April Showers... Poor Truman
Tuesday, April 30, 2013 at 11:00PM april showers & a tuesday top ten in one!
Do you ever think of The Truman Show (1998)? I really and truly loved it in 1998 naming it 'The Best Film of the Year!' to anyone who would listen. (This was in my pre Film Experience days of course... though it's hard to remember such a time).
My Top Ten Of 1998 - Unranked
- Bulworth (Warren Beatty)
- Celebration / Festen (Thomas Vinterberg)
- Gods and Monsters (Bill Condon)
- High Art (Lisa Cholodenko)
- The Idiots (Lars von Trier)
- Living Out Loud (Richard LaGravenese)
- The Opposite of Sex (Don Roos)
- The Thin Red Line (Terence Malick)
- The Truman Show (Peter Weir)
- Velvet Goldmine (Todd Haynes)
...with Central Station and Shakespeare in Love just outside the top ten though I'm always considering reinstating them. They were both once on the actual list (The Idiots and the Malick I saw a little later). I haven't seen any of them save Velvet Goldmine for at least...seven years? Would my list hold up? Would yours? How often do you revisit your #1s from various years and do you ever lose track of them completely the way I did The Truman Show.
Today the movie popped into my head in an existential "is this all there is?" crisis moment I was having. Then I thought about the malfunctioning sudden downpour that drenches the star of that show. Truman is played by Jim Carrey (in the first of his series of FYC performances that Oscar sadly passed on). The childllike man still hasn't figured out that his life is actually a TV show. Despite his ignorance oddities like the malfunctioning rain start waking him up to life's surreal absurdities if not yet fully to his own life's precarious relationship to reality. He stares in confusion and disbelief as the shower follows him and eventually he ends up laughing and yelling with joy as the glitch gives way to a fullfledged rainstorm.
I worry that I wouldn't be as amused if this happened to me.
I need to find a way to be that lighthearted and childlike when I'm suddenly drenched. After all, when it rains it pours and we aren't always carrying umbrellas.
previous shower
Anna Karenina's stylish snowfall
Reader Comments (21)
I think I have loved this movie ever since I first saw the poster for it. This scene has always been a highlight - when he figures out that the rain moves to follow him, and then once he's avoided it successfully, it just starts raining everywhere. LOVE it!
A huge fan of this film and of Jim Carrey in general. Sadly I think this and Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind were his best chances at Oscar nominations. Here's hoping he gets some interesting work in the near future.
What a lovely close to April Showers. 1998 is all about SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE for me but THE TRUMAN SHOW is a great film. I'm more partial to Niccol's work the year before with GATTACA but both get major pluses for ambition matching execution.
1998 was a really good year for movie, I call it the second best movie year of the 90s (1993 is still the best). Perhaps the fact that it was around the time I started my movie journey when I attended university (I grew up in small town and movies were not easily available). I love the few you already named: Shakespeare in Love (I always choose Shakespeare in Love over Saving Private Ryan, but truly I adore both), Velvet Goldmine, Gods & Monsters, The Thin Red Line & Central Station.
My personal favorite that year was Pleasantville, which also came with a scene where Tobey Maguire enjoy the rain so can it be considered as an April Shower? I started to love both Tobey & Reese Witherspoon since this movie (though it decreased a bit when he became Spidey and she became legally blonde). I also love What Dreams May Come, the visual is just stunning. Also run: Life is Beautiful, A Simple Plan, Out of Sight (remember when Jennifer Lopez was good in movie?), Prince of Egypt & American History X.
Favorites of 1998:
The Big Lebowski
Velvet Goldmine
The Last Days of Disco
The Thin Red Line
Saving Private Ryan
Out of Sight
Babe: Pig in the City
Rushmore
Celebration/Festen
Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas
Small Soldiers
Happiness
Ringu
Love & Death on Long Island
The Truman Show
The Truman Show was so wonderful. Revisited a few scenes recently and I forgot how much I was impacted by them. As for the rain, you do need an umbrella - from Cherbourg. It'll pick you right up. :)
I often use movies to manipulate my emotions when I feel my mood is off. It may be the reason I so heavily favor a well done comedy over a moving drama. Each have their place, but a genuine laugh is worth its weight in gold.
Speaking of which, my top five for 1998:
Elizabeth
Life is Beautiful
The Opposite of Sex* (still makes me fall over laughing)
Pleasantville
The Truman Show
Next in line would probably be The Prince of Egypt, Saving Private Ryan, Velvet Goldmine... and I really need to see Central Station and Festen.
when i think of the truman show i think of my first time seeing the lovely laura leggett linney on the big screen. love.
01. pleasantville
02. rushmore
03. shakespeare in love
04. a bug's life
05. the truman show
06. central station
07. out of sight
08. gods and monsters
09. the opposite of sex
10. happiness
I've only seen 2 on your list, Bulworth and The Truman Show, plus the 2 extra, Shakespeare in Love and Central Station.
If I was adding another 6 of those I've seen:
An Autumn Tale (Eric Rohmer)
Run Lola Run
Last Night (Don McKellar)
Out of Sight
Pleasantville
The Red Violin
Then there's ones released in 1998 that I had no idea I'd be seeing a zillion times, but I'll still watch again: Sliding Doors, Soldier (Kurt Russell), Practical Magic, Ronin, Wild Things, The Parent Trap, You've Got Mail
Truman Show is wonderful I rewatched it again just a few weeks ago , Carrey is brilliant, I love the scene where he drives in his car and he notices how everyone is choreographed around him. and I love Laura Linney in the film so much., trying to keep it together but she is slightly unhinged at the same time
Shakespeare in Love is my third favourite movie of all time, so I'm shocked it's ranked so low for you! Fantastic performances, amazing music, and a screenplay for the ages. Movie magic.
