Directed by Stephen Frears and starring John Cusack as Rob, it remains an object lesson in how to adapt and change a successful book into an equally successful film. Nick Hornby didn't have a problem with the story relocating to Chicago, after all, so why should we? And it has a brilliant soundtrack (as a film set around a record shop should) and quotable dialogue (example left) by the mile.
Most of all, the film endures so well because of how it speaks to Generation X men. No, not Billy Idol. Blokes like you and me, born between 1965 and 1980 (Wikipedia confidently asserts), blokes now properly into their fifties, getting on a bit yet still waiting for that moment when they figure it out... it being life. Life is complicated. In the film, Rob excruciatingly re-examines his romantic history, trying to understand what went right and (mostly) wrong. No spoilers (not that you haven't seen it already) but he mostly works it all out, with a little help. Of course it is a fiction - if only real life were that simple.
Maybe it's because of that complexity that the quote on the left resonates - people are complicated but you can tell a lot from a person's likes and dislikes - the books, records and films that float their boat. That is why these things matter, at least to our generation. I wonder if the same will be true for Generation Z and later, now that books are electronic, records are all played through a phone's tinny, tiny speakers one track at a time ("What's an album?") and your choice of films is dictated by which streaming service you sign up to. But for us - for me - these things still matter.
You'll note, of course, that I haven't included Rob's next line of dialogue in the screenshot, in which he admits this assertion is "fucking shallow".
Anyway, we never get to find out, in the film, what Rob's Top 5 records are, though there is a clue: in his apartment, he has these records on the wall, hung in frames:
- Maggot Brain by Funkadelic
- Tonight's the Night by Neil Young
- Wild Honey by The Beach Boys
- Goo by Sonic Youth
- Double Nickels on the Dime by Minutemen
I don't know whose choices these were - Frears', Cusack's, Hornby's... some set designer's. Who knows? But it's an excuse for some songs, and hence a blog post - see what you think. High Fidelity is having a limited cinematic re-release to celebrate its birthday; why not go along? I think I might.
And the impossible question: what's your Top 5?
An outstanding book and an equally outstanding film. My memory of the latter is my wife howling with laughter at a number of scenes and pointing at me, silently mouthing 'that's you, that is', as I slipped lower and lower into my seat, very acutely aware that she was right.
ReplyDeleteI'll lean on my 60 albums @ 60 series from back in 2023 to offer these up:-
1. All Mod Cons – The Jam
2. After The Fact – Magazine
3. Sulk - Associates
4. The Midnight Organ Fight – Frightened Rabbit
5. Technique – New Order
#2 on the list was a cop-out as its a compilation.
Compilations very much allowed, as long as the whole list is not compilations. Hard to argue with your #1.
DeletePsychocandy
ReplyDeleteA Storm In Heaven
Seventeen Seconds
LC
Hats
I'll be back later this week with my other top five, and then next week...
That's the trouble with Top 5's, isn't it? Depends when you ask. Seventeen Seconds is a great shout.
DeleteI wholeheartedly agreed with the sentiment Rob voiced when I first read the book and saw the film... however, the older I get, the more I agree that it is "fucking shallow". Maybe it's just too long being part of a blogosphere that often casts shade on the records that float my boat. Middle-aged man gets off his soapbox.
ReplyDeleteHornby should write a sequel with Rob as an older, even grumpier git.
As to my top 5 albums... nah.
A HF sequel, that gets my vote!
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