Unlike many people I talk to, the things I’m passionate about aren’t necessarily used as a means of escapism for me.
I don’t listen to music around the clock because it helps me forget about what’s going on in my surrounding life. I don’t stay in the car with the stereo on for an extended amount of time because I’m preparing myself for interactions with other people—although that sometimes is the case. I put myself in these situations, subjecting myself to a substantial amount of music for the simple reason that it makes me feel the wholehearted emotions that I experience.
My headphones and Bluetooth speakers are constantly in use because the songs that play through them either make me melancholy or cheerful or nostalgic, and I appreciate feeling those things to the fullest extent.
My passion for film has the same effect.
It is nice to be able to lose myself in a fictional, televised world of some kind, but, ordinarily, I watch them to experience the emotions they are sure to bring about. Whether I laugh or cry, it’s almost always an enjoyable experience.
That’s exactly what my newest favorite movie did for me. I never know what I’m getting myself into, but Nutcrackers had me feeling a large range of things. All were positive, even though the premise of the film seemed rather Hallmark-like.
When Michael (Ben Stiller) reluctantly takes a hiatus from his involved real estate work life to help find a new foster home for his recently orphaned nephews, the small trip he planned becomes more involved than he ever expected. From taking over their small family farm to working with the four boys’ disobedient antics, Michael learns how to put aside his egocentric qualities and finally prove to his late sister that he does have the ability to love someone other than himself.
Going into this film, I tried not to let my expectations rise to the point of imminent disappointment. This being Stiller’s return to the big screen after a three-year respite is what drew me to the work initially; I’ve admired his work for years, ever since I watched The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and adored his presence in front of a camera, but his return after this long made me slightly nervous. I didn’t want my vision of him to be tainted after anticipating a new role from him for years.
Thankfully, in the end, I had nothing to worry about.
The first half of the film moved at a slower pace; as Michael and the boys were warming up to each other, he was piecing together his new lifestyle. With the knowledge that he’s used to the hustle and bustle of downtown Chicago, there were many humor-packed moments of him trying to understand the different customs of Ohio farmland: his struggles to get a Wi-Fi connection in the middle of a frosty lake and the culture shock of having pigs inside the house all showcased the superficial anxieties he dealt with at the beginning of the movie.
What I loved the most about this film, though, was the clear development of Michael’s character. Even if it was just the way he warmed up to the nickname “Mike,” which he openly detested at the start, I would’ve been satisfied with the way his nephews changed him.
But it was so much more than that.
Near the end of the film, in arguably the most important scene, where the boys are putting on a play in the middle of the street, the camera cuts to a shot of Michael, and the emotion he’s experiencing is evident in his eyes. That single moment—even if the rest of the movie was terrible, which thankfully it wasn’t—brought the whole story together and made this one of the best films in recent years, especially in light of all the horrible things being released lately.
All in all, Nutcrackers is a heartbreakingly powerful and strikingly beautiful piece of television that welcomes Ben Stiller back to Hollywood in the best way possible.
