Take Me Home

I'm always getting recommendations of movies I'm told I just have to see because of how they accomplish similar character arcs or present similar situations to stories I'm working on. Funny thing is: because life inspires some of these stories in the fist place, sometimes the recommendations end up speaking to me personally as much as they do artistically. Case in point: Take Me Home (2011)

Tonight I just felt like a movie & I noticed this film recommended by a consultant who is advising me on one of my original stories was on Netflix Instant View. Since I'm about to dive into a new project for hire, I thought I'd indulge myself and focus on one of my personal projects for a couple hours before shelving it until the new project is finished.

Oh my! 

The theme, which (in the trailer) is boiled down to, sometimes "running from your problems... is the best way to face them," is so timely. This scene where Claire & Thom are stranded in the desert and being brutally honest with each other reminds me of multiple issues I'm dealing with now: 

           CLAIRE 

Whatever those two had when they got married, they gave up on a long time ago. 

           THOM 

Yeah, well... it can’t all be rainbows and chocolate hearts. You know, they had kids, responsibilities, eventually you have to settle down.            

           CLAIRE 

Some people settle down and some people just settle.             

           THOM 

Well, it’s clear which category you fit into.            

           CLAIRE 

What?            

           THOM 

Oh, come off it. You escaped New York faster than Kurt Russell, and then you demand that I take you back once you feel like I’m scamming you, and then you ask me to drop you off at a motel in the middle of nowhere. I mean, make up your mind! You’re like a ping-pong ball. Someone gives you a little tap and you just go flying.             

           CLAIRE 

     (pause) 

I left New York because I caught my husband having an affair.            

           THOM 

Oh.            

           CLAIRE 

Yeah, oh.            

           THOM 

You like, caught him?            

           CLAIRE 

Pretty much.... There was definitely something going on.             

           THOM 

But you didn’t see anything? 

           CLAIRE 

I just, I didn’t need to see something, I just know.             

           THOM 

There was no emails you didn’t find or pictures from the Bahamas or anything? 

           CLAIRE 

I just know.            

           THOM 

     (laughs)            

           CLAIRE 

Why are you laughing?            

           THOM 

When I drove off the road, you caught me. This, this just sounds like someone looking for a way out.

The Issues:

(1) difficulty in clearly explaining why I feel the need to leave Todd, 

(2) recognizing the difference between "settling down" and "just settling," 

(3) being too much like a ping-pong ball (relying on external "taps" to get me rolling, rather than taking control of my own direction and momentum) and 

(4) fearing the accusations that I'm "just someone looking for a way out" (as if that is something that needs to be defended.)