Everyone
processes grief differently, sometimes in ways we don't understand. This is the
premise of the 2015 movie, Demolition. Played wonderfully by Jake Gyllenhaal,
the protagonist Davis Mitchell goes through his journey of finding his way after losing
his wife. He goes from a man refusing to get in touch with his emotions to
finally, with a trigger of a post-it note, breaking down.
Davis, an investment banker gets in a car accident with his wife Julia. When he wakes up from the jolt, he realizes Julia has passed away. While in the hospital, unable to get his candy dislodged from the vending machine, he decides to write to Champions Vending Company about it. As he starts writing, he tries to provide more context to the letter by talking about what happened to him and his wife. This is on the night of Julia's funeral where he also stands in front of a mirror and tries to cry, to no avail. While he is unable to show any emotion towards his dead wife, he does unknowingly, start pouring out in his letter to the company. And he doesn't stop at one, he writes four more, not expecting anyone on the other side to read them. He is comfortable feeling that he is talking about his experience to a void. Turns out, the customer rep at the vending machine company has been reading his letters and feels empathetic towards him. One thing leads to another and he ends up becoming friends with the rep, Karen and her rock music loving son, Chris.
The day after the funeral, Davis goes on usually about his life. He wakes up, jogs, has breakfast and leaves to office, the firm owned by his father in law, Phil. Taken aback by his decision to get back to work so soon, Phil advises him to take some time off. But Davis continues much to the surprise of everyone. While at work, he notices that one of the washroom stall's door creaked every time he opens it. This leads to noticing a series of things he had never before- the leaking Fridge (about which Julia talks to him in the car just before the accident), the blinking lamp at his in-laws' place and more. When he does, he decides to start fixing things.
"Repairing the human heart is like repairing an automobile. You have to take everything apart, just examine everything, and then you can put it all back together". An advice from Phil that Davis decides to take matter of factly and does just that, starts "demolishing" things like the squeaky door at work, his computer, his fridge, his own home (with a bulldozer!) and he quits his job at the investment firm to work as a part of a wrecking crew. He also has Chris helping him rip apart the beautiful house he had built with Julia. But nothing seems to help him "fix" anything because he hasn't tried "fixing" himself.
Ultimately, the fix comes in the form of a crumpled post-it note in his car one fine day, the day he decides to visit Julia's grave. He meets the man that has been following him in his station wagon, the man who was responsible to ram his car into Julia's. Davis immediately seems to forgive this man and gets into his car to find a note from his departed wife written when she was alive. This opens all flood gates and Davis grieves.
There are different supporting story arcs for Karen, Chris, Julia and the Eastwoods. However, I wouldn't want to write about them as they are not important (at least that's how I feel).
Gyllenhaal has always delivered stellar performances since Brokeback Mountain and this movie is no different. I especially, enjoyed watching him go from a man showing literally no emotion at the start of the movie to ending it all with uncontrollable sobs.
There are a few parts that were not my favorite though, like the one where Davis places a gun in Chris' hands (the underage son of Karen) and asks him to shoot him while he wears a safety vest, the one where he and Chris (again!) demolish everything that costs a ton of money!! (I get that he is filthy rich but that is just taking things too far), the one where he brings Karen to a scholarship party held in the memory of his wife (how is that remotely respectful?) and Karen laughs inappropriately in the middle of the scholarship announcements by Phil, etc.
One of the best things about the movie though is the music! Given that Chris Moreno is a rock music fan, you are treated to a ton of them! You get to see Gyllenhaal dance wildly on the street to "Mr. Big" by Free (honestly, this guy's got some moves!) and enjoy the beach with Karen while La bohème byCharles Aznavour plays in the background.
Watch it if you like slow movies that need you to contemplate what's happening and interpret the story your own way. (Personally, not my favorite brand of movies but then it is inescapable with Jake Gyllenhaal's cool sun-glasses and headphones wearing picture on the Netflix thumbnail!)
