I’ve recently discovered a liking (I was going to say un penchant, ‘cause the French word is more appropriate for what I mean ) for low-budget movies that rarely catch your eye but often catch your heart. It started with The Cake Eaters and, after admitting myself mesmerized by the talent of beautiful Kristen Stewart, I decided, about 6 months later, to check on her co-star and some of the less known movies he’s done. I’m obviously talking about Robert Pattinson and the British film How To Be.
If I was to write an introduction to this movie, or a short description, I wouldn’t really know where to start. Throughout it, I experienced several different feelings and emotions, most of which were on the negative side. Discomfort was one of the strongest. At least throughout the first 40 or 50 minutes of the movie I felt it to be dominant. The characters of Arthur and his friends seemed trapped in an eternal puberty with all its embarrassing symptoms: weird looks, awkward attitudes to the opposite sex, complete lack of self-confidence, pathetic infatuation with oneself, non-existing social skills. A sort of disease that we’ve all been through, to various extents, and that we’re all thankful to leave behind us. That’s why, when I had to watch these things portrayed in a guy I couldn’t completely separate from the perfect-gorgeous-superhuman Edward, it messed up with my mind. But it didn’t last. Some 15 minutes into the movie, the character of Art was so convincingly pathetic I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at him. I felt like doing both, most of the times.
And I would have been right to do so too. Arthur is incredibly pathetic – with the full meaning of “incredible” attached to it. At times I’d watch with eyes half closed, thinking “This can’t be. NO ONE can be that low”. And yet there are people who do go through that kind of personal hell, and they’re probably more numerous than we’d think. Such people are the product of dysfunctional families, so we’d like to think they represent the exception, rather than the rule. But think again. Consider all the alterations and mutations society has suffered over the past 20 years and try to re-define functional. I’ll bet you can’t. And maybe that’s why it’s so disturbing to watch this movie. Because you can pretend it’s all make-believe, it’s just a story, but in the end, you can’t help not wondering whether there might be more to it.
The thing is, as stated in the movie, we are all alone, and the sooner we are able to face that, the better. Arthur, like thousands of other people in this world, needs affection and approval from his family and peers, needs to have his confidence and self-esteem built from the outside. And while that is perfectly normal from a psychological point of view, it doesn’t work out well long-term. Because we are indeed alone and in our loneliness we must learn to build ourselves as individuals before we can try to interact in a positive way with the people surrounding us.
There’s lots of things that get you thinking in this movie, but the one that caught my attention was how not to give up on yourself – EVER. No matter what. Life might not be what you expected it to, but just when you feel like this is as bad as it gets, that you’re about to be crushed by the weight of your problems, you somehow find the strength to bounce back. Not because you’re special or important or have a full revelation of your life’s meaning. But because you have to. There’s no going down once you’ve reached the lowest point in your life – and there’s no freezing in time either. You climb back up because it’s the only thing left.
How To Be is yet another proof that you don’t need flashy pictures to tell a story. Black and white ones often do a better job at it. And speaking of good jobs, I couldn’t end this post without mentioning that, once again, I was dazzled by Pattinson’s skill and genuine talent at making this incredibly unreal character seem perfectly natural and true. Looking forward to his next challenging part in Little Ashes!
If I was to write an introduction to this movie, or a short description, I wouldn’t really know where to start. Throughout it, I experienced several different feelings and emotions, most of which were on the negative side. Discomfort was one of the strongest. At least throughout the first 40 or 50 minutes of the movie I felt it to be dominant. The characters of Arthur and his friends seemed trapped in an eternal puberty with all its embarrassing symptoms: weird looks, awkward attitudes to the opposite sex, complete lack of self-confidence, pathetic infatuation with oneself, non-existing social skills. A sort of disease that we’ve all been through, to various extents, and that we’re all thankful to leave behind us. That’s why, when I had to watch these things portrayed in a guy I couldn’t completely separate from the perfect-gorgeous-superhuman Edward, it messed up with my mind. But it didn’t last. Some 15 minutes into the movie, the character of Art was so convincingly pathetic I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at him. I felt like doing both, most of the times.
And I would have been right to do so too. Arthur is incredibly pathetic – with the full meaning of “incredible” attached to it. At times I’d watch with eyes half closed, thinking “This can’t be. NO ONE can be that low”. And yet there are people who do go through that kind of personal hell, and they’re probably more numerous than we’d think. Such people are the product of dysfunctional families, so we’d like to think they represent the exception, rather than the rule. But think again. Consider all the alterations and mutations society has suffered over the past 20 years and try to re-define functional. I’ll bet you can’t. And maybe that’s why it’s so disturbing to watch this movie. Because you can pretend it’s all make-believe, it’s just a story, but in the end, you can’t help not wondering whether there might be more to it.
The thing is, as stated in the movie, we are all alone, and the sooner we are able to face that, the better. Arthur, like thousands of other people in this world, needs affection and approval from his family and peers, needs to have his confidence and self-esteem built from the outside. And while that is perfectly normal from a psychological point of view, it doesn’t work out well long-term. Because we are indeed alone and in our loneliness we must learn to build ourselves as individuals before we can try to interact in a positive way with the people surrounding us.
There’s lots of things that get you thinking in this movie, but the one that caught my attention was how not to give up on yourself – EVER. No matter what. Life might not be what you expected it to, but just when you feel like this is as bad as it gets, that you’re about to be crushed by the weight of your problems, you somehow find the strength to bounce back. Not because you’re special or important or have a full revelation of your life’s meaning. But because you have to. There’s no going down once you’ve reached the lowest point in your life – and there’s no freezing in time either. You climb back up because it’s the only thing left.
How To Be is yet another proof that you don’t need flashy pictures to tell a story. Black and white ones often do a better job at it. And speaking of good jobs, I couldn’t end this post without mentioning that, once again, I was dazzled by Pattinson’s skill and genuine talent at making this incredibly unreal character seem perfectly natural and true. Looking forward to his next challenging part in Little Ashes!
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