When I saw a copy of Liberal Arts from the DVD stack yesterday, I just know I have to buy it! It's a bonus that Josh Radnor is in the cover (I love this guy!).
Liberal Arts kicks off when Jesse (Josh Radnor), a 35-year-old charming college admissions adviser, went home to his alma mater for his former professor's retirement dinner. There, he met Zibby (Elizabeth Olsen), a 19-year-old drama student, whose kindred spirit attracted him in ways he cannot fathom. They exchanged letters and talked about stuff they like. I am pretty sure that if Jesse had lived to be a poet or scribe in the past, he'd have many clients!
They say that age is mind over matter: if you don't mind, it doesn't matter. I, myself, do not mind age gap as long as they perfectly connect with each other. Back to the movie, Jesse was later on faced with an issue he considers a moral one (if you know what I mean). It's the guilt that creeps into him before doing that spontaneous thing.
Being in his old school makes Jesse feel young again. There are some things that change over the years but we can't help it not to want to change at all. As what Professor Hoberg said, "Nobody feels like an adult. It's the world's dirty secret." We feel young but we're no longer young anymore.
When watching Liberal Arts, you'd realize that the characters in the film are the people you see in school everyday (no intention of stereotyping). There's the terror yet brilliant professor, the funny teacher/buddy, the smart kid who has depression problems, the pretty girls who love to party, etc. By the way, Zac Efron has a cameo role here! He's the wise guy with a hippie/bohemian/homeless look who likes to suddenly appear from nowhere. My favorite line of his: "There's no reason to be afraid because everything is okay."
Since it's an indie film, a special selection during the Sundance Film Fest, be assured that it's not your mainstream rom-com movie that satisfies your ending of choice. Some characters like Ana were not really built up but the film is really giving her favors. I would have wanted a particular ending for Jesse and Zibby but it's all problematic for our guy here. For Jesse, their relationship is complicated and not age-appropriate. Their minds may be on the same page but not their generation. It's indie!
In one of the correspondences between Jesse and Zibby, Jesse wrote an epiphany that rings true about life and God's presence. He said:
"The other day, I was crossing the street, lost in my head about something -- a not uncommon state of affairs. I was listening to the overture and as the music began to swell, I suddenly realized that I had hands and legs and a torso, and that I was surrounded by people and cars. It's hard to explain exactly what happened but I felt in that moment that the Divine -- however we may choose to define such a thing -- surely dwells as much in the concrete and taxi cabs as it does in the rivers, lakes, and mountains. Grace, I realized, is neither time- nor place- dependent. All we need is the right soundtrack."
Literati would love this film! Jesse is seen at the beginning reading The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. It did not show a closeup shot of the book but if you're a reader, you'd know it by just seeing the cover from afar. There's also a mention of Blake, Wordsworth, and Franzen. For music, there's Beethoven, Mozart, and indie rock bands.
They say that when you're young, you're open to trying new and crazy things like hugging a stranger on stage, giving him a mixtape, saying you want to take things slowly but kissing him anyway, those kind of stuff!
One recurring theme in Liberal Arts is disappointment. Almost all the characters were disappointed at one point in the film. Jesse's Romantic Literature Professor Fairfield believed that "people are disappointing." This is quite true if you'd try to understand it. The real world is different from how we see it before in the classroom. After college, people go out and realize that contentment is hard to find. You try to get your dream job but after two to three years of working, you're still stuck at being a modern slave in a job you don't want. What happened? Life happened.
Liberal Arts is filled with book scenes readers would love. I feasted my eyes over the bookshelves, the inspiring Snellen chart, the library, the coffee shop -- everything!
Hope you'd watch this film. It comes in handy!
*I do not own the photo used in this blog. No intention of copyright infringement.
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