Embriagado de Amor

One of my old English teachers once asked us about a book, "Did you all like the book? I'm not asking whether you enjoyed it; I don't care. I want to know if you liked it." She was making an important distinction.

I remembered that as I watched Punch-Drunk Love. It's very unusual. The film is set in L.A., but you don't see much scenery indicating that. You see unpleasant things. Adam Sandler's office is long and empty: just seeing him sitting at his desk assaults you with a feeling of loneliness (not because of any sappy music--but because of the set and the camera work). He walks out into a never-ending warehouse; it feels empty, brutal. He exits the warehouse and you see another unending sight: the row of garage-like doors of all the other warehouses. It feels like it lasts forever, this row of doors, and when Adam gets to the end of it, he looks out onto a long, straight, industrial, empty street. It looks HORRIBLE, but why? Nothing is happening on the street, there are no gruesome sights, no particular signs of squalor or anything, and yet you feel repulsed, hopeless, alone. Then, out of the distance, a car whizzes by, nothing unusual, but it feels abrasive. With no relation at all to the plot, just as it appears, this car hits something and explodes, its remains slide off into the distance and you see nothing more of it. It's trivial. But you feel like the movie is being hostile toward YOU, the viewer.

Yes, that's the best way I can put it: you feel like the movie is being hostile toward YOU. A few minutes later, a truck flies by, again very abrasively, and drops a harmonium in front of Adam Sandler. There is no rhyme or reason to this, it just happens, and it's all very unpleasant.

About a third of the way through the video, my phone rang. I told my friend what I was watching, and she asked how it was. I told her, "I can't decide. I'm not sure I like it." I kept watching. At the end, I understood. What I had meant to tell my friend was that I wasn't enjoying it. And I wasn't meant to.

The film starts out with a very bad point in Adam Sandler's life. He is neurotic, you want to kill his sisters even though they're not malicious per se, he is lonely, his life is unpleasant. This movie is trying to do more than TELL you it's unpleasant, and even more than SHOW you it's unpleasant: the movie is trying to get inside you and make you FEEL it. You seriously feel the abrasiveness of every image, every sound, every character; you feel accosted by it. When there's silence, it's brutal silence. When there are sounds, they're brutal sounds. Images and movements are abrasive. Until Adam's life begins to flourish: then you get pretty sounds, pretty colors--as the viewer, you're let off the hook, too.

So when it was over, I was in amazement. How many movies succeed at this, at taking you WITH them to the discomfort the character is living? The cinematography, the sound work, the script--none of it is any accident. When his life isn't going well, you FEEL it. Did I like the movie? Very much. And if you appreciate a very unusual take on an old topic, you will too.

No business looking this good with beautiful/subtle lighting. Strange & random but a warm tone that is just lovely. The screenplay is ridiculous but masterfully crafted. Simple yet uniquely profound with a great score & cast.

. .

. No business looking this good with beautiful/subtle lighting. Strange & random but a warm tone that is just lovely. The screenplay is ridiculous but masterfully crafted. Simple yet uniquely profound with a great score & cast.

. .

. No business looking this good with beautiful/subtle lighting. Strange & random but a warm tone that is just lovely. The screenplay is ridiculous but masterfully crafted. Simple yet uniquely profound with a great score & cast.

Watching this in 2024 was eye opening. From the actor to the score, the scenes, the way it was shot, each and every frame was spectacular.

The great secret of the movie is the accuracy of the detail you would only understand if you knew this degree of social frustration where you would understand the absolute genius of this movie and production.

Adam Sandler the actor of this generation, for having pushed the limits of curiosity with every single picture.

The score is absolute original and unique. The timing and the sequence is incredible.

The filming is efficient and done in minimal sites, perfect light in frames, excellent transitions. Appreciating this level of detail makes this one of my favorite cult genre rom com, which we should find a name for, if there isnt one already.

