Adventureland

ADVENTURELAND             A-                    

USA  (107 mi)  2009  d:  Greg Mottola                 Official Site

They hate people like me in Pittsburgh.  I’m a romantic who actually reads poetry for fun. 

—James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg)

What appears to be a cliché’d and formulaic summer romance story where the majority of the characters, especially the adults, resemble life on sitcom TV, instead turns into something decidedly different where the major players are surprisingly authentic, especially the way they express their self doubts, which is what this is really all about.  While for most, TWILIGHT (2008) would be the door to discovering Kristen Stewart, but in my case it was INTO THE WILD and THE CAKE EATERS, two 2007 releases both shot earlier which along with her performance here reveal a surprising range on her part.  She plays Em, an alienated girl with a dark edge that she doesn’t really like about herself, as much of it is in reaction to the shit and lovelessness that has been imposed upon her tender young age, but it’s where she’s forced to spend most of her time, so it follows her like a dark shadow.  Into her life strolls James, Jesse Eisenberg, the horrid “I hate my mom” character from THE SQUID AND THE WHALE (2005), an overly naïve but nice kid who’s so nervous most of the time that he confesses his most intimate secrets to total strangers.  They’re an odd couple, as they don’t really fit, and she’s more mature and having an affair with the married Clu Galager type repairman/would-be-indie-rock-star (Ryan Reynolds) who simply gets into her pants whenever he has a spare moment.  They all find themselves working together at a run down amusement park called Adventureland during the summer of 1987 in Pittsburgh, a horrible place where dreams seem to die.   

Backtracking a bit, James was heading to grad school at Columbia University in the fall on a scholarship, but his plans change drastically when his closet alcoholic father gets transferred to a less lucrative position.  So instead of traveling to Europe with a friend over the summer where he hoped to get laid and get the virgin stigma off his back, he has to get a job to help pay his way and let his friend travel without him, leaving him a large sack of good weed which he hopes will help keep him relaxed over the summer, where in the fall they plan to be roommates in New York City.  With no real job experience, the only available job is at a hole-in-the-wall amusement park that seems run by the last vestiges of humanity left on earth after the apocalypse, as no one in their right mind would work there willingly.  But instead of another obnoxious summer movie laden with grotesque physical comedy, that’s only the undercard to what turns out to be the bigger picture, a tender, coming-of-age love story that develops from the bowels of this hell on earth, a place where the same horrid songs repeat endlessly, like Falco’s “Rock Me Amadeus” Falco - Rock Me Amadeus: Best song in the World - YouTube (3:25), and the games are rigged to guarantee nobody wins the big panda bear as a prize.  Despite hundreds of reasons why anyone should hate this movie, with plenty of barf and getting socked in the balls jokes along with exaggerated caricature, where every adult is typecast as a humorless strain of human species, where life is taken *way* too seriously, from their offspring breeds hope eternal.  From this doomed and broken down amusement park filled with people with stagnant and dead end lives, the characters of James and Em turn out to really mean something, as they’re authentic voices of a voiceless generation, similar but hardly equal to DONNIE DARKO (2001), as both are brilliantly edited films set in the 1980’s featuring a treasuretrove of imminently listenable music.  Here the soundtrack is filled with Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground, the New York Dolls, the Replacements, Hüsker Dü, The Cure, Crowded House, Poison and others along with an ambitious score written by Yo La Tengo, contributing especially memorable sequences, like Crowded House’s “Don’t Dream it’s Over” Adventureland - Fireworks Clip - YouTube (2:37) as fireworks explode over James and Em on the 4th of July, or Robert Smith singing Cure’s “Just Like Heaven” Ruma - Adventureland - YouTube (2:25, playing here over the movie trailer) as the two of them ecstatically play bumper cars together.  

