2016/01/26

Day 321: Numb (January, 24)

The reason why Numb didn't made even a slight emotional dent on me is beyond the movie itself. Well, I could argue that  part of our feelings about a film transcends what we see. If some productions don't allow us to get far from them (they are that good), our own life experience has an important role in our perceptions about things - and movies are not exempt from that  logic, of course. 

I love Matthew Perry, truly, since (guess?) Friends (1994). I try to follow his career, even if it is not always an easy task. There's some rewards as Studio 60 on the Sunset Street (that introduced me to Aaron Sorking), but a lot of let downs. Numb is not specifically one of the last, for sure. It is a nice attempt to discuss mental illness and the depression medication furor on the 2000's. I enjoy stories in which the character realises that some things are just for us to solve. Some help is needed, of course, and depression is never a simple struggle, no doubt about that. Beyond medication and therapy and friends and family, as in every chronic disease, some things are up only to us. Matthew Perry realises that after struggling with many inept doctors that he believes at first have all the answers to his lack of empathy with life. His counterpart, Lynn collins, is an endearing woman, confident of what she wants. She reminded me the girl in Friday I'm in Love Song - she is that cute.

That was all ok, all good, except for Perry himself. He looks alike a guy that tired the hell out of my patience and good intentions. I was not able to disconnect from that. The result: I was suffering from the same lack of sympathy that committed the main character. 


Numb. Directed and written by Harris Goldberg. With: Matthew Perry,
Lynn Collins, Kevin Pollak. Canada/USA, 2007, 93 min., Dolby Digital,
Color (DVD).

PS: Before reaching Numb, I first started to watch two other movies on Netflix: the first was The Gift (2015), a thriller with Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall, but the villain defied my patience - he is annoying. The second was Nightcrawler (2014), a movie that I think deserves more attention and care that I was able to give on this day. I can blame an allergic cold for that patience, though. It was not all just on my bad mood :)

1 comment:

  1. Haha. I love how you perceived this, even if you didn't like it as much as I did. I can see why you feel how feel and I can even agree with you to some extent.
    I also know what you mean with the creepy bad guy in The gift, but I enjoyed the film, especially being Joel Edgerton's directorial debut, I thought it was a quite nice thriller piece. As for Nightcrawler, yes, please give it the right attention, it deserves it. It's an awesome film with brilliant performance by Jakey G ;)
    Oh, and Happy Birthday! You go, Dri! Lots of love and happiness! <3 :*

    [ j ]

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