Lyrics
Just a perfect day
drink Sangria in the park
And then later
when it gets dark, we go home
drink Sangria in the park
And then later
when it gets dark, we go home
Just a perfect day
feed animals in the zoo
Then later
a movie, too, and then home
feed animals in the zoo
Then later
a movie, too, and then home
Oh, it's such a perfect day
I'm glad I spend it with you
Oh, such a perfect day
You just keep me hanging on
You just keep me hanging on
I'm glad I spend it with you
Oh, such a perfect day
You just keep me hanging on
You just keep me hanging on
Just a perfect day
problems all left alone
Weekenders on our own
it's such fun
problems all left alone
Weekenders on our own
it's such fun
Just a perfect day
you made me forget myself
I thought I was
someone else, someone good
you made me forget myself
I thought I was
someone else, someone good
Oh, it's such a perfect day
I'm glad I spent it with you
Oh, such a perfect day
You just keep me hanging on
You just keep me hanging on
I'm glad I spent it with you
Oh, such a perfect day
You just keep me hanging on
You just keep me hanging on
You're going to reap just what you sow
You're going to reap just what you sow
You're going to reap just what you sow
You're going to reap just what you sow
You're going to reap just what you sow
You're going to reap just what you sow
Radio 2's listeners criminally under-appreciate Lou Reed. Perfect Day and Walk on the Wild Side are his only songs on the list, and there is nothing by Velvet Underground either. I also suspect people who call themselves 'true Lou Reed fans' would scoff at the notion that Perfect Day is the man's best song. It's certainly isn't the song that can define his place in, and importance for, music history. Heroin would probably be a better example of that. I can understand why that song is not in the top 2000. It's one of the most disturbing songs ever. I think there are few works of art that depict the despair of an addict in a more harrowing way. It's last two minutes are unlike anything I've heard. On the other hand, there is no logical reason why Radio 2's listeners don't go for Pale Blue Eyes, maybe the most beautiful, sweetest, romantic song ever made. I've heard that song for the first time in a film that I consider nearly equally romantic. It's the one film I think of when I think of Lou Reed.
The Movie: Adventureland (Greg Mottola, 2009)
I've banged the drum often for this film, and I'll continue to do so in the future. Having now seen it three times, I think it's one of the best films of the 21st century, and one of the most romantic movies I've seen.
The greatest strength of Adventureland is that it's not quite a coming-of-age film. James (Jesse Eisenberg) and Em (Kristen Stewart) have already come of age. They are confident, intelligent recent graduates who know their way around the opposite gender. They are attracted to each other, from very early on in the film, but it's not a lack of life experience that keeps them from starting something. Similarly, once the happy ending does arrive, they have not become better people, nor have they learned anything groundbreaking about life and love they did not know before. Furthermore, their relationship is not delayed because of external factors. There is nothing in the outer world keeping Em and James from being together. Yes, has Em has an affair with the married maintenance guy Mike (Ryan Reynolds), but the film makes explicitly clear that Em can stop that affair whenever she wants without Mike protesting. It also makes clear that Em is very much aware this affair has no future.
I remember liking the film quite a lot while watching it for the first time, but I was really sold on it the first time we hear Pale Blue Eyes. By that point in the film James and Em have spend a lot of time together, and it is clear that they are starting to like each other a lot. James has even made Em a mix tape which they listen to in a car, while driving home from a bar they've been to. Since Adventureland Eisenberg and Stewart have become very respected, beloved actors, but I am willing to argue they have never acted better than in this single scene. They are sitting together in the car, silently working through their feelings, trying to think of something to say. They yearn for each other, but fear what may happen if they express it. They know they have a lot of fun with each other, they both know they are attracted to each other, but are not completely sure about each other's feelings, nor about their own really.
