Changing Lanes: Underrated, Undervalued

I was toying with the idea of employing a new weekly post called "Unfounded." Cool, right? It would deal with films that I think are fantastic, but for some reason went unnoticed by the mainstream.

It happens every year.

A film will be released to either good/mediocre reviews, I'll see it, love it, and find no other admirers for me to share my opinions with. Sometimes these films are embraced by critics or the Oscars, a la The Insider (a movie i will write about soon), and sometimes they're huge successes initially, but fade away.

This movie, CHANGING LANES, it is a fucking great movie - the best movie of 2002. I stick by this remark. I think I have only seen the movie once in its entirety - I do that because I can love a movie so much on a first viewing that I don't want to tarnish the first-impression by nit-picking it to death. That does not mean that the movie won't stand up to repeat viewings.

When I saw this movie, it gave me everything I seemed to be looking for in a film at that very moment: smart people saying smart things about honesty, integrity, character, and life. The movie isn't filled with grand setpieces or manipulative suspense - no - this one has these quietly powerful moments where every character gets a moment to say something important, these little speeches which ultimately define who they are and what they stand for. They're sort of jaw-dropping because these characters really stop and really try to articulate their feelings, not necessarily with eloquence, but with the words they have at their disposal in their respective vocabularies. I mean, look at this:

" It's like you go to the beach. You go down to the water. It's a little cold. You're not sure you want to go in. There's a pretty girl standing next to you. She doesn't want to go in either. She sees you, and you know that if you just asked her her name, you would leave with her. Forget your life, whoever you came with, and leave the beach with her. And after that day, you remember. Not every day, every week... she comes back to you. It's the memory of another life you could have had. Today is that girl"

See, people may or may not really talk like this - it doesn't matter - because of how the scene is filmed and how the entire movie builds up to this moment of insight - and sometimes just the ability to say how you're feeling, no matter how abstract - sometimes thats enough to settle old scores.

I love that about this movie because every relationship comes to a turning point that hinges on total and complete honesty.

The ending might be a big false note, but the movie up till that point is a knockout.