Punch Drunk Love discussion - Page 3

Actually, thats a big negative on seeing it tonight. Im seeing Jackass instead, because Heart told me I couldnt see it because she wanted to see it with me on my birthday. Which is cool with me. Id rather go see a romance comedy with her then by myself.

<inserts fingers into her ears as she breezes to the last post>

I'm not listening!

I'm leaving in ten minutes to go see this. I'll add to the conversation either later tonight or in the morning. I'm looking forward to seeing it, but I'm not a Sandler fan, so I promise not to go in with my expectations too high. Who knows? I may be pleasantly surprised. The reviews have been good, so we'll see.

Whew. Okay, I managed to get through all of the posts here and there are some good arguments on both sides. This is my take with a little background as preface.

I am not a Sandler fan, per se, but I do love and own The Wedding Singer. I think when Sandler puts his mind to a more serious, yet still comedic role he performs better.

I didn't care for Magnolia but I loved Boogie Nights so that's my take as far as Anderson is concerned.

PS Hoffman reminds me of a blonde Jack Black for some reason. I have no idea why. Jack Black I like. Hoffman I don't care for.

Watson was good in this, Sandler even better.

This film, to me, was charming to a point yet quirky to a fault. I think Tumbles spoilers pretty much sums up what I felt about PDL, when he/she stated....

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"Throughout the flick, I never felt much chemistry between Barry and Lena, and I suspect (hope?) this was intentional. I mean, this is a totally unhealthy relationship these two people are in, one based on need not love. Barry needs anyone who is willing to love him, a woman who (unlike his sisters) will treat him decently. He uses Lena to get that. Meanwhile, Lena desperately wants a different kind of love, to be part of someone's family. (She even mentions how it was the family portrait that convinced her to pursue this man in the first place.) And she uses Barry to get that. I don't think attraction even played into things at first.

Even the Popeye song hints at it a little: "He needs me", not "He loves me".

It seemed like the whole point of PDL wasn't to watch two people fall in love, but rather repair themselves to the point where falling in love was even a possibility. (Symbol time: the harmonium represents the romantic heart. Barry patches up the strange instrument and starts learning how to peck out a few tenative notes on it, even as he does the same with his own emotions. Heck, it even works on a pump, sorta like a heart.)

So the final scene, where the two stand before the harmonium and Lena says "Well, here we go" -- that's the start of things. Maybe it'll work out, maybe it won't, but neither of them are damaged goods anymore, so at least they can get off to a fair start."

That pretty much sums it up for me. Banana Fana mentioned the one bedroom scene where they are saying very unromantic things to each other. That scene had me rolling on the floor. I didn't care for the music, but I liked the way the music was used to express the inner tension that was always inside him. His sisters, though they mean well, are the worst people in the world for him to be around. They make too light of their constant jabbing at him and are too abusive for the viewer to feel they actually mean well. As someone else stated...like a sideshow freak pulled out for other people's amusement. I felt inner applause when he kicked out the glass.

When they say..."a different kind of love story", they weren't joking. I left the theatre feeling that I was thrown a mixed bag of nuts that was a tad too large to consume.

I did love the way that Sandler's character becomes stronger and vocal through his feeling of love and acceptance from this new woman in his life. I loved the phone exchange between Hoffman and Sandler, and more so, the face to face confrontation that was more of a non-confrontation. I felt the best scene in the whole film, was where they show Sandler standing in front of the china cabinet and you could just feel the pain and tension within him. He did a great job there. I thought he carried the role very well as an actor.

What pissed me off to no end was that early truck scene before the instrument is dropped off. What the hell was that all about? We see this thing flying through the air, landing, busted pieces scattered about......and nada. No reference back to it throughout and no explanation as to its significance within the film. Can someone else explain it?

I also felt that the whole "phone sex" background was carried a bit too far.

All in all, I would say....different. I didn't enjoy it enough to want to see it again.

I absolutely loved that. Its sort of a nod to the French New Wave films where non-sequitur events abound, or in other words, things happen for no reason and are never acknowledged as having happened.

I took that event as a symbol of Barry's life in that he led a calm, sediated life(as the street seemed uninteresting at first), then the sudden crash showed the also sudden changes that were come out of nowhere in his life.

Others may view that scene as utter pretentious (to bring that term back) garbage. However, I am a proud sucker for such techniques and it helped the film win me over immediately.