That scene encapsulates the whole movie. One of film critic Roger Ebert's repeated sayings was that it's more romantic to wonder whether you are going to be kissed, than to actually be kissed. To that I'd add that it's more frustrating to not be sure whether you should kiss the other person, than to have no one to kiss in sight. Throughout Adventureland James and Em find themselves in both of these positions, often at the same time. They are fully aware that every action they take, every word they say, may have consequences, perhaps not just for their relationship, but for their life as a whole. Few movies have represented so wonderfully, this glorious frustrating confusion of falling in love and not exactly knowing what to do about it. Even fewer have evoked how fun this is. That makes it very clear what is at stake for James and Em. The risk of losing each other's friendship is far bigger than the reward of a relationship. James and Em will definitely have a very good life if the situation stays as it is. If the situation changes, by them entering a relationship, it could get substantially better, but that's only a possibility. If the situation changes by them losing each other, their life would be worse. This is a very analytical, unromantic analysis of romance, but it is the best way to explain what makes this film so much more romantic than your average Hollywood rom-com. There the implicit suggestion often is that the lovers should become a couple, because, hey, what do they have to lose. The fact that James and Em have much to lose, and much to win, makes us care far more about the characters and their relationship. It also makes them far more interesting, as they are constantly forced to negotiate and think about their strong feelings. Apart from all this, it is simply more realistic.
Greg Mottola, who is the writer-director deserves a lot of credit for all this. Especially his dialogue is often pitch perfect. James and Em's conversations often evade the central point, but through these evasions the point becomes very clear. Mottola understands that these evasions are not just a self-defense mechanism, but also a way for allowing the other person to be more comfortable. They are like a tacit, unspoken agreement to maintain the status quo, while allowing one another to poke around and see whether to change the status quo, and if so, how. And again, Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart deserve a lot of credit for their performances. Especially Eisenberg manages to have James maintain a genuinely relaxed attitude around Em, while simultaneously consciously acting out such an attitude in front of Em. It's a very remarkable performance. Stewart and Eisenberg are helped by the way Mottola shoots them. We very often see a large part of their body in the frame, allowing us to see the hesitant movements of their arms and legs.
I really like the cinematography of this film in general. Many scenes are shot as if they are a hazy. beautiful memory of a special time. This sounds pretentious, but to some extent it's as if the film is shot by the current James and Em, trying to evoke their feelings at that time through the cinematography. Everything looks slightly prettier, slightly more joyous than it is. This approach sometimes creates a rather disorienting effect, has set his film in the context of a financial crisis. While that is definitely not the main subject of the film, it's definitely not ignored. In fact, financial problems are the reason why most of the characters we meet in Adventureland work there. And James' parents very clearly struggle to make ends meet. Now, you can ignore what I am about to say, as I am going to wildly overpraise the film. But seeing it now, it reminded me to some extent of films like Five Easy Pieces and Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. It's not so much that it takes the problems of its working class characters seriously, and that it has a lot of empathy for them, it's that it takes the working class itself seriously. It believes that these people have interesting lives worth exploring, and they are interesting, articulate people themselves who have more ideas and goals in life than just getting rich and escaping their class. As I've said often here I don't believe that movies now are worse of than they used to be, or such crap, but I can't deny that this is indeed sorely lacking in modern Hollywood.
I was going to say that the film has a lot empathy for every character, and that it doesn't create dumb stereotypes. That's not really true. The only false note in the film is Em's evil stepmother. Apart from the very stereotypical conception of her, the evil stepmother trope should be hidden away in the 21st century. It rings even more false here, where the rest of the characters are so original and incredibly well developed. Take Lisa P for example, brilliantly introduced through The Rolling Stones' Tops, and equally well performed by Margarita Levieva. At first it seems like she's the park slut, who will sleep with everyone. Turns out she is Catholic and a virgin. She is not in that many scenes, but it is enough to create an incredibly interesting, conflicted character, who really wants to have sex, is aware that she is desirable, but is too hindered by her faith to do anything about it. You could really make a whole movie about her.
You could also make another movie about James and Em. Mottola could absolutely give these characters the Before Sunrise/Sunset treatment. I like Linklater, especially Boyhood, Bernie and Slacker, but to me Adventureland feels like Mottola in one try made the movie Linklater has been trying his whole career to make. With Adventureland and Superbad, Mottola has also made by far the two best Judd Apatow-related movies. I hope he gets to make more movies, and more movies like those two. For me, these movies put him among the greatest contemporary directors.
