Comet (2014)

Best movie of this year hands down!

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

I wonder if Jack even existed. Since Dell wanted her to lie to him in his most vulnerable state it was necessary for her to create this big lie about Jack and her being pregnant to make him believe in love and save their future together. She made up the lie in the car on the way to the shooting range, but before she could tell the truth he broke up with her, saying he didn't love her, wondering if he ever did. Don't think she saw any reason to tell about the lie at that time. Time after that she had to stick to the story to have a chance to win him back. To make him realize.

Catching up on some DVD viewings,I decided to see what films were about to be removed from Netflix UK. Not having seen her since the double bill of The Day After Tomorrow and The Phantom of the Opera in 2004, (despite being based on a UK show,Shameless has never come out on UK DVD) I was intrigued to spot an indie flick with Emmy Rossum,which led to me looking up at the sky.The plot:Crashing into each other whilst standing in line to watch a meteor shower,Dell and Kimberly collide into a romantic relationship.Over their six years,Dell wonders about what state the romance must be in alternative universes.Unknown to (this version of) Dell,the other Dell's and Kimberly's are seeing their love burnout across the galaxy.View on the film:Experiencing anything but a crumbling relationship behind the scenes, (she would later get married to the writer/director) Emmy Rossum gives an excellent,fragile performance as Kimberly. Initially whirling in with a kooky smile,Rossum pulls it into a fraught state,where the mere sight of Dell makes Kimberly fall more out of love with him. Tripping over his sweet nothings to Kimberly,Justin Long gives a great performance as Dell,who Long keeps from ever feeling he is on stable ground,which pulls his love for Kimberly into an unstable state.Programmed before he created the TV series Mr. Robot,the debut screenplay by writer/director Sam Esmail scatters a snapshot across the screen on the various eras of Dell's and Kimberly's relationship criss-crossing over each other,from the lightly comedic first encounter,to the emotionally raw,bitter downward spiral the romance becomes trapped in. Although the use of parallel universes keeps the romance unsettled,Esmail disappointingly does not use it to give the characters a complexity or depth,but to instead use it as a device to jump back and forth on the various stages of the romance. Inspired by the Cinéma Du Look movement,debuting director Esmail & cinematographer Eric Koretz crack the night sky of Dell and Kimberly's blossoming stage with a wave of ultra-stylised neon reds,blues and yellows,that shimming as Esmail dips from the real to the parallel. Tripping the colours as Dell and Kimberly's romance hits new lows,Esmail keeps the Du Look styling simmering in a warm light blue darting across Dell and Kimberly's romance like a comet.

Comet is unlike the majority of romantic/drama movies that are out there. The movie is about a man and a woman in a relationship that bounces back and forth between the highs and lows. The movie is more of a collection of memories that bounce between the 6-year relationship of the couple. The film was shot beautifully and truly captures the tone of each scene and the emotions that are supposed to be felt. The movie was almost presented as a puzzle. You have to pay attention and make sure to fit all of the pieces together. This is what makes it significantly different than most romantic movies, and definitely is a reason that it was such a great movie. The chemistry between the two lead stars, Justin Long and Emmy Rossum, is outstanding.A must watch.

The concept of eternal recurrence is ancient. Basically is says that anything that exists will do so forever and ever, the same way, repeating infinitely. The concept of wheel of time known in Buddhism as Kalachakra expresses the idea of an endless cycle of birth, existence, knowledge and death. By relying only on the elements provided in the movie, the comet-which is cyclical and the fact that Dell has multiple sensations of déjà vu, as well as the fact that it takes place in a parallel universe, suggest that Sam Esmail has taken the concept of eternal recurrence into account. Also during the movie we have the debate that a painting as opposed to a movie can be looked at any time and can convey the whole message at once. The love story is in fact presented as a painting. All the elements presented are meant to make up the "image" of their romance, trapped in time, trapped into existence. However, the fact that we are not shown what happens at the very end can logically only mean that we have not been given all elements. The puzzle is incomplete. Also, the fact that we are being shown the apocalyptic scene in the end (where Kimberly practically closes all possible ways of reconnecting with Dell) can only mean that the missing piece is one of climax regarding their story. Also, Kimberly is clearly lying at the end when she says that she just likes Roxette. When we see her singing along while driving she is exuberant, in love with that other guy. I'm not saying that her starting listening to Roxette is an indication that the relationship is ending, but she is lying. The Roxette song says : "It must have been love but it's over now" - clearly stirring mixed emotions within her regarding the ending love with Dell, as she felt at that time, and the beginning love towards the other guy.Finally, if we look at their story as a painting, the beauty is that even if it ended in apocalypse it's still trapped into existence to replay endlessly until the end of time.