes he's made over the course of his life is the probable cause.
The film then becomes a split-timeline deal, similar to "Moonlight" and several dozen other trendy films and TV shows that use this non-linear technique to slowly reveal narrative details. (see "Young Rock", "Me, Myself and I" and "This Is Us", from what I hear...) We see Steve at two other key times in his life, as a twenty- or thirty-something man, a young husband and father, and also as a 10 or 12-year old boy, during his parents' divorce and time spent with both of them shortly thereafter. There's a lot of alcohol involved, consumed by Steve's father and then Steve, this is one of the causes in his parents' break-up, and perhaps the reason why young adult Steve can't seem to hold down a job for very long. But it's hard to assign cause and effect rules to any of the timelines, because there's so much jumping around, and each separate timeline doesn't necessarily progress in proper date order. Admittedly, when anyone gets that old, they don't remember things in timeline order, memory tends to skip around and even become fairly unreliable.
Finding various objects around his dwelling (is it the same house or apartment he's lived in all these years? It's so dingy in the "old man" scenes that honestly, it's hard to tell...) triggers various scenes from the past, and so we the audience are in constant "jigsaw puzzle" mode trying to figure out this old man's life story. It's possible that J.K. Simmons doesn't have any dialogue in this film, but he's such a great actor that, honestly, it's not needed. Emotions speak volumes, and a gaunt J.K. staring into the mirror, or holding an object and reflecting on its meaning is more than enough, in the end. (Sebastian Stan is an OK actor, I mean, like great for the Winter Soldier, but don't hire him for emotional heavy lifting - and the kid who plays "Young Sheldon" is fairly terrible, but so are most child actors.)
After we see all of the worst moments from this man's past, we're forced to ask ourselves, is his solitary nature and negative outlook justified? Is his suicidal nature perhaps an appropriate reaction to all the pain he's endured, some of which he caused? I've got to say "No", because unless someone has a terminal illness, I don't regard suicide as a solution. Things can always get better, and there's always therapy and anti-depressive medication options. I've had my dark days, don't get me wrong, but never really thought of taking that early exit, because there is still beauty in the world, great music and art and barbecue, even on one's worst day. I've had to spend some time living by myself and getting comfortable with that, been unemployed and divorced and always tried to find a way through it, looking to the next thing or better days. You can always travel somewhere you never thought you would go, eat something new, think about tomorrow's movie or read "War and Peace". Cross something off your bucket list, or start adding more items, whatever gets you through the night, it's all right, all right?
But then, something happens to Steve, and I'm not really sure what it is, to be honest. I'm not sure the writer and director (Michelle Schumacher, J.K. Simmons' wife IRL) knows either - but after so many shots of adult Steve and old man Steve staring into the mirror in similar fashion, some connection is made - each one sees the other, briefly. This could be largely symbolic, or it could mean that somehow the two timelines, past and present, have crossed, a la "Frequency". But there's no direct communication due to a convenient electrical storm or something. There are other little flashes of information (watch carefully, or you may miss them...) that suggest something else is going on here, other than the obvious. I'll take a few guesses before I read reviews on-line - this film's Wikipedia page is blatantly missing a plot summary.
Guess #1 - perhaps Steve isn't just contemplating suicide, perhaps he's already done it. This means that the apartment is really purgatory or hell, and he's forced to sort through all his memories, in the style of "Defending Your Life" while his final fate is determined.
Guess #2 - Old man Steve isn't real, he's just an imaginary construct of adult Steve, who he COULD turn out to be if he doesn't straighten out his life, stop drinking, and pay more attention to his wife and kid. This explains some things, but not everything.
Guess #3 - there's a freak moment where Old Man Steve connects with adult Steve, and this changes a critical event, and thus the timeline. Old Man Steve therefore represents a timeline that never comes into existence, at least not in this fashion.
Guess #4 - Old Man Steve is just an unreliable narrator, he's an alcoholic who's also got dementia or Alzheimer's and is trying to remember past events before they slip away forever. This would explain the ending somewhat, too, as his brain changes that critical event, so that he can stop thinking about the related trauma and move on, in some fashion.
Honestly, I don't know which of these, if any, is correct - perhaps it's all open to interpretation. There's a two-man comedy routine seen in the film based on the "Schrodinger's Cat" thought experiment, and I found that one of the most insightful things. A man, alone in his house, nobody can see him, nobody's even looking for him, he's a lot like that cat in the box, right? And the cat had a vial of poison in the box with him, while Steve has alcohol, essentially the same thing. So, is the cat alive or dead? He's both/neither until you take a look inside the box. Same goes for Steve, whose answering message is just "I'm Not Here" - but isn't he? Is he there or not, is he alive or dead? Yes, both/neither, maybe.
Also starring Sebastian Stan (last seen in "Logan Lucky"), Iain Armitage (last seen in "Our Souls at Night"), Maika Monroe (last seen in "Honey Boy"), Mandy Moore (last heard in "Ralph Breaks the Internet"), Max Greenfield (last seen in "The Glass Castle"), Jeremy Maguire, Harold Perrineau (last seen in "28 Weeks Later"), David Koechner (last seen in "CHIPS"), Heather Mazur, David Wexler, Tony Cummings.
RATING: 5 out of 10 TV dinners
Dude, have you ever seen anything with Sebastian Stan at all? ok actor? He can easily pull Eileen Berstein and Nicole Kidman’s level and emotionally play very well. If you don’t like the actor, don’t write anything. Don’t make a fool of yourself.
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