Film Club: Perfect Sense

This month's film club discussion is about Perfect Sense a movie that was recommended by Tasha.

I have to admit that when I finished watching the movie, I was like OMG WHAT AM I GOING TO WRITE? Because I sort of felt like the movie made all of its points in ways you couldn't miss leaving little for actual discussion. But what the heck, here goes.

I guess we live in a world where we know ourselves by our experiences and everyone is always seeking better and better experiences. The relentless pursuit of technology is proof enough of this, I don't exactly mean that people are all going out and doing extreme sports or anything--just that we are constantly seeking to improve how we experience things, sharper images in film, clearer sound, better taste, candles loaded with fragrance, etc.

And the thing about all of that is that so much of it is superficial--we don't go see the ocean, but we see it look pretty in a movie, gorgeous models are photoshopped for magazine covers, we burn candles instead of bringing flowers directly in, and so on. So I guess it stands to reason that some of this extends to relationships as well--we have so many layers of stuff between us and so many ways we can create barriers so that we don't have to know each other fully. These things keep us isolated from each other.

So I think this movie kind of explored what would happen if people lost their senses and tried to tell us this story about two people who had all of this stripped away and learned to rely on each other. I mean at the beginning of the movie we see Ewan McGregor kick a girl out because he can't sleep with someone else in the bed and by the end all he wants is to find the woman he loves "and feel her breath" or whatever that last voiceover said.

So the film kind of flips things? Like I was thinking about it a bit and how awful it would be to be unable to see or hear or smell or taste and how locked inside yourself you would feel. But it's only once the people in the film start to lose their senses that they start to come out of themselves...they develop a greater dependence on each other and sense of intimacy. So it's by stripping away all of these other distractions that they get to the heart of what makes life worthwhile.

So those are my Deep Thoughts on the movie. But! Superficial stuff!

*I didn't really like it
*It reminded me a little bit of Survivors (that BBC show god I wish everyone in the world had watched this and Daybreakers. yes that vampire movie where everyone was a vampire) mostly because of a virus having a serious impact on the world.
*I wanted an explanation!
*I was seriously bugged by the lack of practical preparation for things
*I didn't enjoy the voiceovers. I think I would have liked the movie better if they'd found ways to work in those ideas to the story instead of telling us outright.
*I hope I never lose my senses!
*Eating soap is gross

What did you guys think? Did you enjoy the movie?

Next month we are watching It Happened on Fifth Avenue so I hope you join in our discussion which will be held December 20th!