(Image credit: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1172049/)
Davis, an investment banker gets in a car accident with his wife Julia. When he wakes up from the jolt, he realizes Julia has passed away. While in the hospital, unable to get his candy dislodged from the vending machine, he decides to write to Champions Vending Company about it. As he starts writing, he tries to provide more context to the letter by talking about what happened to him and his wife. This is on the night of Julia's funeral where he also stands in front of a mirror and tries to cry, to no avail. While he is unable to show any emotion towards his dead wife, he does unknowingly, start pouring out in his letter to the company. And he doesn't stop at one, he writes four more, not expecting anyone on the other side to read them. He is comfortable feeling that he is talking about his experience to a void. Turns out, the customer rep at the vending machine company has been reading his letters and feels empathetic towards him. One thing leads to another and he ends up becoming friends with the rep, Karen and her rock music loving son, Chris.
(Image credit: https://www.mandatory.com/culture/1009831-interview-jake-gyllenhaal-discusses-new-film-demolition-dealing-with-grief-identity-in-the-modern-age)
The day after the funeral, Davis goes on usually about his life. He wakes up, jogs, has breakfast and leaves to office, the firm owned by his father in law, Phil. Taken aback by his decision to get back to work so soon, Phil advises him to take some time off. But Davis continues much to the surprise of everyone. While at work, he notices that one of the washroom stall's door creaked every time he opens it. This leads to noticing a series of things he had never before- the leaking Fridge (about which Julia talks to him in the car just before the accident), the blinking lamp at his in-laws' place and more. When he does, he decides to start fixing things.
(Image credit: https://movies.mxdwn.com/reviews/movie-review-demolition/)
"Repairing the human heart is like repairing an automobile. You have to take everything apart, just examine everything, and then you can put it all back together". An advice from Phil that Davis decides to take matter of factly and does just that, starts "demolishing" things like the squeaky door at work, his computer, his fridge, his own home (with a bulldozer!) and he quits his job at the investment firm to work as a part of a wrecking crew. He also has Chris helping him rip apart the beautiful house he had built with Julia. But nothing seems to help him "fix" anything because he hasn't tried "fixing" himself.
(Image credit: https://movies.mxdwn.com/reviews/movie-review-demolition/)
Ultimately, the fix comes in the form of a crumpled post-it note in his car one fine day, the day he decides to visit Julia's grave. He meets the man that has been following him in his station wagon, the man who was responsible to ram his car into Julia's. Davis immediately seems to forgive this man and gets into his car to find a note from his departed wife written when she was alive. This opens all flood gates and Davis grieves.
(Image credit: https://dailygyllenhaals.tumblr.com/post/146468924390/demolition-2016-dir-jean-marc-vall%C3%A9e)
(Yeah no,
that's the fake crying scene!)
There are different supporting story arcs for Karen, Chris, Julia and the Eastwoods. However, I wouldn't want to write about them as they are not important (at least that's how I feel).
(Image credit: http://marcusgohmarcusgoh.com/movies/movie-review-demolition)
Gyllenhaal has always delivered stellar performances since Brokeback Mountain and this movie is no different. I especially, enjoyed watching him go from a man showing literally no emotion at the start of the movie to ending it all with uncontrollable sobs.
There are a few parts that were not my favorite though, like the one where Davis places a gun in Chris' hands (the underage son of Karen) and asks him to shoot him while he wears a safety vest, the one where he and Chris (again!) demolish everything that costs a ton of money!! (I get that he is filthy rich but that is just taking things too far), the one where he brings Karen to a scholarship party held in the memory of his wife (how is that remotely respectful?) and Karen laughs inappropriately in the middle of the scholarship announcements by Phil, etc.
(Image credit: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1172049/mediaviewer/rm3612811008)
One of the best things about the movie though is the music! Given that Chris Moreno is a rock music fan, you are treated to a ton of them! You get to see Gyllenhaal dance wildly on the street to "Mr. Big" by Free (honestly, this guy's got some moves!) and enjoy the beach with Karen while La bohème byCharles Aznavour plays in the background.
(Image credit: https://giphy.com/gifs/foxsearchlight-dance-jake-gyllenhaal-l2QDLujtcAvAr2gRa)
Watch it if you like slow movies that need you to contemplate what's happening and interpret the story your own way. (Personally, not my favorite brand of movies but then it is inescapable with Jake Gyllenhaal's cool sun-glasses and headphones wearing picture on the Netflix thumbnail!)
(Image credit:https://gifer.com/en/gifs/film)
2 comments:
Great post honey. I will play the ost after reading this <3
Thank you so much hon :) <3
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