Ben is back home, he just got his bachelor’s degree and his worried for his future. Seems he has no aspirations, wishes and has no clue what to do. Everyone around him is pushing him one way or another, he seems like a quiet/shy guy; he’s not rude, doesn’t party, and it doesn’t seem like he has many friends.
The silence in this film is astonishing, there’s not much of a dialogue going on but some very famous lines derived from this feature film. Seems to me the director, Mike Nichols, shortened the dialogue, added long shots and random cuts to show how awkward of a story we’re dealing with. Not only is Ben awkward but he leads an awkward/funny lifestyle. He’s lost interest, he’s just “taking it easy.” He’s having a fling with some married woman and then ends up with her daughter. This guy is totally out of whack, he falls in love with her after a date. I mean its sort of romantic but really creepy at the same time. I don’t really get what this movie is trying to get at, seems it just changed film a few years ago and that’s why its now entitled a classic. Maybe I should look in deeper to what was going on in the film industry/the world when this came out but I just didn’t feel a really deep theme going on here.
The soundtrack consists of just Simon and Garfunkel. “Sound of Silence” but is played over and over and over. It does go along quite nicely, but it makes it seem like a music video. I don’t have much to say on this film, overall I really liked it, I end up liking the films that confuse me the most. I’m going to have to watch it over, I’m sure, to get more of a feeling for it. It pulled at me because I know the feeling of being worried about my future, feeling awkward, confused and scared. Seems Ben would do anything just to feel somewhat normal and not so confused.
Your review made me want to watch it too, mostly the awkwardness and his fling situation, sounds kind of cool, lol. Plus I like the idea of there not being much dialogue, watched a foreign film that had barely any dialogue at all, but it was in about 3 languages, was amazing, so I think I'll be dling this :).
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