Watch it first before reading. Synopses are too mainstream. Don’t expect any here. Short sentences are hip. Hellz yeah.
As (unfortunate) members of self-conscious, pseudo-intelligent society, we often scoff at the implausible plot progressions in film (and in those cheap romance novels we hide under our mattresses). We deride the one-dimensional idealism of Taylor Swift’s pop cheese. We pretentiously raise our eyebrows and snort in condescending mirth when people say they believe in true love, or when they think life will always work out for them just because they have a rich-ass vocabulary that they deliberately flaunt at every fucking opportunity. But as much as I enjoy exercising intellectual pretensions on a daily basis, I also acknowledge how sometimes it is so much more damaging to think than to feel – because beneath our intricately decorated veneers of knowledge and personality, we’re just animals who want to be happy and who have a fuckload of issues because happiness is not something that can be reached with some rehearsed wit and textbook recitals.
Kurt Kuenne’s “Validation” is corny, implausible and often just utterly ridiculous. And I fucking love it. I love its absurdities. I love the way it revels in its own absurdities. I love its child-like, reductionistic worldview. I love the tentative, shaky camera shots. I love the ironies. I love the lead characters. I love how 2 songs are used to score the entire film. I love the snappy editing. I love the twists. I love the campy direction. And I really love the fact that it’s shot in black-and-white.
The problems that I did recognize in the film do not pertain to the film’s execution or content in general, but to very specific scenes. The line where Newman articulates his wish to travel the world with Victoria, for example, is redundant, draggy and is reminiscent of a cheap soap opera written for half-witted housewives and morbidly obese war veteran husbands. Obviously, a lovesick protagonist would be inclined to think about his precious Other Half when he sees two happy people together. Humans are effortlessly self-pitying that way. So why even bother to explain something that has already been explained?
The scene where Newman and Victoria are photographed by some random guy is also extremely redundant. It is a predictable irony that masquerades as some kind of pseudo-smart twist – and the effect is underwhelming and actually, quite pointless. It is important to note how the film is rife with irony, like how Newman The Validator himself has never been validated. In this case, the irony effectively points to the fundamental human need to be appreciated and to be loved. Here, however, the irony seems to merely point to some superficial role-reversal that has no actual symbolic value or point. But these are really small issues. As a whole, the film is tonally consistent and stylistically interesting. It is vibrant, lively, funny, moving, universal. But what’s best about it is that it has so much heart and so much warmth that it’s damn near impossible to resist.
KevinScale Rating: 4.5/5
I cry the entire film. Everytime I watch it. I have watched it 7 times. #shameless
therein, Therin. 