Stranger than Fiction

“Stranger Than Fiction” is, I can’t really pinpoint what genre it is, 2006 release starring Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman and Queen Latifah. I am serious that this is a very weird genre and I can’t believe that this is a comedy/drama.

Like the title suggests the story shown in this thought provoking movie, is indeed stranger than fiction. Harold Crick is a very boring person, whose whole life is dictated by one super weird mathematical routine, which involves counting things. His job at the local IRS makes him even more boring. However one morning he starts his usual routine, when he hears a woman’s voice narrate exactly what he is doing, but in a very erudite way. At first he thinks he is going insane so he visits a shrink, but then directs himself to a literature professor in order to find in what story he is character. Later on we learn that the author plans Crick’s imminent death, which triggers a life altering change in his life. He starts to live like he should have, making his dreams come true and finds even love. In the mean time he discovers who the author is tracks her down. The ending is emotional as the author meets her character and with the ending of his death still not typed, the question is posed: Will she do it? Now I am not telling. Too much of a spoiler.

Oh, I can’t simply explain how much this movie can move a person dedicated to the written word, whether he/she be a writer, reader or author. The reason I mainly blog about this movie is that there is a hint of paranormal: Harold Crick hearing the author at work, which is basically reality intertwining with fiction, one pushing the other. Of course it is connected with literature. Questions pop up and are answered by other people like “What if characters in literary fiction were really real and authors happened to influence their lives. Will they still kill them knowing that they were real? Would assured success tempt them to sacrifice a person for one priceless mark in the world’s library”, while other questions concern human features like bravery in the face of death (knowing that you would die , having the power to stop it and yet don’t all in the name of something of more value aka good literature). The value of life is mainly weighed here and just how people don’t cherish what they have and try to live it at their fullest, when the outcome is near.

The cast was amazing, all big names in the movie field. I usually despise Will Farrell, but he played his character Harold Crick with lots of dedication, further shaping the sap into a believable character, with whom you can sympathize. Emma Thompson is the melancholic author Karen Eiffel and her sad voice with a hint of desperation works quite well for the dramatic part of the film. Besides if you were in a tragic novel, you would want her British voice to sound, while you face death. Dustin Hoffman with his sparky personality adds to the humor as Professor Jules Hilbert, the literature expert. Maggie Gyllenhaal as the baker Ana Pascal is the complete opposite of Harold and adds to the comic atmosphere.

This is so far the best movie I have watched for 2008, even though it’s released in 2006. I feel so luck this year in the movie and book department. I give it a well deserved 10!