Silver Linings Playbook

2012 - Weinstein bros.

The fashion in film of the last decade has been culminated here, yet no matter how fashionable a film style is, it’s how well written a story is that pays off in the end, and that’s why this film got into the oscars.

We have hand-held and personal, up-close action, authoritative directing in a situation shoot resulting in dynamic personalities being created on screen, not to mention incredible tension caused by the timing of what people are saying to one another.  We have originality in design, with the separate apartment in the back of the house, the dance studio, the upstairs we never see of that apartment, and the well-chosen location shooting around a typical house and neighborhood.  We have super, super tertiary characters (Weaver, Tucker, Kher) and subplots, like the obsession of DeNiros’ father with the Eagles, the betting wars, and the ever-tightening circle of close friends and relatives whose layers get pulled back a little at a time to draw them farther away from normal.  This effectively strengthened our disturbed protagonists by giving them great people to bounce off of and to live in comparison to.  So of course we have to mention great casting.  All of that comes together to make a seamless kind of story flow, in what could otherwise be a mess if left in the wrong hands.

Tension is what this film is all about.  Sexual tension, mental tension, and also manipulation.  It’s about the breaking down of what we truly believe in ourselves, and peeling back layers to reveal what we really mean, what we really want.  The confrontational style brought out by Jennifer Lawrence’s character Tiffany, really a shrouded defense mechanism that she is truly finding tiring by the time we meet her, and by the time she meets Pat, is routine.  She is almost bored when she completely opens herself up for sex to him at the first opportunity.  She is testing his waters while rehearsing her well-worn personal path of degradation.

   

Pat is the oblivious dreamer, the do-good man with no “filter” as he says it.  His adherence to a hope is to a fault, and of course, it is this fault that keeps the dynamic tension rolling through the story.  We sympathise and identify with his frustation, most likely because we would like to have his kind of "purity" of heart, if that's what you could call it.  Pat says what we would want to say, so there is something to admire about him and his struggle.

There is just nothing like great character development, along all lines: the writing, the casting, the directing, the acting.  Even DeNiro’s character got him an Oscar bid.

There are plenty of great laughs, but this is not a comedy.  There are many a dramatic moment that could leave one crying as well, and again, what is fashionable in film is this kind of raw and unadulterated expose of the self, put it all on the table, and leave nothing to doubt, get right down to the facts.  This is a very straightforward story of people struggling for genuine love and acceptance, and fighting an inner illness of congenital personality failure.  It’s great chemistry that you should experience, weather you’re into counseling, or just good movies.

4.5 stars