Mere words cannot describe how much I love this film. Absolutely brilliant, funny, and moving. Highly recomended.

"The chair broke."

Saw it. Loved it. May see it again if I get the chance. But I need to catch "Bowling for Columbine" first.

My friend I was with liked it as well, though the music turned him off.

As for the truck...I felt the harmonium/piano symbolized Barry's love. (If you recall, when he ran up to Lena's appartment from work, he took it with him all the way there). So when it gets dropped off, that's all he sees. He couldn't care less about the truck.

Truthfully, I didn't care for any of the characters. Didn't really connect. But I couldn't stop grinning throughout the entire film.

I finaly got a chance to see this movie. I really really dug it. I think the reason why people are so divided about it is this. People who have trouble with relationships or communicating with people can REALLY identify with Barry. People who who have girlfriends or are just out going and social have a harder time understanding.

I have stuttered my whole life so I find it incredibly diffacult to communicate (especially with women). So when I was watching it, I almost felt like I was Barry Egin. It was wierd, it was almost like a virtual reality thing. I never cried in any movie, but this one almost got me. Not because it was sad, it was just that really wierd goose bumps feeling you get when you see something that really hits home.

Wether PTA rips off other directors or not, I really enjoy his movies.

It's an interesting point. I think PTA makes films that uniquely tuned to certain life experiences, and it's hard to break through unless you feel that emotional companionship. Magnolia was even more polarizing in that regard; I found few people who loved that film who couldn't say about a character: "I know that person, I've been that person." For those who could, it was an incredibly personal experience.

PTA seems to have an even more specific personality-tuner than Robert Altman; I don't think he's ever going to achieve mass-appeal, because I don't think his strength is writing to a broad sensibility.

yeah, thats what I was trying to say.

I'm not familiar with French New Wave films. Could you perhaps give an example of another for comparison purposes?

I can see the symbolism you mention in regards to the sudden changes. There were a few of those throughout. I just wish they hadn't of turned the volume up so high in the theatre. I kept jumping at the crash scenes.

I don't feel I misunderstood what was troubling Barry, and I did feel empathy towards him. I guess I just couldn't grasp why the director chose to drive home the point to such extremes. I didn't hate the film, nor did I love it. It was different. It weirded me out a bit, and I suspect a few others here as well.

Well, prime examples of actual New Wave films are Weekend and Hiroshima Mon Amour. These films are rife with these techniques.

I'm sorry, but I just can't think of any Hollywood examples right now, but I'll think about it and get back to you.

DAMN!!! Saw this tonight. I really thought that Adam Sandler showed that he could actually act for once. I loved how it was the little things that were most important in the movie.

Well, I'm back and after haing just seen Femme Fatale, I have another example of a non-sequitur.

SPOILER

The overflowing fish tank (no, not the bath tub) during the bath scene. It overflowing is completely illogical and never acknowledged, but increases the intensity of the scene.

I actually just watched both of those films in my French Film class, and I am doing a paper on Rohmer. I discussed PDL with my professor the other day, and we both came to the conclusion that it was PTA's tribute to New Wave films. Save for the obtrusive score (I loved it, he hated it) it is a New Wave film.

PDL, Magnolia, Sydney, and Boogie Nights is the order for me.

No, it usually means the filmmaker is trying to say something profound, but for whatever the reason fail.

I thought the movie was interesting. A nice departure for Sandler. As for his acting, he pretty much did the same shit he always does minus the annoying baby talk.

I think actually the only thing that made me not totally go for this was that horrible, grating, obnoxious music! You know the scene I'm talking about.

This movie was...well it was good, but kind of disappointing at the same time.

I thought Sandler's performance was great (and I can't stand him in his other "movies", so that's saying a lot). I thought PTA's direction was really great at times and it was an interesting, weird little film.

However...

The movie made me feel incredibly uncomfortable at times (and YES, I do realize that was the point of the silence etc) and while that can be a good thing, it left me feeling a bit unsatisfied at the end when that feeling NEVER went away.

Also, I felt it to be absolutely unbelievable that anyone in their right mind would want to be near that guy. Why would Lena be with such a loser borderline psychopath? Of course, judging from their bedroom talk ("smash your face in with a sledgehammer"), she could be equally as loony.

Or maybe its b/c I got a ticket on the way home.

Finally got around to this one. Let me say, that I liked it, but thought that it wasn't a good film. I thought it was very funny at times, I thought Emily Watson was fantastic (acting & looking), I normally HATE PS Hoffman but thought be was good in this.

