Wednesday, October 17, 2012

The Truman Show [PG]


Live on air 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; it’s the Truman Show and Truman Burbank is the star… although he doesn’t know that. Since his birth, Truman has been blissfully unaware that his life is a nonstop, smash hit TV show; his hometown of Seahaven is a giant Hollywood studio run by a visionary writer/creator/director, and his neighbours, co-workers, parents, and even his bubbly wife are contract actors. But gradually, Truman begins to get wise to the strangeness of his world and becomes determined to uncover the truth about his life and discover what is real. 

Films as original, as clever, as poignant, and as beautiful as this do not come around very often. And it’s films like these that I absolutely adore: films, stories, and ideas that are wholly original, raise questions, push the boundaries, and are simply impossible to do more than once: Stranger Than Fiction, Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind, and of course, The Truman Show. There have been many films that have redefined, taken a stab at, and levelled up the idea of reality TV like Battle Royale, The Hunger Games and the like, but no films have come close to scaling the out-of-atmosphere heights that The Truman Show ascends. A most groundbreaking, provocative, and genuinely beautiful film in my opinion, it really saddens me that it doesn’t earn a place in The Book, The Truman Show is absolutely spectacular! 

Live on air 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; it’s the Truman Show and Truman Burbank is the star… although he doesn’t know that. Since his birth, Truman has been blissfully unaware that his life is a nonstop, smash hit TV show; his hometown of Seahaven is a giant Hollywood studio run by a visionary writer/creator/director, and his neighbours, co-workers, parents, and even his bubbly wife are contract actors. But gradually, Truman begins to get wise to the strangeness of his world and becomes determined to uncover the truth about his life and discover what is real. 

Let’s start with the story. Bringing the concept of reality TV up to a whole new stratospheric level, the story of The Truman Show deserves many an accolade as it is made up of absolutely nothing but open doors. There are so many ways in which you can watch this film, each one more fascinating than the last. The story is perfectly balanced with comedy, romance, and all forms of drama from political, to satirical, to psychological, to emotional. The audience cannot help but succumb to a tidal wave of emotive responses from laughing, to swooning, to angry exclaiming, to gripping the edge of the seat, to crying. And everything else in between. Just absolutely everything about the writing of this movie was absolute genius! 
The Truman Show was also a real breakthrough for Jim Carrey, establishing him as a very capable dramatic actor and not just that hugely hysterical guy from The Mask and Liar Liar. Jim delivers a performance that still contains a few of his signature comedic treats, but ultimately the real power comes from his more emotive scenes: scenes of slow realisation, fear, and doubt in his own sanity. Your eyes are always on him from start to finish and you’ll never look at him as a mere funny man every again after this! 
Starring Laura Linney, Noah Emmerich, Natascha McElhone, Holland Taylor, Brian Delate, Harry Shearer Paul Giamatti, and Ed Harris, The Truman Show is a most spectacular movie filled with comedy, drama, friendship, determination, and inspiring bravery. It really is most beautiful and even though The Book deems it unworthy, I would definitely recommend you get down to your local Blockbuster and grab a copy!

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