This is NOT a rehearsal!
I had so many things I wanted to communicate. So many pearls of wisdom to
impart. But it is not just life that is fleeting. The context for brilliant
thinking doesn't last very long, especially on internet time. Ha ha! This
slow connection occasionally makes my typos fuse words together likethis. I am
becoming the Sheepman! Anyway, The Royal Tenenbaums is a freaking
funny fillum. If you were to take Hotel New Hampshire (the film,
not the book [yuk!]) and thrash it until you had taken out all the Washington
Irving crap and left the core of whoever turned that crap book into a good
film you'd be left with something that resembled the Tenenbaums. It really is
that good. One of Gene Hackman's best. Even Ben Stiller couldn't ruin it.
Even the truly execrable Bill Murray couldn't make a dent in it. It really is
that good. After that I saw The Way Home. This is not to be
confused with 《 我 的 父 亲 母 亲 》 even though the anglicised
versions of the titles would suggest otherwise. Instead this is Firefly Dreams
with an annoying boy instead of a bratty girl. With nowhere near as much
closure (the boy is still a PITA at the end). The point I am trying to make. The whole
non-linear point is that I just watched Fight Club again. I still
think that this is more than one film. They could have stopped it at the point
that Edward Norton makes the deal with Marla about the support groups. To
that point it had been sublimely funny. After that point it would have to be
excessive to keep up the momentum (and IT IS!). It would have died without
someone as OTT as Tyler Durden. In contrast to most people who have seen the
film I see the fighting as a mere motif to keep the excessiveness running.
This time the key scene was driving the limo down the road and swinging it
over into oncoming traffic to make the point that this is life NOW. That this
is not a rehearsal. This scene doesn't even make it into the IMDB quotes.
Maybe they just don't get it either. Maybe they're still mourning the death
of the IKEA furniture. I still get a big belly laugh out of the "fight Gandhi"
"fight Lincoln" scene. The sad thing is that I know I don't live as if today is
my last day. I heard that "Work as if you don't need the money. Love as if
you've never been hurt. Dance as if nobody's watching." quote again and I
don't live up to it - except those few occasions when I really do let go. It
is not as if you have to do something particularly excessive. You just have to
stop being the one who holds yourself back. Someone else up there really does
have amazing plans for you.