“Why is my life so shit?” -Kate
A couple of days ago, 23 days before Christmas, I was crying alone on my desk, in my room, in my pyjamas. If I remember correctly, it was a nice morning with a ray of sunshine and a fresh December breeze cold enough to wake someone up.
I was ready to conquer the day or at least finish webinars I signed up for until I clearly wasn't.
Up to that point, most people would think that my life sounds boring or sad and I had no objection. But Jakarta has 9.6 million population so it is bound to happen that although one silly girl has a shitty life, another one has a wonderful life.
Like that woman in the white, majestic wedding gown. That beautiful woman is my friend’s wife. The pair had a wedding ceremony in the middle of the week broadcasted via Youtube.
Right after I muted the ceremony to focus on my webinar session, I took a glimpse on my stained shirt and all I can think of was, “Why is my life so shit?”
But then I remember Last Christmas, a star-studded holiday romance comedy movie, in which Kate (Emilia Clarke) asked exactly the same question. She was pictured wasting her potential and her second chance in life by being homeless, drunk, and not ambitious enough. Basically by being a young, ordinary person like myself.
I saw this movie for the first time last week. Any other year, watching this movie would make me feel extremely lonely and it would be very, very hard to keep my sanity but not this year. I’m no longer lonely but I still feel like a mess.
If I were here to berate this failed “attempt to pay tribute to the music of George Michael and the fandom of Love Actually” — as mentioned by The Guardian — then I would be exactly a year late. And I’m not doing that.
A movie of which its entire premise came from a single song surely not very compelling nor it’s easy to make.
But I’m a sucker for rom-com, Clarke’s smile, and Henry Golding’s existence. Although I can’t say this movie was a masterpiece, I should applaud its attempt to reignite the year-end romance.
“They took out my heart. They took it and threw it away.” -Kate
Quite literally, the doctors took Kate’s heart and threw it away due to her sickness to replace with a new one. That heart, that second chance, was Tom’s (Henry Goulding). Tom haunted Kate, forcing her to retake her life and make the best of it.
As expected, Last Christmas has several quotable quotes that could warm our hearts (ha!) at night.
All those quotes — mostly by Tom — were showing the viewer that life is not easy; that being alive is a blessing of its own. There is also a bit by Kate’s sister that I like as well. She said, “We’re all a bit damage in this family.” Something that our parents won’t admit so my generation had to blurt it out to our therapists.
All in all, I enjoyed this warm-hearted movie. I understand it’s not for everyone but there is always something for each of us.
“I think the whole special, being special thing, is overrated. I think just to be a human being is hard. You know, really hard.” -Tom
