Did anyone else think the ending was total BS? Having him die of a heart attack has, like, nothing to do with anything else that came before in the movie. It seems like they just wanted to have a "down" ending, but instead of coming up with an ending that's justified by the story, they made up something totally artificial and random just stuck it in there. I was with the movie right up until that ending.
shareWhy are you surprised that he had a heart attack? At the beginning of the film he is seen holding his chest, after having a few 'twinges' and Charley even mentions his previous heart attack he had last year!
shareYeah I picked up on the 'clues' that George had a heart attack previously but it is quite a trite contrivance to have him die a natural death after the day he'd had.
It may be that way in the novel as well I'm sure but I was still dissatisfied by the ending. It was a sh!tty way to go. Not that a bullet in the back of his head would've been any better...
RIP Friday Night Lights
I do agree that it was contrived. Had he just gone back to bed and woken up the next day (maybe even with a smile) after the narration of "the moments he lives for" the film would have been more powerful.
Film Reverie: http://filmreverie.blogspot.com.au/
My film diary: http://letterboxd.com/filmreverie/
If you're so hopelessly spoiled with happy-endings then take this nice plaything -
http://make-everything-ok.com
It's not that it is happy or sad, it's that it felt contrived.
Film Reverie: http://filmreverie.blogspot.com.au/
My film diary: http://letterboxd.com/filmreverie/
I feel like we need to take George's behavior prior to the ending into consideration. He did many things throughout the film that indicated that he had no intention of living past that day, such as leaving that large sum of money for his maid, among other things. So if he's taking the attitude of *beep* it all, then what's so strange about him overdoing it in some way that would result in a heart attack?
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law!
I thought it was a sad but poignant end. A man, on the day he is going to kill himself, puts all of his affairs in order, dots every "i" and crosses every "t", lays out all his financial information, his clothes for his funeral,leaves his keys, money in the bread in the freezer for his beloved housekeeper, even figures out how to shoot himself in the sleeping bag to cause the least amount of blood and grief for whomever finds him, takes care of everything, spends his last evening with his best and oldest girl friend, writes his suicide notes, and at the end of the day before he does it goes out for a drink and a pack of cigarettes and meets someone that makes him feel that life is worth living and maybe filled with possibilities after all the grief he suffered at the death of the love of his life, comes home with him and burns the suicide notes, takes the gun out of the hand of the sleeping young guy on his sofa who was holding it because he cared and didn't want him to hurt himself, puts it away, and then dies, "just like that".
Because that is life. You never know what the next moment will bring. You can be suicidal and immediately have something amazing happen to turn your life around, or it can be the best day of your life so far and you can get hit by a bus. I thought it was a comfort at least for him to see his beloved Jim as he was dying. He loved him so much.
Having him die of a heart attack has, like, nothing to do with anything else that came before in the movie.Did you not see him holding is arm in the morning and taking aspirin several times during the day because he wasn't feeling well? The minute they start grabbing the left arm and having pains, a heart attack is imminent. It was major foreshadowing. And I cried buckets of tears...loved the movie.
I've mentioned this on other threads before, but my intepretation of the film is that George is already dead at the beginning of the movie, that the whole story is flashback--the story of his last day. If you look at it that way, the last line "And then it came" makes sense, because he's been leading up to it the whole time.
It is not our abilities that show who we truly are...it is our choices
I loved it that he died. He was released from the pain of having to live on. Without Jim. We all have to live on, in real life, after losing loved ones, and it sucks. It's nice to see in a movie that someone gets to escape it, and go be with their loved one. I seriously loved this ending.
Love me some Waltons
I've mentioned this on other threads before, but my intepretation of the film is that George is already dead at the beginning of the movie, that the whole story is flashback--the story of his last day. If you look at it that way, the last line "And then it came" makes sense, because he's been leading up to it the whole time.This makes so much sense. This hadn't occurred to me at all, but after having read it, I think this is correct. share
Nothing contrived about the ending: it is totally relevant to that scene where Jim says that everything is like it's meant to be and if he died right now it would be ok.
sharePretty standard, gay characters must die tragically cos you know, filmmaking.
shareYeah, it was bs and confusing. Also, I learned in the book he's not suicidal, which seemed like the main driver here.
shareI knew he was on the verge of a heart attack, but why not him have a fling with the student and die of a heart attack when he's reaching orgasm? It was long, boring, and depressing. And then he just dies. Great way to spend an evening....
share