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February 16th, 2006

Open Source » Blog Archive » Groundhog Day In my next life, I hope I’ll believe in reincarn [...]

PUNX, PA: CUE THE MELLENCAMP

After watching GROUNDHOG DAY last week, I said to Meg, “Everybody talks about the religious implications of [...]

Rubin the writer ‘chanced’ upon Feb 2/Groundhog Day, but his ‘more real self’ intervened fortuitously: As portrayed in Japanese ‘astrology’ known as ’9 Star Ki’, this period between winter & spring (between ‘midnight’, 10PM-2AM, and dawn 6AM-10AM) is the ‘darkest before the dawn’. A Quantum, Heisenbergian, paradox period that appears in the time/space illusion just as it points our way out of it. This period is one of a holding of the time/space illusion while also, the process of being outside it. Being outside it allows for the 7 loops subsuming the pasts, and 7 loops out-spinning to the future–”Let’s shift to ‘neutral’ for a moment and gain some perspective to plan our next move(s). Much more can be said about this tricky phase of the ‘relative’, but, to be brief; this movie could never be, say, a Fourth of July comedy.

As is obvious, the carrying out of the movie was immpeccable, thankfully. We’ve got a great gift here.

“Night On Earth” (explored the concept of simultaneity),

“Zentropa” (had a dreamlike quality),

“Shadow Play” (Twilight Zone nightmare of repetition),

“Pulp Fiction” and “The Limey” (both played with non-linear narrative),

“The Mechanic” (time passage through physical withering of a human being, sort of reminded my of Kafka’s “A Hunger Artist”),

“Seconds” and “Memento” (amnesia and body memory),

“Sexy Beast” (personal past becomes a cage or prison for one’s future behavior),

“Time Bandits” and “The Time Machine” and “Back To The Future I” (time travel fantasy).

There are a bunch more, this is an off-the-top-of-my-head list. The original “Twilight Zone” series explored this terrain often. “Night On Earth” is very interesting to me because the simultaneity aspect must be managed in the viewers head; the medium of film cannot fully capture this notion directly. It is also just fun to watch; this was my first contact with Armin Mueller-Stahl and Roberto Benigni.

Returning to “Groundhog Day”…

“Groundhog Day” explored in a tangental way the essays of Albert Camus’ “The Myth of Sisyphus.” The absurdity of repetition is very apparent in this film, though the remedy of death is not an option in this particular story. Thus, the escape clause has been removed and confrontation of the repetition is the only available option. This has the potential to turn into a nightmare (ala “Shadow Play”), but this film avoids this trap and is able to do so without being overly contrived or superficial. That in of itself is a remarkable achievement.

“Groundhog Day” shows you can keep the tedium to a medium.