Zane and I scrapped our original plan to see one of the entries to this year's Cinemanila, but made our way to Greenbelt instead to see Julie and Julia with Dia.
Julie and Julia is the film adaptation of Julie Powell's eponymous book, in turn a rendition of her blog which chronicled the progress of her self-imposed, 365-day foray into Julia Child's seminal cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Written and directed by Nora Ephron, the film juxtaposes the lives of these two women, both beginning with their movement into unfamiliar territory and their journey to self-realization through, you guessed it, cooking. Julia Child and her husband Paul are expats newly-arrived in Paris, while Julie and Eric Powell have just recently moved to an apartment above a pizzeria in Queens, a larger space than the one they left in Manhattan.
For want of something to do, Julia tries her hand at several acceptable occupations for married women in the sixties, attending classes in hat-making, studying French, then finally attending an advanced cooking class at Le Cordon Bleu. With the encouragement of her editor husband, Julia Powell, a cubicle employee for a government organization helping families affected by the 9/11 tragedy, embarks on a project: "365 days. 536 recipes. One girl and a crappy outer borough kitchen." Although more than a generation separates these women, the sentiment is the same - the desire to find one's calling and therefore define a self that is distinct and separate from one's role as wife, worker, etc.
The storytelling itself is simple and linear, even though it deals with two timelines. The narrative is a study on parallelism, and the cutting from one storyline to the next - from Julie's to Julia's, or vice-versa - not only serves as side-by-side comparison of these women's struggles and triumphs, but also as a cliffhanger, a break before a significant turn in the plot. There are a lot of funny moments in the film: in one scene, we see Paul Child literally crying by the door upon finding his wife vigorously chopping away a mountain of onions; in another, Julie Powell, in a fit of frustration over failing to do a recipe properly, is on the kitchen floor, crying and throwing a tantrum. The low points are rendered with very little melodrama: joy and pain war in Julia's features until she finally breaks down after finding out that her recently-married sister is with child, and from the quiet way her husband comforts her we realize that they are unable to have their own.
Larger-than-life and with a peculiar voice to match, Julia Child is splendidly and perfectly portrayed by Meryl Streep. I remember an acquaintance raving about her performance in this movie, "Meryl Streep disappeared; that is Julia Child on screen." Ms. Streep was more than able to capture the tenor of the iconic Julia's character. The subtlety of her approach made me see Julia as a funny character, but without the slapstick; her gestures were firm, decisive, but without grand gesticulation. Meryl Streep wore her character like a second skin. Amy Adams as Julie Powell was also impressive. As a young, married woman juggling the role of wife, employee, friend and daughter in 21st century New York, she echoes all the joy, frustration, insecurities, complex relationships of today's woman in her thirties with great sincerity and humor.
I fell in love with Stanley Tucci and Chris Messina as the main characters' incredible husbands. More than just an emotional prop, I believe that the role as husbands played by these fine gentlemen is astoundingly simple, yet extremely significant: they treated their wives with unswerving love and deep respect, and because they were confident about their place in life, the enthusiasm and support was real and sincere. With this as the backdrop, Julie and Julia flourished and ultimately succeeded in their own respective journeys.
I liked how the music was used as a subtle, invisible cue to gently transition the audience from one storyline to the other. It is only towards the end of the movie that one song, Time After Time, played out uninterruptedly through both Julie and Julia's storylines. The cinematography, too, was used to compare and contrast. In the first few scenes, in Julia's story, we see the Eiffel Tower in the background while the couple settles in to their new home. On the other hand, as Julie and Eric drive to their new home, the camera tilts to an old, rusting water tower as the car passes by.
Overall, Julie and Julia is a good movie, another Oscar-worthy material for lead actress Meryl Streep. Now, shoo and go see it!
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there is a finite number of times that the heart can take rejection. with each one, the heart suffers a little death. i'm getting tired of trying to fit in somewhere i'm unwanted. i'm tired of seeing your retreating back.
i need a break.
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