While reading some of the other comments for this film I was initially baffled. I could not understand how anyone in their right mind would dislike, much less hate a movie as simple and beautiful as this.

Then it dawned on me.

Most people don't have the equipment to emphathize with real alienation. They're too happy, they're too normal, their lives and their relationships all worked out a little too easily.

Life for Barry hasn't been like that way at all. In fact he has as much trouble comprehending how normal life works as those with normal lives comprehend how easily it is for someone else's life to suck so bad.

Barry knows he's not doing things "right". But everytime he's reached out he's been rebuked harshly. He doesn't want to leave his apartment or his place of work. He hates visiting his sisters, going "out" to eat, or meeting new people. He's collecting up millions of frequent flyer miles because it's a good deal, but doesn't really see himself ever using them. Everytime he steps a millimeter out of his usual, safe routine it ends up horribly.

But Barry's hell doesn't end there. In addition to all this, no one will ever let him FORGET about any of it. He is continually reminded of everything by his family and all his actions are continually questioned and examined by outsiders so that, in his mind and in his experience, it will add to yet another story on the heap that he will never be allowed to forget. Whenever anyone asks him a personal question, or a question about his actions, he usually responds with the safe and evasive, "I don't know." Any other answer leaves him open to likely ridicule for the rest of his life.

Barry spends most of the movie, quite understandably, in a continual state of social paralysis, suffocating to death before our eyes.

And then eventually, a break comes. Naturally he's defensive, naturally he expects things to go horribly wrong, and that he'd never be able to live it down and be forced to remember every excruciating detail on through eternity. But it doesn't ... and eventually he let's himself go. He tells the truth. He opens up. He tells about the pudding, he admits to the phone-sex line. He becomes a bit less paralyzed.

Many people complain that the movie isn't believable because no woman would ever go out with this type of guy.

Well DUH. Of course not.

But the movie isn't about painting a realistic relationship. It isn't about whether a woman would actually go for a guy like him. Her background and her motivations are irrelevent. Accurately painting a fully-fleshed out love interest would be self-defeating. The more accurately painted she was, the less likely we'd EVER believe someone could fall in love with Barry.

The girl he meets is his dream-girl. She represents the idea that even the nuttiest, most repressed, most socially inept individuals deserve a chance at happiness. OF COURSE there'd really never be a person there for Barry, but far more important is the idea that she COULD exist. That somewhere she should exist.

The movie isn't about her, it's about Barry.

Let me start by saying I love this movie. I love the weird, random offbeat awkwardness of it all. It's very charming and very funny. There's not many romance comedies like this. This is one of a kind for sure and it's one of Adam Sandler's best performances in my opinion. He's never done another role quite like this one and it really stands out compared to everything else he's done. He plays a very awkward, peculiar and erratic-tempered guy who seems be on the autistic spectrum. He gives a very funny, very charming and unique performance. Emily Watson is fantastic as well. She gives a very charming and warm performance. There's something very lovely and sweet about her in this movie. And of course Phillip Seymour Hoffman, as with any film he's in, elevates the movie as a whole and brings an interesting character into the story. He is the GOAT, R. I. P.

The cinematography is beautiful. The style is peculiar and distinct. PTA knows what he's doing and his sense of humor is right up my alley. I love the long one-shot takes in this movie. One that stands out to me is when Barry is calling the hotline from his apartment. At times the movie can be anxiety-inducing with the different things that happen to Barry along with the music that complements these scenes. I love the way they play with colors (blues & reds) and the way random coincidental things happen. In this movie we are seeing the world through Barry's eyes. In a way this movie reminds me of Jacques Tati and his movies. I love how the movie almost turns into a Western for a couple minutes when Barry ventures out to find the person who's been harassing him. I'm guessing the harmonium is supposed to represent Barry in a way and his state of being? Or it could just be something completely random. Either way, this movie has a special place in my heart and I'll always come back to watch it. Highly highly recommended. Raw score: 8.7/10.