I am intrigued by movies that say "It's okay to not follow your dreams."
They don't really feature anti-heroes, and yet they're not classic heroes, either.
Family Man follows in the footsteps of Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life" but does it backwards. Wonderful Life tells the "everyman" that his life wasn't wasted, and that if he hadn't settled for what fate dealt him, but had followed his dreams, his community would have suffered. Family Man shows the man the followed his dreams that they were empty, and foolish, and that he would have been much more fulfilled if he had let them go.
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There is something interesting in Family Man, beyond the mirror-image-of-Wonderful-Life-but-saying-the-same-thing.
Cage's character awakes into a wholly new and different world -- and manages to struggle through it, and eventually survive, based on the environment in which he is placed. That is, especially once he stops trying to get back to his "real life", he take queues and clues from the people and circumstances where he finds himself, and is able to "fake it" and fit in.
This suggests that for the passive person, without a dream or vision or plan or grand desire, it is possible to just let one's life lead one by one's nose. Perhaps there's even a stronger message: That as soon as he starts down such a path, he is "done". He has made the key choice, and the rest follow and fall into place.
I suppose that is why one might classify Family Man as a horror film, and place a quotation from Thoreau at the beginning that says "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." And such a life is what Family Man aspires to say is the kind of life one should be happy with.
They don't really feature anti-heroes, and yet they're not classic heroes, either.
Family Man follows in the footsteps of Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life" but does it backwards. Wonderful Life tells the "everyman" that his life wasn't wasted, and that if he hadn't settled for what fate dealt him, but had followed his dreams, his community would have suffered. Family Man shows the man the followed his dreams that they were empty, and foolish, and that he would have been much more fulfilled if he had let them go.
----------
There is something interesting in Family Man, beyond the mirror-image-of-Wonderful-Life-but-saying-the-same-thing.
Cage's character awakes into a wholly new and different world -- and manages to struggle through it, and eventually survive, based on the environment in which he is placed. That is, especially once he stops trying to get back to his "real life", he take queues and clues from the people and circumstances where he finds himself, and is able to "fake it" and fit in.
This suggests that for the passive person, without a dream or vision or plan or grand desire, it is possible to just let one's life lead one by one's nose. Perhaps there's even a stronger message: That as soon as he starts down such a path, he is "done". He has made the key choice, and the rest follow and fall into place.
I suppose that is why one might classify Family Man as a horror film, and place a quotation from Thoreau at the beginning that says "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." And such a life is what Family Man aspires to say is the kind of life one should be happy with.
