There's Nothing Quite Like Childhood Friends

As I'm writing this on a Tuesday morning, clouds are taking over the sky and a light rain seems imminent.  In other words, it is the perfect movie weather.  In fact, all I want to do is curl up with a hot cup of coffee and a feel-good movie.

Rob Reiner's 1986 film, Stand By Me, is the perfect remedy to a day like today.

Stand By Me tells the story of a group of four twelve year old boys who go exploring to find the corpse of a boy who is reported to have died along the town's train tracks.  Based off the Stephen King novel The Body, you may expect this tale to be disturbing or scary, but do not be alarmed; the main take aways are regarding the importance of loyalty and friendship as we grow out of childhood and are forced to face reality.

The story is told through the eyes of the adult Gordie Lachance (played by Wil Wheaton) as he writes about his childhood and the weekend that changed his life.  Not many people can recall the exact moment they entered adulthood, but for Gordie, staring into the lifeless eyes of a kid his own age was this pivotal moment.

This point of view is crucial to creating the nostalgia that is present throughout the movie, while also bringing into light the looming idea of adulthood.  The narrator looks back on these moments spent horsing around with his friends as some of his best memories, making the movie not only funny, but just fun to watch, as it reminds us of our own memories.  Whether it be teasing each other (all in good fun of course), telling ghost stories around a bonfire, or acting tough to impress one another, Stand By Me brings us back to being kids when all we wanted to do was have a good time goofing off with our friends.  Moments like this are what make this a feel-good movie, as we watch this group of friends embracing being young and stupid.

However this film appeals to us as we know too well what it feels like to be at childhood's gate.  We watch the characters deal with issues such as dysfunctional family dynamics, bad reputations, death, and parental pressure to succeed, and even if we can't relate directly, we understand that with growing up comes the recognition that there are bigger issues than who would win in a foot race.

Why does this make the perfect movie for a rainy day?  Because it is laced with nostalgia, making us feel like everything is as simple as it used to be.  Not to mention a well crafted plot that keeps us laughing as we watch "boys just being boys", while also dying to know if they will find the body (pun intended).  It is heartbreaking at times, but comes with the important reminder that friends are what get us through the challenges we face, especially as we grow up.

I leave you with my favorite line, which is not even spoken, that drives home the idea of how important friends can be in shaping our lives.  The reason you will be captivated by this movie enough to watch it over and over is because it instills this idea, leaving us longing for a day to sit around goofing off with each other like we used to do.

The Breakfast Club (Spoiler: Not About Pancakes)

I want to preface this by saying I love John Hughes' movies.  Iconic dialogue and dynamic characters seem to be critical in making a classic 80's movie.

Among these classic 80's movies is Hughes' 1985 film The Breakfast Club.  You've probably noticed it playing on ABC Family every other weekend, but for good reason.  The Breakfast Club has stayed relevant for the past thirty years simply because both teenagers in the 80's and teenagers now are able to relate to the coming-of-age theme prevalent throughout the movie.

The Breakfast Club focuses on five students that must attend a Saturday detention for various reasons.  Although the students do not know each other personally (with one exception), they have for the most part, seen or heard of one another.  However, during the course of detention the characters seize (however reluctantly) the opportunity to get to know the others, breaking the labels they feel define them.  The film takes place over the course of just several hours, shot mostly in the library where detention is held.

The main take away from the film is that people are more then what they are labeled as.  The closing scene captures this idea perfectly with the voice over of the reading of a manuscript left by the students for the principal to read after detention ends.  The kids aver that "you see us as you want to see us," but refute with the understanding that people are too complex to be labeled as just one thing.

Our characters come into detention labeled individually as "a brain, an athlete, a basketcase, a princess, and a criminal."  If you have not seen the movie, or even if you have, take a second to create a visual of what our characters look like, what they act like, who their friends are, etc. We as humans try to be efficient in our personality classifications of one another, but the point Hughes is trying to make is that these classifications are often left in the primitive stages; we do not bother digging further to find out more about one another, missing out on what people are actually like.

Fun Fact: This scene in the library was not scripted, John Hughes
simply told the cast to act as their characters would. 

The exploitation of this idea is what makes this movie worth watching over and over.  Despite taking place in only a couple of hours, there is still character development, exemplified as we watch the characters take on aspects of each other.  Judd Nelson's character (the criminal) shows his soft side.  Molly Ringwald's character (the princess) insists that her life is not as picture perfect as she wants everyone to think.  Emilio Estevez's character (the athlete) appears on the verge of tears due to the pressure put on him by his father.

I digress.

The benefit of knowing the end result for the characters is watching what steps they must take to get there.  As a young adult I am always willing to receive advice on how to do the whole "growing up" thing.  In just the course of a day, the characters of The Breakfast Club show us the importance of connecting with people beyond a first impression.

Why is this lesson so important that we should soak it up over and over?

Because people are lazy and making connections with other people takes effort.  However, this movie proves to us that the effort may be worth it, as you would be surprised what people are like when you remove their labels.

Not to mention the final frame of Judd Nelson's fist clenched in the air as Don't You Forget About Me plays in the background, which gives me chills every time.

Getting Over the Timeline

I think it is safe to say that for the most part, people enjoy watching movies.  In the duration of a film, we laugh, we cry, we scream, or we sigh as we experience a variety of emotions.

Basically, we react.

We react to the plot, to the dialogue, to the characters, to all parts of the film so meticulously crafted by the director.  But reactions are unpredictable, meaning that the way we react to something once is not necessarily how we will react the second time around.

I am a firm believer that it is important, if not crucial, to watch movies again and again to experience the different reactions each viewing brings.

Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (1994) is a film that evokes a different reaction each viewing.  The movie depicts the lives of four individuals whose paths cross at various points in time.  The film is shot out of chronological order, introducing first a couple planning their robbery of a restaurant they are eating at.  At the height of the action of this robbery, the film stops to introduce two hitmen on an assignment.  After completing the job, one of the hitman, Vincent Vega (played by John Travolta), takes his boss's wife, Mia Wallace (played by Uma Thurman), on a date.  Next the film proceeds to introduce another set of characters: a boxer named Butch (played by Bruce Willis) and he and his girlfriend's escapades after Willis' character kills his opponent in the ring.

(Obviously there is a lot of action between these changes in scene, but I don't want to give away too many spoilers.)

These events are presented as chapters, indicating that it is not the big picture that matters, rather the individual stories themselves.  It is up to the viewer to put the puzzle pieces together, a task we are often too lazy to do and instead deem the movie "too confusing."

To the lazy viewers, note that I agree with you.  The transitions between chapters are as confusing as they sound when watching the movie for the first time.  The effort involved trying to keep up with the plot itself leaves little room to pick up on the details that make it such an engaging film.

But after watching the movie for a second, or even third time, we are no longer forced to focus so much on the confusion that erupts from the lack of sequence.  Instead we notice things such as the character growth demonstrated by Jules, as he decides he wants to quit his life as a gangster. Similarly, we are able to understand the symbolism of Mia and Vincent's date in a diner based off 50's pop culture.

Perhaps most entertainingly, we pick up the stylistics elements that only a Tarantino film can have, whether that be the exaggerated violence (because is it really a Tarantino movie if there isn't blood and guts galore), the classic worm's eye view shot, or even Tarantino's own cameo.

Fun Fact: Director Quentin Tarantino has been known to use this shot in most of his movies.

All of the things that distinguish Pulp Fiction are easily lost as we attempt to place all the scenes on a timeline.  However, after watching the movie more than once, we pick up on the little details that make this film what it is:  funny, riveting, and even insightful about human emotions and behavior.