I like romance comedies.
That sounds really girly, and weird and everything, but I do. It is however a special kind of romance comedy. Ones filled with emotionally significant awkward silences.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Probably the most famous of the three movies. Neither Clementine and Joel are very social people, and they just can't seem to get along with anyone else. My inner shy self always hoped that it was their awkwardness which had brought them together, that there was something in the shyness which made the other reach out and break through their mask. There is perhaps nothing humorous in itself in the movie, but just the way Joel and Clementine talk about the situation, they way they interact, creates the silences which make us uncomfortable.
Catch and Release
Wikipedia said over 75% of the audience were female over 25. God knows why it attracted a young male below 20 like me. In my journal I had wrote that I liked the way it showed how things don't turn out the way you want it to, and that despite your deepest suspicions, sometimes things are just not that way because of some good deed someone did. Perhaps there is some situational humor in this film, with the way Maureen had had just barged in with her kid. I liked the fact that there is no situation at all, and that it was all just a misunderstanding based on the good will of someone else.
Imagine Me and You
I heard about this film somewhere before, but forgot about it until tonight when I was bored and was browsing for something to watch. The homosexual content aside (as it was written as a heterosexual romance anyway, according to IMDB), the humor in this movie comes from the dialog. In retrospect perhaps this movie is a little less awkward than the others, but there were still a number of delicate moments.
One other thing I want to point out, I guess as an after thought. In Imagine You and Me, Hect says to Rachel,
"Yes it is. I want you to be happy. More than anything else I wanted to be the cause of happiness in you. But if I'm not, then I can't stand in the way, you see? Because what you're feeling now, Rachel, is the unstoppable force. Which means that I've got to move."
That particular paradox/dilemma has been on my mind lately, for some reason. In another form, it can be formulated as follows. You love someone, so you would give your life for them. But they love you, so they would rather you live and they die. You can either follow their wish (you live they die) or your own (you die they live), but the funny thing (and the paradox) is that you are both doing what you think the other person wants.
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