#6 We just watched this on Netflix streaming. You should too!: I am love

The Film: I am love

I’ve been very sick lately but was able to get it together and write this little article about I am love in hope that you’ll watch it. I can’t say I came across this movie myself, QT (Tarantino) actually put the movie on his top 20 favorite films of 2010.

So I thought: hey, if the man, the myth, the legend, himself, liked it….it has to at least be good. I must admit, QT has impeccable taste. The movie is kind of like a really fast paced Anna Karanina, that is to say, the movie will be a bit slow for the majority of you. (Little classic Russian literature joke there)

Moreover, it follows the wife (Tilda Swinton) of a wealthy aristocrat in Italy and how she deals with being an outsider in such a traditional world.

Sound rough? Well, give it a shot ladies and gents, you just might enjoy it.

Why to watch it: The filmmaking

Sure, Swinton is fucking ridiculously good. She is an English actress speaking Italian with a Russian accent. Ludicrous. However, it is the film’s visual style, music, and attention to detail that makes it extraordinary. The film has been bashed a bit for its exuberant design and music, but what are people really complaining about?

Would the Aristocracy view themselves any other way? Yes, the music is extreme, but only at parts and for good reason. A Single Man is a film that suffered from its design and film language, but this movie nails it.

More to the point, if anything, this movie is a champion of the subtle, something I’ll get to in the next section.

Pay attention to this: The subtlety of the movie

For about the first hour of the movie we’re left with little notion of what the movie is going to be “about”. However, the director allows very subtle hints, looks, close-ups, visual compositions, to hint at what the characters are feeling and how they are motivated.

The themes of this movie include one of my personal favorite: What is expected of us vs What we actually want

The film could throw these ideas more directly into the viewer’s face…maybe it does? I certainly don’t think so, I thought the director used unbelievable restraint.

Watch this right now when you get home from work or school or whatever it is you’re doing….you should be watching this instead. And if you don’t have Netflix streaming….buy it. It costs the same as a shot and a beer at your local bar!