To The Man Cave

Up until a few minutes ago, Sarah and I have been curled up on the couch, just reading. Ah... one of the perks of married life. Last night it was a movie... a nice reward after another long week at work.

We rented the film Dark Horse, which had recently played in the Berkshires. The director, Todd Solondz, is known for some edgy work like the film Happiness, but this was classified as a comedy. Again, I figured a dark indie comedy was a better bet than some of the dopey Hollywood fare.

Well, the film did amuse me. The lead character Abe (Jordan Gelber) is a clueless, spoiled man-child, who still lives with his parents, and has others take care of his work for him. He reminded me of George Castanza from Seinfeld, who I think is one of the funniest characters of all time. The difference is that Abe felt more real... more clueless... more pathetic-- and it gets worse as the film goes on. He meets a girl named Miranda (Selma Blair) who is chronically depressed. I wouldn't say they hit it off, but they  get together, and Abe is so much in his own world that he asks her to marry him on their first date. 

There are a lot of undercurrent themes happening in this movie-- Sarah thought that Abe also suffered from depression, constantly feeling inferior to his more successful brother. Abe's father (the awesome Christopher Walken) also seems to resent his son, finding him to be an embarrassment. At the same time, his father and mother (played by Mia Farrow) seem to enable him to coast along... I laughed every time Abe would pull up in his shitty yellow Hummer and hit the door lock.

There were some pretty wild dream sequences, but not much stylization-- it was a different kind of movie. It was a comedy, but also quite devastating. Gelber pulls off such an strong portrayal, it's hard to remember that he is just acting. 

The things about the movie that are so harsh: I know clueless people like Abe. It's like they are running around in their own world-- they're annoying, even when you do feel somewhat sympathetic. That's the other thing: everyone has their own tastes... their own reality... and passions like Abe's collecting of action figures and such can seem odd to some, and normal to others. Is that wrong?

I started to think of my own passions for certain music groups from my youth, and such things as comic books that still can get me excited... my God, am I like Abe? Am I in some sort of stilted adolescence? Anyone watching the film with some sense of empathy towards the character, will marvel at the "bad luck" this dark horse has. You get to think about people who seem to have it so easy... things come so naturally, and others who can't seem to get a break. Is it because they don't try hard enough, or follow the wrong "societal rules?"

I won't give away the ending of the film, but it's crazy. One of those films that you have to let settle for a while... I'll probably watch it again sometime. In the meantime, let me get back to my new adulthood... that's "happily married man."