It's a Wonderful Life

 It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), directed by and co-scripted by Frank Capra, explores how a person finds a purpose in life. Sometimes that goal leads to the selfish acquisition of wealth. It may mean performing a heroic act on a large scale. And just sometimes it occurs in a small town in helping others find a little happiness in their lives.

This movie is a bit dark for a Capra film, whose credits include It Happened One Night and A Pocketful of Miracles, although another Jimmy Stewart /Capra movie, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, shows the cynical side of politics. This story takes place between 1919 and Christmas Eve, 1945. The opening seems tacky today as twinkling stars in the sky, which represent angels, discuss the need to help George Bailey (Stewart). They have received prayers that he is in despair. They choose the angel Clarence (Henry Travers) for the job so he can finally earn his wings. What follows is a summation of George's life up to December 24 of 1945 so that Clarence knows what he is dealing with.

A couple of incidents in young George’s life set the stage for how even what seems like an insignificant life can have important consequences in the grand scheme of things. The local druggist in the small town of Bedford Falls, Mr. Gower (H. B. Warner) owns a soda shop where George, the boy, works. Gower is distraught because his son died most likely due to the Spanish Flu pandemic. He accidentally puts a poison in a prescription, and George brings that mistake to his attention. George also saves his younger brother from drowning in a break in the winter ice in a pond.

George's father (Samuel S. Hinds) and Uncle Billy (Thomas Mitchell) work at the struggling Building and Loan company that makes low interest loans to people to buy houses. The greedy man who owns most of the town is Henry Potter (Lionel Barrymore). He is on the Building and Loan’s board and would like to put it out of business so he can have a monopoly on charging exorbitant rates on loans to the people of the town. There are references to “Potter’s Field” in the film, which is where poor people were buried when they died, and the implication is that Potter is the nasty capitalistic force that drains the life out of deprived people during their lives. Potter’s appearance almost looks like a ghost and IMDb states that Capra wanted to depict him to look like the famous painting “American Gothic.

The film was seen by some as leaning toward Communism since the banker is depicted as the villain. George’s father says, “All you can take with you is that which you’ve given away,” which suggests that generosity is the true virtue because one is putting others above one’s own needs. George as an adult tells Potter, “this rabble you’re talking about, they do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community. Well, is it too much to have them work and pay and live in a couple of decent rooms and a bath? Anyway, my father didn’t think so. People were human beings to him. But to you, a warped and frustrated old man, they’re cattle. Well, in my book my father died a much richer man than you’ll ever be.” These statements sound more Christian that communistic, and a Marxist wouldn’t put much stock in prayers and angels.

George is not so altruistic as a young man. He finds his father’s work dreary and wants to get out of “this crummy little town.” He wants to go to college and eventually gain success by building “airfields,” and “skyscrapers,” and “bridges a mile long.” However, his father dies, and his brother Harry (Todd Karns) first goes to college and then marries. His father-in-law offers him a job upstate. George sacrifices his ambitions to take over the family business. He even sees a friend, Sam Wainwright (Frank Albertson), become prosperous. His dreams for himself become eclipsed by his commitment to his father’s vision.

One positive aspect that comes from George’s staying in Bedford Falls is that he marries his childhood sweetheart, Mary Hatch (Donna Reed). Her character is an example of American positivity as she works hard to turn their broken-down house into a welcoming, lovely family home. On their honeymoon night, though, the house is a wreck before her renovations. George’s friend, Bert (Ward Bond), a policeman, and Ernie (Frank Faylen), a cab driver, serenade the newlyweds in their leaky home. The scene stresses how love and friendship overcome financial distress. The couple sacrificed their honeymoon money to keep the business open after Potter maneuvered a run on the Building and Loan company. The investors in the family business also compromise to keep the business afloat, which shows the story’s theme of how generosity toward others aids the community. (Apparently Jim Henson did not consciously name his Muppet characters after the Bert and Ernie characters in this film).

George's company provides several families a chance to own their own homes which aggravates the killjoy, Potter. He offers George an exorbitant salary to work for him and dissolve the Bailey business. Potter is like Satan tempting the Christ-like figure of George. Although leaning toward accepting the job at first, George quickly recovers his moral vision and vehemently rejects Potter’s deal. Capra’s view of moral fortitude offsetting selfish temptation seems a lost hope in our egocentric present times.

Another Job-like event occurs which sends George into despair. Uncle Billy accidentally leaves the $8000 that he is to deposit in the company’s account in a newspaper that Potter acquires. When George learns that the money went missing he becomes desperate. He goes to Potter to beg for a loan but all he has is a small amount of cash surrender value in his life insurance policy. Potter refuses of course and mentions that George is worth more dead than alive based on the payoff upon his death. That plants the seed of suicide in George's mind.