That scene encapsulates the whole movie. One of film critic Roger Ebert's repeated sayings was that it's more romantic to wonder whether you are going to be kissed, than to actually be kissed. To that I'd add that it's more frustrating to not be sure whether you should kiss the other person, than to have no one to kiss in sight. Throughout Adventureland James and Em find themselves in both of these positions, often at the same time. They are fully aware that every action they take, every word they say, may have consequences, perhaps not just for their relationship, but for their life as a whole. Few movies have represented so wonderfully, this glorious frustrating confusion of falling in love and not exactly knowing what to do about it. Even fewer have evoked how fun this is. That makes it very clear what is at stake for James and Em. The risk of losing each other's friendship is far bigger than the reward of a relationship. James and Em will definitely have a very good life if the situation stays as it is. If the situation changes, by them entering a relationship, it could get substantially better, but that's only a possibility. If the situation changes by them losing each other, their life would be worse. This is a very analytical, unromantic analysis of romance, but it is the best way to explain what makes this film so much more romantic than your average Hollywood rom-com. There the implicit suggestion often is that the lovers should become a couple, because, hey, what do they have to lose. The fact that James and Em have much to lose, and much to win, makes us care far more about the characters and their relationship. It also makes them far more interesting, as they are constantly forced to negotiate and think about their strong feelings. Apart from all this, it is simply more realistic.
Greg Mottola, who is the writer-director deserves a lot of credit for all this. Especially his dialogue is often pitch perfect. James and Em's conversations often evade the central point, but through these evasions the point becomes very clear. Mottola understands that these evasions are not just a self-defense mechanism, but also a way for allowing the other person to be more comfortable. They are like a tacit, unspoken agreement to maintain the status quo, while allowing one another to poke around and see whether to change the status quo, and if so, how. And again, Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart deserve a lot of credit for their performances. Especially Eisenberg manages to have James maintain a genuinely relaxed attitude around Em, while simultaneously consciously acting out such an attitude in front of Em. It's a very remarkable performance. Stewart and Eisenberg are helped by the way Mottola shoots them. We very often see a large part of their body in the frame, allowing us to see the hesitant movements of their arms and legs.
I really like the cinematography of this film in general. Many scenes are shot as if they are a hazy. beautiful memory of a special time. This sounds pretentious, but to some extent it's as if the film is shot by the current James and Em, trying to evoke their feelings at that time through the cinematography. Everything looks slightly prettier, slightly more joyous than it is. This approach sometimes creates a rather disorienting effect, has set his film in the context of a financial crisis. While that is definitely not the main subject of the film, it's definitely not ignored. In fact, financial problems are the reason why most of the characters we meet in Adventureland work there. And James' parents very clearly struggle to make ends meet. Now, you can ignore what I am about to say, as I am going to wildly overpraise the film. But seeing it now, it reminded me to some extent of films like Five Easy Pieces and Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. It's not so much that it takes the problems of its working class characters seriously, and that it has a lot of empathy for them, it's that it takes the working class itself seriously. It believes that these people have interesting lives worth exploring, and they are interesting, articulate people themselves who have more ideas and goals in life than just getting rich and escaping their class. As I've said often here I don't believe that movies now are worse of than they used to be, or such crap, but I can't deny that this is indeed sorely lacking in modern Hollywood.
I was going to say that the film has a lot empathy for every character, and that it doesn't create dumb stereotypes. That's not really true. The only false note in the film is Em's evil stepmother. Apart from the very stereotypical conception of her, the evil stepmother trope should be hidden away in the 21st century. It rings even more false here, where the rest of the characters are so original and incredibly well developed. Take Lisa P for example, brilliantly introduced through The Rolling Stones' Tops, and equally well performed by Margarita Levieva. At first it seems like she's the park slut, who will sleep with everyone. Turns out she is Catholic and a virgin. She is not in that many scenes, but it is enough to create an incredibly interesting, conflicted character, who really wants to have sex, is aware that she is desirable, but is too hindered by her faith to do anything about it. You could really make a whole movie about her.
You could also make another movie about James and Em. Mottola could absolutely give these characters the Before Sunrise/Sunset treatment. I like Linklater, especially Boyhood, Bernie and Slacker, but to me Adventureland feels like Mottola in one try made the movie Linklater has been trying his whole career to make. With Adventureland and Superbad, Mottola has also made by far the two best Judd Apatow-related movies. I hope he gets to make more movies, and more movies like those two. For me, these movies put him among the greatest contemporary directors.
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