The Rules of Attraction
Directed by prolific writer director Roger Avery, the guy who co-wrote Pulp Fiction and helped ingrain Quentin Tarantino into our collective consciousness, this underrated 2002 flick is based on the novel by Bret Easton Ellis. the movie is essentially about a group of college students Sean Bateman played by James (the Forehead) Vanderbeek, uhm... that dude who played Dawson, Lauren Hynde played by uber stylish Lisa Bonet look alike Shannyn Sossaman, and Paul Denton, played by pretty boy Ian Somerhalder.
The film, like the book, is about... well attraction. It's about unrequited obsession about that period we go through in college when we are trying to find ourselves, and are looking for acceptance in others, in relationships, believing that if we could only have that one relationship that one person "everything would be alright", creating these objects of lust that don't really exist by projecting this false persona onto that lust object when in actuality the fantasy is far from the reality. Using revolutionary camera effects and a liberal story telling.Avery manages to nail the Schizophrenic, often times dizzying changes of character narration that is prominent in the Novel , the characters represent an Icy modern numbness that permeates through today's young adults. They are all desperate to feel something, and the isolation and emotional distance is felt in the way he has the characters interact or uses the framing of the camera or cuts the scenes. I don't know, just watch the damn movie its good.
I hate it when people review a movie and tell you that it's not as good as the book and that you should go read the book, and your like
"Well if I wanted to read a book, I would read a book. But I wanna see a damn movie and chill on the couch with some popcorn and soda in a darkened room and be entertained for a fucking hour, so lay off!"
Well there's no need to get so hostile, but in this case you should read the book. If you can't be bothered, then definitely check this flick out. It's sure to be a modern classic. Oh yeah.. and you get to see Dawson make out with a dude
Written by Al James from the NYIndieSeen blog
