I have come to realize that my schedule, pretty much nulifies any advance planning. The most successful plans I have made lately have been exceptionally last minute…advance planning just doesn’t work for the time being. An example of a successful last minute plan unfolded tonight. I got a call from B. at 8:35 pm and within 20 minutes we were on the road to see the movie Cloverfield.

The movie clocks in at about 90 minutes and is presented as a video tape found by the US Military at Central Park. Essentially the movie is presented as amateur footage of a devastating attack on New York City by an enormous monster. The movie starts with footage of people at a party in midtown and follows four party goers as they attempt to escape the city all the while documenting the scenes of devastation.

The film is like a cross between The Blair Witch Project and an M. Night Shayalaman movie. Marketed clearly as a monster movie in the mould of Godzilla what the audience is presented with is a character driven story where the monster takes a back seat. The first part of the movie presents a group of apparently succesful young New Yorkers enjoying a party seemingly oblivious to anything more serious than the latest gossip. Essentially life seems no deeper than the latest sexual relationship.

What unfolds is a story of how tragedy focuses people on the deeper aspects of life – friendship, love, and sacrifice. In some ways the movie seems to be a critique of the kind of narcissistic culture that requires deep tragedy to shake its gaze away from the mirror to contemplate eternal things. There are obvious visual references to September 11, 2001 and an exploration of the senselessness of violence and our response to it.

In the end the movie may also be meant as a reminder to people to think about those few hours after the twin towers fell when thoughts were not so much on revenge as they were on the well-being of loved ones, the value of friendship and the nobility of sacrifice.

There are many people who are not pleased with the movie because it does not deliver the mindless monstrousness they were hoping for…ironically the message of the movie may have been meant primarily for them.