Ossession

Ossession (1943) is the story of two young lovers who take drastic measures to guarantee that they can be together, but the odds still are not in their favor. The film centers on the arc of the main character as he goes from wanderer not looking to be tied, to head over heals in love, to restless in his new life. He begins his journey as the sultry, unemployed man who walks into Giovanna's kitchen. She is instantly taken with him, and he with her. Using his charm and con skills, Gino finds a way to have alone time with Giovanna, after which he convinces the husband to allow him to stay in their house. When Giovanna refuses to run away with him, he returns to his nomadic lifestyle, only to find himself helplessly in love. When the two are reunited by nothing more than coincidence, they devise a wicked plan. After this plan is carried out, Gino is not the same man. He begins to drink and act much like the woman's husband. At this point, the audience has grown to hate him.

The end of the film, which I will not give away is why I decided to blog about it. In the last twenty minutes or so, the characters are able to redeem themselves and return to the pure love that they found in the beginning. At this point, the audience is willing to forgive them for what they have done, and hopes for the best. In an ironic twist of events, however, the film ends on a much more somber note. It clearly demonstrates that what comes around goes around, as well as the fact that there comes a point when everyone has nothing left to lose, and when you get to that point, there is nothing left of who you once were.

I would highly recommend seeing this film. It is an Italian film, so it is subtitled, and the running time is 2 hours and 20 minutes, but it's worth the watch.

I'm on Facebook As I'm Writing This

The ads for The Social Network intrigued me, but didn't quiet get me into the theater. Neither did recommendations from friends of mine with highly esteemed taste in films. When Golden Globe Nominations came out, I remember that I still hadn't seen the movie, because it had been lost in the blur of production, homework, and work. Then it came out on DVD, and I planned to rent it. Then the Golden Globes were awarded and Fincher won best director, the film won best film of the year, and the writer and composer won as well, so I decided to check it out.

The film was oddly demanding of my attention. Not a whole lot happened, but there was a lot of tension. I only found myself thinking about checking my own facebook twice, and those urges lasted less than a minute, after which time I was sucked back into the film.

I think the thing that made The Social Network so good was the writing and the portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg. I had my doubts that Jesse Eisenberg could pull off anything noteworthy, not sure why, but he proved me wrong. He made me hate his character while pitying him at the same time. While I know nothing of the real Zuckerberg (because I live under the rock of film school), if he is anything like the character in the film, his life must be hard because he simply has a hard time functioning with people. This is something I can relate to, which is probably why I know for a fact that I will be thinking about this film three days from now, and then two weeks from now. When I watch the Golden Globes Sunday night, I was rooting for everyone but Eisenberg and Firth, and now it was just the winner I would prefer not to see awarded the Oscar.

The writing overall was spectacular, just as my friend had said, and the acting on all accords was brilliant. There were times during the film that I wondered if that is how guys really act around each other, and while this is slightly exaggerated for the sake of making a film, I must admit that I have in fact seen hints of it in real life (and I go to an all girls school). Justin Timberlake was a perfect douche, and Andrew Garfield truly broke my heart. In the end it was the characters that carried this story of the site we all know and love, and it was the actors who made that possible.

I will say that as soon as I finished the film, I logged onto facebook and changed my status, but I have a new found perspective on it that will hopefully discourage the amount of time I spend on it. It's weird to think that guys my age and younger came up with the site that is so incredibly popular. It's weird to think that they are so young, yet so powerful. It's weird to think that this could happen in my generation.

Go see this film. I know you have a facebook, so learn about where it came from.