I don't think I was that thrown by High Fidelity. On the one hand, I could understand why a caring friend gave it to me on discovering I was newly single: it's a film about break-ups, and the way in which a change in relationship status might force one to re-evaluate all that's gone before. On the other, did I really want to weep over the spilt milk of a failed escapade when in fact I should be celebrating my new opportunities and shot at being happy? Is it worth dwelling on that which we can't change?
According to Rob Gordon (John Cusack), it is. The only way forward is to tear back through the past, throwing up questions and answers in equal measure about his suitable as a mate and inevitably hitting that age old stumbling block: "Will I always be alone?". The girl in question that's left him is Laura (Iben Hjejle), and while we don't get an immediate insight into what went wrong, in turns we do discover that in all probability, both of them have acted badly and pissed on their relationship in their own searches for happiness (whether that's through job satisfaction, other partners or just trashing what they know to be 'good').
Rob's erstwhile companions and poor comforters are Dick (Todd Louiso) and Barry (Jack Black), once part-time employees at his Championship Vinyl record store, now full-time loafers and music geeks extraordinaire. One wonders if their dialogue, at times self-mocking in its propensity for pedantry, was in fact the writers' own musical snobbery expressed in ironic terms. Then again, it could just have been marvellously well-observed.
The strength of the film lines both in these two secondary characters, the humour that they provide, and the fact that Rob's internal monologue (delivered throughout directly to the camera by Cusack), while at times pained, never really takes itself too seriously. That's the real clincher: actually to believe what Rob is saying is to accept that by twenty-six you really do need to be settling down. Of course that's not the case, and it struck me as a remarkably dated attitude. In addition, Rob's own lack of insight into his affairs suggested that we should not take everything our narrator says as gospel.
The only really irksome detail of the film was the ending. A reunion between Rob and Laura, while unwished for, was to be expected, but the circumstances surrounding it are decidedly morbid and pathetic. The suggestion was that they wouldn't find anyone better, so may as well settle for just 'ok'. But while in Brief Encounter that might be plausible, and indeed laudable, as settling for family is both a noble and loyal decision, here there is no nobility to their actions. In fact, it just seems that they are giving up; Rob's realisation that the other women he has eyes for are merely fantasies does not come across as something momentous. Rather, it appears to be a disappointment; the bubble has burst and he is accepting that life won't get better than Laura. Perhaps he's right; perhaps he has come to a conclusion that might be right for him; but it was not a decision he made that inspired any confidence in the viewer, especially having seen him moan and mope in the pouring Chicago rain.
A disappointing ending to an otherwise enjoyable film.
***
2000
John Cusack, Iben Hjejle, Todd Louiso, Jack Black
dir. Stephen Frears
based on the book by Nick Hornby
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