Add to this motley crew the downhearted voice of nihilism, Joel (Martin Starr), even more geeky than James, a guy enthralled with the anguish of Russian literature, in particular Nikolai Gogol who all but destroyed romantic notions with monstrous imagery where no human horror is left unspared.  As this group spends time together, more a collection of random acts than a story, James is actually one of the least fucked up among them, which gives him a kind of star attraction, a pedestal upon which he’s never stepped before, as people actually like him for his open-hearted sincerity and endlessly youthful curiosity.  He’s a good kid, but he’s surrounded by people that have only known deadbeats, phonies and bullies.  Sincerity is like from another planet, as it may as well not exist, any more than hope in a prison-like environment where the thought of it can only make you feel worse.  But this perfectly balanced mixture of humor and emotional authenticity is beautifully captured in the dialogue written by the director who not surprisingly himself once worked at a Long Island amusement park.  Kristen Stewart, especially, has become the “it” girl and is especially good as a troubled teen who has to keep everything bottled up inside, where James and his endless monologues about himself actually offer her a way out of her own inner doldrums.  James, she feels, is the last person who would hurt her, and her life has been flattened by people who used her for a door mat.  Stewart is a kind of everywoman, as we’ve all known someone like her, but she’s immensely appealing in the way she keeps struggling to fight her way out.  Eisenberg is youthfully innocent, but he’s given terrific lines, all of which add up to a real surprise, as this film delivers on several different levels, beautifully acted, musically inspiring, well-written with large doses of observational honesty, not the least of which is a wonderfully authentic summer romance set amongst the doom and devastation of near impossible odds, filled with people who have been hurt to the point where this film feels like its carrying the banner of lost causes, where the ultimate goal feels like the resuscitation of lost or otherwise dead souls.  

All 41 Classic 80’s Songs from the Adventureland Soundtrack ...         

• Opening scene - Bastards Of Young by The Replacements
• West Beirut by Civilian Fun Group
• Opening credits - Here She Comes Now by The Velvet Underground
• Down To Rio by Daniel May
• Funiculi, Funicula by Bob Stuhmer
• Horse game - Modern Love by David Bowie
• Bottles game - Rock Me Amadeus by Falco
• Em gives James a Ride home - Don’t Want To Know If You Are Lonely by Husker Du
• Looking For A Kiss by New York Dolls
• Pleasure Dog by Civilian Fun Group
• Party at Em’s house, after the pool - I’m In Love With A Girl by Big Star
• Connell comes to Em’s house - Taste Of Cindy (Acoustic Version) by Jesus & Mary Chain
• Lisa P is back - Tops by The Rolling Stones
• Singer at bar - Hot Blooded by Louis Grammatico (Foreigner)
• Ride home after the bar - Pale Blue Eyes by The Velvet Underground
• At Connell’s mom’s house - So It Goes by Nick Lowe
• I Need To Know by Rodney Saulsberry
• The Caissons - 5 Alarm Music
• Fireworks - Don’t Dream It’s Over by Crowded House
• Lisa P dancing - Let The Music Play by Shannon
• Video on TV - I Want Action by Poison
• James riding with Connell - Satellite Of Love by Lou Reed
• Razzmatazz - Point Of No Return by Expose
• Second Razzmatazz song - Obsession by Animotion
• Girls In The City by Jamison Rotz
• Just One Girl by Chris Carlisle
• Awkward guy talk to redhead after makeout - Your Love by The Outfield
• America The Beautiful by Bob Stuhmer
• Libiamo (La Traviata) by DeWolfe Music
• In The Ether by Black Swan Lane
• Pot cookies - Just Like Heaven by The Cure
• Running away from bully - Breaking The Law by Judas Priest
• Fixing the rifle game - Dance Hall Days by Wang Chung
• Waltz Of The Flowers by Bob Stuhmer
• What Do You Got Against Love by Sarah Taylor
• Second time at Razzmatazz - In My House by Mary Jane Girls
• Hearts Collide by Rob E C
• Guy with drum sticks sings Rush song - Limelight by Alex Lifeson, Geddy Lee and Neil Peart (Rush)
• Putting eyes on the bananas - Here I Go Again by Whitesnake
  American Patrol March by Bob Stuhmer
• Jukebox - Pale Blue Eyes by The Velvet Underground
• New York City - Unsatisfied by The Replacements
• Closing credits - Adventureland Theme Song by Ian Berkowitz and Brian Kenney
• Don’t Change by INXS

Original music for Adventureland by Yo La Tengo

Songs from the trailer:

• Limelight by Rush
• Blister in the Sun by Violent Femmes

Song from the commercial:

• Love Rollercoaster by Red Hot Chili Peppers (originally by Ohio Players)

Song from Kiis FM radio commercial

• Call in the Calvary by The Shys

Submarine

SUBMARINE                         B                     

Great Britain  USA  (97 mi)  2010  d:  Richard Ayoade

Taking your shirt off can lead to an atavistic response.        —Lloyd Tate (Noah Taylor)

Don’t get cocky.          —Jordana Bevan (Yasmin Paige)

