(Couldn't find any batteries for my camera, the printer/scanner has been broken for a year, so had to use my webcam. See that? It's resourcefulness.)
It's always nice to stumble upon familiar Canadian artists while watching a film instead of sleeping like a normal person would at five in the morning. Especially
Stars. Unless I'm hallucinating, I think I heard "
Heart" playing during the film but it wasn't included in the official soundtrack album so I didn't write it in. Or I'm just plain hallucinating.
Daydream Nation is an offbeat contemporary teen movie about a girl who moves from the city to a small town for her last year of high school. She's not exactly your girl-next-door, and even after the movie ended I could not figure Caroline Wexler out. Imagine Juno meets Effy from
Skins meets every character that Kat Dennings has ever played. Seriously. Do screenwriters specifically write a part for Kat Dennings -- you know the type, the cool, independent, intelligent nymph that every alt-girl wants to befriend -- and then cast her for it?
The early onset of the subplot throws this heavy, horror-film-like atmosphere onto the cheesier parts, which is unconventional and absolutely lovely. The subplot of course being... the serial killer roaming the town, leaving cold, blue bodies of teenage girls in places that only kids stumble onto apparently. Every time. The look on the little kids' faces. Horror.
And if you're looking for sex, this movie's got it. I like that
Daydream Nation showed the realistic side of sex (Thurston's first time... over in under a minute of screentime) and then completely lost itself in the moment and demonstrated exactly what Caroline opposed: the Hollywood version of sex as the "be-all, end-all" filled with the tinkly, indie music that sex scenes in movies like this usually get paired up with. It kinda almost made fun of itself. Which probably was unintentional, but whatever.
If you're looking for a loveable, stoned, damaged and haunted boy to crush on, this movie's got it too. He comes in the form of Reece Thompson.
There's also a bizarre love triangle. And if you've ever fantasized about having an affair with your teacher in high school, there's also that.
In these kinds of movies where the protagonist is so grown-up and fully realized, and so confident of who she is already... it's really hard to believe in what the director and writers are trying to convey to their teenage viewers... because she's so unrealistically powerful. Like everything she does carries such weight and consequence in the movie. But why should her actions lead the story when there's little proof of
why she has all this power? What makes her so special?
But then I'm just overthinking it all.
Kat Dennings's character in
Daydream Nation was mentally much older than any 17 year old girl I've met or have known. I think there is an appeal to characters that are older than they appear, especially to a young audience. We all wanna know what goes on in the life of others. We wanna see what parties are like and compare it to what we know parties are really like. We wanna dress like a main character, do our hair like her, bike around wearing skirts and heels like her, and sleep in old satellite dishes like her. We wanna fall in love and see what the difference is between love that
doesn't last in the span of the movie and love that does.
I'd say this was a good film. Don't knock it 'til you watch a bit of it. The first half is relatively better than the second but both halves were interesting. The ending was a bit too neat for my tastes but I'm a cynical bitch so.
Oh my God, a crow is going crazy outside my window. What is it trying to do? Attract a mate? Is it attempting Tuvan throat singing? If so, it is somewhat succeeding.
This video explains the differences between a crow and a raven. It's very useful when the area you live in actually has birds other than crows...
