Song on my mind - In My Life by The Beatles

Last night as I watched Little Manhattan on Star Movies, I realised that all my life, with all my loves, I've behaved like a 10-year-old! It made me laugh and feel sad, happy and silly all at once when I thought about how things really don't change much when it comes to love and romance. No matter how old you are and where you go and who you are with, you fall just as hard, hurt just as much, and screw up just as bad.

Little Manhattan is about 10-year-old Gabe's first tryst with romance. He's a pretty normal kid growing up in New York City, attending school, playing basketball with his buddies, football with his dad and taking up karate. His life is turned upside down when he reconnects with Rosemary, his buddy from kindergarten who also joins the same karate class. Suddenly he finds a girl, this girl beautiful and sweet and intelligent and his tiny heart soon goes thump thump over her. The story is cute but in a non-soppy way and I love the fact that the movie is set in New York City. More often than not, kiddy romances are shown blossoming in the suburbs. It was nice to watch these two kids traipse around that bustling yet beautiful city.

After a fight with Rosemary, Gabe thinks about how normal his life was before the girl and wonders why and how things have changed. He tries hard to figure out why the perfectly well-oiled machine that was his life before he fell in love suddenly feels so out of sync. What is it about the girl that makes him feel empty and miserable now?
Haven't we all felt that way? Most of us go about our daily businesses feeling complete and satisfied till one day someone comes around and changes our own equation with ourselves. Someone who has no business being there in the first place. And when they leave, our lives seem like eternally doomed hell holes.

The green-eyed monster is another thing young Gabe has to deal with. When Rosemary is paired with another sparring partner at their karate class, Gabe is so blinded with jealousy that he ends up accusing her of being in love with the other kid. The two lovebirds scream I hate yous at each other and slam down their respective phones. Which one of us has never done that? I did that with the first boyfriend I ever had. Hell, I even did that with the last boyfriend I had. And I was 25!

Little Manhattan was like a breath of fresh air after all the mindless "grown up" romances we seem to be subjected to. When you get jaded and cynical, it makes sense to go back to a time when life really was less complicated and more fun. Even if we didn't realise it back then!

Speaking of movies, up until now I always thought 36 Chowringhee Lane was the most depressing film I had ever watched. Then I saw Bee Season! It was just too messed up even for me. From that little girl's blank looks to Juliette Binoche's bloodless white face, everything about the movie sucked me into a deep funk. Brrrrr...