Friday, April 4, 2008

Nim's Island


After a really hard week (migraine - what's new?) the only thing that got me through today was the knowledge that I would be seeing Gerry. Sigh.


"Eleven-year-old Nim (Abigail Breslin) and her marine biologist father, Jack (Gerard Butler), are the only human residents of a remote but idyllic South Pacific island.


While Jack studies nanoplankton, Nim makes the entire island her school, with the animals as her teachers and her friends. Every few months, a supply boat brings another book by her favourite author, Alex Rover, an international man of adventure.




But Alex is really Alexandra (Jodie Foster), a writer so terrified of just about everything that she lives on canned soup, constantly sanitizes her hands, and cannot get far enough outside her front door to retrieve the mail." - Nell Minow, Chicago Sun-Times

"A tomboyish young girl, Nim has playmates Selkie the sea lion, Fred the bearded dragon and Galileo the pelican, while her literary hero is Alex Rover, the lionhearted star of adventure novels. Scottish hunk Gerard Butler plays the dual role of Nim's father and the intrepid Alex Rover, an Indiana Jones with a heartier laugh, who appears to writer Alexandra (Jodie Foster) and haunts Nim's imagination. Butler rolls through both roles by channeling an overdeveloped sense of macho into slightly different versions of the same man." - Kirk Honeycutt, The Hollywood Reporter


"Be the hero of your own life story" is the advice the fictional Alex Rover gives writer Alexandra as she struggles with her agorophobia. As a writer myself - who is basing my own fictional character on Gerard Butler - all of the scenes between Alexandra and her character really struck a weird chord. Trust me. It's one thing to carry on in my own mind - it's quite another to see and hear the very man who plays my vampire character talking to the writer who creates him in the film.

Add to that Jodie Foster - one of my husband's favorite actors - playing an agorophobic person, a huge problem my husband struggles with daily - and the weirdness just kept getting weirder. But I mean that in a good way. Basically, this movie seemed to gather a lot of things that are personal to me, and allow me to watch them on the big screen.


And the two Gerry's made the long, long, painful week disappear in a gorgeous instant. Sigh.

14 comments:

Susan Helene Gottfried said...

The kids want to see this (and I do, too). Let me know how it is!

Addicted to crafting said...

Stopping by to say hello Julia!!!! :)

Julia Phillips Smith said...

Susan - I really enjoyed it. From a writer's standpoint, it's very funny to see her speaking to her fictional character. It's a bit broad in tone because it's geared toward kids. And the kids in the audience I saw it with got a couple of huge laughs out of it.

Flowerpot said...

I'll look forward to this Julia - soubds really interesting.

Akelamalu said...

That sounds like a great film, I will look out for it. Jodie Foster is a brilliant actress.

Unknown said...

Sounds like a great film. Can't wait to see it with my almost-grown kids.

Rose said...

I love Jodie Foster. Sounds good.

Shelley Munro said...

It sounds like an interesting film and quite a different role for Jodie Foster.

HeatherK said...

Jodie Foster added a lot of charisma to her role, as did Abigail Breslin. It will be fun to continue to watch her grow up on movies like we have Jodie Foster.
Charlie was going to take Emily this evening.Invite declined due to a pending visit from the Toothfairy (toothache. Charlie has headed to see 'The Ruins'on his own. He can have fun at that one on his own. I'll stick to Harry Potter on ABC.

Anonymous said...

Wow.. I don't get it. I'm going to have to google this...!

Leah Braemel said...

I've seen Jodie on the talk shows promoting the show, but I didn't realize Gerard was on it - I'll definitely put it on the list of movies to see. Thanks Julia!

Karina said...

You know, I've heard about this movie, but had no idea what it was really about, so wasn't really all that interested in seeing it. Except that after P.S. I Love You I became a bit of a Gerard Butler fan myself. But, now that I've read your review, it actually sounds like a movie I'd really enjoy.

Wylie Kinson said...

I can't wait to see this one!
GB, of course, but I'm also fond of Abigail Breslin and Jodi Foster never disappoints (well there was that one movie... nevermind).

I just read on some gossip site that GB is 'dating' Cameron Diaz. WTF? ARGH. Justin Timberlake's leftovers... He could do so much better. Like me ;)

Kelly Boyce said...

Love the pixs of Gerry!