The Adjustment Bureau

Bea says: This was my choice at the end of an odd day in Florida, a day where things hadn't really gone according to plan. The cinema was in a soulless out-of-town shopping mall, and before it we ate at the mall's food court - something we never do, but it was quite good actually.

As a fan of the Philip K Dick stories made into films (Blade Runner etc) I had been wanting to catch this, and luckily it was on at the mall at the right time. Other than the fact it was a Dick story I didn't know much about it, so in fact seeing it at the end of our strange day was eerily apt.

I liked the story's focus on explaining the phenomenon of coincidences, like unexpected meetings, and annoying little events, like losing keys or missing buses, as part of a bigger picture. I am quite interested in the idea of fate, so the story's questioning of how much of our fate is in our hands was thought-provoking.

In fact, Cecil and I had a conversation exactly like this earlier in the day - the only time in the USA we have ever come across a cash machine that wouldn't take our cards was in this small town in Florida, and that simple annoyance meant we had to change all of our afternoon plans, which were in turn disrupted by closures and moves of premises of things we were trying to find. I had accepted all this fatalistically; Cecil, like the story's protagonist, had wanted to fight this fate.

The film had some big names and fine actors - Matt Damon, Terence Stamp, and Emily Blunt plays the love interest. It was pacey and well put together, making for an enjoyable experience, probably even for those (Cecil would probably be among them) that aren't big fans of the "sci-fi thriller" genre. The story had dated well - except for the detail of the hats; when Dick was writing, most men probably wore hats everyday, meaning hat wearing men would blend in to the background. In the film's current setting, the hat wearing staff of the Adjustment Bureau stick out like a sore thumb in modern New York.
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Cecil says: Once I'd got over the shock of being told by an automaton cinema usher that we could not bring water bottles into the auditorium, and if I had an issue with that I could speak to the manager, I managed to settle down and quite enjoyed this film.

Yes, it was one of those days where our life could have been a film setting, as Bea says; nothing quite going right. And she's right that I am in the Matt Damon mould of trying to challenge any pre-determined course my life should take. Funnily enough, though, it was only in talking about the film afterwards that I realised the similarity; during the film itself, I didn't particularly relate to the Damon character.

But, even without identifying with any of the characters, I did enjoy this movie as an observation on life's paths.

I kind of enjoyed Emily Blunt, though her character had a bit of a dream-like aspect to her, which made her come across more as a male fantasy than a real person. Strangely enough, only the week before I had seen her playing a very similar character in another new film, this time with Bill Nighy (but Bea and I don't review films we see on planes, so I'll have to come back to that one once it's hit the big screen). Makes me wonder if she is not becoming a kind female version of Hugh Grant in the 90s; playing the same person over and over. Kind of attractive; but kind of samey.

The best characters in this film were the Wings of Desire-style angels, except that unlike in Wenders' classic, their role was specifically to make sure people kept to the path predetermined for them. I preferred Wenders' take on angels, and liked the Berlin setting over the New York background for this film.

But having said all that, it was an enjoyable story and a pleasant enough way to spend the evening in small-town Florida.

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