I have to admit, this movie did not impress me. I had heard, many times, that this movie was a modern classic that dealt with the existential crisis of growing older and facing the ephemerality of one's youthful dreams. Furthermore, the topic, suicide and its effect upon a close circuit of college friends, did seem intriguing. But it did not hit the mark, in fact, I feel the movie grossly missed its intended message and sunk into equivocality and ambivalence.
What do I mean? For example, it becomes very apparent that everyone is touched and hurt by the suicide of their friend, however, why must they turn to marijuana, sex, infidelity and some highly questionable decision making like Mary Kay Place's search for a possible father to aid her in conceiving a child without a father? Now I am not some strict moralist and I am not saying that the world should conform to the loftiest of ideals, but I do feel as though we have a meandering script, a story without a message, merely a half-hearted continuation of an ethos that died hard at the close of the 1960's, i.e. free love and the recreational usage of drugs. We never see this successful and supposedly adult characters candidly address their pain, disillusionment, sorrow. What we see is them revert back to old college idealism and easy answers to pressing and disheartening questions. The script seems to suggest that while life is not easy, it is okay to use drugs and sex to depart from life's problems for awhile, no harm done. I disagree, but then again I am also far more cynical at my age than these characters evidently were when they were in college in the 1960s.
My one compliment of this movie is its excellent music, however I don't think it was artistically crafted to aid and serenade the montage.
What do I mean? For example, it becomes very apparent that everyone is touched and hurt by the suicide of their friend, however, why must they turn to marijuana, sex, infidelity and some highly questionable decision making like Mary Kay Place's search for a possible father to aid her in conceiving a child without a father? Now I am not some strict moralist and I am not saying that the world should conform to the loftiest of ideals, but I do feel as though we have a meandering script, a story without a message, merely a half-hearted continuation of an ethos that died hard at the close of the 1960's, i.e. free love and the recreational usage of drugs. We never see this successful and supposedly adult characters candidly address their pain, disillusionment, sorrow. What we see is them revert back to old college idealism and easy answers to pressing and disheartening questions. The script seems to suggest that while life is not easy, it is okay to use drugs and sex to depart from life's problems for awhile, no harm done. I disagree, but then again I am also far more cynical at my age than these characters evidently were when they were in college in the 1960s.
My one compliment of this movie is its excellent music, however I don't think it was artistically crafted to aid and serenade the montage.