Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Three realities???

I have seen this movie three times now. The first screening that I watched was an "Appreciating the Arts" course in high school, the second time was at home with my sister, the third time was in class. After the first screening I was appreciative of the movie, but did not believe that I had the capacity to endure the music, and the mental exhaustion that it leaves its audience with, for the second time. But ironically it was this music that help intensify the movie watching experience and kept me in my sit for the second and third time.
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An interesting way to analyze this movie is by looking at the three sequences as three realities in the life of this certain individual, Lola. An obvious observation that one can make is the fact that each sequence has a different end to it. When Lola hangs up that red phone, at that point she knows (and the audience knows) what her circumstances are i.e what are the cards she is being dealt. By showing different endings, the film maker is alluding to the fact that Lola's decisions and actions had consequences. In other words, in each situation whatever Lola is given the power to find her own ending by doing certain actions/decisions. So in that sense this movie seems to celebrate Existentialism, which states that humans are capable of giving meaning to their lives. So, once Lola knows what her circumstance/cards are, she can play them accordingly and she, is as an individual, capable of effecting the outcome.

But at the same time it also seems to critique existentialist thought, because at several points in the first and second sequence, Lola simply has no control over situation. For example, I would regard the time delays that often causes the twist in her plans, as something that is out of her control. And especially in the third sequence, much more emphasis is put on luck. But it is in this third sequence where she has less control over her situation that is ultimately the best outcome.
In this third sequence she also seems to be praying, something she didn't do in the first two instances.

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2 Comments:

Blogger Mike Kim said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

4/29/2007 2:02 AM  
Blogger Mike Kim said...

It would be fair to say that the last sequence was indeed the most successful one since she obtained the money and Lola and her boyfriend are still alive.

However, the term "successful" is certainly biased because this represents only Lola's point of view. Since the movie only focuses on Lola it is easy to focus on the outcomes of Lola's actions, but it is important to recognize also other people's lives have been affected by Lola's actions, and certainly not all of them were positive.

The concept of Luck and praying are meaningless in my opinion, since whatever happens might be interpreted by a certain individual as "luck", but at the same time it would be a "curse" to the other person

4/29/2007 2:05 AM  

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