This is what I love about movies.
“One Day” (based on the book by David Nicholls) is a new movie starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess in the lead roles of Emma and Dexter, and it is one of the more enjoyable movies I’ve seen at the theatre in a long while.
It also helps that Anne Hathaway is one of my favourite actresses. =)
“One Day” uses a clever device whereby it tells the love story of Emma and Dexter by simply enacting one day (15th July) of each of the 20 years, which means that you only get to see what happens every 15th July, starting from the year they graduate from the University of Edinburgh.
And somehow, many of the most significant events in their lives happen on this 15th of July.
I would hesitate to call it a romantic comedy because it hardly follows the conventions of your average Hollywood rom-com, and neither does it have an all’s-well-that-ends-well ending.
Perhaps I could call it a romantic dramedy or something.
There were many very funny and clever lines in the film, and I chuckled at many of them.
I loved the many cultural references in the movie to indicate to the viewer the specific year they were in, e.g. Tracy Chapman’s “Talkin’ ‘Bout A Revolution” being played in 1988, cell phones somewhere in the mid-90′s, etc.
I thought the acting was very good, and Anne Hathaway certainly held her own, inconsistent accent aside.
Jim Sturgess was a joy to behold, and I couldn’t help but keep noticing his faint resemblance to Paul McCartney.
Watch the film and tell me if you don’t think otherwise.
I loved the film because it was real, and because I thought I could identify with a lot of the sentiments in the movie.
It’s about love and loss, about how the path of love in real life is never ever smooth.
It talked about how sometimes in life we don’t seize the moment when it is presented to us, only to regret later in life when the opportunity is no longer there.
It’s a bit like that “the moment passes you by” scene in “My Best Friend’s Wedding” (here).
Watching “One Day”, I found myself close to tears at many poignant moments in the film.
Definitely one of the better films I’ve watched in a long while.
It’s probably not going to be your chart-topping, top-grossing hit movie, but I love it all the same.
I think I’ll buy a copy of the DVD once it is released, just for keepsake.
