Now, I have been able to cross of Numbers One and Two, and I felt like writing a little bit about each one of them.
#2. "One Day".
Friday, July 15th, 2011 was a Pay Day for me. I had just recently finished reading the novel "Love Monkey" by Kyle Smith, and was looking for something new to read. A few nights earlier, I had been at a screening for the final "Harry Potter" film, and the preview for "One Day" came on. I geeked out, as two weeks previous I had named it #2 on My List, and had been loving the preview for a couple of months - specifically remembering how the OneRepublic song "Good Life" would stick in my head for hours after watching the trailer.
As I perked up and leaned forward in my seat, my friend Heather leaned over to me and asked if I had read the book. I told her that I had not, and she informed me how much she loved it and believed that I would too. Two days later, on the aforementioned Pay Day, I purchased the book (NON-movie poster cover) and brought it to work with me that night. I read Chapter 1 quickly, and as I began reading Chapter 2, I noticed "July 15th, 1989". I flipped back to the first chapter - knowing full well the premise - and saw "July 15th, 1988". In a bizarre twist of fate, I actually purchased the novel on the exact "one day" mentioned in the title. That could have been the first sign that I was destined to love the novel, but it was not the last. Watching the evolution of these two characters, and their times together, their times apart, their missed opportunities, their fights, and everything else that made them friends - was perfection. It was some of the best writing and storytelling I've ever read. Coming off the heals of "Love Monkey" which I felt was a novel very close to where I am at in life today, to read this novel, felt like reading a novel about how I too had stressed/ruined some good friendships.
On July 15th, 1988, Dexter and Emma have both just graduated from University, and they drunkenly find themselves awkwardly undressed in Emma's flat. From this moment on, the two of them agree to remain friends. The film then checks in with them on each subsequent July 15th. What makes it so wonderful is that it's not a gimmicky "Let's always agree to hang out on the exact same day" type of lame plot device. Instead, some years they are hanging out together and some years they are not. Dexter and Emma are close friends, best of friends, and therefore it's not completely out of the grasp of reality for them to at least talk on the phone each day. Prior to the internet and social networking - the masses of people would at least check in with their friends via the home phone on a regular basis. So, even the years that they are not together, it's nice to see their conversations, or their missed attempts to speaking to each other that day.
Over the course of the years, we see Dexter as he rises in popularity as a TV Presenter, while we witness Emma being stuck in the rut of a dead-end job with a lack of motivation and low self worth, only to see how the charm of Dexter can bring a smile back to her face. In later years, we see (in a PG-13 version of Dexter's drinking/drug life) how he grows to annoy Emma and eventually take her for granted so many times that it pushes her over the edge of what she can take from him, telling him that she no longer desires to be his friend. While Dexter is spiraling out of control with drugs and his popularity with women, we get to watch as Emma focuses on purposes in her life. She begins teaching, and directing children's plays, and eventually publishes a children's novel. (A subplot in the book that works really well, but was sadly eliminated from the film...)
Years later, we catch up with them again, and we as an audience are reminded that it is our closest friends who most often annoy and upset us and we always hold them up to higher standards, but they are also the people that we can never completely write out of our lives. As Dex & Em reconnect, we see their thirties begin to take control and shape who they are to become. Life is painful, it's not pretty and everyone is often compromised in numerous ways. This story does not pull any punches, it shows a lot of the bad that everyone is faced to deal with. Children, marriage, infidelity, divorce, bad friends, mistakes, and emotions are all addressed as our two star-crossed friends eventually come to point in time that feels right for them both to finally cross the line of friendship into a territory they have both wanted for so long.
The great thing about the story is that it's not a typical, boy-meets-girl, boy-woos-girl, boy-screws over-girl, boy-tries to win back-girl because he can't live without her kind of lame plot that requires misunderstandings to create drama and push two people apart. Instead, the story of Dex & Em is about two people, whose lives are just never harmoniously at the same point for them to get what they truly desire from each other, or for them to feel like it's the right time to pursue anything beyond friendship. Over the years we get to see the foundation being built, so that when the time is right, the two of them can finally make each other the happiest. The story is a wonderful look at growing up, making mistakes, taking your friends for granted, acting arrogant only to have life beat you down into humility, settling for what is given to you, and the endless pursuit of dreams. It's a love story, that covers a million other emotions.
The film is a very good representation of the novel. It's flawed, and it's a double-edged sword. If you have read the book, then you can fill in some of the gaps of what is missing, based on what you remember reading. It's like the "Harry Potter" franchise, when I would discuss some of the issues I had with people, they would inform me, "Well, the left out this part... blah blah blah," which did help things make more sense. The same is true here, there are some small details that are overlooked and I believe it makes the film story a little weaker.
However, if you have not read the book, and you are just going by what is presented to you on the screen, I believe it to be a good representation of the surface of Dexter and Emma's friendship/relationship. Sadly, it's just the surface, and so many emotions are missing. A letter that Dexter writes Emma and then never gets to mail is completely eliminated - I admit, it would be hard to have included, however in the narrative of the novel, as Dexter writes it, it's one of the most touching moments for his character, before he begin to despise him. Emma is involved with a married man at one point, their stressful relationship is completely avoided, despite the fact that it shows Emma finally attempting to be more selfish, as the man claims he wants to leave his wife, and Emma tells him not to, because she doesn't want to be with him. Dexter's hard-core partying and drug use are never touched, which makes his revelation of getting married not as powerful. You never get the full feeling of how much of an influence Sylvie had on his life, forcing him to quit drinking and doing drugs, and basically suppressing him like a puppy dog.
Again, the film is a sad Catch-22, were I don't want to tell you to wait on watching it, because it's really enjoyable. However, at the same time, I think anyone would enjoy it more if they had read the book and were able to grasp the full emotional impact these two people have on each other.
David Nicholls wrote the novel, and I am very happy that he was asked to adapt his own work into the film version. I always had faith this would prevent the film from feeling like a bastardized version of such a great story. While a few of my favorite scenes and moments are eliminated from the film and other scenes are slightly changed, I still feel like the film works very well on its own, and was a pleasure to watch. Both Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess did wonderful jobs portraying the wide range of emotions required for the various years. The make-up department also did a phenomenal job of aging the characters each year. Wardrobe and the art departments also did wonderful jobs with clothing, and props, and the movies on the marquee at the cinema. It all made the experience so much more enjoyable.
Most importantly, the narrative structure of the final few chapters was preserved for the film. It works so perfectly in the novel, and I hoped and prayed that it would be told the same way in the film - and it was. It was so perfectly inter-connected, that despite knowing everything, I still got tears in my eyes.
Finally, any film that includes Del Amitri's "Roll to Me" instantly gains bonus points for being awesome.
In all seriousness, I do suggest reading the novel. Preferably before you see the film, but if time is an issue, then I hope the film will interest you enough to pick up the novel afterwards, so that you can get the full experience of what these two amazing characters put each other through, and go through together. It's an amazing story of friendship and love.
RATING: 8.6/10
