Rent My Dinner with Andre on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: Wallace Shawn & Andre Gregory (screenplay)
Directed by: Louis Malle
Starring: Andre Gregory, Wallace Shawn
Rated: PG
Watch the trailer
Plot
Two old friends meet for dinner; as one tells anecdotes detailing his experiences, the other notices their differing worldviews.
Verdict
This isn't the typical movie, and that's exactly why you should watch it. This is a conversation about how to find meaning and life, the pitfalls of technology, and how experiences shape us. Those topics never grow old or dated. This draws you in with a measured pace as two former friends catch up. It's slower paced than many movies, but it provides you something to consider and discuss. It's a short list of movies that can do that.
Watch it.
Review
Gregory and Shawn have stated that they are playing characters despite the characters sharing their names and similar occupations.
This has always had a reputation as an artsy if not pretentious movie. With that I'm surprised I haven't seen it earlier. It's a movie about two people having a conversation, which may seem boring, but it doesn't have to be. This conversation is engaging. Before Sunset had a similar concept.
Wally is on his way for dinner with Andre. He had been trying to avoid this dinner with Andre, as he doesn't understand Andre. Andre was a great director that took to traveling the world, giving up his career. Wally struggles as a playwright, bitter that as an adult all he worries about is money. He works diligently on plays only to have no one willing to put them on. Voice over provides Wally's thoughts during the night.
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| Andre Gregory plays Andre |
Andre's stories are wild. He's been around the world seemingly a few times. Wally can't get a word in, though he may be mesmerized by these stories. Andre can talk.
This becomes a conversation about experience and psychology. Andre's experience result in him seeing the world differently. He sees what's taken for granted. Comfort, and the desire for comfort has separated people from reality. Andre is against technology, seemingly in any form. Wally iterates how much he enjoys his heated blanket during New York winters. It's at this rift, the movie becomes more interesting. Now we know what this is about. They disagree over the role of comfort in life, but at the same time Andre has traveled the world to get to this viewpoint. That's a certain level of financial comfort that not everyone can achieve. On his way to dinner, Wally wondered how Andre paid for these adventures. Andre presents these amazing stories and experiences, but Wally responds that he's just trying to pay his bills. He likes being home with his girlfriend.
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| Wallace Shawn plays Wally |
This movie's premise bucks the standard. Most people probably won't care, but movie buffs will be intrigued. Despite being forty years old, decrying media and how it makes us complacent, how people want to leave cities but never do, and how we're building our own prisons are ideas that seem more relevant now than when this movie released.
This movie is almost a measuring stick for pretentiousness, or at least how much you like pretentious movies. Some people would say this isn't much of a movie, but why do people watch movies, for entertainment and ideas? This certainly provides that.
As Wally tells Andre, he understand the words Andre says, but not his intention. What is it to seek meaning? For Andre it is experience. For Wally, it's writing a play and spending time with his girlfriend. For both of them during this conversation, they're walking around the idea of how you derive meaning from life. That's always a fascinating subject, and with two guys on opposites it's easy for almost anyone to find a view point they like and don't like.
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