Review the last movie you watched: @missy @rambo
"What is your favorite word?"
"Comet."
Yesterday I was perusing Netflix, looking for the perfect movie. Comet caught my eye immediately, the poster was pretty, and as a Justin Long fan I thought "Why not?" I hate romantic comedies, but I was at home alone on my first day off in a week, PMSing like crazy, and so I went with it. I'm glad I did, this movie encapsulated me from the very beginning, and I knew it wasn't a typical romance.
"This is not a dream, this is not a dream." The movie opens with Justin Long's character, Dell, repeating these words to himself while standing in a doorway. The text reads, "The following events take place over six years (A few parallel universes over.)" There is a past, present, future angle that the director, Bryan Bertino, is trying to convey. A non-linear story is always an artistic puzzle, and this director nails it. Parallel universes have always piqued my interest, with as many worlds as there are reactions to any one action that you have taken, which makes them infinite.
Upon the first meeting between Dell and Kimberly (Emmy Rossum) you can tell that they both have very strong personalities, and that the ensuing relationship will be a beautiful disaster. As they say, opposites attract and throughout the film we see how their love waxes and wanes. The main hook for me was towards the middle of the film where Kimberly starts talking about time, and how she wishes it didn’t exist, or that we could press “pause” at any time. “You know how there’s time based art? There’s a beginning, middle, and end. You’re restrained to that timeline, that way of experiencing it. But then there’s paintings, no beginning, no middle, no end. You see what you want to see when you want to see it. No restrictions. It’s just there.” This was one of the most powerful quotes, and one that summed up the movie itself. It’s all one. There is no beginning, middle or end, because they are all happening simultaneously.
One of the “last” scenes, in a plane where they have broken up, and Kimberly is engaged to be married to someone else, he starts talking about a dream he had. In the dream, memories of the conversations [that make up this movie] they had had, replay in his head. He mentions that he even dreamt of this conversation, even though it hadn’t happened yet. In this rooftop sequence, he speaks one of the most beautiful lines of the movie, “I don’t belong in a world where we don’t end up together.” Every person has experienced heartbreak at one time or another, so these words can speak for themselves. By this time in the film, I am balling my eyes out. The ending was spectacular, because it leaves the movie open to interpretation, but I’ll let it speak for itself. If you have the chance, I highly suggest the watch, just make sure you are alone and prepared for tears.