Ideal is full, the reality is very skinny!

Jesse 2022-10-07 16:04:07

I didn't particularly like the last movie, Magic Moonlight, and I didn't really expect this one, but I found it quite interesting, especially the small surprises in the second half, and I felt the same way about Jill's whole experience. From a girl's longing and love for a mature man, to discovering its true nature, to her guilt and reflection on her ex-boyfriend of the same age who loves her deeply, to her shock and emotion when she survived the catastrophe (the psychological feeling here is wonderful, The shock and ecstasy of getting away with it?), and then a relief from this unforgettable past.
When a person has really experienced it, there will be a new understanding of love and life. Love and life are not as ideal as imagined, thinking that you can bear hardships and stand hard work, that you can give everything for love, that the person you love is perfect, even the shortcomings are advantages, highlighting his uniqueness. However, these are vulnerable to reality. That sentence is really classic: ideal is very plump, reality is very skinny! The most ordinary and dull love and life are the most suitable for you. Like Abe in the film, a college professor full of experience and talent, who would know that he is mentally chaotic and inferior to a beast when he has not revealed his true face? And a girl as innocent as Jill is often a moth to the flame and infatuated before she wakes up. When it feels vaguely wrong, he always likes to deceive himself, choose to turn a blind eye, and prefer to live in a dream. But the dream will eventually wake up. Once you wake up, you will definitely regret your stupidity and ignorance, and then you will be injured, and then you will realize that life is light.
The story line is clear and complete, the rhythm is brisk, and the tones are bright. Emma and Joaquin are so well presented that it feels like they're the people in the movie.
I like Woody Allen's films, which are basically simple and easy to understand, lighthearted and humorous, with cheerful music and atmosphere, but tell little philosophies about life and love.

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Extended Reading

Irrational Man quotes

  • [first lines]

    Abe: [narrating] Kant said human reason is troubled by questions that it cannot dismiss, but also cannot answer. Okay, so, what are we talking about here? Morality? Choice? The randomness of life? Aesthetics? Murder?

    Jill: I think Abe was crazy from the beginning. Was it from stress? Was it anger? Was he disgusted by what he saw as life's never-ending suffering? Or was he simply bored by the meaninglessness of day-to-day existence? He was so damn interesting. And different. And a good talker. And he could always cloud the issue with words.

    Abe: Where to begin? You know, the existentialists feel nothing happens until you hit absolute rock bottom. Well, let's say that when I went to teach at Braylin College, emotionally, I was at Zabriskie Point. Of course, my reputation, or should I say a reputation, preceded me.

  • Abe Lucas: Jill had been right in her appraisal of me. I was teetering on the brink of some kind of breakdown, unable to deal with my feelings of anger, frustration, futility. They say that drowning is a painless way to go.