To All the Boys I've Loved Before
The title for this section has never felt so fitting! I'm absolutely giddy to be writing a love letter to a movie that glorifies the love letter. The Netflix romcom that has captured all of our hearts: To All the Boys I've Loved Before, which appeared on the streaming site a few weeks ago and has filled my Twitter feed with Peter Kavinsky gifs since. Never stop, Twitter. The movie is based on the book series by Jenny Han and tells the story of Lara Jean, a shy but self-assured high school student who wrote five love letters to boys she's had crushes on throughout her life. These intimate notes are kept hidden away in a hat box in her closet, until one day her well-intentioned, but nosy, younger sister releases them out into the world. In order to keep her older sister's ex-boyfriend from focusing on the fact that she once wrote a letter for him, she pretends to be in a relationship with hunky Peter Kavinsky (what a name! what a guy!). The theme of love letters exists throughout the movie and comes back at the end in a beautiful way, and I love the role Lara Jean's sisters and father play in telling the story and how much they all love each other. Throughout the film, Peter and Lara Jean begin to open up to each other, but their relationship transcends the typical romcom formula. Lara Jean doesn't change dramatically or go through a makeover sequence for Peter to suddenly look at her differently. She's confident in who she is and just has a hard time opening up to people, especially in a romantic context. In one scene, she's talking with her dad in their favorite diner and he tells her he knows that she's completely herself with her family and that it's nice to see her opening up that way with Peter -- it's such a small and simple moment, but it's something I related to so much. And it's something a lot of people have connected with as well. The internet was buzzing with article after article about this sweet and happy movie, so I spent days reading piece after piece.
The first one I read was from Jenny Han, who wrote the book series and was tweeting excitedly along with the film's release. In her New York Times article, she says that as she was shopping the book around to different film production companies, all but one wanted to make the main character white, instead of Asian. Jenny went with the only company that embraced her vision for the story. She writes about how important it is to see someone who looks like her starring in a romantic comedy and about the possibilities that open up for little girls or boys when they see themselves represented on the big screen. She writes: "What would it have meant for me back then to see a girl who looked like me star in a movie? Not as the sidekick or romantic interest, but as the lead? Not just once, but again and again? Everything. There is power in seeing a face that looks like yours do something, be someone. There is power in moving from the sidelines to the center." While she was on-set, Jenny also made cast members recreate moments from her favorite 80s movies, and for that we should all be grateful. Alanna Bennett wrote a piece for BuzzFeed News compiling audience love letters to the movie, highlighting what people found most compelling, including Lana Condor's (who plays Lara Jean) incredibly expressive face, the way everyone in the movie is written from a place of love (similar to Lady Bird) and of course dreamboat Peter Kavinsky (played by Noah Centineo). ET published an interview with Susan Johnson, who directed the movie, where she spills that many of the audience's favorite Peter Kavinsky moments (yes, I'm going to continue to type out the full name) were improvised by Noah, including the now infamous back-pocket spin. If you've read this newsletter before, you know I'm a sucker for a romcom. But I only reserve this level of gushing for truly great stories, with a lovely mix of romance, humor, heart, fantasy and realism. This one has it all.
I'll just do a couple more to really capture the spirit of the film.
As Seen on TV
Last week I took an unintentional break from newsletter writing because my boyfriend and I were stranded in Pittsburgh with car problems. Our short weekend trip turned into a five day excursion, which involved us researching and moving from hotel to hotel across the city (and beyond), begging the dealer to take a look at the car and dragging our suitcases along with us everywhere. After the second day, it felt like we would never get home, and I began to think about an iconic trip that went off the rails in Planes, Trains and Automobiles. In the 1987 John Hughes movie, Steve Martin and John Candy unhappily join forces to try and get to Chicago in time for Thanksgiving dinner. Neal (Steve Martin) is in New York for business and meets Del (John Candy) and they immediately get off on the wrong foot. The two then get stuck in Kansas, after their plane has to change course because of snow. From there, they struggle to find an alternate route back by using (you guessed it!) trains and automobiles. It's a funny movie overall (although Neal borders on being too mean in a couple scenes) with incredibly heartwarming elements, as Neal tries to unsuccessfully part ways with Del throughout the movie and they both learn from each other in the end. One of my favorite scenes is when the two are driving late at night on the highway and accidentally end up going in the opposite direction of traffic. As a nearby car on the other side of the highway tries to warn them, they laugh thinking that the other car is going the wrong way, until a truck almost hits them and they realize their mistake. It's especially poignant to watch during the Thanksgiving holiday, as my parents do almost every year, but it's also entertaining no matter the season. Fortunately, I made it back from Pittsburgh without facing the level of chaos that they do!
It turns out I can relate a lot of life moments back to Mary-Kate and Ashley Olson movies that I watched when I was younger. For this circumstance, their 2002 road trip adventure movie, Getting There, fits the bill. This flick focuses on the sisters, who just turned 16, taking a road trip from LA to Salt Lake City for the Winter Olympics. Along the way, their fancy new red convertible (at the time, it was my dream car) is stolen, they get separated at a bus stop, make a stop in Las Vegas and hitch a ride for part of the journey. It's pure chaos, but it's so fun to watch the twins and their friends accidentally explore the West Coast. It also features an iconic sequence of Mary-Kate and Ashley posing for their driver's license pictures. When I went to the DMV, they were not as amenable.
Required Reading
The A.V. Club website is one of my favorite places to find thoughtful pop culture commentary on TV shows and movies. Recently, I came across a section on their site called, When Romance Met Comedy, devoted to examining romantic comedies. A.V. Club contributor Caroline Siede has written about Maid in Manhattan, Mamma Mia!, Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Big Sick and many more. Not only does she discuss plot points and fun trivia but she also digs deeper and explores the role of women and the movie's place in film history. One of my favorites is her article about the cinema classic, When Harry Met Sally, where she delves into romcom tropes that originate with this film and Nora Ephron's background in the movie industry. The article also features a Nora Ephron quote that I've never heard before and am now obsessed with. While Nora didn't direct When Harry Met Sally, she went on to direct many other films, and she said: "Most directors, I discovered, need to be convinced that the screenplay they’re going to direct has something to do with them, and this is a tricky thing if you write screenplays where women have parts that are equal to or greater than the male part. ... You look at a list of directors and it’s all boys; it certainly was when I started as a screenwriter. So I thought, I’m just going to become a director and that’ll make it easier." Problem solved.
