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by PAM
I saw this 2012 'chick flick' on Star Movies called, "The Vow", just now. It featured Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum in a sort of predictable plot that, to be fair, had a few quite touching moments.
The happily married couple, Paige (McAdams) and Leo (Tatum), met a vehicular accident. This caused Paige to suffer brain trauma, resulting in her losing a few years of her memory, including how her life with Leo began and came about. For some reason, she remembered her past before Leo, including a past relationship. This caused her to reunite with her rich family, which she deserted before meeting Leo because of her father's infidelity in which he cheated on her mother with Paige's closest friend. But even this, Paige did not remember. Leo had never met Paige's family before the accident, and meeting them made him realize how different Paige's old life was compared with the one she lived with him. Rather than imposing himself to her, being her husband, Leo respected Paige's request for space as she traced her way back to her life with him before the accident. He tried to remind Paige of their love instead - by courting her all over again, which warmed Paige's heart as she was drawn to him naturally. I admit, that's sweet. 💖 All the time he was spending in making her fall all over again took a toll on Leo's financially precarious new business though. Paige's rich father, who wanted to take advantage of her condition to win her back, offered to save the business if Leo divorced Paige. Leo resisted, but then when Paige started to feel frustrated by how she was unable to recall her life with Leo, moving closer to her family and farther away from Leo, he let her go by agreeing to the divorce.
Paige picked up the pieces, starting from what she can recall from old life with her rich family, including her old plan to study Law with prodding from her father. But, it did not work because she kept gravitating to her real interest, which was art - the same thing that led her to Leo, who was into music production and owned a recording studio. Later, when her best friend approached her to apologize for her affair with Paige's father that caused Paige to turn her back on her family in the past, she was shocked. She questioned her family on how they used her loss of memory to regain her favor. The same is true with her previous boyfriend, who used her loss of memory of her marriage to Leo and her memory of their previous relationship to his advantage. Realizing how she is being gently manipulated, Paige turned him down all over again.
And then she realized Leo's patience and sincerity in helping her find her way back to her life - in her own terms. As she started to miss Leo's presence in her life, she found 'the marriage vow' that she wrote in her wedding with Leo. She realized his love to her... and she fell in love all over again.
The End.
I think there was very little chemistry between McAdams and Tatum. And, Tatum was doing 'his acting thing' again - the emotion not reaching his eyes. And because the eyes are the windows to the soul, that deprived the audience from looking into Leo's soul. The grief, the love, the frustration, the excitement, the joy - they simply lacked depth in Tatum's portrayal of Leo... although he seemed to try. It's a good thing that he is really good looking, 😅 otherwise, it would have been unbearable to watch. But McAdams... ah, she's great - as usual! 👏 She always brings the character she plays to life. She is awesome like that. However, in spite of McAdams' beautiful portrayal of Paige's character, the movie is not all that great. The best that I'd probably remember about it is hearing The Cure sing "Pictures of You" while the credits rolled. Oy! 💓
"Remembering you standing quiet in the rain
as I ran to your heart to be near...
Looking so long at these pictures of you
but I never hold on to your heart."
My goodness, what a song! How melancholy, but, man, so beautiful! They don't make songs this beautiful anymore these days. But then, even in those good old days of brilliance in music, The Cure was truly exceptional. So, yeah... past, pictures, memories. 🎵"There is nothing in the world that I ever wanted more." 🎶 And you wish you'd just drown in them for a moment... drown in the beauty of it all rather than stare at this present ugliness, this imposing monstrosity called 'reality'.
Then again, aren't we responsible of our own 'reality'? In that case, I choose to move on from this ugliness. WELCOME, HAPPINESS!
Video credit: Thanks, YouTube, for the video link.
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