stelladoracookie Review of November

November (I) (2004)

November is short & smart and that's a good thing!

[6/10 · 17 September 2006]

I saw November and it's a good movie, not great, but good. SPOILERS COMING IMMEDIATELY! Right in the beginning of the movie, during the opening credits, I saw Courtney's character dead on the floor and so I was tipped off right away that this movie will not end well. I didn't realize at the time the movie would always be ending and never beginning. The entire movie, all three acts of the same scene, is Courtney's character coming to terms with her death and of course it would never take that long. She dies in a matter of a few moments and that's all the time her mind is allowed to work through her death. I noticed the dreamlike quality the director used to tell the story is being confused with or mistaken for what the character's thought processes might be. The use of clues, symbols, and metaphors is how we dream or tell stories, it's not how we think. We can only guess what we may think about during a shocking and dramatic death, but I don't think it will be done in dream like thinking. I think if I got shot in the stomach, I'd be thinking holy s#*t, I'm fooking dieing and then the blood will run out and I'll get weak and then I will accept the coming darkness or hopefully the bright light will start shining and I'll hear my late mother's voice or see some Saint. Many of us know about the steps to dieing (Ross), many of us have seen a family member with cancer go through the steps. Courtney's character has to go through the steps at warp speed. The rest is all "movie business" and telling a story. All the business of clues and metaphors is for us, the movie goer, not for the character. This is not the stuff that Courtney is thinking about how could it be? Courtney is not dreaming, she's dieing. That's why so many people don't like the movie. I liked the movie, not a lot, but enough to be pleased I saw it. Not because I think I just saw what someone thinks while dieing. I didn't see that. I saw a movie tell a story the way we dream and it's interesting to be reminded the way we dream is so universal.