Playing by Heart: love Jon Stewart :)

Plot:
Among the characters are a mature couple about to renew their vows (Sean Connery and Gena Rowlands); a woman (Gillian Anderson) who accepts a date from a stranger (Jon Stewart); a gay man dying of AIDS (Jay Mohr) and his mother (Ellen Burstyn) who has struggled to accept him; two young people who meet in a nightclub (Ryan Phillippe and Angelina Jolie); a couple having an affair (Anthony Edwards and Madeleine Stowe) and a man (Dennis Quaid) who tells his tragic life story to a woman he meets in a bar (Patricia Clarkson), but seems to have a strange connection to another mysterious woman. As the film continues and the stories evolve, the connections between the characters become evident.


I love how the movie reveals the connections between the characters, it was done expertly and seamlessly. At first, the couples' narratives stand independently.

Meredith (Gillian Anderson) is a theater director being wooed by an adroit, enamored architect, Trent (Jon Stewart) whom she tries to rebuff at every turn only to finally succumbed. it is explained that her problem in trusting man starts when the guy next door she married so early in age turned out to be gay and they ended up divorced.

Then there is willful Joan (Angelina Jolie) who's trying to catch the eyes (and heart) of sullen Keenan (Ryan Philippe). Joan is an actress wannabe, and she pulls no stop in ensnaring Keenan's interests, including having her sister steals her car to have Keenan walks her home. it turns out that Keenan is keen to be with her, it's only that he has AIDS, transmitted from his now demise drug addict girlfriend. however, Joan rallies for his affection and in the end, Keenan relents for them to be together.

the film also includes the many secret trysts of Gracie (Madeleine Stowe) and Roger (Anthony Edwards) in which Roger is getting frustrated at not having their relationship out in the open whereas Gracie is content to have the affairs as it is. she is however not content with her rather unimaginative husband though.

as for Hugh (Dennis Quaid), he frequents clubs and dining places each night with different sob stories for anyone eager to hear his stories. his stories are often tragic and imaginative that it could only be true that he's lying.

Mark (Jay Mohr) on the other hand is dying in the company of his mother Mildred (Ellen Burstyn). it is terrible for her to find out that he is gay when it is clearly he's nearing his end. she doesn't even get to know her son's partner who died earlier due to AIDS. it was a heartbreaking moment when they openly share honest truth to each other.

The tale is interwoven with a lover's spat between Paul (Sean Connery) and Hannah (Gena Rowlands) over a supposed infidelity on Paul's side which occurred a long time before their daughter was born. It seems that Paul was attracted to a co-worker once and when he decided not to pursue her, he found in himself that he loves Hannah more than ever.

it is revealed first that Meredith was once Mark's wife, and that after attending his funeral, she went back to her parents' home. it is then revealed that Gracie and Hugh are husband and wife, that he's taking improv class just so he could be imaginative as Gracie wanted.
 

 

all in all, it is revealed that Gracie, Meredith and Joan are the daughters of Paul and Hannah. all the couples gathered at Paul and Hannah's vow renewal ceremony officiated by Roger, the family pastor. there, they mingled together and Keenan commended Hugh on his imagination for being able to produce great video games, much to the surprise of Gracie. As they danced together, everything turns out well for all of them, except for Roger.


Review:
the most likable character in this movie would have been Trent! i love his sense of humor and honest conversation. i mean, you would have a heart of stone not to like him immensely. so is Joan. her persistence is commendable. i do love the scene where she's sans make up and caught vulnerable by Keenan. yet her beauty shines through.

even though Hannah doesn't understand it, I get it when Paul said he realizes his love is much greater for Hannah once he decided not to pursue Wendy. i mean, that is one solid moment of truth, an epiphany even, for you to realize whether the person you are with is worth staying for or not.

i don't like Gracie much. she's selfish.

to sum it all up, this is a nice family movie. about shedding cynicism and mistrusts to be in love, to take it all, the hardships and all that, in the name of love.

The Notebook: what you want...

Trailer:


Plot:
At a modern-day nursing home, an elderly man named Duke (James Garner) begins to read a romantic story from his notebook to a fellow patient (Gena Rowlands).

The story he tells begins in 1940. In Seabrook Island, South Carolina, local country boy Noah Calhoun (Ryan Gosling) is smitten with seventeen-year-old heiress Allie Hamilton (Rachel McAdams) after seeing her at a carnival, and they share an idyllic summer love affair. Noah takes Allie to an abandoned house, which he explains that he intends to restore the house.  And Allie requests to have her own spot in the house, a room to paint, overlooking the lake. It was some sort of a reaffirmation that she intends to marry him.

Later that evening, she asks him to make love to her, but they are interrupted by Noah's friend Fin (Kevin Connolly) with the news that Allie's parents have the police out looking for her. When Allie and Noah return to her parents' mansion, they ban her from seeing Noah, whom they called "trash, trash, trash". Knowing that her parents do not approve of him, Noah leaves the house, much to Allie's frustration that her fiery temper gets to her head.



