Hello, is it me you're looking for?

It certainly has been a while since I blogged about anything at all. But I have started an internship at the Melbourne International Film Festival and while looking for outlets to spread the word about a competition that is being run at the moment (that is freakin' awesome) I have been looking at a lot of local film blogs and have found myself thinking "I could do that". So I shall. As of.....nnnnnnnow.

The last film I went to see was this one.

Poster design by The Cimarron Group
at Greater Union on Russell Street.

I had no idea it was based on a short story by existential sci-fi legend Philip K Dick when I went into the cinema and didn't know until right at the end, but as soon as I saw that little note pop up in the credit's I suddenly understood why the film is as good as it is. I don't often like the big budget, big action Hollywood blockbusters but I enjoyed The Adjustment Bureau greatly. The idea that all our decisions and choices are being controlled by a bureau of angels disguised as FBI agents that can freeze time and come and go as they please making sure you stick to the plan is one that has plagued me late at night on many an occasion, particularly when an astutely annoying uni assignment had us building sets to make a film in Second Life and quick ventures away from the RMIT island out into the wide world of second life had me thinking of my consecutive philosophy lectures and the idea that we're the avatars and someone is making us go to university and to the supermarket and to learn french and to sleep etc kept me awake for many an our. So basically what I am trying to say is that this film was right up my alley. I think the sci-fi's that "could happen" work particularly well in your classic format Hollywood film production, but this works well as a romance as well. The central character hero politician David Norris, played by a straight but as ever effectual Matt Damon, meets and falls in love with contemporary dancer Elise, played effectively by a surprisingly charming Emily Blunt, who he was never meant to meet. After an accidental glimpse into the world of the adjustment bureau Norris is handed the ultimatum, keep quiet and stay away or you'll become a vegetable. When another chance meeting has his heart a fluttering the big guns are brought in and the star crossed lovers are in for one hell of an uphill battle. The ending is complex and unexpected and the adjustment bureau is a refreshing turn in the often alien obsessed sci-fi genre of late. I am inspired to read more Philip K Dick and shall go and do that now.