One
of the eternal themes of storytelling focuses on the perplexing
difficulties of commitment. In our age of instant gratification and high
divorce rate, the "c" word often stands at the doorway of
frustrations with what women and men are expecting and not getting from
their relationships. For some, adding commitment to the equation is the
warning alarm to get out of the relationship, for others, it is a
revelation of the transforming power of the full heart. In either case,
our ability or inability to be committed is an enigma, and not only in
our relationships, but also in the way we live.
In her directorial and writing debut,
Lisa Krueger takes Joline (Heather Graham), a woman with an almost
childlike innocence, on an exploration of many ways of being committed.
While we listen to Joline’s bubbly thoughts about the glory of
committing to one person for life, we are stunned at her faith because
it just seems too nuts, and we also brace ourselves in the expectation
of the hard awakening she might have to face. "I do think there’s
a fine line between faith and madness, between commitment and getting
committed… For a lot of people, marriage has become the last arena in
which we can explore this kind of faith, so it can be a pretty catalytic
thing," Krueger explains.
In the offbeat, often poignant,
and achingly funny tale, Joline is the owner of an urban Gen X
nightclub. Her ideal of "for better or worse" is shattered
when her husband of a few months skips town without much explanation.
Joline meets her crisis of faith head on. Just as she talks the talk,
she walks the walk, half way across the country in fact, expecting to
locate her husband Carl (Luke Wilson) and win him back with the power of
her heart and determination. Her pursuit would seem crazy if it weren’t
for the sweet, almost guileless performance by Heather Graham.
As much as we admired the acting and
resonated with the theme, the movie bears a soft lack of focus on the
forces that oppose Joline’s quest to win back her husband. He is weak,
aimless, and thwarted by lack of self-confidence and life purpose rather
than malevolence or infidelity. We ached to hear Joline confront him
with that truth in a passionate speech, but she too yet had to realize
the insanity of identifying herself and her life through the commitment
to a man, especially one who doesn’t deserve her, one who lacks a
fraction of her level of zeal and faith.
An ensemble of quirky characters lends
humor and spice to Joline’s journey. Compared to the people around
her, she might not be that crazy after all. Luke Wilson plays the
husband Carl with his usual understated charm. Patricia Velasquez,
Venezuelan model, plays Carmen, Carl’s new woman who has no idea he is
married. Carmen’s Grampy, a shaman and snake charmer played by famed
Mexican director Alfonso Arau (Like Water for Chocolate and A
Walk in the Clouds), adds more illusion to the madness with his
potions and chants. And then, there is Neal, the man of rugged mystery
and Joline’s constant temptation played by Goran Visnjic in what is
one the best performances in the film.
Committed boldly
sifts through our all too human absurdities, but it never loses its path
to the final message, and one well worth waiting for. On a journey of
commitment that gets Joline eventually committed to a mental
institution, she comes of age. She leaves behind the girlish, blind
commitment to a man and discovers the commitment to life. Her
disappointments and failures do not break her vision, but strengthen it
as she boldly marches on with the fullness of heart and hope. This is a
tale of triumph that begins when an ideal is tempered with experience
and molded to empower Joline and, by her example, to empower us to live
to the fullest.