George’s positive disposition turns dark, and he becomes cruel when he goes home, knocking things over and bemoaning the fact that he even has children he must raise. Stewart’s acting ability is strong here as he delves into the depths of a lost soul. He goes to a bridge and is ready to jump off when Clarence appears and dives into the icy waters below. This action sparks a momentary return of George's unselfish nature, and he dives in to save Clarence. As they dry out Clarence realizes that he must show that George’s life has worth. He erases George’s existence. There is a cold wind that blows through the scene and the desolate winter setting points to George's absence in the town’s life.

 George, of course, is unbelieving of what Clarence says he did. But as he goes through the town nobody recognizes him. Bedford Falls now is called Pottersville. There are bars and seedy clubs in place of small family stores. (This scenario may have influenced the story line in Back to the Future II when Biff alters history and takes over the town. Also, this “glimpse” of another life is echoed in another Christmas movie, The Family Man with Nicholas Cage). Martini (William Edmunds) does not own the bar because he never was able to establish himself with his on home the Bailey business provided. George wasn’t there to prevent Mr. Gower from causing the poisoning of his customer. And, George’s brother, Harry, died in the ice water as a child. So, he never became a fighter pilot in the war and didn’t win the Congressional Medal of Honor for saving a whole convoy of soldiers. Mary is a woman without the love of another and has no children, which deeply affects George as she is frightened by his pursuing her. Clarence states the Butterfly Effect when he says, “Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?” He goes on to say, “You see George, you’ve really had a wonderful life. Don’t you see what a mistake it would be to throw it away?”

When George finds himself back on the bridge he prays and says he wants to live. Clarence reverses his act, and George is now part of the community he helped build. When he returns home Mary has done a “Go Fund Me” action and tapped into the generosity that Capra sees as exiting underneath all the greed and selfishness in the world. Everyone contributes to save George’s business, and there is a welcoming home of Harry as a war hero. Clarence left a note for George in a copy of Tom Sawyer which says, “Remember, George, no man is a failure who has friends.” The film is saying that it is one’s worth to others that enriches a person.  

Clarence said that when a bell rings an angel gets his wings. A chime on the Christmas tree sounds, telling us that Clarence has been promoted. The film has all sorts of bells ringing, including cash registers, telephones, and doorbells. These chimes not only announce the winning of an angel’s wings but also the saving of human souls. It is thus fitting that the last image of the film is a huge bell ringing, suggesting the possibility of the triumph of human morality.

Groundhog Day

SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

Yes, this is a crazy comedy. But due to screenwriter/director, Harold Ramis, and the performance of Bill Murray, Groundhog Day (1993) successfully combines humor with an insightful exploration of various facets of human nature.

The film begins with a sky that is getting cloudy, as will the fate of the protagonist. The opening song says, “seasons come, and seasons go,” stressing change. The weatherman is the person who tries to help others to prepare for the fluctuations in the climate by foreseeing them. Phil Connors (Murray, who should have received an Oscar nomination for this role), however, is a self-absorbed Pittsburgh TV weather forecaster, who is egotistical about his ability to predict what’s going to happen, which makes him feel superior to others. His forecast on this day is snow which will miss the city and hit Altoona instead. He is smug in his condescension toward fellow workers. He calls the local news anchorwoman “Hairdo,” and says a major network is interested in him. Cameraman Larry (Chris Elliott) shoots back that it’s probably the Home Shopping Network. So Phil’s arrogance provokes dislike. He believes he is the “talent,” which he calls himself, and it’s a waste for him to attend the annual Groundhog Day festival on February 2nd in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. He is snobby about the rural local citizens, whom he later calls “morons,” who celebrate the silly idea that an animal, with the same name as Phil, which galls him, is equal to Phil’s ability to know if the rest of the winter will be cold by whether or not the critter sees his shadow. 

Along with Larry traveling in the TV station van is new producer Rita (Andie MacDowell). She wants to stay a bit longer after the ceremony in Punxsutawney because she thinks it’s a great human-interest story. She has affection for small town life. Phil ominously says this time will be his last doing this gig, and is concerned that someone might see him at the festival and think he has “no future.” How right he turns out to be, at least through a large part of his journey, if measured by his selfish view of what constitutes success. 

The town is an old-fashioned American community whose citizens have simple, wholesome tastes, as can be seen as the van passes a local movie theater showing a Heidi movie. Larry calls Phil a “prima donna” since he won’t stay at the hotel he labels “a fleabag.” Rita, anticipating his reaction, booked him in a bed and breakfast. Phil wakes up the next day as the clock-radio plays Sonny and Cher singing “I Got You Babe” at six in the morning, the first of innumerable times he will hear that song. The local broadcasters joke about the cold weather, and how the words on everybody’s “chapped lips,” because they are not in “Miami Beach,” are that it is Groundhog Day. 

