In life, nothing is certain but death and taxes. How many of you have heard this phrase? We can’t deny this. Denial is just like running from the inevitable. It will find a way to catch up on you. This is the premise of the movie,Stranger Than Fiction. I
just caught it being shown on HBO yesterday and decided to watch for lack of better things to do. Besides, it was a lazy Saturday. One more day, and life would be back to normal.
It’s about an IRS agent named Harold Crick (Will Ferell) and his regimented routine. His life is as boring as one can imagine. Nothing happens outside of his routine. He wakes up, brushes his teeth the same number of strokes each time, goes to work, makes his rounds, goes home and sleeps. Suddenly his life is turned upside down by a narration he alone can hear. The voice narrates his boring life, as if he doesn’t already know it, but Harold is alarmed when the Narrator declares that he is facing imminent death.
He then decides that he must find out who is writing his story and convince her to change the ending. The voice in Harold’s head is Kay Eiffel (Emma Thompson), the chain-smoking, jittery and neurotic loner who is trying to find an ending for what might be her best novel yet. Little does Kay know that Harold Crick is a real person and not just a character in her book. This is where the conflict collides when Harold Crick must find Kay and persuade her to change the ending of her book while Kay’s only problem is figuring out how to kill her main character.
Other characters come in the picture. Penny Escher (Queen Latifah), a headstrong assistant supplied by Kay’s Publisher to make sure that Kay finishes her novel on time. Jules Hilbert (Dustin Hoffman), a literary scholar who Harold Crick pursued to help him identify the author and later on, tries to convince Harold to turn his life from tragedy to a comedy to avoid his death ending and even suggests a love angle between two people who hate each other. This leads Harold to initiate an unimaginable relationship with Ana Pascal (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a baker who refuses to pay her full tax.
For the first time, Harold experiences love and life. He takes guitar lessons. He begins dressing up outside of his tie and suit and even brushes his teeth without counting the strokes. He no longer eats alone and counts his steps. Harold decides to live his life and make it the one he has always wanted. He becomes sure that he has totally escaped his tragic fate and has turned it around. But Harold is unaware that in Kay’s books, the main character always dies just as he is in the up and up of his life.
As you watch the movie, it makes you think of the value of life when death is always a looming possibility and taxes as integral part of one’s life. But death and taxes, however certain, are only the mundane aspects of life and the significant ones are found in fleeting moments like a sweet smile of your kid after giving her cavity-causing chocolates or the warm embrace of a friend consoling you after you broke up with your nth boyfriend.
Also makes you think what Red Ribbon Bakeshop got to do with all these? Ok, I’ll tell you. It’s true that death and taxes are the only certainties in life but I beg to differ when it comes to most food delivery service. Fastfood chains try to take a piece of the market and offer one-of-a-kind service and promos (30-minute guarantee, free pizza when late etc). It’s a burger-eat-pizza world out there. It is THAT cutthroat. It’s a competitive market so any wish or whim you might have will certainly be granted. Take for example, McDonald’s. For the longest time, I’ve always had my cheeseburger with extra loads of onion, cheese on the side and without catsup. Just to give in to my preference would take five minutes total. And with fastfood, every minute counts. Why do you think they’re called fastfood? So imagine my surprise when I couldn’t get a slice of Dulce de Leche cake at Red Ribbon one fine morning. I thought I was dreaming and kept thinking if I was hearing the call center agent right.
I snapped out of my dreamlike state and regained my composure. I asked the agent why it was not possible to get a slice. She explained that there was a whole cake available but not for slice order. I told the agent why not slice it. How many people would walk in their restaurant and buy a whole cake versus people who would buy a slice/s? This went on for minutes, the agent running out of reasons why I couldn’t get my slice. Until finally, I hang up, dialed another number and ordered my cheeseburger with cheese on the side. Life was back to normal.
So, what’s the connection? Harold Crick and Red Ribbon are both facing imminent death.
Bayantel wireless landline sucks. I’m so pissed off with them. I’m planning to buy something and wanted to make sure if my credit is sufficient so I tried calling my credit card hotline to inquire about my remaining balance. First try. Two minutes into the call, I got cut off. Signal went from full to nada. Second attempt, the signal was down. I had to find a good spot to get at least some trace of life. The only good spot was inside the bathroom. With the echo, humidity and moisture, it’s the best place to make a call. Perfect!