To see the world, ... to find each other, and to feel

The movie was directed and played by Ben Stiller, a comedian whose acting style is difficult for me to categorize. He is not like Jim Carry or Adam Sadler, whose exaggerated body movements and facial expressions are the key elements of their performances, or Steve Martin and Jerry Seinfeld, whose characters have the highbrowed and nerdy kind of quality to them, or Chris Tucker and Eddie Murphy, whose warmth underneath the surface is their attractiveness to the audience. Ben Stiller is of his own kind. I am not really a comedy fan, and the Ben Stiller movies I have watched include “There is something about Mary”, “Meet the parents”, “Night at the museum”. He was usually quiet, had a dry kind of humor, and his gaze was one thing that stayed with you.

"The Secret life of Walter Mitty" was loosely based on a short story written by James Thurber, which was published in New Yorker in 1939 ( http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1939/03/18/the-secret -life-of-walter-mitty-2 ). The story was about a surgeon, Walter Mitty, who liked to daydream and imagine himself being someone else or somewhere else.

The movie was about Walter Mitty, a photo negative manager at Life magazine, 42 year old, without any notable achievement, often zones out and daydreams about being a superhero. The 25th negative of the photo sent to the magazine by its star photographer, Shawn (played by Shawn Penn), was missing. So Walter went on this worldwide journey to track down Shawn, hoping to get a clue of the whereabouts of the negative, since 25 was decided to be the cover of the very last issue of the magazine . Other parallel things happening include a company-wide rearranging and foreseeable downsizing, Walter's secret crush on this girl who also worked at the magazine, and Shawn's aging Mom moving into a senior living place.

The story is simple, and the message is straightforward. Most of us have a life filled with routines, somewhat mundane tasks, we feel like held down with responsibilities, and we secretly wish we could be somewhere else or do something totally different. Live the life to its fullest. “To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, draw closer, to find each other, and to feel. That is the purpose of life.” And that is the motto of the Life magazine in the movie. The sceneries are breathtakingly beautiful, the gaze from Walter is intense, almost challenges you to do the same, and the music fits perfectly. Ben Stiller was effective, and the movie was not really a comedy. Overall, a great movie to watch.

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