Phil’s’ misanthropic attitude is in high gear. He is sarcastic to a man who is cheery anticipating what the groundhog will predict about the length of the winter. Phil says with a snobby attitude that he thinks it will end on March 21. After asking the hostess, Mrs. Lancaster (Angela Paton), for some specialty coffee and getting no definitive response, he snidely questions under his breath whether the bed and breakfast hostess can spell, “espresso,” or “cappuccino.” In response to whether he will be checking out that day, he uses his weatherman terminology and says, “Chance of departure today, 100 percent.” The man who is so sure of himself turns out to be 100 percent wrong.

The first time he passes by an old panhandler, he fakes looking for something in his pockets to give the man as he walks past. It is a token act of false concern. He meets an annoying but good-natured insurance salesman, Ned Ryerson (Stephen Tobolowsky) who knew Phil in high school. Of course the self-centered Phil admits that there’s “not a chance” that he recalls this fellow. Ned tries to jar Phil’s memory by saying he “did the whistling belly button trick at the talent show.” Phil pretends he remembers him and comes up with one of my favorite lines when he asks Ned, “Did you turn pro with that belly button thing?” Ned may be goofy, but he insightfully says he doesn’t understand fellow workers who rely on actuarial charts to predict people’s lives, and he adds that life is all a “crapshoot.” One of the themes of this story is that wanting to know the future and having control over it is a form of hubris, and not something to desire if that knowledge is used only for one’s own purposes. But, the film also stresses that one should learn and evolve through experience before moving forward. To stress this point, Phil now steps into an icy, wet hole in the street, the first of numerous occasions he makes this same mistake which symbolizes it takes him quite a while before he learns from his prior mistakes.

Phil goes to Gobbler's Knob for the Groundhog Day event with the Pennsylvania Polka playing in the background, which adds to the small town’s atmosphere. Rita loves the people there, who stayed up the previous night, sang songs, and are continuing the fun the next day. But, Phil has no appreciation for this country charm, calling the locals, “hicks.” He also is crude and offends Rita, saying she probably didn’t sleep well without him. The person running the show is Buster (Brian Doyle-Murray, Bill’s brother), and he says groundhog Phil saw his shadow and the bad news is there is not going to be an early spring. Phil wraps up the recording by saying TV can’t capture the excitement of a “large squirrel” predicting the weather. He walks off even though Rita wants him to do it again “without the sarcasm,” which at this point would require brain surgery to remove.

On the way out of town, the blizzard, that Phil said was supposed to miss this part of the state, closes the roads, and they can’t leave. Phil can’t accept that his prediction is wrong. When the state trooper asks him if he listened to the forecast, he says, “I make the weather.” His ego is so large that he depicts himself as someone with enough power to control nature. Rita and Larry try to make the best of the situation, and ask Phil if he wants to go to the Groundhog Day dinner, but Phil sarcastically says he had “groundhog for lunch,” again showing his hostility for the animal and the town that celebrates him. He just wants to go back to his room and read the sex magazine, Hustler, which elicits a sharp, “Suit yourself,” from the annoyed Rita. Phil doesn’t seem to care if he offends anyone.

The next day turns out to be the same day, as the clock radio again plays, “I’ve Got you, Babe,” and the disc jockeys are doing the same routine. (Ramis and co-writer Danny Rubin could have chosen any tune, but they picked a light-hearted one about the love between two people that can survive anything, which, although a simple theme, is what Phil must learn). Phil at first thinks they are playing yesterday’s tape. But there is no snow on the ground, and the town is celebrating Groundhog Day again. Phil will go through different stages as the same scenario repeats itself. He starts out with denial, confusion and then anger. When Mrs. Lancaster asks if he will be leaving that day, Phil is already starting to lose self-assuredness by saying the chances of departure are “75 to 80” percent. When told that everyone is going to celebrate Groundhog Day, he humorously, but with worry, says, “It’s still just once a year, isn’t it?” When he encounters Ned the second time (or, for the first time again), Ned guesses that Phil doesn’t have any insurance. His line stresses how Phil is the kind of person who thinks he doesn’t need anything to fall back on because he has it all figured out. His journey is meant to humble him and teach Phil that he is not the center of the universe.

