The Notebook

The Notebook

Classic Love Story

The Notebook. Directed by Nick Cassavetes. With Ryan Gosling (Noah Calhoun), Rachel McAdams (Young Allie), James Garner (Older Noah; Duke), Gena Rowlands (Allie Calhoun; Older Allie). 2004

The Notebook was a phenomenal film with incredible performances and many heartfelt moments from beginning to end. It is a love story that many of us fantasize of living someday. The story unfolds in recent times at a Nursing home with the introduction of an old lady (Gena Rowlands) who is being visited by an old man, known as Duke (James Garner), who also resides in the nursing home, and he's there to read her a story. He begins to read about a young girl named Allie (Rachel McAdams) who was visiting a cousin one summer in the late 1940s. Allie was a beautiful teenage girl who eventually caught the eye of Noah (Ryan Gosling), her cousin's boyfriend's best friend. Initially, she showed no interest in Noah, considering the fact that she was a well rounded rich girl, and Noah, a poor southern boy. Allie was eventually set up to go on a date with Noah, and from that day on, they were inseparable.

The film's setting was in present and past scenarios, which made it very interesting. As the old man Duke read the story, in a past plot, and the story began to climax, he would be interrupted by someone in the nursing staff, bringing them back to the present. This lineup of events leads to a sense of curiosity as I began to wonder what these two plots have in relation. This curiosity will soon be fulfilled as the story develops, and the two plots start to intertwine. The director of this film did a fantastic job in combining these two plots, and giving the audience just enough time to figure out their relation. He didn't give it away too soon, or so late that the story got boring or confusing. He also made very good use of underscoring (background music with no apparent source) in a previous scene where Allie and Noah where dancing alone in the middle on nowhere, to the sounds of Billie Holiday. This particular shot was a three minute continuous shot taken with a camera on a 300ft dolly track. The actors and actresses in this film did a remarkable job in playing their roles. The language and wardrobe fit the perfect description of a 40's teenager.

Now, this is what I call a love story. Based