A Walk To Remember (2002)

Directed by Adam Shankman (1)

Cast: Mandy Moore (2), Shane West (3), Daryl Hannah (4), and Lauren German (5)

(Watch the trailer)

My favourite dialogue - 

Landon: I'm sorry she never got her miracle.
Reverend Sullivan: She did. It was you.

And...

Landon: Jamie saved my life. She taught me everything about life, hope, and the long journey ahead. I'll always miss her. But her love is like the wind, I can't see it. But I can feel it.

My favourite quotes - "Find out who you are and do it on purpose.", "Her love is like the wind, I can't see it. But I can feel it.", & "Love is always patient and kind. It is never jealous. Love is never boastful nor conceited. It is never rude or selfish. It does not take offense and is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other people's sins, but delights in the truth. It is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes."

Did You Know? - A Walk To Remember is the second Nicholas Sparks book to be adapted into a film. The first of his books to be adapted was Message In A Bottle in 1999. After A Walk To Remember, the following films were made - The Notebook (2004), Nights In Rodanthe (2008), Dear John (2010), The Last Song (2010), The Lucky One (2012), and Safe Haven (2013). Although Message In A Bottle was the first film adaptation, the book The Notebook was published first. 


A Walk To Remember was singer Mandy Moore's first feature film in a lead role. But it wasn't her film debut, her first foray into acting was in The Princess Diaries. And it was Anne Hathaway's film debut too. I already noticed Mandy Moore after her wonderful performance in The Princess Diaries, but that was just a minor role. So I wanted to see if she would impress me in A Walk To Remember and prove that she can act as well as she can sing. And that she did.

Yes. A Walk To Remember is a romantic drama, which is right up my alley. But I love it because it's about it's not just about two people falling in love. It's also about self discovery and faith. 

Jamie: Please don't pretend like you know me.
Landon: But I do. I do. We have all the same classes and same schools since kindergarten. Why you're Jamie Sullivan. You sit at lunch table 7, which isn't exactly the reject table but its definitely in the self exile territory. You have exactly one sweater. You like to look at your feet when you walk. Oh wait and yeah, and for fun you like to tutor on the weekends and hang out with the cool kids from the Stars and Planets. Now how does that sound?
Jamie: Fairly predictable. Nothing I haven't heard before. 
Landon: You don't care what people think about you?
Jamie: No.

I remember in Secondary School, I was part of a group of 5 girls. We were really close and we went everywhere together and did everything together. I wasn't the "leader" of the group and we weren't wild or bullies of the school or anything, but we didn't let anyone else in the group as well. But that didn't last very long. It's a little fuzzy to me now, but I think this is what went down. One time I got into a disagreement with one of the group members just before lunch break, and to make life easier on the other 3 in the group, I decided to eat lunch on my own without them. Instead of eating alone, I befriended a girl from my class who always alone and had lunch with her. We started chatting and I got to know her a little better. But after lunch, when I approached my friends, all 4 of them declared that I was no longer part of the group because I had betrayed them. Apparently I had made friends with someone the "leader" didn't like and while the others didn't agree with her verdict, they went along with it because of peer pressure. Well, suffice to say we stopped being friends after that. Looking back at it now, it's all pretty silly and childish, but quite hilarious. 

Do you care what people think about you? I do. Sometimes I feel that I care about what others think too much. I love the fact that Jamie doesn't care how others view her. She has her beliefs and sticks by them. That takes a lot of guts, especially in high school. I like that it didn't matter to her to be in the "in" crowd. 

Maybe the character of Jamie Sullivan is too perfect. And maybe some people will have a problem with that. But to me, it was because she was so good and perfect that her death hits you the hardest. 

Because I Said So (2006)

Director: Michael Lehmann (1)

Cast: Diane Keaton (2), Mandy Moore (3), Lauren Graham (4), Piper Perabo (5), Stephen Collins (6), Tom Everett Scott (7), Gabriel Macht (8), 

(Watch the trailer)

My favourite quote - "I just want you to understand something about motherhood okay. I mean, it's the most impossible love. You tell me when it ends. You tell me when it stops. All I know is, it's absolutely fine for me to teach you how to walk and talk, and then you grow up and you head off in the wrong direction toward a cliff. And I'm supposed to just stand there and wave and go, "Well, kids, good luck. It's Mom. I'm here. " Well, I can't do that. What am I supposed to do, huh? Am I supposed to just put my feet up at the end of the day and say to myself, "Well, you know, they're on their own and she says she's fine. " Well, you won't be." 

Mama by Spice Girls 
(Video linked from Youtube)

She used to be my only enemy and never let me be free

Catching me in places that I knew I shouldn't be

Every other day I crossed the line

I didn't mean to be so bad

I never thought you would

Become the friend I never had

Back then I didn't know why

Why you were misunderstood

So now I see through your eyes

All that you did was love

Mama I love you, Mama I care

Mama I love you, Mama my friend

You're my friend

I didn't want to hear it then but

I'm not ashamed to say it now

Every little thing you said and did was right for me

I had a lot of time to think about

About the way I used to be

Never had a sense of my responsibility

Back then I didn't know why

Why you were misunderstood

So now I see through your eyes

All that you did was love

Mothers know best. Do they really? It's the time of the year when working adults get their "report cards" regarding how they've fared at work in the past year. The reward/results come in the form of bonuses and pay increments. I fared very badly. And I cried as the reality of the results sunk in. I cried because this thought came into my mind - "What do I tell my mother?" 

Let me explain. In recent months, my mother has been first hinting, and now blatantly telling me I should get a new job. A better paying job. A 9 to 5 job that pays better. She's been encouraging me to apply for a "creative position" at Google without really knowing if what this "creative position" her friend has been talking to her about entails. And just recently, while watching the Zombieland blu ray together she dropped a "so are you going to start applying for jobs" line just before the opening titles rolled out when the huge chunk of words under the heading "WARNING" appeared. Suddenly I wasn't sure if the "WARNING" sign was a huge hint about my mother's "nudging" or a warning against piracy. 

All this reminds me of the way Diane Keaton's character, in Because I Said So, "convinced" and "manipulated" her daughter, played by Mandy Moore, to date the man she deems suitable for her daughter. 

A mother's love. That's what Because I Said So is mostly about. Mothers may or may not always be right. But mothers do what they do because they love you. 

It was only after I went to Australia to study that I became a little closer to my mother. You see, I come from a traditionally Asian family where the parents are the stern father and mother figure in their children's lives. Not like in western culture where mothers can be best friends with their daughters and father are buddies with their sons.