Perfect Sense (2011)
Take a whole new end of the world idea, one that's preposterous and chilling, and layer a naturally "perfect" romance into it, and you have this ambitious, lovely movie. You surely must suspend your disbelief—like when the blind people cross the tracks and step perfectly over the rails, or when everyone succumbs to a symptom simultaneously—but that's part of what makes the movie work. It takes chances, never loses touch with its heart, and has two terrific leads holding it all together.
The first of these is the ever interesting Ewan McGregor, who seems to zero in on slightly offbeat semi-big budget films. That is, he's not doing indie movies (yet), but he sometimes moves through a less obvious zone of really compelling projects with high production values, like "Trainspotting," "Moulin Rouge!," and "Cassandra's Dream." So he has a likable (some would say lovable) quality here as a regular guy, a serious chef who's selfish in relationships.
Until he meets, by chance, the other lead, Eva Green, who is distant and reluctant and gradually won over by this sweetness of this man. At first he seems like a player, but they both realize there is something special going on. And what a time to fall in love, just when the world is falling apart.
Oh, you want to know what goes wrong with everyone, worldwide? I'm not telling. Even the first instance is a nice surprise (I hadn't read any blurbs). There is a lightness to the terrifying truth of it, and to the lack of fighting back (even though Green plays an epidemiologist). It's a little like "Children of Men" in that sense, where a malady strikes and it goes worldwide and there is not clue how that could possibly be true.
Because, in fact, it's not about that, exactly. Or it uses those events to make you see what matters from the point of view of the protagonists.
The reason it fails to quite transcend, despite having all the elements to do so, is partly that the answer (to what matters in life) we already know. The movie confirms it beautifully—I recommend watching it—but there is possibly an emptiness of purpose that gets in the way. And the other plot, the illness spreading in stages through the world, is left alone, except for how it affects the afflicted. Which is everyone.
Take a whole new end of the world idea, one that's preposterous and chilling, and layer a naturally "perfect" romance into it, and you have this ambitious, lovely movie. You surely must suspend your disbelief—like when the blind people cross the tracks and step perfectly over the rails, or when everyone succumbs to a symptom simultaneously—but that's part of what makes the movie work. It takes chances, never loses touch with its heart, and has two terrific leads holding it all together.
The first of these is the ever interesting Ewan McGregor, who seems to zero in on slightly offbeat semi-big budget films. That is, he's not doing indie movies (yet), but he sometimes moves through a less obvious zone of really compelling projects with high production values, like "Trainspotting," "Moulin Rouge!," and "Cassandra's Dream." So he has a likable (some would say lovable) quality here as a regular guy, a serious chef who's selfish in relationships.
Until he meets, by chance, the other lead, Eva Green, who is distant and reluctant and gradually won over by this sweetness of this man. At first he seems like a player, but they both realize there is something special going on. And what a time to fall in love, just when the world is falling apart.
Oh, you want to know what goes wrong with everyone, worldwide? I'm not telling. Even the first instance is a nice surprise (I hadn't read any blurbs). There is a lightness to the terrifying truth of it, and to the lack of fighting back (even though Green plays an epidemiologist). It's a little like "Children of Men" in that sense, where a malady strikes and it goes worldwide and there is not clue how that could possibly be true.
Because, in fact, it's not about that, exactly. Or it uses those events to make you see what matters from the point of view of the protagonists.
The reason it fails to quite transcend, despite having all the elements to do so, is partly that the answer (to what matters in life) we already know. The movie confirms it beautifully—I recommend watching it—but there is possibly an emptiness of purpose that gets in the way. And the other plot, the illness spreading in stages through the world, is left alone, except for how it affects the afflicted. Which is everyone.