That being said, the plot was crap. As has been mentioned, Barry is not a sympathetic character. All of us with older siblings (I have two older sisters) get picked on & beat up as kids. I never threw a hammer through a window to express my anger, however. It didn't seem right to me that HE should find a woman who is infinately patient, and unconcerned about his mental issues.

The first twenty minutes of the movie is a kick in the groin, and the was back & forth for me....great at some points, & utter shite in others.

That being said, there are some really funny moments in this movie, and past the first twenty minutes, I wasn't bored.

You may now preceed to belittle me for my previous dislike of Hoffman. It's okay, I get it all the time.

Good to hear that more people get the film.

yes, but will someone explain the signifigance of the crashing truck in the begining of the film? someone said it could be taken as a metaphor for the film, but i don't see how that works. his life was fucked before the truck overturned.

The piano represented her, and the love she had to offer. The car overturning (not a truck) represented him, and how he was a really nice guy with a lot of pent up anger, resulting in quick bursts of dramatic violence.

Best movie of the year, if you ask me. But I'm sure I'll just be written off as a PTA worshiper.

I personally think the car crash was thrown in as a little joke by PTA. He said in the commentary for Sydney that you are supposed to include an action scene, or something out of the fucking blue in the first five minutes of a film or your audience will never get involved. That is why he threw the seemingly needless match gag in Sydney, and that is why I believe he threw the car crash in this film.

Also, it seems pointless for anyone to criticize your opinion based on the fact you "are a PT Anderson worshipper." I can understand if someone is a die-hard Shadyac enthusiast, but come on.

thanks... good insight to the two of you.

this movie did what movies are supposed to do. entertain me. it entertained me more than most movies i saw this year. i loved it.

My interpretation:

The car crash was a disaster, just as for Sandler's character meeting anyone special, being intimate with anyone who loved him for who he is was a perceived disaster in his mind as well. When his sister says she wants him to meet someone, it's a DISASTER.

But from that disaster comes an unexpected gift, the harmonium, which Sandler decides to accept. Take a guess where I'm going here.

It's surreal, like the entire film.

Not sure if I commented on this thread before, but I really loved it. It made me uncomfortable, even more so than watching Taxi Driver at times. I definitely have more sympathy for Sandler's character than some folks on this thread. Maybe cause I've been there, eyes averted and sipping coffee so freakin nervous of any unpredictable human contact.

Not there anymore, but I have been at times.

I used to be Sandler in the film. I still am to some degree. A lot of people have criticized his character for being just a mix of his characters in other films, which is bullshit. I had a strong emotional connection with his character and understood ever stupid thing he did.

I just watched this film and decided to do a little thread digging.

I hate to repeat others but I love this film. I have never been satisified in a movie as much as when Barry beat the shit out of the Blonde Brothers. I also, like a lot of other Chewers, see a lot of myself in Barry. The little things that happen to him or he does, I can relate to them all.

Example: When Barry leaves her apatment for the 1st time and keeps analizing his last line of "Bye-Bye." "Bye-bye?! You stupid fucking bastard!" I know I've done that on more than one occasion.

or

When Barry's sister keep prying on everything. I know completly how it is to want people to just get out of my fucking buisness. All I wanted for a long time was to not have to explain myself to people, just like Barry. I have an inane need to not be hassled for every little thing. I relate.

Loved the movie. Loved the characters. Loved(!) the score. Loved the car crash. (PT Anderson's theory on the first 5 minutes of a movie is correct. I was enthralled from that point on.)

8.9/10

I find myself quoting the film a lot lately. "Bye bye. You stupid motherfucker."

I got a free Punch-Drunk Love poster today!

Lucky. Ive got one too in my room.

So I just watched this (on Netflix! Hey guys from 2003 , its the future now, pretty sweet huh?!).

Right before watching it, I read that Paul Thomas Anderson considers this movie his take on the 'superhero' genre. Watching the movie, that is something I can definitely dig. But does anyone have any idea where I might be able to find that quote or statement or whatever? I know I read it, but I have no idea where.

 

I don't think I've ever read a quote from PTA himself that stated his 'superhero' intentions.  I always thought it was more of a reading that fans (like Justin Clark) applied to it.  It's a reading that I definitely dig.

Maybe you're right, I think I was drunk when I read that. It definitely makes sense, though.