What to say about Endless Love? Well, the first thing that comes to mind while watching this movie is اللي اختاشوا ماتو or "All those with shame have died". Honestly, what kind of parent, hippies or else, would allow their kids to have impromptu music concerts in the house, consume alcohol and smoke weed, then go to sleep leaving their teenaged daughter alone at night with her boyfriend. When the mother walks in of them butt-naked and doing it on the floor in the living, all she does is hover on the landing, gazing upon them with a maternal smile that conveys "Oh, how beautiful; my daughter is all grown up!" Maybe it's just me, but this movie is all kinds of wrong, yet it is also all kinds of right.
First let me explain why I have started with "Endless Love". My initial plan was to watch the movies in a chronological order of their release. However, I had difficulty finding a rental of "The Blue Lagoon" and "Fatso". Truth be told, I have been procrastinating this whole review process because I really didn't want to watch The Blue Lagoon. Beware of what you wish for! I ended up watching Endless Love. Did I mention that Brooke Shields is my least favorite actor at the moment. Furthermore, it has started to dawn on me how daunting this whole process is going to be. Sure I like watching movies, but my favorite films are (in no particular order):
- God Father 2
- Nine to Five
- LA Confidential
- China Town
As evident from the above list, romance is not my favorite genre. But alas, it's too early to give up. Hell! I've just started.
I did my best to watch Endless Love with an open mind. During the first third of the movie, when the love story is being presented, all I could think was "This movie sucks ass!" The opening credits is of Jade and David walking through a heart exhibit in a science museum, kissing and embracing. This is shot in a crimson haze. Endless Love is full of the cliches, crackling fires and rustling tree leafs. As the movie progresses, I start to think that it's not that bad, that there might be some substance and honesty to the story, but then it falls back into sucking ass and makes a u-turn towards the end. Before I get into the nitty gritty details, let me mention the best thing about Endless Love. My most enjoyable part of the movie was seeing a very very young Tom Cruise in cut-out jeans! As I looked up from my laptop, I saw that "Knight and Day" was playing on TV. Honestly, the difference between Tom Cruise then and now is like night and day - sorry, I just couldn't help myself. Another good thing about the movie is the theme song "Endless Love", written by Lionel Richie. It is quite a romantic song, which in my opinion had a wider impact on our distorted notions of love than the movie. In case you were wondering, yes, it is on the short list for my wedding song :)
Back to the movie, our two protagonists Jade (who is 15 years old) and David (who is said to be a senior in high school, so it is safe to assume that he is 17 or 18) are dating and in love. Actually the dreaded "L" word is uttered in the first few minutes. My major difficulty with the movie is the notion of love being portrayed. The relationship here is shown as an all consuming endeavor - more so from David's perspective than Jade's. I tend to see some honesty to the idea that Jade & David believe that their feelings for each other is everlasting and endless. I mean, really, how can a teenager gauge the longevity of forever when he's been alive for less than two decades. Moreover, I am inclined to think that the trauma of not seeing one's loved one for 30 days would seem to a teenager like an eternity of torture. Teenagers experience everything in extreme intensities, either over the moon euphoria or oh-my-God how will I survive. Yet, I just couldn't buy the portrayal of the relationship, how un-messy and tender their love making appeared. The first time they do it is in her parent's living room floor! Wouldn't it have made more sense to retire to the privacy of Jade's bedroom, where there's a door and a slim possibility of someone stumbling over their naked bodies on their way to the kitchen for a glass of water? But again, this is Hollywood, realism and rationality are not part of the equation. If they were to copulate behind Jade's bedroom door, there would have been no crackling fire (apparently, if you haven't have sex on the floor in-front of a crackling fire, you are technically still a virgin) and we wouldn't have witnessed the mother's nonchalant reaction towards her 15 year old daughter's late night activities.