When he gets to Gobbler’s Knob he admits, possibly for the first time in his life, that he “may be having a problem.” He knows what Rita is about to say, and now that predictability which comes from repetition and denies change or variety is frightening to him. On the third time he skips the broadcast and meets with Rita in the local diner. He tells her how he is reliving the same day, and she, of course, can’t figure out what his angle is to say something so crazy. Larry arrives and says what he will repeat innumerable times, “We better go, to stay ahead of the weather.” It’s something that Phil thought he could do, but he no longer has that ability.

Director Ramis plays the local neurologist that Phil visits. His physical examination is normal, and the specialist says he has to go to Pittsburgh for a CT scan or MRI. Of course, Phil confuses the doctor when he says he can’t go to the city because of the yet nonexistent blizzard. The irony here is that before, people would rely on Phil’s educated guesses about the approaching weather, but now his absolutely correct forecast is not believed, which alienates and unsettles Phil, preparing him for a change is his outlook on life. The neurologist suggests Phil see a psychiatrist (David Pasquesi). The shrink says they should meet again “tomorrow,” which won't allow the shrink to be of any help since nothing will carry forward. The next day will just be a reset with no cumulative knowledge except on the part of Phil, who must realize he must take advantage of what he learns about himself.

Instead of just going back to his room, Phil goes to the bowling alley and drinks beer with two blue-collar townspeople, Gus (Rick Ducommon) and Ralph (Rick Overton). Phil recalls a day in the Virgin Islands where he ate lobster, drank pina coladas, and made love to a woman, and wonders why he couldn’t relive that day instead. But this cosmic intervention is meant to realign Phil’s attitude toward others which would not occur if his behavior wasn’t challenged. As one of the men says, Phil “is ‘a glass half-empty’ kind of guy,” which stresses Phil’s negativity if things don’t go according to his plans. Phil asks what would they do if “stuck in one place and every day was exactly the same, and nothing you did mattered?’ The response from one of the men is, “That about sums it up for me.” The movie is a fantasy, but although people may not want to admit it, so many of them live repetitious, predictable real-life versions of Groundhog Day. (As the three leave, Ralph looks like he’s going to barf. Phil asks, “you want to throw up here or in the car?” My daughter and I love to repeat lines from this movie, and Ralph’s response that we love is, “I think … both.” We also like to say the follow-up line, after we’ve had a large meal, “Who else could go for some flapjacks?”). 

Phil does the driving since he isn’t drunk like the other two. He asks them the question that moves Phil onto the next step on his road to dealing with his situation. He wonders, “What if there were no tomorrow?” Gus’s response is “That would mean there’d be no consequences, no hangovers, we could do whatever we wanted!” This revelation leads Phil to feel liberated from any restrictions, such as those a parent might dictate such as, “Clean up your room! Stand up Straight!” He says, “I’m not going to live by their rules anymore!” His statement is attractive to that part of a person that wants to put individual freedom above all else without having to worry about effects on oneself or others. It allows one to throw morality out of the window. Phil drives the car into a large sign of the groundhog in an act of defiance of the predictable loop he is caught up in. In terms of his own selfishness, he has turned the half-empty glass into a half-full one. (Given the premise, the movie could have shown horrendous acts of immorality, but the film is a comedy, and the mood remains mostly light).

When he wakes up in bed, and not in jail, Phil celebrates this time around and what follows are a series of self-indulgences. He decks Ned with one punch and goes to the diner and eats a table full of desserts in front of the astonished Rita. He also smokes a cigarette now because he doesn’t have to worry about his health. When she calls him a man of “advancing years,” he comically responds that his “years aren’t advancing as much as you think.” Through repetition, he learns all about a woman he sees in the diner, Nancy (Marita Geraghty) and pretends they were high school roommates. He says he always loved her, and wants to marry her. His tactic persuades Nancy to have sex with him. But during their intimate encounter, he calls “Rita,” which reveals who he truly cares about. He has memorized down to the smallest detail the arrival of an armored car carrying money so he can steal a bag of cash while the guards are distracted by the diner waitress, Doris (Robin Duke). He uses the money to drive a Mercedes, dress up like a cowboy, and bring a woman who is dressed like a French maid to the movie. We know time has passed for him since he says he saw the Heidi movie “over a hundred times.” 

