Film, dir. Bruce Robinson, 1987
I wasn't really sure why this very odd, very random movie-- a British cult classic that never really caught on over here-- is one of my very favorite all-time films. But then I realized, hey: this is probably the most asexual (and okay, also the funniest) movie I've ever seen.
I mean, here are two friends that live together, everyone thinks they're gay, but they seem to have no romantic interest in each other, or women, or sex at all. I mean, how is it possible that two straight guys could go on a road trip and never once talk about girls? Answer: It's probably not possible, and Withnail, and I, are so totally A. The film also ends with that great monologue from Hamlet: "man delights not me, no, nor women neither".
I kind of like that their sexuality is never really explained. It points to a more perfect world where we can just be what we are without judgment, where we have uncles with strange country cottages and where any amount of drugs won't kill us. The best movies about gay life are just about gay people living, not constant conversations and explanations about their gayness. Comparatively, the best movies about A life (okay, maybe the only movie) is just about...well, life.
And whenever my sink looks really bad...it's never as bad as Withnail and I's sink.
See this movie. Just trust me on this one. It grows on you.
2 comments:
I just wanted to tell you that I finally watched Withnail and I today (I've had the DVD for a while now) and I totally love it. I'm already so obsessed with it that I'll probably have to watch it again tomorrow night.
I didn't expect to like it so much, in fact, since from what I had read about it there is very little about the characters I could identify with - but soon after the movie had begun I realized that I did care about the characters already and could spend the whole day watching them. And - but maybe this is because I already knew that you consider it an asexual movie - it did have a special vibe that I had not felt in any other movie before. After all, usually comedies about two guy friends that involve a lot of drinking and drugs also involve sex, or at least conversations about sex, and this one doesn't (and there are no conversations about love or dating either). Also, "I"'s reaction to the newspaper headlines at the beginning of the movie (most of them about sex) was totally asexy in my opinion.
If this movie is THE asexual movie, then I'm glad of it.
Yay, I'm glad you liked it! There might be an asexier movie, but I haven't found it yet.
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