As mentioned before, the movie wasn't all bad. Jade and David's love story plays out against their respective parents' relationships. On one side we have Jade's parents, the easy going hippies who get high and make out while partying with their kids and their friends. Once in the solitude of their bedroom, you get the feeling that this is all a facade, as Mary (the wife) would rather spend the night with a book on Russian literature, given to her by none other than David. It is evident from the beginning that Mary has feelings for David, maybe it is her cougar instincts. There's also a strange vibe about Hugh (the husband). It's understandable for him to be upset that his young daughter is parading her sex life right in-front of his face, but he has an odd sense of possessiveness towards her. On the other side of the relationship spectrum we have David's parents, the level headed socialist lawyers who'd rather listen to their clients than their own son. I believe that David buries himself into Jade's arms, literally and figuratively, because he wants to belong, he wants to be loved, not just by Jade but by her entire family, so he imposes himself upon them. Again, I think this is an honest portrayal, who amongst us didn't wish they could have different parents when we were teenagers. What I like the most about the dynamics of the young-love versus not-so-young-dare-I-say-old-love is the contrast in longevity. Jade & David believe their love is forever, while both their parents' marriages were holding on by a thread and eventually fall part.
I won't go into the details of the storyline, God forbid I spoil the movie for those of you who want to watch it! All I'll say is that the movie skims over most of the topics. We are never given any insights into Jade's relationship with her parents, David's stay at a mental health institute and his subsequent release. Even the demise of the marriages, we get very few details to why or how it happens. All we're told is that Jade's parents are divorced and David's parents are separated because his father was inspired by David's really screwed up feelings for Jade. At the end, we discover that no love story is endless or forever, except in the minds of teenaged love-deprived mentally-unbalanced boys. We'll always strive to find our true love, whether we are a teenager or middle aged. And, when the woman/girl is hotter than the guy, she'll move on with her life more easily, maybe because she cherished being loved more than loving.
Hero Profile: Hopelessly Romantic Psycho
David is a wimp! There's no other way to describe him. He's not a jock, we never see him playing sports and he doesn't have an athletic physique. He's all lovely dovey and he declares over and over and over again that he loves Jade, yet we never see them do anything besides doing it. I suppose they wanted to showcase him as an intellectual, but sorry, I'm just not buying it. What kind of intellectual would throw away a college education and break parole for a girl? The crazy kind! And this brings us to the psycho part, David refuses to let go, he is fixated on Jade in a very unhealthy manner. He burns down her house, for crying out loud.
Images of the relationship:
We never see much depth to the relationship in Endless Love, so it's difficult to complete this aspect of the analysis, however we see:
(1) The Possessive Lover:
David just won't let go. Not seeing Jade for 30 days seems unbearable for him. When he sees Jade talking to another boy at a party, he sets her house on fire. After being sentenced to 5 years probation in a mental institute, he keeps writing her letters, even when he gets no replies, he continues to send them. At one point you want to screamed at him to take the hint and get a life already! Once he's released from mental care, despite seeing hallucinations of Jade, and while he is still on probation, he skips town and heads to New York to look for her. Even when he indirectly causes her father's death, he still wants to love Jade. Needless to say, David is possessed with his notion of love, which doesn't seem to be sincerely reciprocated. We see Jade going to parties and mingling with other boys. After the fire, she doesn't contact David's family to see how he's doing. Later on we learn that she's attending school in Vermont. She's moved on, rightfully so. Although she lapses back into David's arms, this doesn't last long. At the end, she states that she'll never find anyone to love her like David does. No shit, dude's crazy !!
(2) Seeking Love:
David's father confesses that he has left his wife to seek his true love because he was inspired by the sole encounter he had with David and Jade. My analysis is, men will always have the emotional maturity and range of a teenaged boy.
(3) Young Lovers:
Both Jade's parents end up seeking relationships with younger partners. Maybe they are trying to reclaim their youth by taking on young lovers, or they could be seeking validation by engaging less experienced lovers.
Lessons Unlearned:
- Nothing is forever. No relationship is forever, Sure, you can fall in love, but in order to stay in love and loved, you'll have to work hard at it.
- Don't define yourself by who you love or who you're with. Be your own identity.
- No one is ever going to love you like David loves Jade because:
- You look nothing like Brooke Shields, not even close
- Dude's Crazy
- No sane person would want to be in an all consuming relationship. We all need room to breath, room to become ourselves.
Favorite Quotes:
"At the end, that's what we mourn, the paths we didn't take and the people we didn't touch."
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