I Love You, Man (2009)

Despite falling into a classical and formulaic plot, I Love You, Man is a socially engaging piece of cinema that somehow feels authentic in its own respect. Written and directed by John Hamburg, the film follows Peter Klaven who has just got engaged to Zooey Rice. Peter, however does not seem to have anyone special he’d like to share the good news with. After overhearing Zooey's friends tell her that they are concerned Peter does not have any friends, he realizes he needs to find some male friends in order to have a best man for his wedding. This concept forms the foundations to a rather simplistic but overwhelmingly derisive film.

The film is aimed at and advertised for a typical female audience, even though the film primarily focuses on the male figure, in particular masculinity and male sexuality. The film therefore segregates itself from the conventions of the romantic comedy by taking its conventions and almost criticising them entirely. The space that both Peter and his “friend” Sydney spend time together is not a space of “manliness” devoted to the male sex, but rather a space that the female audience can intrude in, giving them an insight into the opposite sex, creating comedy for them. This is not to say the male audience is excluded from the film. For them, the film becomes more than a tool for getting some comedy from, but a meaningful way of looking at the contemporary state of the male self and how this relates to the society in which we exist.

Paul Rudd as Peter Klaven demonstrates good performances, but sadly Rashida Jones (Zooey Rice) does not. Her performances at times verge on amateur which was exposed because of the nature of her role. She was not the ‘typical female figure’ who was about to fall into ‘normal marriage‘, and her character demanded a much more flexible approach which she unfortunately did not achieve. Rudd, on the other hand, stayed true to the nature of his role and the many diverse situations he was faced with, really lifting his profile as a prolific Hollywood actor. The directing most certainly added to the emotions expressed from the film, even if, at times, John Hamburg could have prevented so many shots being to static, prolonging one single situation. This effect at times make certain moments of the film seem too long winded and unfortunately unnecessary.

With a whole range of films of its kind being released as of late, I Love You, Man could have been a predictable, formulaic addition to a genre suffering from genetic exhaustion. The key quality from the film most certainly comes from its unexpected ability to draw in different audience types and providing different messages to them. Women will laugh, Men will laugh at the woman. Overall, I Love You, Man is a unique and highly unforeseen piece of cinema that is jam packed with laughs and moments of endless humour. Even though the plot is shallow, the depth of the film lies beneath, just like the feelings that poor Peter cannot admit to.

Knowing (2009)

Knowing, written and directed by Alex Proyas (Dark City) follows a young boy named Caleb who receives Lucinda's envelope from fifty years ago. Lucinda, a young school girl at the time dies of a supposed drug overdose and time ellipses to the present day. Caleb’s father John Koestler, a widower and professor of astrophysics, takes notice in the paper, and further examination makes him realize that part of these digits form dates and death tolls of every major disaster over the past fifty years, in chronological order, and suggests three disasters yet to come.

Knowing is a clever, deep and iconographically beautiful. The plot isn’t the prominent aspect of the film, but the way the plot is unveiled and structured. Scenes complement each other and lead to a satisfying and unpredictable conclusion. In this way, the film is a hybrid between an initial thriller that transforms into a rather astonishing sci-fi epic. The end of the film when we discover that the world will soon end in which Caleb is rescued by aliens is both sentimental and true to the genre transformation that the film explores.

Knowing doesn’t only have astonishing special effects, but they integrate so well with the films style and premise that the plot flows to us through the image which creates the experience. In the two initial accidents in the plane and train respectively, the effects are not overwhelming because they underpin the films style and message so well. Many will discredit Knowing, not providing the film with the attention it deserves. Unlike The Day After Tomorrow (2004) in which the effects drown the plot and overall story, Knowing uses its effects to build upon and expand the narrative which transpires it into a contemporary sci-fi epic.

Knowing has good performances from John Koestler (Nicholas Cage) and Diana Wayland (Rose Byrne) but they are not astonishing. This somehow doesn’t matter because the script is so compelling and imaginative that it forces the characters to flow with it, discarding the overall shallow performances that are represented.

The film starts of with an exploration to the films history, it then drives us into a sense of integrity during the middle of the film and then returns us into a future state, in contrast to the sense of history at the beginning. The film seems like it covers the earths history, not just the previous fifty years. Overall Knowing is a compelling and highly imaginative sci-fi epic. A must for fans of the genre and most certainly beyond.