The Martian

[jmbossy]

A couple of films come to mind, but most recently I think The End of the Tour had some interesting commentary on isolation, or more specifically, the difficulties of connection.

[EternalSunshine]

A couple of films come to mind, but most recently I think The End of the Tour had some interesting commentary on isolation, or more specifically, the difficulties of connection.

Definitely! One of my favorite films this year

[Teproc]

Re : this not really adressing isolation : I think it's the point of the film in a way. It has a view of humanity that is extremely optimistic, basically that human ingenuity and survival instinct can solve most problems. We do hear something about a psychologist on media footage at one point and it's cut off by someone saying something technical, which I took to be Scott saying "Yeah, psychological issues would arise : I don't care".

[EternalSunshine]

Quai?

[DarkeningHumour]

Oh hey ! I can participate in this now. Will read everything as soon as I can, as well as the reviews on the Last Movie You Watched thread.

Well, I'll try...

[DarkeningHumour]

chardy, I agree I could use a rewatch. And I liked the movie as a whole (I gave it a B+). And seeing how he did all the things to survive was really cool. But there could've been one thing to show how he survived psychologically.

Bondo, I'm not asking for a lot of different 5-minute scenes. But maybe one scene. Like, for two minutes. Of him bouncing a ball waiting for potatoes to grow. Or reading the same manual he's re-read before.

I'm with you, Matt. I lacked a little scene here or there that would show that he is cognizant of his mental state and taking steps to keep it stable in the same way he kept his living situation stable.

I'm with you guys. It is obvious enough that the movie takes and upbeat approach to all of this but I would have liked at least one scene where we witness Damon the utter despair Damon's character must surely have experienced at some point. There is no way in my mind that anyone can go through that and not have some sort of meltdown at least once in one year.

This as not a major problem for me though and I still ended up loving the movie (review in the Just Watched thread).

ps. I honestly did not appreciate the humor. It was not necessary. To be honest, space is a touch subject and scares me beyond belief. Not ghosts or zombies. SPACE! That's all I have to say. 

What happens to Damon is paralyzingly terrifying and quite unfathomable but I feel like you're saying Scott should not handle this material with such levity and I have to disagree with that. You should be allowed to handle any topic anyway you like, including treating very serious things in an upbeat way. Sure, a more realistic movie would be crushingly more tense and nerve-wrecking, but there is merit to Scott's approach. You certainly could criticize him for being too saccharine here, but he produces a great movie that showcases human genius and ability at its best. Other movies can deal with making you scream in space. I am quite glad with this one as it is. It was hilarious and probably would have been much harder to sit through if the humour had not been there to jump-start us.

[DarkeningHumour]

Moon
The Shining
I Am Legend
Into the Wild
Dogtooth
Toy Story 2 (Jessie)

Synecdoche, New York (2009)*
Taxi Driver (1976)
Eraserhead (1977)*
Dogtooth (2009)
Moon (2009)*
The Aviator (2004)
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
One Hour Photo (2002)
Into the Wild (2007)
Shame (2011)

Nights of Cabiria

Out of those I have watched here is how I feel about those movies' treatment of isolation and solitude as subjects. I think it is important here to make a distinction between self-imposed isolation and the unwilling kind. Into the Wild's character is alone for most of the movie. But he chooses it. He is on a quest. He never really suffers because of it - except physically at the end, but I feel like that should not count. In One Hour Photo, Robin Williams stays away from people. Maybe he is unable to have a social life, maybe he does not really want to.  I got the feeling it was the latter, that he was content. Of course, he is a scarred character who is partly unable to function normally but he stays away from people, not the inverse.

Then you have movies about people lost in the multitude, you just cannot fit it, like Taxi Driver, Nights of Cabiria or, my pick, The Piano Teacher. They are not the same as Shame because in it Fassbender can function. Sure, he has issues ; but he has friends and family who care about him nonetheless and whom he can rely on. Cabiria is utterly alone and the Teacher in Haneke's film only has her mother - which in this case is worse than having no one at all.

The Toy Story pick is a charming one but ultimately it belong's to Jessie's arc and is not really one of the main themes of the movie. And I would argue that I Am Legend is the same kind of figure as The Martian: the character is absolutely alone but the movie is not about that and we do not spend much time dwelling on that fact.

And what about movies like Punch-Drunk Love where the main character starts out alone and lonely but finds someone / solves his situation by the end ? Are they still about being alone if the being alone part is momentary ?

[oldkid]

I would argue that isolation is not just Jesse's arc in Toy Story 2, but that the main theme of the film is isolation v. community.  This is the choice that Woody has to make.  The fame that comes with the isolation is part of it, but note the insanity of Jesse and Pete because of the isolation involved, while our usual crew are healthy because of the community.  Woody is tempted by the isolation, but in the end makes the right choice.

[dassix]

Here's my major beef with this film (and I haven't read the book, so I don't know if this is something left out of it)...

Here you have a botanist up on Mars. Stranded. Alone. Sure to die. And it's never really dealt with how he deals with the isolation.

You already did.  He's a botanist.

[smirnoff]

That moment in the film when Damon's old crew is allowed to send Damon a message, and you have Michael Peña reading out what he's writing as he's writing it... that might just be my favourite moment in any film from last year. Swear to god, Michael Peña is so hilarious in that moment. I defy anyone not to have a huge smile just then.