8. The Fly (1986, David Cronenberg)
"Now, you tell me. Am I different somehow? Is it live or is it Memorex?"
My dad suggested I watch this during a period in my life in which I was obsessed with Jeff Goldblum. I watched it three or four times before we sent the rental back. And not only because Goldblum is so dreamy, since he only really looks any good for half of the movie. Plus, he has a funny haircut. What gripped me was the realism with which such a fantastic situation was depicted. As a viewer, I could genuinely feel the desperation of a man losing his humanity and fearing for the future (or lack thereof) that he faces as a consequence. Jeff Goldblum, for me, is pitch-perfect in portraying this, and all the other various emotions that Seth Brundle feels in the course of the film. Brundle runs the emotional gamut, experiencing loneliness, love, pure happiness, frustration, jealousy, fear, and desperation, always while trying to maintain his signature flippant wit.
"What does the disease want?"
"It wants to... turn me into something else. That's not too terrible is it? Most people would give anything to be turned into something else."
"Turned into what?"
"Whaddaya think? A fly? Am I becoming a hundred-and-eighty-five-pound fly? No, I'm becoming something that never existed before. I'm becoming... Brundlefly. Don't you think that's worth a Nobel Prize or two?"
Goldblum does all this authentically while at the same time tackling the unique challenge of how to portray the behavior of a man being genetically spliced with a fly and does so beautifully.
"The baby might be all that's left of the real me. Please don't kill me."
I was recently watching this with a friend of mine who had never seen it before and seconds before the credits started rolling, he said, "I wish it would end right now." And though the movie ends rather abruptly, so much so that I never really have time to have a proper cry, I feel like I would enjoy the film less if they tried to tie up all the loose ends in a neat bow. I think in some situations it's better not to know everything and this is one of those situations for me.
"I'm an insect who dreamt he was a man and loved it. But now the dream is over... and the insect is awake."
"Now, you tell me. Am I different somehow? Is it live or is it Memorex?"
My dad suggested I watch this during a period in my life in which I was obsessed with Jeff Goldblum. I watched it three or four times before we sent the rental back. And not only because Goldblum is so dreamy, since he only really looks any good for half of the movie. Plus, he has a funny haircut. What gripped me was the realism with which such a fantastic situation was depicted. As a viewer, I could genuinely feel the desperation of a man losing his humanity and fearing for the future (or lack thereof) that he faces as a consequence. Jeff Goldblum, for me, is pitch-perfect in portraying this, and all the other various emotions that Seth Brundle feels in the course of the film. Brundle runs the emotional gamut, experiencing loneliness, love, pure happiness, frustration, jealousy, fear, and desperation, always while trying to maintain his signature flippant wit.
"What does the disease want?"
"It wants to... turn me into something else. That's not too terrible is it? Most people would give anything to be turned into something else."
"Turned into what?"
"Whaddaya think? A fly? Am I becoming a hundred-and-eighty-five-pound fly? No, I'm becoming something that never existed before. I'm becoming... Brundlefly. Don't you think that's worth a Nobel Prize or two?"
Goldblum does all this authentically while at the same time tackling the unique challenge of how to portray the behavior of a man being genetically spliced with a fly and does so beautifully.
"The baby might be all that's left of the real me. Please don't kill me."
I was recently watching this with a friend of mine who had never seen it before and seconds before the credits started rolling, he said, "I wish it would end right now." And though the movie ends rather abruptly, so much so that I never really have time to have a proper cry, I feel like I would enjoy the film less if they tried to tie up all the loose ends in a neat bow. I think in some situations it's better not to know everything and this is one of those situations for me.
"I'm an insect who dreamt he was a man and loved it. But now the dream is over... and the insect is awake."
__________________
I always wanted to be an f.
Last edited by sarah f; 02-19-11 at 10:44 PM.