Movies

At its worst, Paul Andersons movie Punch-Drunk Love can claim to be a dark romance. At its best, it is surprising, poignant and entrancing. It has been described as a new-fashioned love song (Taylor, 7).The constant meeting and separating of the disconnected principal characters adds a certain amount of uncertainty and intrigue to the movie. The justification for the title is not immediately apparent. However, as the story progresses, we do see that the two main characters are indeed madly in love with each other. So much that they tend to ignore each others bizarre and unexplainable behaviors  almost as if they are too drunk to notice or care even if they do notice.

The highlight of the movie is the way the characters keep meeting throughout the movie. Parallels can be drawn to an extent with When harry met sally. The apparently chance meetings and the odd match between the protagonists make the storylines of the two movies seem slightly alike though any kind of similarity ends right there. Like John Ulmer said in his review, with their weird behaviors and dialogues, the principle characters are as different from Harry and Sally as they can be. From the very beginning, when Lena orchestrates a strange meeting between herself and Barry to the very end of the movie when he leaves her in the hospital to travel to Utah to do apparently nothing significant, punch-drunk love keeps the viewer guessing. The story is predictable and yet utterly unpredictable.
The character of the protagonist Barry ranges from bizarre to eerie and yet one cant help feeling for him when he is craving to meet Lena. As reviewed in Chicago Times, He has darkness, obsession and power (Ebert, Punch-Drunk Love).  Even though the sequences of events seem totally random, as the movie progresses, they come together in a misfit yet understandable way. In the supermarket scene, every time Barry bumps into someone, the viewer expects it to be Lena and is disappointed repeatedly. The scene seems like one of the random scenes in the movie having no relevance to the main plot especially since Barry himself doesnt seem to have any intentions of travelling anywhere with all the air miles he plans to accumulate. However, this sub-plot of airline miles using health food coupons becomes the focal point of the movie towards the end. It becomes Barrys lifeline and a way for him to make the relationship work. Similarly, the sex-hotline subplot which seems unnecessary at times drives home the desperation of loss towards the end of the movie when Barry believes that Lena is in danger. The much-hyped party scene where Barry is expected to meet Lena branches off into a completely different event altogether and yet acts as an introduction before their actual meeting.

Every meeting between Barry and Lena seems accidental yet we do realize from time to time that it is not so. Lena keeps appearing and disappearing in Barrys life and in doing so falls in love with him without any rhyme or reason. At the very beginning of their relationship, it is implied that Lena fell in love with Barry after seeing his photograph. There is no justification or reason behind her actions and it remains so throughout the movie. Her actions seem so unreasonable that even though Barry denies doing anything weird, he still keeps asking her several times if she indeed wanted to meet him.
All through the movie, the actions of the characters keep the viewer confused with their sheer irrationality. While irrational love is acceptable atleast due to popular belief, some of the other aspects of the movie totally defy sense. Why does Lena arrange such a strange meeting, what does she see in Barry, why does Barry keep changing outfits in his sleep  many of these questions remain un-answered. Yet they seem to have an explanation deep set in the human mind.

The best part of the meeting between Barry and Lena is the unpredictability in the turn of events. There is an element of suspense even in the mundane everyday tasks. On their very first date, Barry manages to completely loose his control in a restaurant and ends up getting thrown out of it. The way he tries to pay the bill unseen by Lena to spare himself embarrassment is one of the most touching scenes in the movie. Also, the way he tries to get Lenas Hawaii address from one of his interfering sisters without letting her guess his feelings for Lena is beautiful.

The character of Barrys sister Elizabeth adds to the confusion with her intentions about the relationship between Barry and Lena. On one hand, she appears keen for them to meet and go out together and on the other hand, she manages to highlight every single embarrassing secret of Barry in front of Lena. Therefore, the viewer is relieved when Lena hides the fact that she is with Barry in Hawaii from Elizabeth. For Lena, none of the weird behaviors shown by Barry seem to matter. It is apparent in the way she keeps asking him to visit Hawaii even though it is clear that he has no business being there.

The movie not only focuses on love and connections, but also on the pain of loss and separation. The characters keep getting separated from each other throughout the movie. Initially, it is due to Lenas work enagagements. There are quite a few unanswered questions about her life though no one seems overly concerned about those. Then, when Barry tries to join her in Hawaii on the pretext of a business trip, he is told that the airline miles on which he has been pinning all his hopes cannot be redeemed for another 6-8 weeks. Finally, when Barry actually manages to reach Hawaii, he realizes that he does not know where Lena stays. The two get together despite all this only to be separated again when Lena is injured in an attack related to Barry phone-sex adventure. This attack is the turning point of the movie as it leads Barry to realize what Lena means to him. Though he is seen exhibiting violent behavior all through the movie, it is only during this attack that his violence takes the form of courage. He not only manages to injure his attackers and save Lena, he also gathers the courage to actually track down his tormenters and confront them out of his own will. The same Barry Egan who tells a dentist at the beginning of the movie that I dont like myself very much, actually confronts  a gangster after this incident and tells him  I have love in my life, and it makes me stronger than anything you could ever imagine.  While the entry of Lena into his life reminds the viewers of a breath of fresh air, the fear of separation acts as a catalyst for his self-discovery.

The movie defies logic, borders on insane at times and yet it works. It makes the viewer laugh and cry with the male protagonist. His happiness at finding someone who actually likes him and his fears of losing that person are utterly believable.  The movie is high on sentiments and yet devoid of melodrama. It ends on a positive note with Barry and Lena getting together and yet, one cannot help feeling apprehensive about their future. It can be perfectly summed up as Punch-Drunk Love leaves you addled, a little dizzy and overcome by a pleasing, unplaceable sensation -- one best summed up in the movies title (Scott, 90).

     Finally, the emotions of meetings and separations triggered by chances portrayed beautifully in the movie are described perfectly in its songs as well
For once, for once in life I felt that someone needed meAnd if it turns out real, then love can turn the wheel Because...He needs me (Williams and Duvall, He needs me).