Like with jetpacks?

This is a blog post about how much I enjoyed Scott Pilgrim. That is all. If you don't care, look away now.

Brother Pete is way cooler than I am and had been telling me about the comics for about a year. I eventually borrowed the first one back in June, around the time we first started filming the short. It was awesome. I was hooked. And the nice thing about coming to it late was that by the time I'd finished Book 5 I didn't have to wait too long for Book 6.

I saw the film on Friday. And again on Sunday. I loved it both times (although cinemas are crap - both times there were stupid technical problems nearly ruining it, but that's another rant for another day). It's a really good adaptation and successfully condenses what is a two-year relationship in the comics into a whirlwind romance that happens over the space of a few days in the film. It doesn't lose much in the translation. They're kind of about different things - the comics are more about the nature of memory and how we let the past shape our present. There's a little of that in the film, but it focuses more on the idea of taking responsibility for our mistakes. Everyone in it is perfect. Everyone involved does a great job. The videogame and music references are really well handled. I loved it.

I suppose it may not be for everyone, as people who didn't enjoy it or refuse to see it on principle keep pointing out to me. I think it is aimed at a certain generation and if you don't understand videogame grammar some of the jokes will be lost on you. Music tends to divide people too and I think if you were never really into indie rock or can't relate to hanging out in grimy clubs waiting for your friend's band to come on so you and the three other people who came to see them can show your support...then the music stuff might not work so well.

But I don't think you need to understand either of those things to like the film. At it's heart it's a film about friendship and relationships, it just happens to tell that story with a group of characters we aren't used to seeing on screen.

At least we didn't used to be. I was reminded of 500 Days of Summer, Adventureland, Nick & Nora's Infinite Playlist - and probably a whole load of other films I haven't seen. There's a movement here, and one that almost makes me wish I was still a film student so I'd have an excuse to write about it properly. I'm not. I don't. So for now I'll just enjoy films like Scott Pilgrim, which I've seen twice already and will most likely see again.