Evening

There's a poignant scene in Evening where Patrick Wilson's Harris and Claire Danes' Ann look up in the sky, and identify a star to represent that moment in time they share together. I know how that feels, and each time you look up in the starry sky, you see the star (rather, mine was a constellation), and memories of that precious moment come flooding back instantly. These are moments that live with you through your life, and you can never shake it away, try as hard as you might. Oh, and I like how the trailer unfolded, to the tune of Dido's White Flag. I like the song, very meaningful, at least to me.


I'm in love, and always will be.

***

Best Friends
Based on a novel by Susan Minot, Evening is a story about complex relationships, love, and family. It's drizzled with deep regret, about letting the one walk away, of not having the courage to live out the life you want, constantly allowing societal notions and norms, or how you want others to perceive you, take the unfortunate precedence over what really matters.

It zooms in early on the deathbed of Ann Lord (Vanessa Redgrave), where her two children Nina (Toni Collette) and Constance (Natasha Richardson, real life daughter of Redgrave) take turns to stay by her side, and in doing so, make ample room for their different viewpoints on each other's lives to come into clashing distance. At the same time, through their mother's subconscious murmurings, they discover a hidden life that their mother never discussed about, and wonder just what the juicy details are.

In this respect, Evening has two separate narratives in two different timelines, and constantly flips from one to the other, but deftly doing so without making the audience lost or confused. In the earlier timeline, we begin with Ann (now played by Claire Danes) and good friend Buddy Wittenborn (Hugh Dancty) en route to attend the wedding of his sister Lila (Mamie Gummer, and if you think she resembles Meryl Streep, then yes, because she's her real life daughter), who through body language confesses to them both that she's having second thoughts about her impending marriage, because of her still nursing an old flame affection for hunky doctor Harris Arden (Patrick Wilson), the son of their family's caretaker.

And as the story develops, we see how relationships turn, some for the better, though it may be fleeting, while others turn for the worse. It's always a bitter pill to swallow when you discover your affections are only on a one way street, and how uncertainty play a big role in making your life miserable. As the adage goes, you sometimes can't marry the one you love, but you surely can try to love the one you marry. The depth of a woman's heart knows no bounds, and truly, the many characters here have numerous compartments in their hearts for deep dark secrets and hidden desires, coupled with some regrets.

I enjoyed how the story unfolded when one is on the deathbed. Seriously, the way I look at it, I too would start to reminisce before I kick the bucket, about the life I've led, whether it was fulfilling and meaningful, and any regrets that I would have that still bugs me before I go meet my maker. If I were to have one gripe on this sad movie tinged with so many regrets, is how the story in between the timelines seem to be non-existent. The one that got away somehow wasn't fully materialized - it was suggested in part, and played on one rather disparate scene, but other than that, there was very little linkage, and you start to wonder if it's because of the guilt both parties felt, of choosing not to be around when tragedy strikes, that led to their coming together being an improbability.

Evening turns out to be a beautiful, but very tragic love story, as warm shades of orange turn slowly into cold hard gray. Like movies with predominantly female characters such as White Oleander and Little Women, Evening boasts a stellar cast with numerous award winning actresses in their own right, coming together as an ensemble for one picture, but pity they don't get to interact all together at once, given the split in timelines. Even powerhouses Meryl Streep (who plays the older Lila) and Glenn Close (as Mrs Wittenborn) were featured separately, which is a slight pity. But their sheer presence, even if they only have supporting roles, more than lifts and add gravitas to the overall picture, where everyone fed off the collective energy of one another, providing excellent performances.

It's not a date movie per se, but one that will surely initiate some long hard look at the state of your relationship, and ponder aloud with each other your take on the various issues presented, and provoke discussion into how the characters handle their situation.

Evening is now showing exclusively at Lido.

Time After Time
Time after time
I tell myself I'm so lucky
To be loving you
I'm so lucky to be
The one you run to see
In the evening
When the day is through

I only know what I know
The passing years will show
You kept my love so young
So new
And time after time
You'll hear me say that i'm
So lucky to be loving you

I only know what I know
The passing years will show
You kept my love so young
So new
And time after time
You'll hear me say that i'm
So lucky to be loving you