Hello! How are you?

Source: cinemagia.ro

A Romanian movie trying to adopt the Hollywood style and even succeeds, Hello! How are you? (2010) also has an interesting message to think about.

The story follows a couple married for almost 20 years and their teenage child in Bucharest. The relationship between the two humble married people is growing apart; the distance is carefully covered more or less by their common sense and kindness, but the joy of being together is gone. They rediscover that joie de vivre on the Internet, using the chat application. Accidentally or not, as a test or rather as a coincidence, they end up virtually falling in love. With each other. 

This love develops the theme of committing adultery, not knowing that they have been living together for such a long time, they start feeling guilty. Weird enough, unveiling their true identities results in a divorce and the ending shows us that the two can only be together in virtual space (that is some sort of hope that not everything is lost).

The movie underlines a very common problem in these postmodern times. How long does love last? How long should it last? How can one be happy with just one person their whole lives? How not to crave for someone else? Someone more mysterious, more enjoyable? How should one face the temptation of the unknown? But how not to change the things why the other fell in love with you? Of course, the movie doesn't provide an answer, we ourselves must face the question: How to cope with our human weakness?

The film addresses itself to two types of audiences, to the young and to the mature. The story is narrated by the boy, the crazy kindhearted teenager, trying to understand life, but the fundamental message of the movie is addressed to those who enjoy dealing with such problems, those who like dwelling on love and engagement.

What makes this movie enjoyable are the cute dialogues, the innocent behavior of the grown-ups when being afraid of being caught chatting, as well as the visual elements showing up on the screen as instant message lines. The chat and the love feeling invade the characters' minds in such way that even the food labels become instant messages (please note that the camera and graphics were developed by an ad man, so the visual is quite catchy).

Moreover, interesting is also the twist-like behavior of the two generations. While the grown-ups rediscover themselves on the Internet, the teenager  manages to fall in love (and to become the good boy) and be in a relationship by using only reality.

Hello! How are you? grabs attention with its Hollywood-warning onto the fact that we keep estranging us from our Selves, that we are empty and we're constantly on the run after something new and fresh, but that we also get easily bored. All of this in a more lighted form, not as dramatic as I presented it. After all, it's a romantic comedy. A cute Romanian one.

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Probably most of my readers are wondering why am I emphasizing on the fact the the movie is a Romanian one. Not out of patriotism, but out of the wondering that such a movie is a Romanian one. Because  Romanian movies are very minimalistic, slow burners, very few dialogue occurs. But right now Romania is on the wave!

On Lisbeth Salander or The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Source: imdb.com

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) praises an extremely original European story. Not even after a decade from the first book screening, David Fincher tries to 'americanize' Larsson's book, which had previously and expressively been named "Men Who Hate Women".

The movie will impress only those who aren't familiar with the topic, whether the Swedish screening or the book. Fincher and his screenwriters cut out on various important parts of the book, but the suspense and the boiling moments á la Fincher are preserved. 

One of the main ideas of the movie human weakness and the ghosts we create around us and around ourselves in order to survive.

Who: The main character's psychology, the young Lisbeth Salander, is very well constructed by Larsson as well as by Fincher.  The first thing we observe about her is her unconventional look, everything about her tells "I am dangerous". But precisely the toughness she wants to express attracts the man of whom she will financially depend and eventually be raped. The rape scene is one of the most painful of the whole movie, a scene that seems never to end and that portraits perfectly the idea of men who hate women.

Source: ew.com

What and why: Lisbeth is the nonconformist heroin who lives in her own universe, taking out of reality only the virtual elements. She masters technology, she is sharp, research and private investigations are her qualities, and also her way she makes a living of. 

Being declared as socially unadapted, she is forced to depend on someone else, financially and legally. But, in the end of course, it's all about kindness. Because her whole life she was deprived of affection, she learns how to hate and not trust people. She is different, she is rejected, she is an outsider. Her rage and animalic reactions turn her into a persona non grata.

Actually she is a wounded animal, struggling with reality, the reality that is not up to her and that keeps letting her down. 

Sadly, the ending scene doesn't portray a happy future, because reality shows again its ugly side and will prove to her once more that people are untrustworthy. 

So, Lisbeth isn't a happy person, her childhood moulded her personality, her parents weren't there for her and she closed herself in her own world, taking out of life only certain elements.

And still, why do we love her? Because she's unique? Because she's original? Because she's the outsider? Because she punishes the ones that hurt women? Because she's able to live in her own reality? 

We love the essence that is underneath her extravagant apperance. Because we are always attracted to the unknown, the mysterious. Her visible side, her trashy side, shocks us and  mentally challanges us. 

What is left after viewing the movie? The image of a troubled, strong, mysterious and rebel girl. But one that doesn't find her place in this world. She doesn't do anything she doesn't want to and if she does, it's not for long. We like the fact that she keeps her dignity and her existential dimension, adding some unusual characteristics, but in the end she doesn't deny her sensitive side. 

 

Last Night - movie essay

Last Night (2010) is a movie for bohemian people, for those who appreciate details, for those willing to think about the message the movie is trying to send and about its connection with reality. It's both an emotional and intellectual experience. The director (Massy Tadjedin) explores the thin line between loyalty and infidelity in such manner that, by the end of the movie, one will have to ask themselves: What's worse? Emotional or physical infidelity?

The movie is about modern love between a New York couple (what else?): Joanna (Keira Knightley) and Michael (Sam Worthington) seem to be happily married until one evening. Joanna gets jealous on Sam's beautiful coworker Laura (Eva Mendes), whom she didn't know. As a coincidence, the two have to leave on a business trip the next day and Joanna, home alone, meets the seductive French writer Alex (Guillaume Canet), a former lover. The conversations both in New York and Philly are meaningful, flirty and teasing. Therefore, the events from "Last Night" will determine the character's lives in a follow-up which we can only imagine since the ending leaves us hanging.

On the abstract side, can we confirm the saying that "men can physically cheat without changing their feelings towards their girlfriends, while women can resist temptation, but when it comes to their feelings, everything changes"?

What is the meaning of adultery, besides sex? Is there another meaning, at all? Are diversity and novelty just stronger than the stable things in one's life? Is it a game? Do(n't) words matter?

The movie touches also the matter from the perspective of 'the other woman'. Laura, despite her perfect body and face, admits having been cheated on, knows her place and is well aware of the situation. She is the kind that does things and then fixes them along the way, who states that life is a succession of moments, and that one has to steal some and take maximum advantage. She turns out to be upfront, with flaws, but not mean.

Regarding emotional infidelity, there is probably no one who hadn't thought of someone else, who hadn't dreamed of someone else, even when in a relationship. Emotional infidelity is, therefore, an imagination exercise, a way of getting out of real life. On the other side, if feelings change, the whole grounds of the relationship change.

Though the ending is open to interpretation, it's quite hard to come up with a verdict on the film's subject, because most of us live in the grey area, not just in white and black.

Other than that, the New York apartment we crave, Clint Mansell's extraordinary soundtrack and the charismatic actors are all elements that build a movie more or less light, but one that instigates a reevaluation of a too common phenomenon in relationships.