I get the movie but I don't get the gushing critical praise and the slew of award nominations. It's a good movie. It's nice to see a studio film that feels small-- basically a three character play only with big scenery. I guess what resonated with critics and the film peers who nominate awards contenders is the idea that American society is encouraging us to pull away from each other-- that human isolation is becoming the norm. Maybe that's because movie critics and showbiz insiders get to fly around a lot and are constantly uprooted-- maybe blissfully so. They may look at me as I go to the same workplace day after day then come back to my little home in the suburbs and consider it the ideal of social stability and support. But golly, they sure don't opt for it, even though they can. On the other hand, the rest of us can't try their lifestyles even though we may dream. This movie might represent those people as they look at my grass like its greener. They want us to experience their solitary pain. This movie just doesn't emotionally touch the same nerve for me that it does for them.
Not that I don't buy into the film's thesis as I look at my city sprawling away from the notion of community. There does seem to be more disconnection and isolation than ever before. Right now, I am nose-down in a computer when I could be lunching with friends, or taking a daylight walk and interacting with neighbors who are doing the same. However, this movie almost made being anti-social seem like an elegant, viable life-choice. You wouldn't want to give up your Ritz-Carlton VIP card just for having a few relationships, would you? If I had one, I'm not sure I would.
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