Don Jon is directed and written by Joseph Gordon Levitt, as well as starring him along with Scarlet Johannson and Julianne Moore. It was released in 2013 and I am reviewing the Blu Ray edition.
Don Jon is a masterpiece, plain and simple. As soon as this movie hit shelves, I brought it immediately on blu ray. Joseph Gordon Levitt is one of my favourite actors ever, and after watching this and his tv show Hit Record, I am pretty sure he is a fantastic creator of film.
Don Jon is about a 20 something man called Jon, who is called the Don because of his charm with women, hitting the clubs most weeks and always laying with a girl at the end of it. After a failed attempt with one of the girls at the club, played by Scarlet Johannson, he becomes obsessed with this girl he failed with, and is relentless in trying to get with her. The only problem: He has an addiction to porn.
This is a spoiler review, but I have referred to the spoilered sections of the review and in depth discussion in RED. The rest is as a normal non spoilered review.
This film is probably one of the finest at exploring the ideas between men and women in relationships and just at trying to get with each other. And it's all true. While I can't speak from the female perspective, I have talked to one of two females about the movie, and they agree that the female side of this movie is on par with reality. The idea of men being out for sex and meeting this "Man Image" that they must have to secure girls, while females are out for love create a symmetry lifestyle of each side of the relationship. Jon is crazy about porn, and trying to recreate his porn fantasies in girls, without realising that porn is fake. On the other hand you have his girlfriend for the major part of the film, Barbara Sugarman, who is crazy about the soppy romantic movies, and is trying to create her ideal romantic relationship with Jon, even though she doesn't realise that her movies aren't real life. Both are told that each other's "fantasies" are nothing more then fake, with both not accepting that fate. It shows that we grow up with a certain idea of what our lives and relationships should be, always rating it up against something, whether it be someone else's relationship or the media's perception of relationships, such as movies or porn. In one scene, Jon's family is around the table eating lunch while an advertisement is playing for a burger with a half naked lady swinging the burger around looking sexy. Jon and his father is watching the advertisement with interest, while the women pay no attention to it and see no interest in what they see as an ad for a burger. While the guys see a sexy lady, the women see a burger.
Another excellent thing in this movie is the directing. Joseph Gordon Levitt has created his movie around Jon's schedule, which he refers to at the start, consisting of him going to church, working out, going to clubs, watching porn and eventually adding events such as night school. The schedule continues, showing his weekly events and how they change throughout the course of the movie. At the start of the movie, he regularly goes through his weekly events without any interruptions. By about the middle of the movie, Barbara Sugarman is present in most of his events, or his events have changed around so that he can meet what she expects of him. For example, at the start of the movie he is going to the gym by himself and attending church with his family. By about the second act of the movie, he is at the gym with Barbara and attending church with his family AND Barbara.
Another thing that is briefly explored in this movie is the idea of tissues and paper towels. While I haven't explored this theme much, this is a continuing theme, while small. The only time tissues or paper towels are present in the movie is when Jon is pleasuring himself. Besides that, it is hardly present. At one stage, Jon has washed his hands in the University toilets and goes to get some paper towels and discovers it is empty. I believe this explores the theme that men only think of tissues and paper towels as an object to help them with the act of pleasuring oneself.
An interesting character that I feel is not explored enough (or the idea about her is not explored enough) is Jon's younger sister, who is always, always on her phone and only has one line of dialogue at the end where she reveals what she truly thought about Barbara Sugarman. My thinking behind this is that we're given 3 generations of love and relationships: the parents, who are married so long they're past the honeymoon stage and are just comfortable with each other and everything; the young adults, who are out looking for what each gender has grown up with thinking (men - porn and sex, women - love and marriage) and aren't comfortable with anything that is what they aren't getting, which leads to people pretending to be who they aren't; and the teenagers (Jon's younger sister) who is in the technology era, where relationships are half hidden behind phones and computers, with facebook messenger and texting the main part of their communication. An interesting idea, but I'm still exploring it.
A small theme explored is the idea that we have to pretend to be people to make our other halves happy. This is present throughout the whole film, in which Don is told not to do certain things, as it ruins Barbara's perception of the "perfect relationship" and Barbara has to become this sexy, perfect girl to help Jon's perception of the "perfect relationship". In one scene, Barbara is talking to her friends in a club while overlooking Jon, and mentioning that he works out and looks good, while attending night school for a better job and the two have not engaged in sex yet. Barbara suddenly looks like she has the perfect boyfriend, while this is just a image that Jon is to potray for Barbara to be happy. In another scene, Jon is checking Barbara out with his friends at a club and saids how she is perfect, a "dime" with perfect breasts, face and bottom. His friends believe that she is the best girlfriend ever because of the sex appeal, Both are looking at and determining the idea of their perfect partner from different qualities, with both of them being a false representation of what each partner truly is.
Don Jon is a fantastic movie, with excellent directing choices, an excellent script full of colourful dialogue and debates about relationships and love that will hit reality well without seeming fake. Joseph Gordon Levitt and Scarlett Johannson are FANTASTIC as the main cast, with Julianne Moore brilliant as well. There was never a dull moment in this film, and females have told me that the idea about females in this film is true, as is the male aspect. I feel that this is probably one of the best movie representations about how each gender thinks about relationships and their partners, while not favoring one gender too much. If you have not seen this film yet, I implore you to go out and rent it, or buy it on blu ray, because I am pretty sure this is a must have in any film lover's collection. The themes and ideas explored in this film are brilliant and creatively woven together as to be something that can be explored deeper and deeper everytime someone watches this film. Please, see this film, and if you have seen this film, I hope my spoiler in depth discussion has given some insight into the film. If there is anything you would like to contribute, or point out, or say "Reon, I believe that is a shit theme and isn't really a theme" please say so in the comments. I always love discussing film and am always excited to hear new ideas about film.
Don Jon gets 5 out of 5 Reons. A must see phenomenal film..
No comments:
Post a Comment