The Joys of Realism
I’m not a big fan of stories that put me in a bad mood. Call me a genre snob or a happy-ending snob, if you like, but seriously: real life offers me plenty of realism and unhappy endings. Does fiction think it’s going to teach me anything new in this department?
Okay, it’s true. There have been a few unhappy endings that I liked. Little Bee, by Chris Cleave, is one of the best books I’ve ever read. Loved it. And Swoon, by Nina Mulkin.
But let’s talk best-picture-hopeful Crazy Heart.
It’s true that the setup was less realism and more fiction: a beautiful young lady wanted to be kissed by a drunken, slobbering, greasy old man covered in sweat, with traces of vomit still on his shirt.
Ewww. It was just gross to watch. I wanted to shove him in a shower, and I wasn’t even convinced that would help. (The picture below makes him look a lot cleaner than he did in the film. Trust me. He was repulsive. I kept hoping he’d wash his hair at some point in the film.)
But she instantly falls in love with him. After that, the movie is predictable. He gets drunker. And drunker. And then drunker.
For two freakin’ hours he gets drunker.
Then, as we all knew he would, he loses her kid. Finally! She dumps him. He goes to rehab. He gets better. She doesn’t want him back. He rides off into the sunset alone.
Oh, yeah. He gets a good check for one of his songs. He graduates from a dilapidated old truck. Are we supposed to think money is a happy ending? Um, no. Not when you’re all alone and no one loves you in the whole world.
There was one bit of realism I liked: his adult son, who Bad didn’t talk to after he was four years old, is not interested in getting to know his father.
That is realistic and refreshing, since I’ve never seen that in fiction without the obligatory make-up and happy-ever-after in the father-son relationship. Um, no.
Yeah, great acting.
Joy, joy, joy.
I give it two thumbs down. I was in a perfectly happy mood going in, and by the one hour point I was looking at my watch every two minutes. By the time we left, I actually cried because it was such a depressing movie. And not a good sort of Greek-tragedy-cathartic cry, but an I’m-depressed-and-I-want-to-talk-to-my-best-friend cry.
So what movies have you seen lately? How’d you like them? And how do you feel about realism? And unhappy endings?
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Natasha Fondren is a writer traveling the U.S. in a camper with her four cats. She is currently enjoying the lizards and desert heat in Arizona.
I saw a bunch of movies over the holidays. I don’t mind bitter/sweet endings. Real, but with some hope. That was one thing I liked about the movie, Brothers.
I really liked that movie, Paul. That had a lot of meat to it. Very gripping.
I liked Crazy Heart, though I often thought he should wash his hair. I normally don’t care for older men/much younger women romances in movies, and I did wonder why she went for Bad. But I managed to suspend my disbelief.
It was a slow movie, a portrait of an alcoholic. Almost a character study. How many times was he shown in a bedroom drinking? Not the usual box office hit.
The greasy hair thing drove me nuts, Edie! LOL! And you’re right, he was in the bedroom drinking for near an hour and a half of that movie, LOL!
I avoid depressing movies. Don’t think I’d watch it. I saw “When in Rome” which is very cute. Nothing sad there. Also, it had a LOT of funny actors.
P.S. I get a lot of those, “I want to talk to my best friend” cries. But they tend to be over stupid things. I get a lot of those, “I want to laugh with my best friend” moments too. Maybe I even things out a bit by all this?
I suggested we see that, Christina, but it was his turn to pick, LOL. I want to see Valentine’s Day, too.
Umm… you might want to mention when you’re including spoilers.
That said, I enjoy movies and books that don’t have happy endings because life doesn’t always end happily, but things like this where the greasy nasty guy gets the hot young thing does drive me crazy.
Sorry, Melanie! But seriously, um… there’s no plot. At the very beginning, the girl says, “but don’t drink in front of my son.” So from the very beginning you know something is going to happen. (And it’s only that the boy gets lost in the mall, so even that is anti-climactic.)
Other than that, the entire movie is him drinking. The ending with the check and rehab and last visit with girlfriend is only three or four minutes long.
And I should add that it goes over two hours. So you get to watch him drinking for a full two hours, LOL… and he’s not even an interesting drunk. You get to see vomit strung from his mouth, and you get to see him drinking in bed. That’s about it…
Gross….
It was DISGUSTING. And he didn’t wipe it off. It was yellowish-green. Ick. (You could’ve probably used not to hear any more detail, LOL.)
I saw it and couldn’t agree with your critique more! It was a depressing snoozer. Yet, I think the ending was happy, in that the gorgeous Maggie Gyllenhaal no longer had to sleep with the fat, smelly, drunk, slobbery Jeff Bridges. Could they have made him look more horrible if they tried?
Let’s talk sexism, too! I can’t remember seeing a fat, slobbery, drunk actress paired with a gorgeous young man in a movie. I’m going to pitch a movie with me and Chase Crawford to Hollywood. That should do it.
Yes! Yes, yes, yes! And YES! YES! Exactly!
Sounds like an art house movie to me (something I would have seen in my Fiction to Film class and maybe would have napped through, lol). Having said that I suspect that if it were a novel it’d be considered literary fiction. You know what I mean? It’d have to come with a guide in order to figure it all out. (Says the girl who loves lit fic, but enjoys a good genre book, too.)
I recently watched In Bruges with Colin Farrell. Another sad tale with great motifs, it’s set in Bruges – the scenery is absolutely breath taking! (Alert! A tragically dark comedy.)
Yeah, except there’s no subtlety: it’s all just acting. No symbolism, no layers, no nothing. It’s just an Academy Award grab for Jeff Bridges. There’s no layers. Just him getting drunk.
I LOVE that movie! Just love it!
I’m glad to hear that someone else like In Bruges. Isn’t funny how the “f” word sounds almost lyrical when spoken by Colin Farrell?
It’s been too long since I’ve seen it. I’m Netflixing it now.