The Big Year
Whenever I am on a 9+ hours Delta flight where you can choose the movies to watch, I get absolutely overjoyed, only to realize that the audio quality is absolutely horrible. On my flight to Japan I only watched “The Artist” for that reason (it’s a silent film after all!) but on my flight back I didn’t have the choice. The poor choices airlines make have always annoyed me a little, yet at the same time, I must admit that I have come to encounter some of my favorite movies this way. (“Yesterday once more”! Oh how much I love it!)
“The Big Year” is easily another example. As much as I love Owen Wilson, he is not exactly an actor I actively follow, so I don’t think I would ever have stumbled this film if they hadn’t showed it on the plane. But boy, it was love at first sight, and I was flabbergasted upon seeing that the film did not do well at box office nor in reviews. Sure, the film is not exactly artsy nor does it have great direction. The characters are not necessarily very unique or new, and the storyline is relatively simplistic. But none of these things have ever kept a film from being successful. I still can’t believe it – how can a film be so funny, have a great suspenseful plot, lovable characters be doing so badly? It’s a movie about birding nerdism, how is that not great?
It was interesting to see that actual birders seem to really like the film so that should speak for its quality too.
As for myself, I couldn’t care less about birding, and the film certainly did not make me desire to do any birding – but if the film had been about something more fascinating, it totally could have sparked with me. But since I have no interest in birding, for me the movie was mostly about how it is to have this huge hobby in your life, which is capable of influencing other aspects. Take out the birding and replace the film with any other nerdism I am indulging in – and the film could have been about me! My little nerd heart has been battling for their struggles in life and the friendships they form. Needless to say that I found the film to be extremely funny too. (When Preissler’s subordinate managers came to chase him and he said “Look, vultures!”, he absolutely cracked me up.)
I should also mention that I was quite surprised to see Jim Parsons in the film. He had a tiny, tiny role but he was amusing nevertheless. The way one could easily overlook him in the film is an allegory for the film itself – totally underrated.
I’m not big on birding, but I like your reaction to this so I’ll check this out. :)
And films in flight are tough. I could not stand “tree of life” on the airplane, and don’t really care to try again. But I’ve loved some Chaplin films and other b/w/silent films while flying.
Ohhh now I’m curious about what you’ll think about this. I mean I did say this was a nerd film, but it certainly features no anime or any of our other related hobbies. (Hrr.) Nevertheless I really liked it.
Ahh, I have yet to see “Tree of Life” and chances are I never will. It doesn’t look like the type of movie I’d like.
“Tree of Life” was flawed for me because of the pretentious narration overlay on different kinds of eye candy, ranging from microscopy to volcanoes.