I would add that the look on Alana’s face and the way she responds with “Hi” to Gary after their kiss at the end, more than indicates she is all in with Gary and will literally go wherever he takes her.
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And she shifts to accepting that kiss and that lovely, loving "Hi" right after first snapping "idiot!" when Gary announces her as "Mrs. Alana Valentine." Which is kind of a clue, to me, that Alana's raging somewhat bi-polar anger CAN be defused pretty quickly. Gary just has to learn how.
Which reminds me: during that late-breaking argument in Gary's kitchen about "politics versus pinball machines," Alana isn't so much raging as seething , and she keeps insulting Gary but when he basically announces he's breaking up with her...she changes in a heartbeat (in a beautifully breaking voice, that Haim chick CAN act)..."OK...I'll drive you to see the stupid pinball machines." The anger covers up a lot of insecurity.
The reconciliation, the kiss, the "Hi," the run, the "I love you, Gary" -- romances don't come with happier endings than that , and in these tough times we get so FEW of them -- certainly not with someone as respected as PTA on the writing and direction.
The movie ends on a GREAT (unknown to me) Taj Mahal song called "Tomorrow May Not Be Your Day" which is another way of saying "carpe diem," which is another way of saying: Gary and Alana should GO for it. Now. Don't stall any longer. Figure out how to make it work. "
CONT
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ecarle (14979)
2 years ago
You know, given the age difference, the "usual" ending to this film would have been a sad one, with dialogue like this:
Alana: You know I think I really do love you, and I think if things were different, we could be a couple....but...you just know that's impossible. So I wish you well, I hope you find the woman who is right for you, and who knows? Maybe we'll see each other years from now and things might be different.
CUT TO: Sad Gary, as Alana walks into the night, never to be seen by him again.
I mean, that's the "expected" ending this star-crossed love story is SUPPOSED to have...and PTA refused to deliver THAT. And for those reasons, he delivered a movie of some controversy on the one hand...but great thoughtfulness and, yes, profundity, on the other.
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Harlyville (24)
2 years ago
One of the frequent criticisms PTA gets about LP is that it is insufficiently condemning of the relationship given the age gap between the characters and how giving them a happy ending is an endorsement of their morally-questionable relationship.
Clearly Gary is not bothered in the least and is indifferent to consent laws. He never addresses the issue. He’s annoyed they are not making out and feels entitled to see her boobs before the rest of the world does.
Alana addresses it a couple of times, at the beginning with her “I can be your friend but not your girlfriend , that’s illegal” as well as encouraging him to look at the boobs of girls his own age. She also references her age as a reason she and Gary are not together to Jon Peters. But overall there is no other characters questioning their being together. Gary’s friends and brother, Alana’s sisters, Jon Peters, all express acceptance and encouragement that they seek each other out romantically.
So those critics are correct in that movie does not condemn their romance. But if no one is expressing disapproval of their relationship in the movie, maybe it is because none is warranted.
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ecarle (14979)
2 years ago
One of the frequent criticisms PTA gets about LP is that it is insufficiently condemning of the relationship given the age gap between the characters and how giving them a happy ending is an endorsement of their morally-questionable relationship.
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Key to the film is that it IS an endorsement of their relationship -- but the relationship is NOT seen as morally questionable by the writer-director.
And it isn't.
Some pretty explosive words have been trotted out to attack LP, and I suppose we are supposed to avoid them to avoid being attacked. One is "pedophilia," but this is not a pedophila situation. Gary's in high school for one thing. Every little year counts. Indeed this exchange is crucial:
Alana: I'm not going to date you. What are you, 12?
Gary: No, I'm 15. You're funny!
So not elementary school. Not middle school. High school. 15. 16 at film's end. An age very close to when the US can send you to war to die young. At age at which some people declare "emancipation from their parents." An age at which some people DO get married, in some states.
The other "deadly" word is: grooming. This word is of new vintage and usually used against Hollywood itself -- with alarming cases of adults manipulating the young kids and teens in their charge on kiddie shows and teen shows -- into sexual playthings. The "grooming" charge is often used against gay adults, too -- "grooming" straight children into gay adulthood(a conservative charge; you've got both sides coming at this story).
None of that is going on here.
Perhaps the CLOSEST it comes to grooming is when Alana makes a rather seductive "come on" walk to Gary at the Teen Fair to come back into his life ("Hello, handsome") but this is presented as LOVE, (or lust) between both parties("Hello, gorgeous.") We respond positively to this. (Note in passing: the weird and exotic music during the entire Teen Fair sequence is, to me, another mark of this film's art.)
CONT
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ecarle (14979)
2 years ago
Clearly Gary is not bothered in the least and is indifferent to consent laws. He never addresses the issue. He’s annoyed they are not making out
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"Making out" is kind of 50s, kind of "on the safe side." I suppose Gary hoped to just get what he could get. Lots of kids ONLY make out and mutually wait on sex. Pregnancy worries.
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and feels entitled to see her boobs before the rest of the world does.
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Well he didn't want her to show them at all as an actress ("There's entirely too much nudity in movies today," he says, rather surprisingly.) And her showing them to him is "strictly a business proposition." (When he asks if he can touch them, Alana's "NO" is another great line reading on her part -- her "star is born" possiblity.)
Note in passing: I've found(in real life, too) that "boobs" is how females like to name those things, it desexualizes them and makes them kind of funny. Its that OTHER word for them that is sexually charged.
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Alana addresses it a couple of times, at the beginning with her “I can be your friend but not your girlfriend , that’s illegal”
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PTA puts that on the table right away, acknowledges it. And Gary and Alana spend the whole movie trying to honor it.
But hey, pot is illegal in lots of states still, and teens smoke it. And they drink. And they sometimes have sex.
--- as well as encouraging him to look at the boobs of girls his own age.
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I can't recall his reply. Was it "but I want to see YOURS?" That's another aspect of this story. I suspect Gary COULD see age-appropriate boobs. But Alana is a challenge...exotic.
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ecarle (14979)
2 years ago
She also references her age as a reason she and Gary are not together to Jon Peters.
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Which demonstrates that Jon Peters himself didn't notice the age difference, or care about HIS age difference to Alana.
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But overall there is no other characters questioning their being together. Gary’s friends and brother, Alana’s sisters, Jon Peters, all express acceptance and encouragement that they seek each other out romantically.
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That's right, the movie is on their side. The one character who might prove a problem -- Alana's old school Jewish religious tyrant dad -- has already allowed her to go to NYC with Gary and allowed the business relationships so...he'll probably cave.
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So those critics are correct in that movie does not condemn their romance. But if no one is expressing disapproval of their relationship in the movie, maybe it is because none is warranted.
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"maybe it is because none is warranted." BINGO. And a more deserved happy ending is hard to conjure.
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