Thursday, March 15, 2007
The Number 23
Just saw The Number 23. It's about a guy whose wife gives him a book about an obsession with the number 23. He starts reading the book, and begins noticing things that add up to the magic number. Letters convert into numbers which add up to 23 (e.g. NED: N=14, E=5, D=4; 14+5+4). Historical dates convert to 23 (9/11/2001 = 9+11+2+1 = 23). And so on.
Good movie fun. On the visual plane, you can play "spot the 23" in virtually every frame, and the numerology game also provides great diversion. Plus, there's a metaplot about the power of literature and storyteller, the writer's fantasy that a work of literature can "infect" or inspire others.
And then I started thinking – both my birthday and Scooter's birthday add up to 33. And my earlier blog post about The Number 23? It was written on 2/22/2007 = 2+22+9=33! And since that day, I've written at least one blog every day, and this is 22 days later. During this period, I've made 44 posts. 22+44=66, and 66/2=33!
Another reason to like this movie is that it almost - but not quite - has a talking dog. It's definitely a very communicative, hyper-intelligent dog, and the protagonist speaks to the dog as if the dog can understand exactly what he's saying.
I really only had one major problem with the film (and I'll try to be careful not to spoil the movie, but if you're really sensitive about that kind of thing maybe now's a good time to click elsewhere) The idea that love and rationality can cure mental illness is highly problematic. You can't just click your heels and wish away dementia, contrary to how it was depicted in the film. It wouldn't have hurt the film to have some good old-fashioned pharmacology, a little more Girl, Interrupted and a lot less cartoon insanity.
But what do you expect? This is the movies!
Good movie fun. On the visual plane, you can play "spot the 23" in virtually every frame, and the numerology game also provides great diversion. Plus, there's a metaplot about the power of literature and storyteller, the writer's fantasy that a work of literature can "infect" or inspire others.
And then I started thinking – both my birthday and Scooter's birthday add up to 33. And my earlier blog post about The Number 23? It was written on 2/22/2007 = 2+22+9=33! And since that day, I've written at least one blog every day, and this is 22 days later. During this period, I've made 44 posts. 22+44=66, and 66/2=33!
Another reason to like this movie is that it almost - but not quite - has a talking dog. It's definitely a very communicative, hyper-intelligent dog, and the protagonist speaks to the dog as if the dog can understand exactly what he's saying.
I really only had one major problem with the film (and I'll try to be careful not to spoil the movie, but if you're really sensitive about that kind of thing maybe now's a good time to click elsewhere) The idea that love and rationality can cure mental illness is highly problematic. You can't just click your heels and wish away dementia, contrary to how it was depicted in the film. It wouldn't have hurt the film to have some good old-fashioned pharmacology, a little more Girl, Interrupted and a lot less cartoon insanity.
But what do you expect? This is the movies!
Labels: movies, talking dogs
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]
