flicks
Saturday, April 17, 2004
punch-drunk love. 2002
adam sandler - barry. he's usu wearing the blue suit.
emily watson - lena. love interest. she's usu wearing a knee length dress/skirt, colors, variable.
philip seymour hoffman - bad guy. i thought he was jack black initially but among many things he was a rich kid in "the talented mr. ripley" and a brother? in "boogie nights"
sisters - of barry. 7, who picked on him. couldn't tell they were sisters initially. i thought the phone calls were fr multiple girls posing as a "sister" rather than the real thing.
brothers - of bad guy. just hoodlums. good close up of utah's plates in the beat up scenes.
director - pt anderson. b 1970, grew up in so cal, father is "ghoulardi", famous radio voice (d 1997). going w/ for some years w/ fiona apple? started w/ hard eight, then boogie nights, then punch drunk love. known for the psychology in his work.
soundtrack - jon brion
1. Overture
2. Tabla
3. Punch-Drunk Melody
4. Hands & Feet
5. Le Petit Chateau
6. Alleyway
7. Punchy Track Piano
8. He Needs Me
9. Waikki [time in hawaii; lot of shots of the dancer in the bonus cd]
10. Moana Chimes
11. Hospital
12. Danny (Lonely Blue Boy)
13. Healthy Choice [the pudding that offers redeemable mileage]
14. Third Floor Hallway
15. Blossoms & Blood [title of one of the bonus extras; would be interested in what this one sounds like]
16. Here We Go [composer's own self-performed pop-waltz of a melancholy love song, echoes nothing less than the Beatles in their Rubber Soul/ Revolver prime]
17. He Really Needs Me [Shelly Duvall's determined/desperate reading from Harry Nilsson's underappreciated Popeye score]
sandler did a really good job acting in this - my 2nd usually comic actor playing a serious role movie recently.
but really weird movie.
granted my viewing was disjointed b/c my computer had other ideas of what to do; missed scenes 7-8.
but initially made me uncomfortable -- didn't know the context, kinda freaky music. didn't know if barry was stable - thruout we were thinking he was a paranoid schizophrenic. but it was all supposed to be him being socially awkward, having grown up around 7 condescending sisters. his obsession over coupons and such, the excessive violence
plot - sorta like a complete office scene, but in a warehouse. (noiseless accident), taxi drops off harmonium. lena stops by to drop off her car next door at the repair shop (really just wants to meet him, tho she was introduced to him by his sis). he's clipping his normal coupons, happens upon a phone sex number. calls - gets georgia (interesting what people say during those phone calls), he's not really into it, but they seem to have a conversation. something happens (scenes 7-8), she wants money (750) and he refuses, and somehow she gets the brothers to go after him. he goes on date w/ lena. they get him at home - takes him somewhere, roughs him up. he decides he needs to leave - goes to hawaii where lena is traveling. they get together, are really cute. go home together, get broadsided and he beats them up, she goes to the hospital. he wanders off to have angry conversation w/ philip, and she's stranded. he runs around, goes to utah to face philip finally and i don't know/didn't think things were resolved. eventually brings harmonium to her old apt and they patch things up. last scene = him playing it in the warehouse, she walks across and hugs him fr behind while he's playing.
setting - southern cal. and the beginning scene - early hours of day, low hills in the background, kind of a wasteland feel, warehouses.
a whole bonus cd w/ all sorts of things except what would be useful - commentary. very artsy - visuals, audio. but i didn't like it so much. psychedelic, eerie.
rented fr library. been wanting to see this movie. but odd. would not rewatch on my own.
