The Gray Area

In the movie The Invention of Lying, the whole basic plot for the first half of the movie is that people can not lie. This has radically changed the way that movies work. Actors can not play characters, as that would be lying through implying that they are somebody else. Thus, the movies that people see are just lectures. Non-fictional lectures about famous events. I would assume, although the movie does not show, that there are probably some independent movies about less famous events. However, these would probably be just as boring, if not more, than the movies about famous events are implied to be. I watched this film and nodded my head, perhaps even chuckled about how a movie with one man just talking would probably be similar to the sensation of watching the grass grow. No action, no dialogue, just a man in a chair droning on and on. In other words, Doc's worst nightmare of a movie ever. A monologue, a person in a chair and a camera that does not even move. I have to admit that I would not be interested in watching these movies either. The whole point of the movies is to see history in action. To watch the events that we were unable to witness. Even more to the point, most movies that most people enjoy, and that has a huge impact on the audience, are usually fictional stories that would probably not happen in real life. And then came last night.

I finished watching the movie Nixon last night. A movie that I have seen before and uses a very unique visual style to explain an exaggerated version of Richard Nixon's life. It did not thrill me as much as it did the previous times I have seen it and I was desperate to watch another historical film on a president that would give me the spark that this one was lacking. I started to browse netflix and then I saw the poster above. I don't even know how I heard about it or saw it, but the poster in question looked familiar to me when I saw it on the netflix watch instantly homepage. I can not explain, nor remember why, but it gave me the feeling of, "oh I have been meaning to watch this." As far as I can recollect, this is probably far from the truth. Anyway, I put it on and I was faced with the nightmare of a movie that was mocked in The Invention of Lying. There was a table on a stage and a black curtain behind it. A man walked on to the stage, sat down at the table, placed a notebook on the table, opened the notebook and started to talk about his life. The man was Spalding Gray and I was soon to learn that he was a monologist. I also learned that there is such a profession as a monologist. All this guy does is go on stage and talk about his life. More than that, I learned that this was a documentary, directed by Steven Soderbergh. All Soderbergh did was edit together a bunch of Gray's unreleased monologues so that the story of his life was in chronological order. This meant that I was in store for a host of strange edits of Gray talking on a coach, then suddenly talking on a stage and back and forth through the years. Yes, this implies that there were released monologues. Apparently, he released several films just giving monologues and they were mostly directed by famous directors.

"I will give myself five minutes with this and then I will turn this off. This way I can say that I gave it a chance," I thought to myself. Then I have no idea what happened next. In a flash the movie was over. Gray is not particularly funny, although I did laugh out loud at times. Gray's life is not particularly interesting, although I was eager to hear what was to happen next at times. Gray did not really have any good lines that I could use as quotes to share with others, although his words were kind of interesting. I do know this though, I have been thinking about this movie a lot since I saw it. It was very rememberable, not only for its novelty, but because Gray is so amazing at what he does. He just gets up there and explains his joys, fears and stories of everyday life. He is a true storyteller in an almost ancient tradition of the word. I found myself going back to specific parts of the movie, once it ended, to hear my favorite parts again. This kind of goes back to my previous post, as I think one of the reasons I enjoyed Gray's monologues so much is that he makes me feel sane. Through expressing fears and joys that I have only thought about in my head out loud, a strange thing happens. The audience represents Gray's chance to unload all the problems in his life and for the audience, Gray represents a reminder that their inner thoughts and fears are something that everyone experiences without saying it out loud and sharing it with others. Also, he is just increadibly entertaining. I do plan on trying to seek out the his other films.

The title of the film, And Everything is Going Fine, suits the film perfectly. In fact, it represents my favorite scene in the film. I am very hesitant to describe any of the scenes in the film as I will not do them the same justice as Gray saying things in his own words. However, I feel the need to make an exception here. Gray is describing a trip to his father and step mother's house. He keeps interrupting the flow of the story by saying "and everything is going fine except..." finished in with the next problem. This tactic implies that his father and step-mother are going to all these lengths to try to act and make everything in their house and lives fine except for the next problem which is about to come along. There always is a next problem in life, it is never going to end. Until it does, which is perhaps the biggest problem. However, when Gray is speaking and telling about his life without any lies, as messy, crazy and as ugly as it really is, he does it with a constant sense of how funny this all could be seen because it all is so messy, crazy and ugly. In this way, everything really is fine. It is fine because life is seen clearly and examined as it is. Gray is not a comedian, not everything out of his mouth is funny and rarely anything he says is hilarious. Still, he does something that comedians try to do and often fail. He allows us an insight into another person's life and it is almost therapeutic. And, if only for those few brief moments when he is talking, everything really is going fine.

However, it was the ending of the film that shocked me the most. Gray got into a car accident while vactioning in Ireland and had such damage to his mind and body that he eventually commited suicide. The movie does not make a big deal out of this as it is a tribute to his life and career and does not want, or need, to spend too long on his death. Still, it makes one pause and reflect on every aspect of the film once again.

And Everything is Going Fine.