Written by Zoe Kazan
Starring Paul Dano, Zoe Kazan, Annette Benning, Antonio Banderas and Steve Coogan
U.S., 2012
It’s time for Romancefest again and you know what that means: 28 romantic movies in 28 days. This year I started things with RUBY SPARKS, the tale of a blocked-up writer who had early success with his first novel but now can’t seem to write anything. When he starts writing about a woman who comes to him in his dreams, she miraculously manifests in reality as his brand new live-in girlfriend.
I remember seeing trailers for this movie back when it came out and although it has an interesting premise, I was worried it’d be a little too wish-fulfilly for my tastes. I judged incorrectly, and the movie actually ended up being an interesting deconstruction of boundary and dependence issues in relationships, using the fantastic premise as a lens to look at these things indirectly. It also works as a study about how men attempt to control women, not just in relationships, but also in works of art. Writer and star Zoe Kazan has a lot of insight into this, being an actress herself, who has probably been at the mercy of lots of unimaginative white men who wanted to use her for wish fulfillment.
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