After apparently having satisfied his carnal appetites, which bring limited satisfaction, Phil seems to focus on Rita. Why her, besides her being physically attractive? Perhaps because she has so many admirable characteristics that he lacks, and that he sees in her what he wishes he could be. But, he doesn't understand what true romance feels like, so he goes through the motions of what he thinks it should be. He uses the same maneuvers on her he used on Nancy. He asks about her desires and her views on things, so over time he can learn enough about her in order to use his one day of opportunity to win her over by acting like they are compatible. She says she likes someone who is “humble,” but also “intelligent, supportive, funny,” among other attributes. Phil has very few of these qualities at this point although he states to Rita that he does. One important item she mentions is that her ideal man should play an “instrument,” which will be important later. There are a series of small alterations over time of the same scene at a bar where Phil acts like he loves Rita’s favorite drink, repeats her toast to “world peace,” and reads French poetry that she admires. At the end of one of numerous daily reprisals where Phil tries to get all the details right, Rita says, “It’s a perfect day. You couldn’t plan a day like this.” Phil says, “Well you can. It just takes an awful lot of work.” And that is the problem, because from Rita’s viewpoint she has found out by chance some wonderful things about someone she undervalued. But the truth is Phil is a phony, who adopted Rita’s preferences instead of really being genuinely invested in them so he can have a romantic conquest. 

Because he has only one day, he rushes her, and after kissing, she stops and wants to slow things down between them. When he pushes too much and sounds like he is making a list when he recites her dislike for fudge and white chocolate, she rightly accuses him of constructing a “setup.” He says he loves her, and he does, but he has had the time to get to know her, while she hasn’t had that experience with him. She smacks him for making her care about him, and says that he only loves himself, which isn’t completely accurate at this point, but how would she be able to know that from his behavior?

He continues to try to create the perfect day with Rita which becomes as predictable as the rest of the day he is reliving. The numerous rehearsals destroy spontaneity and become extremely forced, ending with multiple slaps to Phil’s face. The powers involved in Phil’s journey require him to learn, through failure, the sin of selfishness. Because of his personal unfulfillment, Phil then descends into a deep depression. He slowly and sadly repeats the words of the DJ’s, with his own alteration, saying, “it’s cold out there. It’s cold out there every day.” While watching an episode of “Jeopardy,” which he has memorized, he voices the answers even before the questions are finished, astonishing the others watching with him in a lobby. There is no thrill to getting the right answers if you already know them, because there is no excitement in the absence of a challenge. 

At one of his broadcasts Phil lashes out at the crowd for worshiping “a rat.” He calls the celebration “a hype.” But isn’t he the unlovable celebrity version of the groundhog who tries to predict what will happen? The tone in the movie has turned darker now as Phil offers his “winter prediction.” He says, “It’s going to be cold. It’s going to be grey. And it’s going to last you the rest of your life.” There are a series of shots of Phil destroying his clock radio as it plays at six am. Since time has become a punishment to him he wants it to stop. In another taping, he says the winter will never end, “as long as this groundhog keeps seeing his shadow,” thus extending the length of the season over and over. Phil steals the truck holding the groundhog in his carrier and kidnaps his namesake because he must put a stop to predictions. The local authorities along with Rita and Larry follow Phil to a quarry. Phil then pulls a Thelma and Louise with the groundhog as he plunges the truck off the ledge, smashing the vehicle onto the ground below. (Another couple of lines my daughter and I like to repeat when watching a car crash in a movie comes from Larry here when he says, “He might be okay,” followed by, “Well, no. Probably not,” after the truck bursts into flames). 

Killing himself and the groundhog doesn't stop the resets. Phil keeps trying to end his life, dropping a toaster in his bath, getting hit by a truck, and jumping off a building. There were many more attempts which he relates to Rita at breakfast at the diner as he tells her about his continually reliving Groundhog Day. He concludes that he is immortal, like a god. He talks about the lives of the patrons and can state when one of the waiters will drop a tray of dishes, because he has witnessed it countless times. He concludes that God may know everything just by being around long enough to gather all this information. But this shift to observational knowledge eventually allows Phil to step away from himself and become involved in the lives of others. The amazed Rita asks if he also knows about her. He has paid attention to details about her, and Phil for the first time is touching as he says that she, “likes boats but not the ocean. You go to a lake in the summer with your family up in the mountains. There’s a long wooden dock and a boathouse with boards missing from the roof, and a place you used to crawl underneath to be alone. You’re a sucker for French poetry and rhinestones. You’re very generous. You’re kind to strangers and children. And when you stand in the snow you look like an angel.” He says that Larry will walk in and he writes down what he will say about leaving “to stay ahead of the weather.” He begs her not to leave him, and, of course, Larry does exactly what Phil said.

