Wondering what the kids are watching these days? I was curious, so I reached out to a teenager and asked him to watch and review one film on his ‘must see’ list. Fifteen year old Jack Sanko chose, ‘The Truman Show.’ I wanted to know if it held up after all these years. Here’s what he had to say:
Q: What were your impressions before viewing: My expectations for ‘The Truman Show’ were already pretty high because most people consider it to be a “classic” film. It’s inspired in part by a ‘Twilight Zone’ episode about a man slowly realizing that he is in a production and the place he calls reality is not what he once thought it was.
Q: What were your impressions after viewing: After I watched this movie I had an actual smile across my face. I loved it; every single part of it. I loved the plot, characters, soundtrack, cinematography, set, wardrobe… literally everything. My favorite aspect of the movie was Jim Carrey’s character, Truman. His performance was outstanding and it felt as real as ever. The plot of the movie revolved around a man who slowly discovers that he is living in a television show. Truman was born and raised in the same town, which is actually an artificial dome. He first starts to notice patterns of the people around him behave and then points it out to his wife. She denies his claims. He then keeps pointing out the recurring ridiculous subtleties in his daily life, such as people walking up the same street at the same time every day and how certain people only say or do certain things in his presence. Another time, on his drive to work, he overhears radio chatter while searching for a song that describes his exact positioning and where he is about to turn. After he defies this he sees masses of people running towards where he decides to go next. Several instances like this occur throughout the movie and as it progresses you can see the world around him slowly unraveling, until he reaches the edge of his town. Spoiler: after tricking those who are watching him with a decoy, he sneaks out at night, by boat, to the edge of the “town” he has lived in his whole life. Upon reaching the edge of this place, he discovers a set of stairs that leads right out of there. Finally, he can live a normal life and explore the real world.
I would say that this movie is best for anyone 13 and up. If I remember correctly there was some foul language used occasionally throughout the movie.
The acting, as I said earlier, was phenomenal. The story was great and the individual components of the story were distinct, fresh and thought-provoking throughout. The delivery of the lines was great and the emotions felt raw and powerful. The expressions on his face were very memorable as he reacted to his reality slowly breaking before him. He questions his entire life thinking “are my mom and dad my real mom and dad?” and “are my friends real or are they paid actors?” The sheer loneliness that he felt seemed shattering. These are crazy concepts and Carrey captures the mix of fear and curiosity that Truman felt perfectly. The script, written by Andrew Niccol, was also very well written. This is the kind of movie you’ll want to rewatch because of the many minor details that could be easy to miss the first time.
Q: What were your favorite things about the movie? Interesting camera angles, it’s a very creative concept, extremely well cast and well written.
Q: What did you dislike the most? Nothing. It is perfect.
Q: How would you rate it? I would easily rate this movie a ten out of ten, it held up beautifully and it is easily on my top ten list of best movies that I’ve ever seen. All around a great movie.
Q: What’s next on your watch list? ‘Snowpiercer,’ by Bon Joon Ho, an acclaimed Korean director who also made Parasite, winner of four Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International Feature Film. ‘Snowpiercer’ is about a dystopian world where the rest of humanity is separated by class and lives on a train car. With each car that moves closer to the front, the more elite the classes become.