MOVIE REVIEW

Stranger Than Fiction
 by Stephen Simon

Have you ever felt that you might be living someone else’s life or that maybe the life you are living is an illusion? Stranger Than Fiction, now available on DVD, looks at that question from a unique, whimsical, romantic and endearing eye.

Meet Harold Crick (Will Ferrell), mild-mannered and utterly bored and boring agent for the IRS. Harold wakes up at the same time each morning, catches the same bus, eats the same lunch and dinner and basically sleepwalks through his life until, one day, he hears a woman’s voice speaking about, of all things, Harold himself. At first, he thinks he’s imagining the voice, particularly after confirming with those around him that no one else other than Harold hears the voice. A psychologist even tells him that he may be schizophrenic but he knows that he is hearing a woman who is unnervingly and actually narrating Harold’s life as he lives it.

As Harold desperately tries to unravel the mystery in his head, the film also follows the challenges facing author Karen Eiffel (Emma Thompson) as she decides how to construct the demise of the main character in her new novel, a character named Harold Crick.

Convinced that the voice is indeed a narration of his own life, Harold also is faced with falling in love with an irreverent young baker (Maggie Gyllenhall) whom he is auditing for the IRS. Ultimately, Harold finds an English professor (Dustin Hoffman) who helps Harold discover the truth of what is happening to him. When Harold actually recognizes that the voice he is hearing actually belongs to the author who is trying to finish her book, he becomes aware that he is indeed a character in her book and that he is about to face his own demise. Is his whole life merely an illusion created by the author of a novel? Even if it is, he has met the woman of his dreams and he’s not ready to perish simply to provide the best possible ending to someone else’s story. Beyond desperate, Harold seeks out and finds Eiffel who is as shocked to see him as he is to meet the author of his life. Completely perplexed, she gives him the book to read, including the details of his own imminent demise. Now what does he do?

Even if it were just for its pure and audacious originality (in a business that seems to have lost all courage or understanding to make such films), Stranger Than Fiction would be worth seeing. Happily, the film is also a complete delight to experience from start to “finish” and is one of the most underrated Spiritual Cinema films in many years.
The film is a simply amazing metaphor for the life that we live every day. Are we the author of that life or do we give that power away to others? Are we spiritual beings living a human existence so that we can play out the karma of our soul’s journey in this illusion we call life? What happens when we impact another’s life in such a powerful way that the course of life itself is changed? Can love indeed change everything, including our own destiny?

All those questions and many, many more are explored in the film while, at the same time, we are utterly enchanted by Harold and the adventure that he pursues. Much of the credit for that goes to Will Ferrell who is absolutely brilliant and utterly charming and understated in his portrayal of a character who has to question the reality of his own existence. Emma Thompson, Maggie Gyllenhall and Dustin Hoffman are always wonderful and they shine here as well but, if you’ve only seen Ferrell as a broad comedian, he will be the true revelation to you in this film.

It is so sad and shocking to see the steady parade of unremitting and dark films that has been emanating from Hollywood. When, therefore, a film as charming and life affirming as Stranger Than Fiction comes along, it often gets lost in the shuffle, so to speak and that was exactly the fate that befell the film when it opened theatrically in 2006. Now, however, the film can be treasured on DVD and I heartily recommend it as a sensational holiday film to be enjoyed by the whole family.

FILM REVIEW
BY ARIELLE FORD

MIRA NAIR'S LAUGHING CLUB OF INDIA

Rumor has it that the world-renowned director Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding, Vanity Fair, The Namesake), was in Bombay, stuck in traffic on Marine Drive and in the midst of a movie-maker's equivalent of writer's block when she discovered the source of traffic was hundreds of women dressed in all white crossing the street. She was so intrigued, that she ditched her cab and followed these women with her DV camera -- some time later, the The Laughing Club Of India was born.

In this compassionate and entertaining documentary, award-winning director Mira Nair has captured a unique slice of life in contemporary India… the Laughing Clubs. From shop workers laughing to relieve stress, to widows cackling to forget their grief and children gleefully giggling with their teachers; The Laughing Club Of India documents the thousands of people who come together foregoing their caste or class, to laugh for 40 minutes and to belong to a community dedicated to creating more joy in the world.

This delightful film explores the power of laughter through the popular phenomenon of laughing clubs founded by Madran Kataria, a jovial, energetic, laughter-loving Bombay cardiologist. Dr. Kataria’s passion for bringing the healing power of laughter to the world comes from a deep belief that laughing daily is the key to happiness and well being. In the early days Dr. Kataria would begin club meetings with jokes to get people laughing but he soon discovered that by just pretending to laugh or simulating laughter, real laughter would soon follow. He invented several different kinds of laughs; the greeter, milkshake and lion. You have to see them to get the full comic effect.

More than 1,300 Laughter Clubs now exist throughout the world. The Laughing Clubs meet in parks, offices, private homes, community centers and rooftops, just about anywhere. Throughout the film we get up close and personal with club participants including Dr. & Mrs. Kataria, a stockbroker, three bawdy women, a musician, a widow laughing to cope with grief and two old men - friends since school days who meet daily to laugh.

The healing power of laughter has been well documented and has been show to boost the immune system. The Laughing Club Of India will not only make you laugh till you cry and double over in stitches, but will inspire you to make laughing a daily practice.

Reviewed by Arielle Ford

The Spiritual Cinema Circle, America’s fastest growing DVD club, will feature “The Laughing Club Of India” in the January 2008 collection along with “Knights of the South Bronx” starring Ted Danson and two wonderful short films. For a limited time, new subscribers to the Circle can receive a free trial membership (for a nominal shipping fee) by visiting: www.spiritualcinemacircle.com or call (800) 556-0129.

Stephen Simon co-founded www.spiritualcinemacircle.com and produced such films as “Somewhere In Time” and “What Dreams May Come.” He also directed and produced both “Conversations With God” and “Indigo” and is the author of “The Force Is With You: Mystical Movies Messages That Inspire Our Lives.”