Say Anything

It must have been within the last year, but okay, to be safe let's say within the last two years, that I saw the movie "Say Anything".

All I knew of the film was that at some point John Cusack held up a boom box to a girls window and it was somehow awesome enough that I'd absorbed knowledge of it through all the spoofs and references to it in the greater cultural arena. I can't even really think of a specific example, I can only feel the edges of the different versions kaleid with one another to create this awareness.

I'm sure I had my alarm set, but whatever the reason I missed the first ten minutes of the movie. Mornings are hard. It would be repeated later in the day, and again I missed the opening.

Cut to today, what was it, three in the morning? Doing some laundry, I couldn't go to bed before my clothes were tucked away for the night in the dryer, but I'd only just started the washing process. I figured I'd do some reading, propped upon three pillows quintessentially mine- but first I scrolled down through channels to check the weather... I never made it.

Two button presses north of the forecast and I caught the image of Lloyd Dobler and Diane Court. The movie was halfway over but I was immediately enthralled- Lloyd's straightforward beating around the bush, his nervous what d'ya call it... uuuh not twitching, not quite fumbling, but it could be described as either. Ah well. His simplicity and just plain sincerity. And then there's Diane- she tries to be completely rational about her feelings and verbalize everything, every instant so specifically, because she has a plan! She knows how things are supposed to work! And nothing works out that way at all. She's got these bright blue eyes, softest looking lips, and this quirky mouth with its underbite- when she's sad you want to comfort her, and when she's happy (usually when she's with Lloyd) she gets the widest smile and then I get the widest smile and everything is warm and fantastic in the world.

I should seriously consider buying this movie.

For several reasons I began to think about The Graduate as I was watching Say Anything. If you don't sit back and compare and contrast movies at approaching 4 in the morning, well when are you going to do it? 'Cause it's gotta be done people!
I thought of The Graduate, first of all, because in a similar fashion, they are both movies that I knew only through cultural osmosis until recently. I must have only just watched The Graduate last December or January (it's the movie that has gotten me all nuts about Simon and Garfunkel, even though their close harmonies make it difficult to find a note and sing along. And I don't know the words. But that's what showers and solitary walks are for, consarnit! Singing a single line from some song you barely know over and over again!) and loved it.

Both films are about the beginning of the next chapter, about finding/deciding what your next step is going to be. I had to go back to add the "/deciding" because in my mind that's the key difference between the two leading pairs.

Benjamin Braddock is completely directionless after graduating, he ultimately latches on to the famous Mrs. Robinson's daughter Elaine. Latches is such a negative word. But there it is- how much is it the case that Ben loves this girl and how much is it rather that getting her is the all encompassing new problem for him to focus all his energy on. We've all heard of the moment at the end of the film when Ben and Elaine are on the bus and the euphoria of fighting off a church crowd with a cross has run its course and the two characters have that "so, what now?" look.

Compare that to the end of Say Anything, Lloyd and Diane are together, on a plane bound for England as the camera fades to black. Perhaps if the camera stayed on a second longer we would have seen another "so, what now?" look... but I don't think so. I think if anything the two would just be looking at each other, probably before Diane pulls Lloyd in for another soft kiss. These two people (yes, so very fictional) have managed to find each other, and I believe they'd have wound up with a fantastically happy life.

As you could imagine, I only did some reading during the comercials...

I really must apologize for spending all this time going on about the love lives of two fictional characters, except that I don't have to apologize for that. So many will completely disregard a piece of art because it isn't real. Well, as they say, what is real? That smile and inner warmth I described coming from my person before, that sure felt real to me. Something sure caused that.

Ah, I'm getting all defensive in preparation for an attack that isn't coming.

Sometimes I feel really behind the times- there are so many things out there for me to check out still, but even so there's a certain charm in finally (in this instance) seeing the movie that came out twenty years ago. It takes me back to the hot boring saturday afternoons, when a seven year old (six? eight?) could chose between watching golf and watching an incomprehensible old movie, set in sepia and making the world sepia with it. It was dark and made me sleepy, but when the Rancor appeared I couldn't watch and I couldn't not watch when a green sliver commanded my attention in the bright of day floating above the perilous nightmare inducing maw. Now I've gone and made myself all nostalgic.