Something of a deeply melancholic, male anguished, brooding teenage view of the Brave New World, as Oliver (Craig Roberts), a glum and morose but independently bright kid shares his daily experiences as he enters into his first relationship with the opposite sex, plunging ahead, as it were, without a clue how to use the rudder.  With parents who have the worst social skills of any couple in recent memory, the ever dour Noah Taylor and the usually perky Sally Hawkins, where they haven’t had sex in seven months, barely speak, and are on the verge of separation, which is happening simultaneously to his discovery of first love.  While the dialogue is above and beyond the teenage years, it hardly matters due to the continual self-deprecating humor where this friendless teen is as detached from the rest of the world of kids his age as he can get, where his lifeline is the equally moody and downbeat Jordana, Yasmin Paige, something of a revelation.  While this is pretty much seen as an all-in, all or nothing gamble, as if his entire future depends on it, this over-the-top drama is essential, as all teenagers feel they are drowning in a world of dysfunction and social misfits, which adds color and bit of flair to his otherwise humorless life.  Set in Wales, of all places, where there’s an introductory word of thanks showing gratitude to America for never having invaded the country, the gray, cloudy atmosphere adds to the glum reality of these kid’s lives.  Always dressed in heavy coats, Oliver tends to wear the same hang dog, sad sack expression on his face even in the best of times, as if he never actually trusts happiness, something that has occurred so infrequently in his life he’s not sure it actually exists. 

Adding to the home drama is the presence of Paddy Considine, a psychically gifted, self-help guru with supposed mystical connections to a non-existent, feel good transcendental world, something of a hoax, a phony and a fraud, like the Patrick Swayze role in DONNIE DARKO (2001), but also an old flame of his mother who moves in next door.  When she starts taking an interest, with his Dad feebly pretending not to notice, Oliver quickly takes up the reigns as the aggressive interloper, a sleuth with intentions to drive them apart.  Simultaneous to his intoxicated love interest, where he’s literally out of his head, he’s also attempting to stay grounded by holding his parent’s together, something he can’t share with Jordana, as her parent’s problems trump his own.  While the film provides plenty of observation of small town life, people who keep to themselves and mind their own business, where over the years the repressed layers of holding it all in only leads to the inevitable medical breakdown, it also reveals an unusual tenderness from his parents, especially when they learn he has a girlfriend, which may be more significant than graduating high school or even going to college, as his self-absorbed life was leading them towards thoughts of a serial killer or a potentially abusing Catholic priest.  His father lovingly makes him a mixed tape of the songs that mattered to him when he fell in love, cleverly adding some breakup songs at the end, just in case.  Well, of course, these songs inevitably comprise the inner themes of the film, composed by Arctic Monkeys singer/songwriter Alex Turner, always seemingly playing in the background while he spends endless hours at the beach, bringing Jordana along to share his favorite spots, but oftentimes alone commiserating on life’s futility. 

The couple share a kind of smart ass relationship, where their shrewd sensibility continues to uplift them from the mediocrity of the tedious world around them, even as it is heavily dosed in miserablism.  Not sure if this coded sarcasm is enough to survive, as when a few real life issues come their way, both are ill-prepared to handle what life offers, as they’ve spent the majority of their lives burrowing their heads in the sand.  Quirkiness is one thing, and this film has plenty of it which it handles with aplomb, but there’s also this thread of reality where unlike the separation issues in many teenage angst pictures, these kids still feel connected to their parents and are afraid to let go.  Oliver feels perfectly happy reading the dictionary, discovering new words, while Jordana seems to delight in lighting things on fire, where she constantly reigns in a noticeable aggressive streak.  Their passive-aggressive relationship does not exactly set the world on fire, as both barely ever reveal any feelings whatsoever, as they have to learn to survive in this closed-in world where no one shows emotions and all the town’s citizens are endlessly suffocating.  In this atmosphere, the arrogant and pompous Considine stands out, offering a delusional elixir of magical potions guaranteed to show you the light.  There’s a comfortable, nostalgia-tinged setting of the 1980’s, where kids pass notes instead of text, take Polaroid snapshots and keep diaries instead of posting messages on Facebook, where there’s an interesting Super 8 dream sequence, the use of cassette tapes, and even a few messages sent by a typewriter.  Despite the timelessness of this self-contained world, filled with irreverence and self-conscious mockery, there’s an unsentimentalized tone throughout, not even a trace of glitz or glamor, where these two kids are fairly grounded in their separate worlds.  The age-old boy/girl question lurking in every era is wondering if they will connect.   And here, the film does not disappoint.