Love stories
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Love stories |
| Original title | Stuck in love |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 2012 |
| length | 97 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Josh Boone |
| script | Josh Boone |
| production | Judy Cairo |
| music |
Mike Mogis , Nate Walcott |
| camera | Tim Orr |
| cut | Robb Sullivan |
| occupation | |
| |
Love Stories (Original title: Stuck in Love , dt. Long title: Love Stories - First love, second chance ) is an American film drama by director Josh Boone from 2012. It is the directorial debut of Josh Boone, the two years later turned the successful film Fate is a lousy traitor . Love Stories largely shows the events in the lives of the four Borgens family members and their partnerships that occur within a year - between two Thanksgivings .
action
The film begins with a performance by the four Borgens family members: Bill, Erica, Samantha and Rusty. Bill is a successful writer, but he hasn't gotten into writing since he divorced his wife Erica two years ago. He is still very attached to his relationship with his ex-wife and only meets sporadically to have sex with Tricia, who is married in turn. Erica has led her life since divorcing her ex-husband Bill and has remarried. She lives with her new husband Martin just a few blocks from Bill's house. Whenever she runs into her ex-husband Bill by chance, she tries to convince him to stop indulging in the old relationship and to find a new partner again.
The two children Samantha and Rusty, like their father, are very fond of writing. Samantha is a cynical but realistic 19-year-old who recently moved to another city to study literature. She has had no contact with her mother Erica for over a year and holds a great grudge against her, from which the mother suffers greatly. As it turns out later, this hatred of the mother arose from an affair with the mother, which Samantha observed when she was younger. Rusty is still in high school and, like his sister, writes a lot. He has an eye on his classmate Kate, but has not yet found the courage to speak to her.
On Thanksgiving, Bill and his two children Samantha and Rusty get together for dinner. Like every year since the divorce, Bill covers for Erica, expecting she might come to visit after all. During dinner, Samantha reveals to her family that the manuscript of her first novel has been accepted and will be published shortly. Rusty, who Bill sees his jealousy about the sister's success, tries to make it clear to him that great texts arise from the extraordinary experiences of the writer. He persuades him to collect such experiences himself in order to use them for his own texts. Rusty takes this to heart and goes to a house party with a friend, which is also attended by Kate. By chance he watches her sniffing drugs in the bathroom. Already about to leave, however, Rusty witnesses how Kate's friend ruthlessly throws her to the ground in an argument. Rusty gives the boyfriend a punch and leaves the party with Kate. So begins the relationship between Rusty and Kate.
In the meantime, Samantha meets Louis at a party, to whom she initially behaves extremely negatively. Louis tries to make it clear to her that her casual sex acquaintances won't do her any good. Samantha's distant attitude only cracks when she sees for the first time how lovingly Louis takes care of his mother, who has a brain tumor , by reading from a book to her. They arrange to meet on a real date and then come together.
The release ceremony for Samantha's first book is coming up soon. In addition to her boyfriend Louis, her family is also present: Bill, Rusty and his girlfriend Kate. After a while it turns out that Erica has also come. She summons up all her courage and approaches her daughter, asking for a signature of the book. But Samantha is extremely defensive and so Erica returns, depressed and sad about the failed attempt at reconciliation. Finally, a second incident occurs at the celebration: Kate suddenly disappeared. Unaware of Kate's drug history, Samantha had got her champagne. As a result, Kate had continued to get drunk and drove away with someone she had met at the party. Without further ado, the family gets into the car and looks for Kate. They eventually find her in an apartment, apparently under the influence of drugs.
Kate begins withdrawal therapy . Bill tries to get on with his life and leave Erica behind. He's dating again. After a successful date, he sneaks outside Erica's house to leave the wedding ring he had been wearing all this time on her window sill. By chance he notices that Erica is reading one of his books in the house. So his conviction disappears again and he puts the ring back in his pocket. As a result, he tries to convince his daughter Samantha that the hatred of her mother is exaggerated and unjustified. He reveals to her that he too had a phase of insecurity and affairs, during which Erica had waited for him for six months - long before she herself cheated. But even that doesn't make Samantha reconcile with Erica. Only when Louis' mother dies after a serious illness, Samantha becomes aware of the consequences of her actions and she finally manages to speak to the mother. Meanwhile, Rusty receives a phone call from his favorite author, Stephen King , saying that he has read one of his manuscripts sent to him by his sister Samantha and is thrilled about it.
A year has passed since the opening scenes: Rusty and his father are preparing the Thanksgiving dinner again. Again Bill covers for Erica too, but then promptly changes his mind and covers the excess plate again. The doorbell rings just before the family is about to start eating. Erica stands in front of the door and asks if there is still a place left for her at the table. It has been "lost" a little lately (in the original: "I got lost"). Some time before, she had confessed to Bill that she, too, was not always sure that the decision to split up had been the right one.
Special stylistic aspects
The introductions of the individual protagonists at the beginning of the film deserve special mention: Scenes are shown that are characteristic of the respective family members. A particularly memorable sentence is highlighted by an inserted subtitle. In its basic function, this introduction is reminiscent of the opening scenes from films such as The fabulous world of Amélie , in which the protagonists are presented individually. However, instead of giving detailed character descriptions, as in the case of The Fabulous World of Amélie , the characters are introduced by showing scenes that are representative of the character's position and character trait.
Furthermore, it should be noted that in two places in the film, songs from the soundtrack have almost entirely been placed over the actual soundtrack of the film. This is remarkable in that these are songs with sung text that are aurally in the foreground, i.e. dominate the sound - but the dialogue within the film is carried on normally in several places.
background
The film was shot in coastal North Carolina locations. It celebrated its international premiere under the working title "Writers" at the Toronto International Film Festival 2012.
reception
On the Rotten Tomatoes website , the film achieved an overall rating of 58% positive ratings, based on a total of 40 reviews considered. As a consensus, it is stated that the film primarily struggles with the bumpy and unrealistic script. However, the overall performance of individual actors would mask the script's flaws and contribute to a solid film.
Stephen Holden of the New York Times also notes that Love Stories is more reminiscent of the literary life of the 1950s than the 21st century. He also shows that Love Stories is an independent production - but at the same time the film makes use of the popular “Hollywood formula”, with unrealistic expressions for a happy ending, very strongly and too simply.
Soundtrack
In June 2013, the original soundtrack for the film was released, which includes the following titles.
| No. | title | Interpreter | length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | At your door | Mike Mogis , Nathaniel Walcott | 2:54 |
| 2. | You are your mother's child | Conor Colonel | 3:56 |
| 3. | End Run | Cloudbirds | 4:29 |
| 4th | American Man | Rio Bravo | 4:00 |
| 5. | Polkadot | Like pioneers | 3:01 |
| 6th | No time to speak | Bear Driver | 3:41 |
| 7th | Will you be by me | Wallpaper airplanes | 5:45 |
| 8th. | I won't love you any less | Nat Wolff & Alex Wolff | 3:08 |
| 9. | Between the bars | Elliott Smith | 2:21 |
| 10. | The Calendar Hung Itself | Bright eyes | 3:49 |
| 11. | A Mountain, A Peak | Bill Ricchini | 4:11 |
| 12. | Summersaults in Spring | Friends of Gemini | 4:46 |
| Overall length: | 46:01 | ||
A total of nine more songs were used within the film, but they were not taken into account when the soundtrack was released. These include titles by the bands Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros , The National and Bon Iver .
Web links
- Love Stories in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Official website of the film