Rita stays with Phil as they walk around Punxsutawney. He admits what he said has to be true because how else would he know so much since he’s “not that smart.” Humility has finally touched Phil’s soul. Rita says she would stay with him to be an objective observer, sort of like a “science project,” and Phil having Rita as a companion, not a conquest, allows him to enjoy life again for a day by hanging out with her. He sadly says that the “worst part is that tomorrow you’ll have forgotten all about this, and you’ll treat me like a jerk again.” He admits that is what he is, which shows how he has gained insight into himself. Rita gives him that “glass half full” twist, saying maybe it’s not a “curse” that has been visited upon him. She says, “It depends on how you look at it.” She hugs him and as she falls asleep in the middle of the night he whispers to her that he does not yet “deserve someone like you,” but promises that if he were ever worthy, he would love her for the rest of his life. What he says here contrasts with his early repetition of “Me” as being the right man for Rita. She stays with him, but she disappears at six in the morning. Phil has to reboot himself, which is what Groundhog Day has been offering him to do, to act on Rita’s optimistic take on his situation so he can be free.

In one of the subsequent Groundhog Days, Phil smiles as he approaches the umpteenth time he films the event. He brings breakfast to his work colleagues and suggests a better way to shoot the piece. He helps carry equipment and asks Larry about his life. He is no longer thinking only of himself and acts like a part of a team. He says at one of his tapings that “winter is just another step in the cycle of life.” He even says that being among the citizens of the town, he “couldn’t imagine a better fate than a long and lustrous winter.” He has come to embrace the cold season that he earlier despised because now he can see the bigger picture, and enjoy the emotional warmth of others.

Phil reads books to educate himself. He becomes artistic, and learns to ice sculpt. He takes piano lessons, not just because Rita wanted a man who plays an instrument, but because he uses the time granted to him as a blessing to improve himself. He greets the man at the bed and breakfast, whom he previously met with sarcasm, with joy and a poem that says winter holds the promise of spring. He is definitely making that lemonade out of the lemons. 

But he also becomes a sort of guardian angel. Phil gives all the money he has to the old beggar, and later helps him to the hospital when he sees him staggering at the end of the day. When the man passes away, and Phil realizes that Groundhog Day is the last day on earth for the man, he tries to make it better for him, making sure he has a nice meal, and even attempts to revive him when he collapses. He now knows he is not a god because he can’t change some things even if he knows how they will turn out. He helps Buster by using the Heimlich maneuver on him and helps a young woman, Debbie (Hynden Walch) get over her fear of marriage to Fred (Michael Shannon, in his film debut). He also catches a boy who falls from a tree (IMDb points out that the boy is in the hospital with a broken leg in the scene when Phil takes the old man there, so Phil later prevents the accident). He also helps change a tire for old ladies who get a flat. He buys every type of insurance offered from Ned, who says it's the best day of his life. In an astounding turnaround, Phil agrees, and says, “Mine, too.”

At the Groundhog Day dinner, which Phil now wants to attend, Rita finds out how popular Phil has become in one day since he has been very busy helping others as well as giving pleasure to those hearing him play the piano at the dinner. When she asks him what he did that day, Phil delivers one of the movie’s best lines, “Oh, same old, same old.” But he has really made that “same” into something new. She is amazed and “buys” him at an auction for charity. He makes an ice sculpture of her face, which Rita says is “lovely,” but she doesn’t know how he can make such a creation. After the passage of so much time (it has been suggested that ten years have passed), he says, “I know your face so well, I could do it with my eyes closed.” He knows how to live in the moment because, he says, that no matter what happens, he is “happy now.” He admits to loving her, and this time he is sincere. She says she is happy, too, and they kiss. As IMDb indicates, it begins to snow, which signals that there is a change coming, as it does in It’s a Wonderful Life, when George returns to the reality that includes him among the living. (And the same phenomenon occurs in another Christmas movie, The Family Man, when Nicholas Cage’s character will soon return to his real life).

The next morning turns out to really be the next morning. Even though the same song plays, the DJ’s are saying something different, and Rita’s hand comes into the shot as she turns off the radio. Phil says, “something is different,” and when she asks if that is good, he says, “Anything different is good,” as predictability is no longer needed. There is snow on the ground, so the blizzard has left its mark, and it no longer is Groundhog Day. She stayed because he asked her to, and they just fell asleep. He says it “was the end of a very long day. Is there anything I can do for you today?” His first desire now is to please another, not himself. He can now go forward to spread the benevolence he has learned so it will embrace others.

When they go outside, Phil looks at the white covering of snow, a hallmark of the season he originally despised, and says, “It’s so beautiful!” He now is so grateful for what being in the town has taught him that he says, “Let’s live here!” But he says they’ll just rent to start. Afterall, it has been a spooky place for him. The song at the end of the film (from the musical Brigadoon which appropriately plays here, because it is about a place caught in time) has the lyrics, “What a day this has been/What a rare mood I’m in/Why it’s almost like being in love/There’s a smile on my face/for the whole human race.” In the end, when true love is shared, people can be happy together anywhere. That feels like deja vu. Didn't I just say that?

The next film is Do the Right Thing.

