American Hustle: A Dizzying Game Of Cat And Mouse

Amy Adams In American Hustle

If there's any message to American Hustle, it's the idea that we're all con men to some degree or another. Whether it's power, money, food, love, or the latest tech gadget, even the most innocent of us will manipulate others to get what we want. It's human nature. When we con someone, we deceive them. We play a part, act a certain way to get exactly what you want. Sometimes, we even con ourselves. A con at its worst is pure betrayal. With those heavy ideas in mind, the fact that David O' Russell was able to put together such a funny and entertaining film is quite an achievement.

*****

His latest, American Hustle, may be splashy and flashy and all around effervescent. Yes, it's a comical drama, a farce, with little splashes of camp thrown in for good measure. It's a throwback to the screwball comedies no one makes anymore. Some have criticized that it's too flamboyant for its own good. That it's glitzy enough to fool even the most savvy audience member, the harshest critic, and the most knowledgeable Academy member. If that's the case then David O'Russell has conned us all.  

In my estimation, it's not a perfect film, but no film ever is. What American Hustle has going for it is that you are swept up in the con world the characters inhabit. Its sheer glamour seduces you because you're witnessing these larger-than-life characters acting screwy, making bad decisions, and one-upping each other with their cons. More than likely, you find yourself enjoying the experience and perhaps feeling a bit guilty about it because these characters are not good people. They're criminals when you get right down to it: white-collar criminals who rise to the top not because of talent, luck or hard work, but by cheating all along the way. American Hustle is about people you'd do anything to get away from in real life. Maybe that's one reason why they're so fun to watch on the big screen.American Hustle is nominated for 10 Academy Awards.

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Copyright © 2014 by KLiedle

The Lover's Dictionary: Defining The Nature Of Love

A dejected Charlie Brown famously said, "Nothing spoils the taste of peanut butter like unrequited love."

Years later, Woody Allen would believe "Sex alleviates tension. Love causes it." Lady Gaga would be addictively caught in a bad romance. And Lily Tomlin would plead with the world at large: "if love is the answer, could you please rephrase the question?"

Do I believe in love? It's like asking I ♥ Huckabees. How am I not myself? Am I myself? Do I believe in love? Or is it a concoction like the word normal-- a theory to make us feel inferior and unsure of ourselves? It's intangible, unproven but proven, fleeting yet everlasting. Love.

It's like God and the Devil and heaven and hell all wrapped into one. It makes us float and giggle and believe in the very best of everything there is to believe in. It's magnetic and unpredictable. It makes us believe in magic, fairytales and happily ever afters. It tempts us and taunts us. Sometimes, it makes us do things, reckless things, we wouldn't normally do. It makes us stay in relationships much too long. It makes us postpone decisions, settle for what's right, what's wrong, what's stable. What's love?

It's hard to capture and hard to hold. It chases happiness and hides from sadness, but sometimes sadness finds it. And like bloodhounds, loneliness and jealousy and hatred can sniff out its trail, too. When it's good, it makes us lace fingers and curl into each other's arms. When it's over, it makes us curl into a ball. Alone. Starting over from scratch. Again.

Love is confusing. And complicated. Defined yet undefinable.

The Lover's Dictionary, an experimental novel by David Levithan, explores this very thing. The novel originally evolved from a story that Levinthan had given to friends as a Valentine's Day gift. Released in 2011, I recently discovered it, or rather, it discovered me, as I believe books tend to do.

Levithan, a young adult novelist, best known for penning such fare as Nick And Norah's Infinite Playlist, approaches the many facets of love through words. The novel is composed of dictionary/journal entries in which nouns and adjectives provide the impetus to exploring and understanding feelings, beliefs, memories, and experiences of love. The nature of love is beautiful. The hypocrisy of love is ugly.

The Lover's Dictionary is organized alphabetically, but the entries describe events and moments that are not necessarily in chronological order. As Levinthan states in one entry: "We do not divulge our histories chronologically. It's not like we can sit each other down and say 'Tell me what happened,' and then rise from that conversation knowing everything."

It's like he's saying that the only known is that we will never know everything: about ourselves, the world, nature, love, or even our most intimate lovers and friends.

Early on, Levinthan's unnamed narrator states: "There has to be a moment at the beginning when you wonder whether you're in love with the person or in love with the feeling of love itself."

Who wouldn't want to be in love? It's like asking, who wouldn't want to be happy?

However, in another entry, a character thinks: "I am myself, and that is the point. Pairing is a social construction. It is by no means necessary for everyone to do it. Maybe I'm better like this…"

The moments described in Levithan's unconventional novel may be from one couple's relationship or that of many different relationships. It doesn't matter. What matters is that they reveal the intimacy, the truth, the uncertainty, and the undefinable nature of love.

"I've always been deeply terrified to really be someone's wife since I know from life one cannot love another, ever, really," Marilyn Monroe once wrote in her private journal, while married to playwright Arthur Miller.

As another Valentine's Day approaches, remember this:

We all have our own moments. And love is not easy for anyone.

©2012 by KLiedle