y.o.u._b.e._t.h.e._j.u.d.g.e.
The counted strokes of brush on the teeth. The exact steps of walk to the bus stand. The files of tax return to be audited. This is Harold Crick (Will Ferrell). He suffers daily living syndrome — the unconsciously routine practice. He has a job, a house, and a life. Sort of. Until the author (Emma Thompson) or narrator of Stranger Than Fiction steps in. The story is just about right on the spot of bringing a new dimension into a lifeless one albeit with a tragedy comedic ending.
It got me thinking of my life. I wake up to my rusty alarm. I shower and dress. I reach the bus stand minutes before the bus arrives. I breakfast. I check email. I do paperwork. I lunch. I blog. I work again in mad dog. I dinner. I am home. I shower. I read. I sleep. That is only a rough breakdown of my weekday. That has not includes the microscopic simplest routine of cleansing my face!
You see, we put so much emphasis on making certain order is there, steps are being followed, therefore no hiccup can happen. In spite of this we fail to make a difference of a Monday and a Tuesday. We live Tuesday like how we’ve lived Monday. And worse still we relive the Monday-Tuesday on the next Monday!
If one thing I’ve learnt from this film is not to wait until the day we know we are about to perish from this earth to make a difference. It may be within outselves or out of our boundaries. Time does not stop when the clock stops. Time does not sleep when we dose off. Time does not even stop when you jump off a building. It ticks and ticks. And ticks. We allow time to pass us unknowingly… but more so knowingly.
Quit and change job. Learn to salsa. Pick up the dumb-bell. Indulge in Ben & Jerry’s. Start dating. Spend time with family. Hangout with friends. Love someone… Let someone loves you back.
Like what the author said, “If a man knows when and how he is going to die, and still die because that is how his life should cease, he is worth keeping around”. Hence if a movie that tells fiction stranger than any fictions you’ve ever known, and still attempt to tell because that is how a story should be explained, it is worth sitting still for the next two hours.
