FIGHT CLUB
"We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives." ....Tyler Durden
We hear a great line from a movie and we cheer it. I can imagine how the audience reacted when Forrest Gump said "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get". It was made to sound profound and I'm sure a lot of people saw more to it than there really was. What if there was a movie wherein every line spoken was a commentary on our lives, only it wasn't sugar coated and packed in a fluffy package but was as hard hitting as life itself. The movie is Fight Club.
Directed by David Fincher and based on the best selling book by Chuck Palahniuk of the same name, the movie sits comfortably at the top of all cult hits. A movie which was shunned by a few critics due to its brutally graphic violence went on to become the most talked about movie of the year and one of the most influential movies of the decade. The fact that it didn't recover its production cost during its theatrical run goes to show how wrongly it was marketed. But the movie was destined to become what it is now. While most movies confine themselves strictly within the financial gains while compromising on every aspect of film making, this movie did the exact opposite. Attach a superlative adjective to every aspect of film making and you'll get a clue as to what Fight Club is. And because I've worshipped the movie the review that is to follow, as you might have already expected, is going to be very biased.
The story is about Edward Norton (known only as the narrator) and how he loses everything to find himself. He is an insomniac; hates his job; has no semblance of a social life and hence tries to make up for it by becoming a slave to consumerism. On his doctor's advice he goes to therapeutic sessions and becomes addicted. The tragic lives of people he meets becomes his own and he finds solace in their grievances. In comes Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter), a tourist like him and totally ruins everything. He can no longer wallow in the grief of others. The presence of another fake mirrors his own and he again goes back to the way he was. On a routine official trip he comes across Tyler Durden (Brat Pitt) and is by his free will. A freak accident and a few beers later the narrator finds himself sharing a dilapidated house with Tyler. He says he makes soaps.
They continue with their own lives, occasionally finding time to beat the crap outta each other. More people join in…and FIGHT CLUB is born. By day every one of its members do their menial jobs only to be resurrected by the fights they have at night. These fights give them a sense of being which their otherwise normal life cant seem to give.
“Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need.”
What the narrator had thought he left behind comes back..Marla Singer. She invades what he had come to recognize as a perfect little existence…perfect in his own way anyways. Marla and Tyler have various sexual encounters but they never seem to together except those encounters. If only he could get rid of her.
“Marla... the little scratch on the roof of your mouth that would heal if only you could stop tonguing it, but you can't”
The club on the other hand starts growing at an exponential rate. What started off as a bunch of guys fighting it out at the basement of a bar grows into an organized horde. Fight Club is rechristened as “Project Mayhem”. Its purpose: to cause chaos in an otherwise harmless fashion. These guys set out to destroy public property, play pranks and recruit more and more into the club. By the time the narrator realizes the gravity of the situation, the clubs have branched out in various cities. The whole thing eventually becomes a little out of control..which come to think of was why it was started in the first place. It was never meant to be controlled..it was meant to reign free. It was created with the intention to break free form the shackled helplessness of consumerist lifestyle. It seems too late to for the narrator to do anything about it from that point on.
What happens next is something I would like you to see for yourself. And to say that what unfolds is an absolute masterpiece of filmmaking would be to give the word 'masterpiece' a perfect example. In the end it all boils down to two simple lines :
“The things you own end up owning you.”
“It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything. “
We hear a great line from a movie and we cheer it. I can imagine how the audience reacted when Forrest Gump said "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get". It was made to sound profound and I'm sure a lot of people saw more to it than there really was. What if there was a movie wherein every line spoken was a commentary on our lives, only it wasn't sugar coated and packed in a fluffy package but was as hard hitting as life itself. The movie is Fight Club.
Directed by David Fincher and based on the best selling book by Chuck Palahniuk of the same name, the movie sits comfortably at the top of all cult hits. A movie which was shunned by a few critics due to its brutally graphic violence went on to become the most talked about movie of the year and one of the most influential movies of the decade. The fact that it didn't recover its production cost during its theatrical run goes to show how wrongly it was marketed. But the movie was destined to become what it is now. While most movies confine themselves strictly within the financial gains while compromising on every aspect of film making, this movie did the exact opposite. Attach a superlative adjective to every aspect of film making and you'll get a clue as to what Fight Club is. And because I've worshipped the movie the review that is to follow, as you might have already expected, is going to be very biased.
The story is about Edward Norton (known only as the narrator) and how he loses everything to find himself. He is an insomniac; hates his job; has no semblance of a social life and hence tries to make up for it by becoming a slave to consumerism. On his doctor's advice he goes to therapeutic sessions and becomes addicted. The tragic lives of people he meets becomes his own and he finds solace in their grievances. In comes Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter), a tourist like him and totally ruins everything. He can no longer wallow in the grief of others. The presence of another fake mirrors his own and he again goes back to the way he was. On a routine official trip he comes across Tyler Durden (Brat Pitt) and is by his free will. A freak accident and a few beers later the narrator finds himself sharing a dilapidated house with Tyler. He says he makes soaps.
They continue with their own lives, occasionally finding time to beat the crap outta each other. More people join in…and FIGHT CLUB is born. By day every one of its members do their menial jobs only to be resurrected by the fights they have at night. These fights give them a sense of being which their otherwise normal life cant seem to give.
“Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need.”
What the narrator had thought he left behind comes back..Marla Singer. She invades what he had come to recognize as a perfect little existence…perfect in his own way anyways. Marla and Tyler have various sexual encounters but they never seem to together except those encounters. If only he could get rid of her.
“Marla... the little scratch on the roof of your mouth that would heal if only you could stop tonguing it, but you can't”
The club on the other hand starts growing at an exponential rate. What started off as a bunch of guys fighting it out at the basement of a bar grows into an organized horde. Fight Club is rechristened as “Project Mayhem”. Its purpose: to cause chaos in an otherwise harmless fashion. These guys set out to destroy public property, play pranks and recruit more and more into the club. By the time the narrator realizes the gravity of the situation, the clubs have branched out in various cities. The whole thing eventually becomes a little out of control..which come to think of was why it was started in the first place. It was never meant to be controlled..it was meant to reign free. It was created with the intention to break free form the shackled helplessness of consumerist lifestyle. It seems too late to for the narrator to do anything about it from that point on.
What happens next is something I would like you to see for yourself. And to say that what unfolds is an absolute masterpiece of filmmaking would be to give the word 'masterpiece' a perfect example. In the end it all boils down to two simple lines :
“The things you own end up owning you.”
“It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything. “
posted by Soham at 8:35 AM
3 Comments:
But i want to know what happens next!
Cos' i tried watching this movie, and i fell asleep! :P hehehhe.
So what happens next???
WATCH THE MOVIE..cant believe u slept thru it.
It was BORING.
Well the first fifteen minutes at least! Okok, ill try watching it again..but can you just tell me the ending!! :P
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