Personal Reaction (Raga) A Single Man!
Added 2023-12-31 21:55:41 +0000 UTCHey everyone! Bring your tissues for this one.. Here is the video and link in the comments!
Comments
I love this movie and cry like a baby every time I watch it. Thanks for the reaction!!
Alex M
2024-04-23 03:31:43 +0000 UTCThank you so much, Cody! Yeah, I would not have chosen this film to end the year (I had no idea you'd be watching it today of all days), but then, starting 2024 with this film would have been worse, so I'm glad you ended 2023 with my request! Think of it as bidding goodbye to a year that has sprung upon you quite a few challenges, while also being grateful for all the positive things including your personal growth from all the trials and tribulations, and, of course, raising your glass (real or metaphorical) to a new and better year ahead! Hey, if you really feel like putting on more makeup, you do you buddy, but no matter what, you look amazing just the way you are (at least to me). You caught on to what they were doing with the color grading very early on. I love that they did that, plus, the transitions were not all abrupt either and you can actually pinpoint the moment the mood shifts and how fast it happens each time. I could tell you knew Kenny Potter's actor from The Menu (I was quite sure you had seen that film, given how much you like horror films) and I could almost feel your itch to find out where you knew the actor from; good on you for giving in and scratching that itch early on! Did you notice the enormous poster for the classic horror film Psycho? It was in the backdrop of the parking lot of the store outside which George and Carlos met. There were a few poignant moments in the film, including the realization that dawned on you at the end regarding the callback to Jim saying: "Do you ever just live in the moment? It's like now, what could be better than being tucked here with you?... If I died right now it would be OK." Another was the callback to the opening scene when it was George who walked to Jim's dead body beside the car crash in the snow. George sees so much of himself in Kenny, and their conversation in the bar (especially when George says, "if one is not enjoying one's present, there isn't a great deal to suggest that the future should be any better" and to which Kenny replies "the thing is, you never know - look at tonight") is an important turning point for him. The entire film was basically George discovering all the reasons why he should not do what he set out to do that morning. The recurring imagery of his naked self underwater fighting not to drown was so on point in depicting his vigorous internal mental struggle, which contrasts with his cool and calm physical exterior throughout most of the film. I am so sorry that you got so close to getting triggered by a certain scene. I knew your mental health history from stuff you've shared with us before, including the subject matter of this film; however, I still chose this film because George did ultimately win that particular battle and reach the surface instead of drown. In that sense, the ending is rightfully bittersweet, and yes, not unlike the ending of The Whale. The last lines spoken by George (voiceover) are quite powerful, IMO: "A few times in my life I've had moments of absolute clarity, when for a few brief seconds the silence drowns out the noise and I can feel rather than think, and things seem so sharp. And the world seems so fresh as though it had all just come into existence. I can never make these moments last. I cling to them, but like everything, they fade. I have lived my life on these moments. They pull me back to the present, and I realize that everything is exactly the way it was meant to be." Kind of reminds you of Everything Everywhere All At Once, where, at the end, Evelyn tells Joy that of all the places she could be, she chooses "to be here" with Joy and that she will cherish whatever "few specks of time" they get to share "where any of this actually makes any sense". Thank you for sharing more about your journey of self-discovery; it's not TMI at all and if 19 months of my patronage here have impressed me with one thing, it is that this community that you have built is a welcoming and safe space. I came out quite late too, when I was around 24 or 25. I lived in Boulder County during 2013-2015 and I frequently go back to visit friends from time to time - it would be great to meet you sometime!
Raga Gopalakrishnan
2024-01-01 03:28:25 +0000 UTCLINK: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mnhy1m8b9hHJTyc6COxLuBw3Z4VdwIGH/view?usp=sharing
Cody Hoppes
2023-12-31 21:55:59 +0000 UTC