Hmmm.....1998 eh?
Dark City
Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss (There was so little gayness on screen and I saw this in an honest-to-god multiplex)
The Dreamlife of Angels (Amazing. Heartbreaking.)
Get Real (More visibility, and a healthy dose of self-esteem to boot)
Hideous Kinky (Underrated. Kate Winslet is great in this.)
Little Voice (Jane Horrocks is astounding)
My Name is Joe (When I watched this,the accents were so thick they put sub-titles in the screen, and it's in english)
The Opposite of Sex (So funny. Christina Ricci's narration defines both unsympathetic and unreliable narration)
Run Lola Run (I wish I was a.....)
There's Something About Mary (Remember how funny this movie was before Cameron Diaz became so recognizable she no longer seemed fresh, and 'Ben Stiller Movie' wasn't a cliche?).
1998 was the year when I started watching movies more seriously and those movies I saw that year still hold a very high place for me. Shakespeare in Love is an amazing film (I always defend when trashed for winning an Oscar), Saving Private Ryan is really impressive, The Truman Show excellent. Those three are truly great, plus The Big Lebowski, Pleasantville, The Opposite of Sex (I'm glad it's not forgotten here), Rushmore, There's Something About Mary, Out of Sight, Celebration, Central Station, A Simple Plan, Little Voice, Sliding Doors, American History x, Black Cat White Cat, Run Lola Run...I haven't seen Elizabeth, didn't like The Thin Red Line (not a fan of Malick), loved Life is Beautiful the first time, hated it the second time. good year for movies both for me and in general. also I remember getting Great Expectations soundtrack for present and listening it over and over. that was flawed but pretty looking movie, but the music was beautiful.
I really like "The Truman Show", especially Jim Carrey's performance. That he wasn't nominated for an Oscar still grinds my gears. Sometimes I'll revisit my lists, if I've seen something new that absolutely demands a top-10 place. It's funny to read over your old favourites and see how tastes have changed. I had a hard time taking Bulworth, Edge of Seventeen, The Faculty, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and Pleasantville off but my top ten would be:
Elizabeth (Kapur)
High Art (Cholodenko)
Last Night (McKellar)
The Opposite of Sex (Roos)
Out of Sight (Soderbergh)
The Prince of Egypt (Chapman, Hickner, and Wells)
Smoke Signals (Eyre)
The Thin Red Line (Malick)
The Truman Show (Weir)
Velvet Goldmine (Haynes)
My Ten (seen four of yours):
1. The Thin Red Line
2. The Big Lebowski
3. Saving Private Ryan (the gooey sentimental ending is the only bad thing I can really hold against it. Other than that, it's shockingly visceral for a Spielberg.)
4. Rushmore
5. Festen
6. American History X
7. Out of Sight
8. The Truman Show
9. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
10. Run Lola Run.
On The Idiots: It certainly holds value as Von Trier being massively self-deprecating and there's some shocking images at the tail end, but the pacing is overly slack. The film could easily lose fifteen minutes and have the exact same point. B-.
CMG: Ringu? Really? Conceptually, it's interesting and there's a couple good. Final execution? I can be lastingly scared for someone who's kind of an idiot. (Most horror movies, even the good ones, have sympathetic idiots leading them, so I'd be writing off the genre if I couldn't get behind an idiot.) I can't be lastingly scared for someone who's, ultimately, bleeping psychotic. That's what the end twist of Ringu does to the protagonist. Instead of facing her death with honour and dignity, she willingly decides to keep circulating this tape. That's psychotic.
Well, there's another two for our un-nominated female supporting list, Lisa Kudrow in "The Opposite of Sex" and Fairuza Balk in "American History X."
Poor Jim, he's been so good...at least the Globes acknowledged him.
Barrio
Central do Brasil
Great Expectations
Gods and Monsters
Happiness
One True Thing
Primary Colors
Shakespeare in Love
The Truman Show
Velvet Goldmine
Volvagia- Yes, Ringu. It is also important to properly contextualize what Ringu culturally meant in Japan as opposed to here in the States/North America/West. That is really how I have embraced it. I like horror movies with deep cultural seeds. It's why Ringu and Candyman are among my favorite horror films of the 90s.
The Truman Show, Last Days of Disco, The Wedding Singer, Hilary and Jackie, Happiness, Primary Colors, High Art, A Simple Plan, One True Thing, Your Friends & Neighbors
I have something to say. Look up a man named Joey moss. He is an assistant equipment manager for the Edmonton oilers. Why do I bring him up? Because it is people like him that Von trier makes a mockery out of with the idiots. He did it purely for shock value nothing else. At least with Johnny Knoxville and the ringer he doesn't claim the movie to be something that it isn't: art. The idiots is not art. The idiots is an excuse to poke fun at disabled people under the guise of high brow art. Somebody pointed out to me recently is that the Big Bang theory isn't really aimed at nerds but aimed at people like Penny who have to deal with nerds. Half of the jokes on that show come at the expense of the bullied ie Sheldon, where as in community abed isn't being made fun of in fact his aspergers is celebrated. The idiots is like the Big Bang theory. This is the first time I've read your blog and most certainly is the last because anyone who likes the idiots opinion is quite frankly,someone i am ashamed to share the same species with