Being John Malkovich

SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

Happy New Year! There’s no getting around it, whether you consider its plot or characters, this 1999 movie from writer Charlie Kaufman and director Spike Jonze is strange. But, there is a great deal of humor in it, and it addresses serious themes involving individual identity.

The first shot is of unsuccessful puppeteer Craig Schwartz (John Cusack) manipulating a puppet that looks like him, feeling that he can’t control his own destiny, which is ironic since he manipulates the strings of his miniature replica. Puppet Craig looks at a mirror of himself and breaks it because it is unhappy with itself. The wooden duplicate points to Craig’s narcissism, since his art is about himself. Craig is envious of another puppeteer's success who sells out commercially by making his skill into special effects shows. One act of this rival consists of a stories-tall Emily Dickinson puppet he controls in an outside area of the city. This grandstanding performance is another irony, since Dickinson was a recluse who didn’t want public exposure. The implication is that the true artist focuses on the art, not its creator. Here we can sympathize with Craig’s view of how his competitor’s actions are a perversion of art.

Craig is in an unhappy relationship with his wife, Lotte (Cameron Diaz, almost unrecognizable with frizzy hair and no cosmetic enhancement). She wants children, but Craig is so self-centered that he denies her offspring, and she has numerous animal pets as child surrogates, including a chimpanzee. He wants control over Lotte’s life, to pull her strings, so that she will direct herself toward fulfilling his dreams. Craig, however, is not providing any income. He also works in public, but as a begging street performer. After getting punched out by an irate father whose young girl witnesses a sexually inappropriate puppet act, Craig interviews for a clerical job involving filing, since the ad says the position requires someone who has manual dexterity.

Craig gets the job at LesterCorp, which is run by Dr. Lester (Orson Bean) who is hysterically graphic and blunt about any topic. The office is on floor 7 ½, which Craig first enters with the help of a woman (Octavia Spencer in an early bit part) who jams the elevator so he can gain access to the floor. It is a funny sight gag, as the people walk around hunched over. (Craig already walks bent forward somewhat, showing how defeated his life has been). But, the visual suggests that people working in boring, mundane jobs become worn down by tedious employment. It is here that Craig meets the attractive and sexually charismatic Maxine (Catherine Keener). One wonders why such a strong character lowers herself to work in such a confining (literally and figuratively) job. We later learn that she doesn’t quite fit in with the mainstream herself, and is looking for her own self-fulfillment. Craig awkwardly hits on her, but he is so wrapped up in himself, so out of touch with what it is to be human, that he can’t really relate to others, and has more interaction with his puppets who are surrogates for real people. He instead creates a puppet version of Maxine, and has his avatar romance the Maxine miniature, showing his desire to control others for his own purposes. But isn’t the puppeteer sort of like the filmmaker, who wants to control all the aspects of his or her craft so as to manipulate the audience? Craig has some insight about artistic expression when he says, “There is truth, and there are lies, and art always tells the truth. Even when it’s lying.” Shakespeare does not present the actual history of famous people, such as Julius Caesar of Richard III. But, what he and other creative people do is to find the truth about the human condition within the imaginative construct.

Here’s where the real crazy comes in. Craig drops a file behind some cabinets and discovers a small tunnel. When he enters it he gets sucked into the mind of the actor John Malkovich. The camera looks out at the world as if through Malkovich’s eyes. Craig is there for fifteen minutes, and then is ejected, falling from the sky into a ditch by the side of the New Jersey Turnpike. Be careful when driving on that road because you never know what can hit you. The tunnel to become Malkovich seems like an Alice in Wonderland rabbit hole that leads to another reality, a mutated version of the one the traveler has left, but where other things can be realized. Craig first says he likes being a puppeteer so he can, like an actor, step outside himself. With his literally entering another person’s mind, he questions the nature of identity. He says, “It raises all sorts of philosophical-type questions, you know, about the nature of self, about the existence of a soul. You know, am I me? Is Malkovich Malkovich?” But even though he does gain a new perspective by literally stepping away from himself, he just wants to exploit the situation, as does Maxine at first. Craig shares this amazing discovery first with Maxine, not his wife, because he wants to offer her something intriguing so that she will be interested in being with him. They go into business together, looking to profit from this miraculous finding, as is the capitalist American way, by charging $200 per person to go through the portal. There is a long line of people who want this escape from their dreary lives. But, the film also shows the desire to be famous by narrowing the degrees of separation between common folk and the famous to zero. The portal also turns Malkovich into a common person when he is later controlled by others.

