Scenes from the Suburbs (2011)

Great Film overall

Don't listen to the negative reviews

As Good As It Gets

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Ever so rarely are we given the opportunity to experience with our own eyes something possessing true beauty and wonder. Scenes From the Suburbs is exactly that, but also so much more. For a world craving sentimentalism as our own it's becoming increasingly complicated to experience events that touch us on the most personal level, mostly because films and other art forms are more and more built to be enjoyed by all, leaving behind those experiments that are minimalist in scale but truly grand in feeling. Spike Jonze sees this trend and seeks to provide us with something beautiful, something more than just a film or even an experience. He gives us, together with the ever so fantastic Arcade Fire, a short but powerful moment of indescribable emotions and nuanced conceptions of nostalgia, war, growth, friendship and the world.

This film reminds me of my childhood growing up in the suburbs, and the music is from one of my favorite albums. I think both of these qualities are required to get anything out of this picture.The images of the houses rolling by, airplanes overhead, and neighborhood kids playing made-up games under an overpass evoke memories of simpler times. This is the theme of both the album and the film: the loss of purity. It's a nostalgia film.It is a genuinely different movie. For those of us somewhat jaded by the Hollywood-franchising-machine, this may be the refreshing respite you were looking for. The deeper subtext of the character's relationships gets lost beneath the fantasy concept. But its short length is its greatest strength. It says what it wants to and rolls the credits. But even then, if you do not care about the album it is based on, it would do you no good to watch this movie.

Before I watched this, I watched the complementary music video to "The Suburbs" (the first track on the album of the same name). I recommend watching both.As someone who is questioning society's ideas of what it means to grow up, this story is a touching one. At first glance, to the uninitiated, it could come off like just another teen drama love triangle. That would be a tragic misinterpretation of this fine, authentic piece of art, and it would fall short of Arcade Fire's sensibilities and desire to deal with what's really going on with "America" beneath all the "issues." (At least, that's my interpretation of most of their work so far.) For, as opposed to some Disney story that pits friends against each other for a girlfriend/boyfriend, this isn't about that kind of relationship. In fact, it has nothing to do with the female character--it's about a friendship between two guys. A friendship torn apart by change (not good change) and fear as one of them pulls away from the group as accepts the deeper disease behind what the authorities in his life are telling him, and portraying.The unique symbolism of how our "communities" have become is a minimally-important background for a youthfully-, authentically-acted short drama between childhood best friends.I don't want to give the plot away, so I'll just end this by saying I now understand the album lyrics "With my old friends I can remember when / You cut your hair, I never saw you again." The questions it leaves us with are deeply important in this nation of detached souls.Should we look a certain way to grow up? Should we surrender to the world's system to grow up? *Should* we grow up?

On first viewing, I found the style and the pace of the piece to be a barrier, and the apparent ambiguity a bit of a let own. For example, due to the deliberate narrative direction, getting to know the characters in the time and context we spend with them is pretty difficult.However, watching accompanying the music video to "The Suburbs" fills in some, but not all, of the blanks, as it shows some parts of the story from a different perspective. I then couldn't wait to get to watch this film again. The second viewing, aided by an additional few moments of insight, that the main protagonist does not have, makes whole thing click together and become very rewarding. The questions that remain unanswered, that on initial viewing would appear massive, ultimately have no real relevance to the main story at all.A great enigma that, once revealed, leaves a satisfied feeling.