is whining a new form of art? or is it a new wave of crazy fad a la white beach diet? maybe it's a new sport, a throwback to when futsal was starting to grow in popularity. i don't know. but it seems that some privileged individuals have run out of issues or problems to deal with that even the slightest imperfections in their lives would call for sudden and costly measures "to get things right" and "find herself", similar to what liz gilbert did in eat pray love. and all these started with whining, the liz-gilbert-privileged-but-lost whining.
imdb summed the storyline as: liz had everything a modern woman is supposed to dream of having - a husband, a house, a successful career - yet like so many others, she found herself lost, confused, and searching for what she really wanted in life. newly divorced and at a crossroads, she steps out of her comfort zone, risking everything to change her life, embarking on a journey around the world that becomes a quest for self-discovery. in her travels, she discovers the true pleasure of nourishment by eating in italy; the power of prayer in india, and, finally and unexpectedly, the inner peace and balance of true love in bali.
i like seeing new places, eating good food and some amount of quiet time. all these things happened to be captured by what julia roberts' character experienced, so i liked the traveling portions of the movie: finding "working" apartments in italy; having solo lunches; trying out new and foreign cooking; meeting new friends in the process and learning a new language... even the hassles of traveling alone or the only-in-india urban chaos, and/or getting drunk once in a while. but what was wrong in liz' marriage with stephen (billy crudup) again? nothing of note really. just some petty longing for something more grand i guess. and what did she do? she whined. complaining to her reliable whinee, delia (viola davis), who should have told her that there's nothing wrong with her life. delia should just counseled her on how to stop complaining about the baseless emptiness in her life and actually try to look at what she got instead of what she didn't get.
she divorced her husband and eloped with david (james franco), a struggling actor. all things were going smoothly... but once again, the emptiness bug bit her again. of course, this went on not without a whole lot of bellyaching. she went back to delia and decided that she'll venture on a tour of the said countries. while the "finding one's self" idea is passable since it led her to the travels and those travels are what i enjoyed, the idea of actually turning your whole life around but ending with another unsure tryst, this time with felipe (javier bardem), was totally "ass-numbingly wrong", to borrow the term from chicago reader's andrea gronvall.
since the movie's liz is a privileged whiner, julia roberts' usual whiny histrionics was appropriate. but she did well in quiet scenes such as when david called her when she was still in india or when richard from texas (richard jenkins) finally had the guts to open up and share... which by the way was the single best scene of the movie, outside of the travelogue. i've seen jenkins in six feet under and he's really one of the best underrated actors. the emotions of a father who could not forgive himself for running over his son and causing the break up of his family was moving and felt real. bardem was miscast. everybody knows that he's spanish and naturally, he oozes the spanish vibe. sadly, he could not breathe a portuguese character.
in some sense, the movie will make you think about the choices you've made or examine your flaws. but as rotten tomatoes puts it, without the spiritual and emotional weight of the book that inspired it, eat pray love is too shallow to resonate.
imdb summed the storyline as: liz had everything a modern woman is supposed to dream of having - a husband, a house, a successful career - yet like so many others, she found herself lost, confused, and searching for what she really wanted in life. newly divorced and at a crossroads, she steps out of her comfort zone, risking everything to change her life, embarking on a journey around the world that becomes a quest for self-discovery. in her travels, she discovers the true pleasure of nourishment by eating in italy; the power of prayer in india, and, finally and unexpectedly, the inner peace and balance of true love in bali.i like seeing new places, eating good food and some amount of quiet time. all these things happened to be captured by what julia roberts' character experienced, so i liked the traveling portions of the movie: finding "working" apartments in italy; having solo lunches; trying out new and foreign cooking; meeting new friends in the process and learning a new language... even the hassles of traveling alone or the only-in-india urban chaos, and/or getting drunk once in a while. but what was wrong in liz' marriage with stephen (billy crudup) again? nothing of note really. just some petty longing for something more grand i guess. and what did she do? she whined. complaining to her reliable whinee, delia (viola davis), who should have told her that there's nothing wrong with her life. delia should just counseled her on how to stop complaining about the baseless emptiness in her life and actually try to look at what she got instead of what she didn't get.
she divorced her husband and eloped with david (james franco), a struggling actor. all things were going smoothly... but once again, the emptiness bug bit her again. of course, this went on not without a whole lot of bellyaching. she went back to delia and decided that she'll venture on a tour of the said countries. while the "finding one's self" idea is passable since it led her to the travels and those travels are what i enjoyed, the idea of actually turning your whole life around but ending with another unsure tryst, this time with felipe (javier bardem), was totally "ass-numbingly wrong", to borrow the term from chicago reader's andrea gronvall.
since the movie's liz is a privileged whiner, julia roberts' usual whiny histrionics was appropriate. but she did well in quiet scenes such as when david called her when she was still in india or when richard from texas (richard jenkins) finally had the guts to open up and share... which by the way was the single best scene of the movie, outside of the travelogue. i've seen jenkins in six feet under and he's really one of the best underrated actors. the emotions of a father who could not forgive himself for running over his son and causing the break up of his family was moving and felt real. bardem was miscast. everybody knows that he's spanish and naturally, he oozes the spanish vibe. sadly, he could not breathe a portuguese character.
in some sense, the movie will make you think about the choices you've made or examine your flaws. but as rotten tomatoes puts it, without the spiritual and emotional weight of the book that inspired it, eat pray love is too shallow to resonate.
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