"We all make choices. What's yours?"

Braff waiting for forgiveness in "The Last Kiss"





It seems lately that Thursday night has become “movie night” for me and my partner John. John is really good at getting us into advanced screenings of upcoming films. Last night we previewed ”The Last Kiss”, the ensemble cast includes Zach Braff, Blythe Danner and Casey Affleck to mention a few. The screenplay is by Paul Haggis (”Million Dollar Baby”, “Crash.”) The film’s tagline is ”We all make choices. What’s yours?”

The story gets to the heart of relationships: the good, the bad and really bad. Braff’s character, Michael, is in love with Jenna, the “perfect girl.” She soon becomes pregnant and Michael suddenly has this sinking feeling that everything is final and that there are “no surprises left in his life.” He feels that the pregnancy is no cause for marriage to which Jenna reluctantly agrees. Michael soon embarks on a very brief affair with a young college woman he meets of all places: a wedding. Jenna finds out about Michael’s fling in a classic case of: “Oh what a tangled web we weave….” plotline. Jenna is beside herself and cannot forgive Michael, or can she?

The ensemble cast provides many subplots, none of which are rosy. Jenna’s mother, Anna (brilliantly played by Blythe Danner) decides to leave her husband after 30 years of marriage because he is distant and unemotional. She declares: "You never listen. You just shut down." I cried during most of the film. The honesty and desperation are well portrayed by a cast of character’s fighting to make the right choice. In the end the reality is harsh: sometimes life is ugly and we don't treat each other very well.

“We all make choices. What’s yours?” is the perfect tagline for ”The Last Kiss.” I’ve been to that very painful place in my life where I felt my hand was forced so others could move on. While watching this film, I couldn’t help but think: “Why do we do the things we do to one another?”

In "The Last Kiss", a character's father dies of lung cancer, a disease that took the life of my Dad. In a recent trip to New Orleans, I was told that: "I blame all the events following my father's death on my family." I was hurt by this comment but knew better than to dwell on the issue considering the person who said it. After all, we all have blame to share and none of it seems to matter anymore. Why is it so important to bear a needless grudge?

Choices? I’ve made many and have done more of my share of second guessing, but none of that changes the scars that remain. So many times it seemed I could never find the right words to say: "Please talk to me, because something's wrong and we are not going to survive this." If you love someone, I mean really love someone, you'll do anything to save it (like waiting for days and nights on a porch for forgiveness as does Braff's character pictured above.) I still hurt and I still cry but I have forgiven and I hope others have done the same. I just wish maybe someone else could have made a few of those “choices.” In the words of the "Dixie Chicks":

Forgive sounds good,
Forget, I wish that I could.
They say time heals everything,
But I'm still waiting.