The two break up, in the fits of Allie's temper. The next morning, Allie's mother announces that the family is returning home to Charleston. Desperate, Allie searches for Noah at the lumberyard but he's not there. Fin instead asks her to leave Noah alone, that it's not going to work out. She asks him to tell Noah that she loves him and that she's sorry. She leaves by asking Fin to tell Noah to write to her.

For a year, Noah writes a letter to Allie each day. But the letters are intercepted by Allie's mother (Joan Allen), leaving Allie to feel that Noah has forgotten her.

Noah and Allie have no choice but to move on with their lives; Noah and Fin enlist to fight in World War II and Fin is killed in battle. Allie becomes a volunteer in a hospital for wounded soldiers, where she meets an officer named Lon Hammond, Jr. (James Marsden), a young lawyer who is handsome, sophisticated, charming and comes from old Southern money. The two eventually become engaged, to the delight of Allie's parents, but Allie sees Noah's face when Lon asks her to marry him.

When Noah returns home from the war, he discovers his father has sold their home so that Noah can buy the abandoned house, fulfilling his lifelong dream to buy it for the departed Allie, whom by now he hasn't seen for several years. While visiting Charleston, Noah witnesses Allie and Lon kissing at a restaurant; he convinces himself that if he restores the house, Allie will come back to him. Some says he works on the house like a madman, and when he completes it, he refuses to sell it, regardless of the price offered.

Later, during a bridal gown fitting, Allie is startled to read in the newspaper that Noah has restored the house that she faints there and then. Knowing that she has to see him, Allie visits Noah in Seabrook.

In the present, it is made clear that the elderly woman is in fact Allie, who is suffering from dementia and cannot remember any of the events being read to her. Duke, the man who is reading to her, is her husband, but Allie cannot recognize him.

Back in the forties, Allie and Noah renew their relationship by spending time together, as friends. Her feelings come back to her and she questions Noah for not writing to her before. When she knows the truth, and that Noah still has feelings for her, they make love at Noah's now-restored house. In the morning, Allie's mother appears on Noah's doorstep, warning Allie that Lon knows about Noah being her first love back in Seabrook and thus has decided to follow her there. Confused, Allie tells Noah that she's going back to talk to Lon, much to Noah's frustration that they fight.





As Allie reads Noah's letters, she knows she has to confess to Lon about Noah and her feelings. He is upset but says that he still loves her. Allie tells him she knows she should be with him, but she remains indecisive.

In the present, Allie becomes briefly lucid and remembers that the story Duke is reading is the story of how they met. Young Allie appears at Noah's doorstep, having left Lon at the hotel. Elderly Allie suddenly remembers her past; after finding out about her illness, she herself wrote their story in the notebook with instructions for Noah to "read this to me, and I'll come back to you". But Allie soon relapses, losing her memories of Noah. She panics, not understanding who he is, and has to be sedated. That same night Noah is hospitalised with what seems to be another heart attack.

When released from the hospital, Elderly Noah ("Duke") goes to Allie's room to find her lucid again. Allie questions Noah about what will happen to them when she loses her memory completely, and he reassures her that he will never leave her. She asks him if he thinks their love for each other is strong enough to "take them away together"; he replies that he thinks their love could do anything. After telling each other that they love one another, they both go to sleep in Allie's bed. The next morning, a nurse finds them dead in each other's arms.


Review:
I was taken by the story. Duke's voice captivated me as he reads the Notebook to Miss Allie. no wonder this is a famous romance movie, top 12 high-grossing romance movie at the moment. Noah and Allie draw you in. He was charming, she was lovable. Though, I find issues in Allie's parents being so carefree when their daughter spends every waking hour of the summer with Noah.

The storyline is beautiful, moving even. That Duke (elderly Noah) still has faith in Allie's ability to come back, to remember him.. The scene by the counter the night before they die, moves me. If I were the nurse, I would totally do the same. James Garner delivers the lines so convincingly! to be the subject of such devotion, man, I'd love that very much.

Lon was a honorable man too. The way he understood Allie, her reservations about him and her feelings. It is a rare man to love that much but still can release her to be with her first love.  

The issue I have with this film is that it's too perfect, too easy for Allie to get her dreams. True, she longs for Noah for 7 years but we didn't get to see her suffering, merely by mentions that she cried every night for a year. Maybe it's wrong to ask for that but I have this feeling that Noah is the only one suffering. He's stuck in the same place, even the girl he's seeing, Martha doesn't get him to love her. The way she said to him, after spending time to know Allie, was touching. "At least now I have something to look forward to-", meaning now she knows she will have to move on, that at least she knows where she's heading. away.

alahai. this is a sad story by Nicholas Sparks. I know I'd cry buckets reading it..