"Life might very well lack purpose, and it might very well be a struggle. But that doesn't mean you have to be an asshole about it."
So writes Ali Arikan in his thoroughly illuminating (and not at all repetitious) "Imagining Sisyphus Happy: A 'Groundhog Day' Retrospective" at The House Next Door. This is one of those appreciations that lights up the movie from within, and makes you happy reading just it, as the writer weaves together detailed observations of the film itself and parallels to "It's A Wonderful Life," "The Sopranos," Schopenhauer and Camus. And it's funny!
A shot of a blue sky (cotton-white clouds floating, lazily, across the screen) opens the film. Every few seconds the shot changes--yet it remains the same. The sky is blue, the clouds as pearly as before and still in their hazy dance, even though they are not the same as the ones from the previous shot. It is a visual metaphor that permeates the rest of the film. That it is intertwined with an otherworldly small town marching band track only adds to the positively Lynchian feel.
Eventually, the sky cuts to a blue screen as an outstretched palm invades the frame from the right, looking like it belongs to an illusionist--a flick of the wrist, a legerdemain, and an Ace of Spades might suddenly appear, dangling precariously from the tip of the fingers. The illusionist in this case is Phil Connors (Bill Murray, wonderfully channeling W.C. Fields), a weatherman with Channel 9 Pittsburgh, acerbic and detached from his fellow humans to the point of nervosa. In this brief moment, however, beyond Phil's soul-devouring sarcasm, we are presented with one of the film's central themes. That our lives as we live them are illusions--not in a New Age/Philosophy 101 sense, but in the way that we reflect into them the meaning that we want them to have. The blue screen is, in fact, Phil's tapestry, and he is, in fact, its creator.
After reading this, you know what's going to happen. You're going to have to watch it again...
Its ironic that you mention Groundhog day after having only just commented on Revolutionary Road; Coming from a middle class family in India I am not entirely sure where the irony of RR lies - is it in the fact that the Wheelers pretend to be better than thier suburban lifes and destroy thier happiness chasing a Flaubertian dream or that they are too stupid to enjoy the comforts of a small-town life that most of the world population would die to be trapped in - or make the best of what you have as in Groundhog day.
Or is Groundhog day a little to cosy about this sickness unto death.
I love this movie in so many of the ways that have been pointed out before, and oh so numerous subtle ways, many of which were pointed out in the blog post you linked to. I loved reading that - in that it was a lot of the thoughts I've always had, already tried to explain to other people, but never really wrote down.
Now I have to try to make believe I never read that post - in that it's given me motivation to finally put my own thoughts down, and I don't want to plagiarize.
I have often thought about doing my own commentary track to this film, and putting it one of those web sites - but never got around to it. I will always believe this to be an artistic masterpiece.
Just like another one of my all time favorite "comedies with a deep message" - "Pleasantville" - so many of the average viewers don't see through to the deeper subtext running throughout, or get the poignancy in some of the laugh lines.
Well - I can't say too much more in this brief little time than was said in that other blog, so I'll leave it there.
I just want to say that this movie affects me so, because it plays to a fundamental belief system that I share -- which is that life is ultimately meaningless, but we have to create its meaning through the small things, or else we'd go insane. It's slightly delusional, but we have no choice. Better to do that, and find some peace - than to go insane with the meaninglessness of it all. It's not easy, for anyone who can cut through all of that facade, but even those cynics must do it too. Or at least try.
Oh, and please allow me to add that Bill Murray is a damned genius. And I don't say that lightly.
One of the great things about the movie is that it is not a tramatic event that causes Phil to evolve. He doesn't almost die in a car accident or disease. He doesn't lose a loved one. He has no life changing events. He doesn't even grow old. Yet, his internal change is completely realistic.
Beautiful essay on my favorite film. It’s funny because I just wrote my own essay on “Groundhog Day” this Groundhog Day. For more analysis on the movie, especially on the love story, read it here: www.facebook.com/home.php?#/note.php?note_id=46812397869
Yes, a great film, and also one I never tire of watching. For me this isn't an automatic response to the great. Some movies are more like one crystal clear moment that doesn't need, or even bear, frequent returns. But Groundhog Day, with its infinite time structure just boggles the mind. Not just in what is shown but in imagining all the other stuff he must have done that didn't make it onto the screen. Or, of course, placing oneself in the situation. And I would put Murray's performance very close to the top for comedies. So much more subtle than in Scrooged where he undergoes the overnight metamorphosis. The running time is 103 minutes but Ramis makes it seem much longer and I say that as a compliment! (Scrooged is 101)
A strange thing, though. A female friend of mine wrinkled up her nose when I mentioned it and said: "Guy movie." I can barely imagine anyone not liking it but I truly don't see how it fits the guy movie stereotype. Even though I know Murray himself may be less appreciated by women, generally. Am I missing something? Or is she?
LOL, hey Dane, you gotta read this:
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,307884,00.html
Guy movie?
To my favorite Muppet gameshow host:
Thanks for the link! He even mentions the Scrooged thing. I would still like to hear from GalSmiley, though.
Sorry. Everyone wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant.
I am from Djibouti and now teach English, give please true I wrote the following sentence: "Bet and play accordingly, like a normal poker game, and guess if you or whoever else will win."
Waiting for a reply :-(, Glenn.