[Para edited out 6/9/17]
I first watched Love and Other Catastrophes in the summer between high school and uni - a time which, if it was half as golden as I remember it as being, must have been golden indeed - and really liked it; it went a long way towards shaping my impressions of university life (which at that point were very vague indeed), and incidentally gave me something to look forward to. The film stayed with me, too - over the last six years, I've often found myself thinking of Frances O'Connor's character, running around campus from department to department, stuck amidst layers of red tape and university bureaucracy, or remembered her lying outside on a bench, singing along to "Shivers", or recalled Ari's habit of recording his thoughts on the tape recorder he carries with him, when finding myself playing out similar scenes in my own life.
So, with uni over for me at least for the time being (and more than likely forever), and the real world rushing up all too soon (coming up to two weeks away), it seemed a good time to watch the film again and see how it looks with the benefit of the passing of these last six years. First thing I noticed is that it was actually filmed at Melbourne Uni (I hadn't been sure that it was) - although it was made in '96, and campus looks a bit different now than it did then, there are still plenty of recognisable buildings and spots (South Lawn!) - which gives it an added piquancy...[a light edit here 6/9/17]...there were enough similarities for me to recognise plenty of consonances beyond those I'd retained from my first viewing (enjoyed the Kundera conversation at the party!) - and that's where the nostalgia began to creep in.
[Para edited out 6/9/17]
So evidently, in some important respects at least, the film itself is almost incidental [the idea of the film / the film 'itself']. But I guess there are reasons why it caught my attention in the first place and why I liked it again tonight, even personal associations aside, and you know, those reasons aren't so very hard to find...it's funny and sweet and smart, and it's about the search for love. Sometimes, at least, that's more than enough.
I first watched Love and Other Catastrophes in the summer between high school and uni - a time which, if it was half as golden as I remember it as being, must have been golden indeed - and really liked it; it went a long way towards shaping my impressions of university life (which at that point were very vague indeed), and incidentally gave me something to look forward to. The film stayed with me, too - over the last six years, I've often found myself thinking of Frances O'Connor's character, running around campus from department to department, stuck amidst layers of red tape and university bureaucracy, or remembered her lying outside on a bench, singing along to "Shivers", or recalled Ari's habit of recording his thoughts on the tape recorder he carries with him, when finding myself playing out similar scenes in my own life.
So, with uni over for me at least for the time being (and more than likely forever), and the real world rushing up all too soon (coming up to two weeks away), it seemed a good time to watch the film again and see how it looks with the benefit of the passing of these last six years. First thing I noticed is that it was actually filmed at Melbourne Uni (I hadn't been sure that it was) - although it was made in '96, and campus looks a bit different now than it did then, there are still plenty of recognisable buildings and spots (South Lawn!) - which gives it an added piquancy...[a light edit here 6/9/17]...there were enough similarities for me to recognise plenty of consonances beyond those I'd retained from my first viewing (enjoyed the Kundera conversation at the party!) - and that's where the nostalgia began to creep in.
[Para edited out 6/9/17]
So evidently, in some important respects at least, the film itself is almost incidental [the idea of the film / the film 'itself']. But I guess there are reasons why it caught my attention in the first place and why I liked it again tonight, even personal associations aside, and you know, those reasons aren't so very hard to find...it's funny and sweet and smart, and it's about the search for love. Sometimes, at least, that's more than enough.
