(no subject)

[rm]

While it may be too sentimental or conscious in its machinations for many of you, I cried for two hours straight during The Tale of Benjamin Button. Two hours. It was exhausting.

Comments

[schpahky.livejournal.com]

Woah.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I cry at movies easily and I like too, but this was BEYOND taxing.

[nex0s.livejournal.com]

Oh crap. The only movie I ever did that with was Dancers in the Dark - and I SOBBED for pretty much the entire thing. I was totally wrung out and exhausted at the end.

I want to see Button, but now I'm nervous!

N.

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

My husband and I were both crying over that one.

[rm.livejournal.com]

It's really fantastic, but I was having trouble breathing by the end because I was trying so hard to cry quietly. The movie might, however, be harder on me than other people because there are several things that happen that I have a different sense of experience of. Basically once Tilda Swinton's character comes on screen, I cried the entire time.

[tlatzomia.livejournal.com]

Wow. My brother told me I have to see it, but I don't think he cried--not that he would admit it. You just made me want to see it even more!

[tommx.livejournal.com]

I have not seen that movie, but knowing it affected you like that, I think I'd better bring a bath towel. Kleenex may not be enough.

I'm a massive sap.

[rm.livejournal.com]

It's very sad, and designed in a fashion where it's sad for both men and women. So yeah. There will be stuff there to hit your buttons even if you weren't a sap.

[cruentum.livejournal.com]

I saw the preview and kept thinking 'if I watch this- dude, this movie is going to be so fucking sad'.

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

I've sort of been keeping this one off my radar because I'm afraid that a film will tone down some of the harshness of the original piece.

If it's sent you into prolonged sorrow, though, I may have to revise my view.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I'm still thinking about it. They've tried to market it as a feel good film, or at least one that will inspire you to stop slacking and go live your life, but no, it's fucking gutting and is very smart about loss and war and creative endeavors and the way all those things fuck life up. Also there are choices characters make that a lesser film would have tried to paint as heroic, and this film is smart enough to know are just complicated.

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

They've tried to market it as a feel good film, or at least one that will inspire you to stop slacking and go live your life...

Ugh, yes. I noticed that.

Well, then. I may have to make time to go see it.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Anyone who plays in the Whoniverse has to see it. It's like Romeo + Juliet for teenaged Timelords.

[timiathan.livejournal.com]

Huh, I don't think I saw the same movie as you. Not to invalidate your reaction, but just for the sake of balance...to me, it felt like Forrest Gump, without the heart or interesting characters. It even has a Lt. Dan. The acting and production are good, but each departure from the darkness of the original story struck me as absurd, and I never got attached to any of the characters.

[rm.livejournal.com]

See, I hate Forest Gump. I think it's hokey, unrealistic bullshit. Tilda Swinton's character in particular gutted me. For me it went in and out of this sense of being a fairytale and I liked that sense of the magical realism that made you start questioning what might or might not be true. Also, I'm a dancer.

[timiathan.livejournal.com]

Forest Gump has plenty of problems, and to me those are the aspects that this movie borrowed. That montage of all the characters at the end -- life is like a box of chocolates! I feel like Benjamin Button is a great movie, ruined by the producers trying to make it appeal to a wide audience. Benjamin is the pretentious asshole he's supposed to be half the time, and then they brighten him up into a tragic hero and slap on an artificial uplifting tone whenever possible. The result is a movie that's very uneven and unsure of itself.

[timiathan.livejournal.com]

Although I should say Tilda Swinton was a highlight. To me, that's the kind of movie this should have been - that whole section was true to its own darkness.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Yeah. It's really exceptionally made and constructed.

[hmrpotter.livejournal.com]

My co-worker told me this morning that I really need to take my girls to go see that movie...she said it was awesome!

[rm.livejournal.com]

It's amazing. But it's really, really sad.

[lllvis.livejournal.com]

I have been intrigued to see that movie just from the previews, which doesn't happen often and particularly for a movie that isn't in my normal preferred type. I presume from your succinct post that you recommend it?

[rm.livejournal.com]

Yeah. It was really good, albeit taxing.

[lllvis.livejournal.com]

Gotcha. Sounds like one I should be rather selective in who I see it with! Or perhaps should just see alone...

[therealycats.livejournal.com]

Oh dear. This is sounding more and more like a movie I should wait to see on DVD. I don't think I can handle 3 hours alone in a theater bawling.

[norda.livejournal.com]

I may need that kind of catharsis. Sounds like I should watch it with The Esteemed FRM, though, rather than alone or with Michael.

[cleverthylacine]

...don't go see it until Dad is out of the hospital, huh?

(I read that Yuletide fic where Scout, grown-up, goes down to Selma to march and cried for about 15 minutes. I needed to cry, but I don't think I need to do it for 2 hours in public.)

[mme-furiosa.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised that someone with as nuanced a view of story, character, and dialogue as you actually enjoyed this film.

I was crying, but mainly because it took too long to reveal a story that didn't really amount to anything involving characters who lacked any depth or charisma. Queenie was the only character I liked at all, and the rest just seemed so cloyingly forced, contrived, and poorly conceived that it mainly felt like torture. Beautiful torture, but not much else.

While Benjamin got younger, the audience certainly seemed to age in the endless vacuum of Forest Gump starring Brad Pitt.

[mme-furiosa.livejournal.com]

Wait, sorry-- Tilda Swinton's character was also lovely. I cannot overlook her clear contribution to an otherwise unimpressive use of material. I'm sorry to be so critical, but with such a great storyline, I had hoped for more.

[marzipan-pig.livejournal.com]

I hadn't heard much about it - maybe I'll consider it?

I cried embarrassingly hard at MILK, which was hard b/c I was also managing my co-worker/friend who was young enough to not know the storyline. I cry pretty hard at a lot of movies though, my punishment for making fun of my dad for crying at DUMBO (and the opera) when I was a little kid.

[shipchan.livejournal.com]

I love that story. I reread it recently and had to go into the Barnes and Nobles Bathroom so no one would see me crying. So embarassing, but worth it! I'm glad the movies lives up to the book.

[only-sound.livejournal.com]

I also cried for about two hours straight. The thing is, I was conscious the entire time that a good deal of my hysteria was for Jack and Ianto in dsudis's Get Loved, Make More, Try to Stay Alive. I read the fic back when it was first posted, but I'm not sure the movie would have been so traumatic without it.

[rm.livejournal.com]

While I wasn't thinking of that story particularly, yes yes yes yes yes. I definitely had moments where I was like "oh, hey, lookie, I'm crying for Jack."