I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by how charming I found this film. The way the dream-like time stoppage/flashback segments were broken up and informed by the humor/melancholy of the "real-life" segments was pretty well done. Just when one aspect or another threatened to become a little long in the tooth it would shift and offset what had come before.
I had a discussion with a co-worker today about the value of "all the naked women" in the film. He claimed that it was totally unnecessary and more of a gimmick to get people to watch it, something to push a quirky romcom into indie/daring territory. I argued that it was more likely to push people away from seeing it (OMG! Naked! NO!), as I thought of several of my friends who might have enjoyed the movie with those scenes either edited down or removed (although, the flashback with the Swedish exchange student would have to stay because it informs so much of what Ben is today).
Honestly, though, I guess I'm a little more on the fence about the purpose of said nudity. It does lend a lot to the daydream quality and illuminates the boundaries of Ben's interior and exterior worlds. But, I can understand the "gimmicky" argument, especially since I'd only read a few reviews and had watched the "exclusive clip" in the supermarket, it seemed to me that maybe they were leaning on that to help get the word around on the film.
Anyway, the story was sweet and the ending was gorgeous and I just fell into the trap of pretty much only talking about the role of nudity in the film, but I suppose that's probably the meatiest thing to discuss...
I had a discussion with a co-worker today about the value of "all the naked women" in the film. He claimed that it was totally unnecessary and more of a gimmick to get people to watch it, something to push a quirky romcom into indie/daring territory. I argued that it was more likely to push people away from seeing it (OMG! Naked! NO!), as I thought of several of my friends who might have enjoyed the movie with those scenes either edited down or removed (although, the flashback with the Swedish exchange student would have to stay because it informs so much of what Ben is today).
Honestly, though, I guess I'm a little more on the fence about the purpose of said nudity. It does lend a lot to the daydream quality and illuminates the boundaries of Ben's interior and exterior worlds. But, I can understand the "gimmicky" argument, especially since I'd only read a few reviews and had watched the "exclusive clip" in the supermarket, it seemed to me that maybe they were leaning on that to help get the word around on the film.
Anyway, the story was sweet and the ending was gorgeous and I just fell into the trap of pretty much only talking about the role of nudity in the film, but I suppose that's probably the meatiest thing to discuss...
