I've spent the night by watching 2 movies, one American and one French. The former was a teen flick called Superbad. I watched it because they said the rating was good but turns out it's more like the teenage version one-less-crazy-buddy version of Hangover. Maybe because the trilogy wasn't out yet before this movie. With high ratings comes high expectation, but unfortunately it didn't have much impact on me. Instead it got me to some other things.
So I continued my movie trip from USA to France (lol). The movie was called The Intouchables. It is called Intouchables in French. It is a movie about this French millionaire named Phillippe who is paralyzed from the neck till his toe after an accident. Therefore, while he was searching for a care-taker, as usual, he met this African guy called Triss.
When I finished the movie, I felt kinda...sad. This sadness doesn't make me tears overflowing and wailing like "WHYYYY?!!! WHY CAN'T THEY BE TOGETHER?!" To be honest I WAS expecting this sort of emotion but it failed me. As much as I feel sad in the end, all I get was teary-eyed. Maybe it's just me who particularly enjoys this kind of movies with modern Adele-ish piano sound, sounds deep and artistic, makes me feel deep. LOL! Movies like Pride and Prejudice, Anna Karenina,..(I can only think of Keira Knightley now), movies set in the early 20th centuries, especially those backgrounds set during the World War period like the Pianist (ironic much) or those set in the Victorian Period (Yes I'm talking about The Young Victoria).
Listen to the ending song then you'll get what I mean.
Besides the fact that music had got me tangled into this emotional trap, this movie has some serious hilarious jokes. One of them was when Phillippe was looking at this painting where he was considering in buying it, a splash of red paint, costs 30,000 euros. Triss was like, you are buying a painting where the artist coincidentally had a nose bleed on it for 30.00 euros?! It sounds funny but actually, it's true. Later on it is seen that Triss too got himself trying on abstract artwork for fun, he actually could sell it for 11,000 euros. But what got him into this deal wasn't because of him, but it's the persuasion of Phillippe who lied to his friends that this painting will be exhibited across Europe. Man, he had no idea this was drawn by the black care-taker that he wasn't too fond of.
Through this movie it consolidates 2 thoughts of mine. First of all, simplicity is the most divine level of creativity. I don't mean those simple to the extend that you have no idea what's going on. I meant that something which is direct, obvious, and well executed. Although this movie has been listed as one of my favourite movies, Rotten Tomatoes only gave a 75% ratings for it and Roger Ebert also agrees that it still cannot avoid the cliche, cheesy storyline. It is almost like the French version of Driving Miss Daisy. I might not have watched any movies that are similar to this plot, but I can assure that the message in here is clear. And with the backup of a strong cast, this movie is easily the winner. It was the second-highest grossing films in France and Omar Sy as Triss has won a Cesar award for Best Actor in 2012. All I want to say is, the message can be repeatable, but if the flow of the story is smooth and realistic, then it easily attracts audiences.
Secondly, this is quite unrelated to the movie particularly, ethics in workplace and loyalty to employers is something REALLY important. I've got this thought since god knows when, but I know I've seen it in Suits. A little bit off topic here, in Suits we see that Stephen is like the British Harvey and the right hand man to Darby. However, he ordered the killings with just one call and we all were taught since young that murdering is something not nice to be done. Besides throughout the whole show, Harvey never once did something dirty to achieve his goals. He will somehow find a way to win the case but not by bribing or what not. On the other hand for Harvey, he had evil thoughts of eliminating his own mentor to be managing partner of the firm. But in the end he can't do it because he still has conscience. Conscience that how his mentor saved him from the his previous corrupted mentor and made him into what he is today. Lesson of the story is, I sometimes believe the basic things, basic moral values that we learn in primary school, actually are the most essential things in life at the end of the day. It is these simple rules that makes us a successful person, or keeps us alive! Seriously, without these rules, we probably won't be alive.