Craig does tell Lotte about his business venture with Maxine, and she is quickly excited, since she harbors transgender, or fluid, sexual feelings, thus showing that she is seeking her identity outside of what would be a typical female role. She says, “It’s kinda sexy that John Malkovich has a portal … it’s sorta vaginal, y’know, like he has a, he has a penis and a vagina.” When Craig says he doesn’t like the idea of Lotte going into the portal, she flatly states her transgender agenda by telling him, “Don’t stand in the way of my actualization as a man.” Craig and Lotte visit Dr. Lester’s home, and Lotte discovers a room  dedicated to Malkovich. We now suspect that Lester knows about the tunnel. Lotte goes through the opening and is inside Malkovich when Maxine, who wants to know more about Malkovich, dates him. Lotte loves the experience, and eventually she is inside of the actor when he and Maxine make love. Maxine falls in love with Malkovich, but only when Lotte is inside of him. Maxine, thus, although participating in heterosexual lovemaking, identifies with the lesbian component of her personality, again showing the malleable nature of identity.

Craig, feeling left out as the two women explore their feelings for each other, brutally restrains Lotte and forces her into a cage housed by the chimp. Since he has restricted her existence before, he now literally imprisons her. He enters Malkovich and vicariously makes love with Maxine. Since he is a puppeteer, Craig discovers that he can control Malkovich like one of his puppets. Malkovich senses this appropriation of his body, and follows Maxine to LesterCorps. He demands that he be allowed to enter the portal. In a surreal scene, Malkovich sees a world that is populated by people that look like him, and can only say, “Malkovich.” It is a narcissistic experience, and it frightens Malkovich, since, although an actor may have a large ego about his performing skills, he wants to inhabit other persons in the pursuit of his craft. In essence, he wants to assume many identities, and not be tied to one version of himself.

Despite Malkovich’s demands, Craig will not shut down access to the portal. We see a flashback experienced by the chimp (a first in filmmaking) which shows the animal was traumatized by seeing his parents captured. The chimp, perceiving Lotte as an adoptive mother, unties Lotte, freeing her. So even what defines the nature of being an animal is called into question.

Lotte seeks out Dr. Lester for help, since she saw his Malkovich room, and concludes that he may have some answers. Dr. Lester tells her that he has lived for many years jumping into bodies when they are “ripe” for the taking. The portal moves from one individual to the next, from a child who ages to the next baby, and when the subject reaches the forty-fourth birthday, Lester takes it over, and can live on inside that person until the next body is “ripe” for possession. This time, he has friends who will join him in this version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Dr. Lester shows how people want to defy death, that they seek not to be defined by their old age, and desire immortality even if in another form. Is there a definitive Dr. Lester since he, like an actor, has taken on many roles?

Craig inhabits Malkovich, and is able to control him without being ejected. He reveals his dominance over Malkovich to Maxine, making Malkovich move the way the puppet version of himself did in the opening scene. Craig from the very beginning wants control over others to actualize himself. Through Malkovich’s fame, he is able to show off his puppeteer skills to the world, so he makes Malkovich quit acting and become a famous puppeteer. Maxine is thrilled by the prospect, showing how Craig’s manipulative skills resonate with hers. Malkovich, inhabited by Craig, and Maxine get married. Maxine learns that she is pregnant. The two, however, are not made for each other, and they become estranged. Lester and his friends capture Maxine and threaten her with harm if Craig will not exit Malkovich’s body, since the “ripe” time is approaching. Selfish Craig refuses. Lotte seeks out Maxine and they go together into the portal, accessing Malkovich’s subconscious mind, since Craig has control of the conscious one. They wind up near the turnpike. Maxine says that she became pregnant when Lotte inhabited Malkovich, so, in a way, it is her child. Lotte has fulfilled her transgender goal, fathering a child, and has satisfied her wish to be a parent. Maxine admits her love for Lotte, giving into her lesbian side.

Craig does not have Maxine or Lotte now, and voluntarily exits Malkovich after a bar fight. Lester and his friends then occupy Malkovich (who started to have the same hair as Craig when he had control over him, and later sports Dr. Lester’s hairstyle). When Craig realizes that Lotte and Maxine are in love, he tries to jump back into Malkovich, but it is too late. He enters the portal’s next person, which turns out to be Maxine’s child with Lotte (as Malkovich), Emily.

The end is ominous, because Craig is in the child’s mind, not able to control anything, but still there, in a somewhat vicarious relationship with Maxine and Lotte, but forced to watch their bliss passively. Perhaps he must start from scratch, implied by the youth of the child, as Dr. Lester had said, because he needs to have a fresh beginning to mend his ways. But Dr. Lester, having taken over Malkovich’s body, plans to eventually possess Emily, thus leaving the film with a dire future for the child, and suggesting that identity is a tricky business.

The next film is The Big Sleep.