"High Fidelity" (2000) - Movie Review

Coming from a totally different culture and upbringing, the male and female relationships have a fixed definition for me. When some one starts going out, it is under the assumption that they will be getting married. That is the intention. That is my understanding even though it sounds rigid and stupid. Hence out here in US it sounds different. So I used to ask my friend Aaron who is American or rather pester him with how the opposite sex view about relationship out here in US. In the sense, “Will the woman want to get married with whom they go out?” or “Does every woman expect a serious relationship?” and at one point he said, “Your questions are silly.” Some what offended, I asked him why and he said, “You are trying to find a pattern out here and it does not work that way. It depends on the person”. And it hit the nail on the head, I am trying to get a pattern out of it and now I see “High Fidelity”. Rob (John Cussack) tries to find a pattern for his failed relationships. And it is silly. Relationships does not have pattern but entirely depends on each person.

Rob finds it hardly difficult to grasp his one another relationship shattered. He denies it although to us that this one does not come in his top five “most hurtful” break ups. This is Rob obsessed with music. He demands perfection in the quality of it and he wants the same in his life. Rather in his relationships. Everything needs to be pure as he terms. He invites Laura with whom he breaks up at the start of the movie. And asks whether she slept with the guy with whom she is now. The most prejudiced and shallow question any one would ask and it explains everything about him. As their common friend Liz (Joan Cussack) tells that “That’s Shocking” when she hears the reason for break up from Laura, we are shocked too. Because the Rob we have seen up till that point is a sympathetic guy who is confused in his life. We feel sorry for him but once the true things come out we go into the mode of whatever happens to him so be it. We no longer associate with him even when he talks to us through the screen all the time. But Rob does not deny it and explains his confusion further more. While looking at it, every male can relate to it. Or to be precise, every male who is in their stage of “what-does-it-all-meaning” phase as Charlie (Catherine Zeta-Jones) says in the movie.

Life is like a top five list for Rob and his record store employees Barry (Jack Black) and Dick (Todd Louiso). Barry is the outward condescending audiophile but Rob is the nice guy judging but not letting the others know what he thinks about them. I guess that’s the reason Rob does not like Barry’s actions. He is the worst of his form speaking out aloud and it is irritating. And that’s also the reason they work together well. There are movies which deal with the fear of commitment in both the sexes in a traditional sweet cake formula. This movie as might appear to deal with the issues of male commitment alone goes to other side as well. Laura is equally perplexed as that of Rob but the difference is she knows why. She knows the party is over and time to move on for big things. The confusion for her though is that she cannot leave Rob. This ambiguous tension between them pulls them and rips them on and off throughout the film.

John Cussack is the guy who could pull of the sweet irritating nag. He is strangely stereotypic but in a totally likeable way. His enactments seem to be familiar but still far away from it. His different sort of disturbance in every movie takes one more form out here. Since the movie has him talking to the audience and treats them as a character, there is lot of responsibility on him. And a character which needs to be hated and questioned, it almost would have been suicidal to attempt something like this. It is a binary result and it comes out winning.

This is a strange feeling of being committed. Or for that matter being in a relationship. This attraction and mystery in the opposite sex is compulsive especially for men. It is almost universal that a person alone is considered to have lost some thing but for all the more he/she may be happy. But this is not a movie about solitude. This is something about how Rob, who does not want to be alone, suffering from his depravity. The character of it remains in everyone but the way to handle it is what makes each of us the good or bad. Here all through the film Rob does not even consider it. Because perfection matters and it is not surprising from a person who is so accurate in data in music and exactly knows what he likes. Unfortunately he likes every inch of the details in music and fails to identify in his life. Director Stephen Frears adapts the novel of the same name by Nick Hornby to reflect those to Rob through his Records.