jamesq | Nick and Norah's Fairy Tale Evening

Norah: There's this part of Judaism that I like. Tikun Olam. It said that the world is broken into pieces and everyone has to find them and put them back together.
Nick: Maybe we don't have to find it. Maybe we are the pieces.
From Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

On the spur of the moment I dropped what I was doing and went to see this movie. The timing was so short that I didn't even have time to ask anyone to go with me. This is too bad, because this is a movie that needs to be shared.

I'm not sure it's for everyone. It plays subtly with mood and location to paint a fairy tale representation of the perfect redemptive night. The sort of night that we all should have at least once in our lives, but so few ever do, lacking the perfect set of circumstances, friends and serendipity.

The movie works because you can honestly believe that these two deserve the happiness that they'll find with each other, and that the broken edges of their psyches will fit each other. With time they'll each grow to be better, because they're what each other needs.

Another nice touch of the movie was the fact that things that things that would normally be noteworthy in a movie (The fact that some of the characters are gay or Jewish) are simply background. The pejorative labels we all know are becoming less prejudicial and are evolving into one of many traits that characters may have - a simple fact-of-life rather then an oddity.

Anyway, it's in the cheap theaters now. Go see it if you have a chance, or pick up the forthcoming DVD.