Family Movie Night
by Karyn Bowman
This has been one of the strangest springs in my lifetime.
The winter lasted so long that the buds on my dogwood tree never formed and, therefore, never bloomed. Come to think of it, I do not remember seeing Magnolia trees in bloom this year either.
The locust trees bloomed but it seemed like a very, very short time that they were out. Finally, last week, the Linden trees set out their flowers and the soft gardenia scent drifted through the air as I walked my puppy along our usual route. The smell lasted six days, maybe a week. It would make me stop in my tracks and look for the trees giving off the scent.
I am not sure how many of these trees exist in the parkways around town. All I know is that each year in the month of June, I truly appreciate them.
One of the things that have been happening with our family is my girl’s need to see some movies that come from Young Adult literature.
A few weeks ago, she went with her friends to see The Fault in Our Stars starring Shailene Woodley. It is based on the book of the same name by John Green. I read it, loved it, and sanctioned her going. The story is about a girl with terminal cancer who meets and falls in love with a boy who lost his leg to cancer.
While the story takes some twists and turns that you don’t expect, there is one thing that you do expect: There is going to be a whole lot of crying. In fact, the girls told me virtually everyone in the theater was sniffling or weeping. There was no way to avoid it.
The group thought it was a great movie and really enjoyed it.
Then this past weekend, we watched The Perks of Being a Wallfower starring Emma Watson. This is a story about a freshman boy who is bullied and teased in high school because he is smart. But then he finds a group. It starts with Patrick in his shop class. Then Charlie meets Patrick’s step sister, Sam. Soon, he is in their group.
As we race to the end, there are teenage dramas and high school milestones. Couplings, divisions and re-groupings occur. But at the very end we learn a secret of what makes Charlie tick. It is devastating and yet the clues were there all along. We didn’t quite connect them together.
It ended with me explaining how the story got “there,” pointing out the clues. The next day as we talked about the Wallflowers movie and the Fault in Our Stars movie, the girl made the comment that while she really liked the latter, it was the former that was the better movie.
When I pressed for an answer, the reply wasn’t ‘because.’ The reply was that Wallflowers was a richer and deeper movie. While Fault in Our Stars was a good movie, it wasn’t as good as the other one.
Which explains why I like the flowers of the Linden tree above all others. The scent is richer, denser, a little more complex. The hints of sadness make the moments of triumph all that much striking.
Until next week, see you in the rental aisle.
I haven’t seen either of the films you feature, but I do like your analogy with the works of nature.
Thanks.
I haven’t seen either film, but was wondering if you read the book, “Perks of Being a Wallflower.” I wonder if the movie did it justice. Most don’t. I love the way you ended this post. Tied it up so nicely!
I have not read the book, should put that on my list.
Like so many of us, the must-read list is getting longer and longer… 😉
I have read both and seen both, just went to “Fault in our Stars” last week with a girlfriend ( we are both former teacher/librarians who worked with teens and YA lit). We both enjoyed Fault and felt it followed the book well. I have also seen and read Perks. In both cases the books were better. I think Fault does a better job in its translation to the screen than Perks but neither are a disappointment.