'Til I Awoke

Back in my grade school days, I was a bit estranged from the rest of my classmates until I struck up friendship with John Oleson. John was moderately popular, but once we began our alliance the whole was greater than the parts, and the two of us ran the playground. Whatever four square court we appeared at was the one of choice. We picked and chose whoever we wanted to work with in any group assignment. On a lark, we had most of the guys in the fourth grade class playing hopscotch. What we said was the law of the land.

Like all partnerships, ours was one destined to end as I decided to move on to bigger and better things. John soon became the outcast, as I let everyone know, it was either me or him. Give a guy a little power and the temptation to abuse it can be strong. As I grew up, this experience developed into food for many future therapy sessions. In a way I felt I used John up, and got caught up in the web of popularity. I felt bad for John, wasting a valuable friendship for a test of other's loyalty. Later on, I over compensated for this by being fiercely loyal to anybody, or any organization who gave me any type of break. I was thankful for any opportunity anyone ever gave me and went out of my way to pay back acts of kindness. I also began to have a recurring nightmare of meeting a Cinderella type figure, helping others see her beauty and watch her go away after she obtains her princess status.

All this comes to mind, because I just saw While You Were Sleeping. It, of course is a movie I've wanted to see since it opened last spring, but because of my schedule, I just haven't had the chance. After a particularly difficult work week, I actually took time on my scheduled day off to get out of the office. It was tempting to go home, lie down and rest all afternoon but I lifted myself out of my stupor into the oppressing heat, and plopped myself down into the cool darkness of the movie theater sanctuary.

Regular readers of the newsletter (God help you all), know my fondness for Sleeping's star, Sandra Bullock. Much as I enjoy her movies, I haven't exactly enjoyed her meteor like rise to fame where she has even been dubbed the "new Julia Roberts..." To me Ms. Bullock's appeal is in how much she reminds me of someone I once knew before all the movies started. (Was I the only one that wept at Speed?) So while I used my busy work schedule as the excuse for not seeing While You Were Sleeping sooner, in actuality I could have found the time if I could have gotten over the feeling of losing someone I discovered. This was the movie that shot her to the upper echelon of moviedom (she is the starlet of choice in the discussion groups of America Online), and I didn't know if I could handle seeing her in this new role.

In the beginning, it didn't look good. Unlike most days, I was in an EXTREMELY bad mood. I stood in line for mouth watering refreshments, and the lady next to me who was standing at a closed register, cut in front of me. I bit my tongue. Spilling popcorn all the to my seat, I was taken aback by the three previews shown: one for some high school valley girl movie directed by the same guy who did Fast Times At Ridgemont High; one for Stallone's new dreadful looking movie; and the last for Hackers which looks like an elongated MTV video. All three featured blaring music and as I watched the images fly loudly by, I became a bit depressed. Would any of those three movies enlighten their audiences at all? Whatever happened to quiet films with characters we relate to? Escapism yes, pointless screen filler no.

Thus the gentle opening to While You Were Sleeping was a welcome sight. And as Ms. Bullock made her entrance, the clock struck midnight and Cinderella appeared with a grin. The movie of course, is about Lucy, a lonely Chicago Transit Authority token taker, who falls in love with a man from afar, saves his life, and through a series of wacky misunderstandings, is taken in by the victim's family as his fiancee. She falls in love with the victim's brother, and the goofy, but lovable family accepts her as one of their own.

Ms. Bullock is a breath of fresh air every time she appears on the screen. Her unusual sense of humor contrasts against the naturalness of her acting, creating a different type of movie beauty than say, Julia Roberts. She is not sleek and sexy, she is more the offbeat soulmate, know what you're thinking, share in a good joke type actress. Her appeal is as an Everywoman, someone we care about. As the movie winds down to its climatic finish, her dilemma in trying to sort out what she really wants, and how she is going to explain it all to the family that's taken her in, Ms. Bullock elicits a great deal of emotion and sympathy as the good hearted Lucy. We just want to see her happy, and when she is at the end of the movie, we leave feeling good about the world, if only temporarily. Then we all wake up again.