Off late have been having conversations around happiness too many time with various friends. It seems to be that sort of phase in life where one ask oneself (and close friends) what is the calling of life & what constitute real happiness. In the movie the protagonist is also going through a similar phase & it seems he manages to avoid the existential questions for a long time. Finally he decides to take off for a journey where he would try to understand 'what make people happy', so that he can come back & help his patients (he is a psychiatrist) find happiness. But that's just one of the reasons, he wants to find answers for himself as well (according to me this is the only reason). He travels to China (somehow have never thought of visiting China, need to add that to my list), Africa & back to US. And by the end of the movie he does find the answers he is looking for, as everyone would have expected.
I am anyways a sucker for travel based movies & have been a Simon Pegg fan since I saw "Shaun of the dead". And this one also is a sort of Coming-of-age movie, as the protagonist gains the maturity that he has been lacking over the years. So as soon as I saw the trailer of the movie had decided that I need to see it at the earliest. Given the fitment it was bound to impress me, but it did that and went beyond. Sure movie is slightly exaggerated at places, but even those parts fit in well with the over all theme. Its funny as well, but maintains the right amount of funny given the subject & objective of the movie.
Does it answer the quintessential question? I think we would need a series, much bigger than cornetto trilogy, to tackle the subject. But a few points which they tried and projected were pretty interesting. Like happiness is "all of them at once", all stands for a combination of emotions. Another theory which hits home is till a point happiness was a state of being, but beyond a certain point it becomes a side-effect of activities. And there are several other noteworthy pointers in the movie, but those point aren't the most interesting thing about the movie. The most interesting bit in the movie was the journey where he struggles to find answers, as it is the case always. End goal (in this case answers to existential questions) is always different for different people, but the fact that one needs to take an interesting journey to figure out answers is always a given. And that's always the best part of all activity. Also, I loved the fact that it did not went on to become a preachy movie with a fixed answer about finding happiness.
Performances were pretty good, Simon Pegg gives another brilliant performance, Rosamund pike is versatile as ever & support cast comprises of solid actors who do not miss their mark often. All in all a movie which could be seen once for various reasons, although individuals would have to figure out which set of reasons work for them ;)
I am anyways a sucker for travel based movies & have been a Simon Pegg fan since I saw "Shaun of the dead". And this one also is a sort of Coming-of-age movie, as the protagonist gains the maturity that he has been lacking over the years. So as soon as I saw the trailer of the movie had decided that I need to see it at the earliest. Given the fitment it was bound to impress me, but it did that and went beyond. Sure movie is slightly exaggerated at places, but even those parts fit in well with the over all theme. Its funny as well, but maintains the right amount of funny given the subject & objective of the movie.
Does it answer the quintessential question? I think we would need a series, much bigger than cornetto trilogy, to tackle the subject. But a few points which they tried and projected were pretty interesting. Like happiness is "all of them at once", all stands for a combination of emotions. Another theory which hits home is till a point happiness was a state of being, but beyond a certain point it becomes a side-effect of activities. And there are several other noteworthy pointers in the movie, but those point aren't the most interesting thing about the movie. The most interesting bit in the movie was the journey where he struggles to find answers, as it is the case always. End goal (in this case answers to existential questions) is always different for different people, but the fact that one needs to take an interesting journey to figure out answers is always a given. And that's always the best part of all activity. Also, I loved the fact that it did not went on to become a preachy movie with a fixed answer about finding happiness.
Performances were pretty good, Simon Pegg gives another brilliant performance, Rosamund pike is versatile as ever & support cast comprises of solid actors who do not miss their mark often. All in all a movie which could be seen once for various reasons, although individuals would have to figure out which set of reasons work for them ;)
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