Chi-Sci-Fi?

It's been a while, hasn't it? I've been so swamped lately I can't even describe it. Well, now that I've lost whatever minimal readership I may have had, why not get back into the swing of things?

I'd like to add a new segment I will periodically try out. It's called Funny Pauses. Here is the first installment.

Sorry, Paul Severino.

Video for today is a little obscure. It's a former band of a friend of a friend that you'd never guess isn't professional. Besides the fact that the video is surprisingly well done the sound beats the snot out of so much that is out there right now. I know that was a bit of an unbecoming description but....here's His and Hers by The Riflemen

#30: The Time Traveler's Wife

The problem with a shockingly long hiatus is the fact that it's been a solid three months since I've seen this movie so I won't be able to give too much brilliant insight into it. Not that I'm able to give too much brilliant insight into any movie. Hm...how humbling.

I don't know why I wanted to see this movie. I was somehow, for some reason, intrigued. I can't deny that I enjoy so called chick flicks but this one looked especially sappy. However, with the summer winding down and an end-of-break beach trip in the driving-home stage, we decided to give this a whirl.

I can't lie; I liked it. Maybe I need to go hunting and then to a football game to recover from that confession, but this movie bounced back from what was a slow start to become a really moving love story. I've heard that the book is The Five People You Meet In Heaven status--uber-popular but not really considered literature. It's a beach read. It's a train read. I can't agree or disagree with this because I've never personally read it, but I can see where that claim might come from. The story doesn't lend itself to profundity.

Love is an innate human desire (groundbreaking conclusion, no?) so stories revolving around it don't need to be profound because they appeal to everyone. This, however, was undeniably creative--a chick flick that doubles as a pseudo-sci-fi film. For those who didn't understand the premise (as I didn't upon entering the theater) the man in this film has a condition where he spontaneously time-travels to different points in his life. That premise in and of itself can make for some interesting scenarios, but putting the love story spin on it creates some real paradoxes. When old Eric Bana meets young (and I mean young) Rachel McAdams, for example, is it creepy if they also love each other later in life? Is it weird for her to talk to him? Is it weird for him to talk to her? Somehow the story helps the viewer avoid these questions; the nature of the relationship does not become a priority because how convincing the two are as a couple makes the pairing seamless.

Despite the distance from the time I saw this film I distinctly remember the beginning being a little rocky. It was a little too slow and a little too cheesy for me to take it entirely seriously. I thought that if the movie sustained that pace and tone I'd be in for a long night and a waste of money. However, as you get to know the characters, you find yourself expecting the time jumps at all the wrong moments but praying for just thirty more seconds before he disappears from an important moment in his life. During his wedding, for example, you find yourself desperately searching for an answer of when he's going to leave and if he's going to make it back.

The end, of course, as with most romance movies, is heartbreaking. You know it's coming, but despite its predictability the filmmaker does a good job of distracting the viewer long enough to keep the obvious out of his or her mind until it actually hits. And it does hit. It's that standard bittersweet sappy conclusion that makes you hate yourself for being so human. The creativity of the story saves it from being cast off as cliche.

Similar to what I've heard of the novel this was adapted from, The Time Traveler's Wife is not cinema. There's nothing brilliant about it. There are moments where the writing is silly and where the twists aren't really twists because you know they're coming, but the story appeals to basic emotions and accomplishes what it seems to have hoped to accomplish: an eccentric take on the age-old love story.