LOVE ACTUALLY
Director: Richard Curtis (Pirate Radio or The Boat That Rocked)
Cast: Bill Nighy, Keira Knightley, Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Rowan Atkinson, Laura Linney
I’d like to start this off with the quote that starts off the movie because I find it best describes the whole concept of this movie.
“Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion’s starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don’t see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it’s not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it’s always there – fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge – they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I’ve got a sneaking suspicion… love actually is all around.”
That is what this movie is about. Love actually is all around us, especially in London. It is promoted as the ultimate romantic comedy filled with separate stories from all the cast that we see in the beginning of the movie either in a wedding and the others in a funeral. The wedding is for Peter and Juliet (Keira Knightley) and we see how it rolls into the story of unrequited love of Peter’s best friend, Mark (Andrew Lincoln) for Juliet. This event brings together Jamie (Colin Firth) who we see ends up falling out of love with his cheating girlfriend and flying to France to spend his holidays where he meets a young Portuguese housekeeper, Aurelia. At that same wedding, we also see Sarah (Laura Linney) who we get introduced to her not so secret crush to her co-worker, Karl and how sometimes you have to make choices for family that we love. In her office, we see the relationship of her boss, Harry who is tempted to cheat with a younger employee while his wife, Karen (Emma Thompson) tries to rekindle their relationship and keep her own family together. Her brother, the Prime Minister (Hugh Grant) starts his position and meets his lovely “catering manager”, Nathalie. The funeral however is where we get the shot of Karen who is there for Daniel (Liam Neeson) who has lost his wife and must take care of his stepson, Sam and help him get the love of his life who is a girl in school that will be going back to America. In the background, we have a old rock and roll singer, Billy Mack (Bill Nighy) who tries to get top spot on the billboard. Lots of love stories all twisted together is what makes up Love Actually.
Love Actually is one of those movies that I know is very awesome to watch, (however I forget during the year its awesomeness). I love watching every minute of it because it makes me laugh and smile and then by the end, I get tears of joy because of all the sweet moments. Here’s one of the especially sweet moments of Mark’s unrequited love for Juliet. Of course, its only one of the many but I thought it was sweet and original.
The cast is just beautiful and charming and you start getting attached to all the love that is around during Christmas in this. It consists of such a perfect group of actors and actresses that I adore like Keira Knightley, Bill Nighy, Alan Rickman, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant and Liam Neeson. On top of that, we also had a few cameos of Rowan Atkinson. I love him in general and in this one, he’s just the spectacular even for that little moment he’s on screen. Maybe some stories could’ve been more elaborate if there were less put together but I think the point is to show the simplicity of each situation, how love is just very simple and we can find it when and where we least expect it. We’ll do things that we don’t expect ourselves to do for it. So great concept and great little stories, I loved them all. However, I found that the key to the success was the soundtrack that they put together to support everything that was happening. Just listen and look at the beginning song that pops up at the wedding.
Its some fun stuff when you find that perfect song that gets the viewers moving. Especially when another song had Hugh Grant dancing through his Prime Minister headquarters. We had the hilarious Bill Nighy doing his best routine of laid back old rock and roll star and swearing here and there with “Christmas is All Around”. Then we have “All I Want for Christmas” also one of my favorite songs. There’s just so much more. This definitely enhances the movie.
I may forget about Love Actually and its awesomeness throughout the year but whenever I see it, it just makes me feel so good. Acknowledging that love actually is everywhere and all around is something we all want to remember when Christmas and the holidays comes around.
Tranquil Dreams 