It's a heck of a place to find yourself

I just watched Elizabethtown literally five minutes ago. The whole time I was viewing the film I couldn’t wait to make a post. I was drawn in from the beginning because of the voice-overs and camera angles. I think this film had just the right amount of voice-overs (by Orlando Bloom’s character, Drew). I think movies sometimes have too much narration and it distracts the audience from the plot, character development, etc. I know someone posted a while ago about this movie, but I thought it’s been a while so I might as well make another.

It starts with Drew facing a “fiasco”, not just failure, of a project he worked tirelessly on for eight years. It cost him his girlfriend, his job, and his company close to 1 billion dollars. He also is faced with the death of his estranged father. Although his family lives in Oregon, his dad’s side of the family comes from a small town (Elizabethtown) in Kentucky. He travels there to bring his dad back home to his mother and sister and have a proper burial or cremation. The film focuses not only Drew’s rediscovery of his roots, but a discovery of how to love and ultimately, how to live. He meets the spontaneous, carefree, and positive character of Claire (Kirsten Dunst). She has a witty personality and speaks memorable quotes. One of my favorites—“I don't know a lot about everything, but I do know a lot about the part of everything that I know, which is people”. I have to admit that I have never cared for Dunst in her other films. However, she redeemed herself with her spirit in this movie. She brings a lot of light to the movie, which is vital because it deals with difficult issues such as death, suicide, and failure. Also, every instance that I thought Claire and Drew were beginning to fight, she solved the solution calmly and with amazing poise. I really think she made this movie…well, along with other things. Of course we can’t forget that Cameron Crowe did direct this, which is a definite for an awesome soundtrack. It helped the movie flow and added an emotional feeling.

There were many moving scenes throughout the film, especially towards the end at the memorial service for Drew’s dad. His mom (Susan Sarandon) delivers a heartfelt speech that breaks the barriers between her in-laws and herself. I guess you would just have to watch the movie.

I really enjoyed this film and definitely recommend it to all.


Enjoy

-Candice