Star* - Bryan Adams

I can't really say why i love this movie. I doubt if it'll ever come near to the all time fav movies of mine. It was entertaining for sure. The cast was good - from Bob De Niro to Michelle Pfeiffer, to the hilarious Ricky Gervais, Mark Strong, relatively new Charlie Cox and a delightful Rupert Everett. Good special effects too.

But what made it stand out from the rest these days can surely be attributed to 2 factors. The first was the surprisingly brilliant performance by Claire Danes.

Yes, there was something about the way how she glowed - no, not the special effects but how she really literally glowed! Even without the special effects, one could see it in her expression, from a frustrated and scared fallen star to a girl in love.

And her lines - really love them. Here are some:-

There are shop boys, and there are boys that just happened to work in a shop for the time being.

Hmm... Murdered by pirates, a heart torn out and eaten, meet Victoria... Can't quite decide which sounds more fun...

You know when I said I knew little about love? That wasn't true. I know a lot about love. I've seen it, centuries and centuries of it, and it was the only thing that made watching your world bearable. All those wars. Pain, lies, hate... It made me want to turn away and never look down again. But when I see the way that mankind loves... You could search to the furthest reaches of the universe and never find anything more beautiful. So yes, I know that love is unconditional. But I also know that it can be unpredictable, unexpected, uncontrollable, unbearable and strangely easy to mistake for loathing, and... What I'm trying to say, Tristan is... I think I love you. Is this love, Tristan? I never imagined I'd know it for myself. My heart... It feels like my chest can barely contain it. Like it's trying to escape because it doesn't belong to me any more. It belongs to you. And if you wanted it, I'd wish for nothing in exchange - no fits. No goods. No demonstrations of devotion. Nothing but knowing you loved me too. Just your heart, in exchange for mine.

I read that Sarah Michelle Gellar was asked first to take the role of Yvaine. But in spite of how big a Buffy fan i am, i can say that i'm quite glad Claire Danes got the role.

The other thing about the movie is the fantasy fairy tale nature of it. New worlds, beautiful sights, plurality of characters, endless adventures. A tale of being in a place but knowing that you really belong somewhere else.

Maybe that's how i feel now - and altho i haven't found my "happily ever after" ending, i could live vicariously off the characters on screen... at least for those few sweet minutes in a darkened cinema.

*A song used in the movie Jack, starring Robin Williams.