Looking back on New Year's Eve
by CasualTim
I've never been one to make challenging declarations about how I'm going to behave in the future (you know, those pesky "resolutions"). I know that I am a cookie fiend and I'm okay with that. That being said, there does seem to be some call for marking the time when we start to train ourselves not to sign our checks '2009' anymore.
Groundhog Day is one of the classics when it comes to 'marking' time. Bill Murray attempts to answer the question of how, exactly, to mark time that doesn't seem to obey its own laws... or possibly even exist. (Personally, I prefer some of his original ideas to the path that finally makes this movie a romantic comedy.)
In Wristcutters, time, though certainly odd, is one of the least surreal functions of the setting. Still, the characters' histories and their place in whatever continuum they reside in is a major factor in the film. The story mainly takes place in an afterlife populated only by suicide victims. In author Etgar Keret's imagining of such a place, everything is the same, just slightly worse. Despite that somewhat depressing premise, the story is comedic and touching, and just odd enough to keep the viewer intrigued. Tom Waits also helped in that department. This one's quite fun for its uniqueness.
You may know Janwillem van de Wetering for his mystery writing, but prior to that, he penned The Empty Mirror: Experiences in a Japanese Zen Monastery. Van de Wetering marks his time at the monastery extraordinarily honestly; he's a bit of a grouch, and he takes advantage of nearly every opportunity to break the rules (just as his peers do). Janwillem bumbles through his experience so erratically that the reader - in between laughing out loud - can't really conclude that he learned much during his time there. But, what was that old saying about those who are enlightened not speaking of it?
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