The Map That Leads to You plus Short Takes on some other cinematic topics
Strangers on a Train … But Not for Long
Reviews and Comments by Ken Burke
I invite you to join me on a regular basis to see how my responses to current cinematic offerings compare to the critical establishment, which I’ll refer to as either the CCAL (Collective Critics At Large) if they’re supportive or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) when they go negative. However, due to COVID concerns I’m mostly addressing streaming options with limited visits to theaters, where I don’t think I’ve missed much anyway, but better options are on the horizon. (Note: Anything in bold blue below [some may look near purple] is a link to something more in the review.)
My reviews’ premise: “You can’t please everyone, so you got to please yourself.”
(from "Garden Party" by Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band, 1972 album of the song’s name)
However, if you'd like to know more about rationale of my ratings you can visit this explanatory site.
Here’s the trailer:
(Use the full screen button in the image’s lower right to enlarge its size;
activate the same button or use “esc” keyboard key to return to normal.)
If you can abide plot spoilers read on, but this blog’s intended for those who’ve seen the film or want to save some $ (as well as recognizing those readers like me who just aren’t that tech-savvy). To help any of you who want to learn more details yet avoid these all-important plot-reveals I’ll identify any give-away sentences/sentence-clusters with colors plus arrows:
⇒The first and last words will be noted with arrows and red.⇐ OK, now continue on if you prefer.
WHAT HAPPENS: Heather Mulgrew (Madelyn Cline), before taking a NYC banking job just out of college, goes off on a whirlwind 2-week European vacation with BBFs Amy (Madison Thompson) and Connie (Sofia Wylie). On the train to Barcelona, Spain she meets New Zealander Jack (KJ Apa), they see they’re both reading Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises (1926), then he climbs up to the overhead storage to sleep. Also on the train Amy meets Victor (Joseph Evans) who invites them to a nightclub, so Jack shows up too to meet Heather again, where they connect. Next day Amy’s distressed; Victor took all her belongings, including passport and phone so the group (including Raef [Orlando Norman] with Connie) track him down for a quick retrieval. Each woman goes on her merry way, with Heather convinced by Jack to delay her departure as he’ll come with her, but he gets calls from a clinic about test results so he suddenly leaves her distraught at the airport. Upon returning to the U.S. she tries to contact him; however, there’s no reply, even as her father tries to console her about the sudden breakup. ⇒Later, Heather and Amy return to Barcelona for Connie’s wedding to Raef, where the groom gives her a letter from Jack that he has cancer and didn’t want her to have to go through the suffering with him. Nevertheless, based on Jack’s great-grandfather’s journal where he detailed his post-WW II travels, she goes to a dance festival in Santa Pau, Spain, where, of course, she reconnects with Jack, clearly determined to be with him even as we have no info on whether he’s finally going to be with her in NYC. (Maybe there’s more on this closure in the novel the movie is adapted from by J.P. Monninger [2017]—we do at least get a statement about the “map” in the title, which refers to great-granddad’s journal which mysteriously brought these lovers together—nor will you get it in this summation of the novel's end, but if you don’t mind some ambiguity in your romance tales you can make up in your own mind what happens next for these 2 lovers, yet as you might choose to continue your trek down Spoilers Lane, here’s a Summary of 12 Notable Differences between book and movie. Finally, if you want more movie plot details than I’ve given you here, you might want to consult this site for its Spoiler reveals.)⇐
SO WHAT? I suppose if you wanted an even-quicker version of this movie than its already-concise run-time you could further edit the trailer and put the images to Paul McCartney’s "Silly Love Songs" (on the 1976 Wings at the Speed of Sound album) because all it is is just the meet-cute of Heather and Jack, their instant romance, and how his situation will impact their future (although that remains ambiguous, so the emphasis almost-throughout is on the same type of “I love you” refrain repeated endlessly in this song.) Or, if you want a variation on that theme I can also give you another McCartney tune on a couple of Beatles albums (U.K. Help!, U.S. Rubber Soul, both 1965), "I've Just Seen a Face" where the lines “I’ve just seen a face / I can’t forget the time or place / Where we just met / She’s just the girl for me / And I want all the world to see – we’ve met” also do a useful job of summing up most all in this movie, so if you want something more substantial (although the scenery in Spain and a bit of Rome is likely worth your time in and of itself) you should look elsewhere from The Map …; yet, if you’re yearning for some sweet alternative to the ongoing horrors occurring in the U.S. and around so much of the rest of the world (along with all of the vicious blaming by so many on any sides of these conflicts), then this wistful story might just be the brief relief that can help you face another of these ongoing dark days (although the OCCU certainly doesn’t agree, with more details on that in this review’s next section just below). Maybe I’m easily satisfied with this slim movie because it quickly reminds me of how I met my marvelous wife, Nina, by chance (both of us separately trying to scalp tickets for the Paul Simon Graceland tour concert) well over 38 years ago, which also led to instant romance in our ongoing journey through life, where just like Heather and Jack we don’t know what comes next even as we’re ready to find out together.
BOTTOM LINE FINAL COMMENTS: The Map That Leads to You can be found via streaming where it’s free to Amazon Prime Video subscribers ($11.98 if you want to try it for a month), which I suggest you explore although the OCCU is collectively far from agreeing as the Rotten Tomatoes positive reviews are at a lowly 38% while the Metacritic average score is higher for a change but just at 48% (the former’s based on 37 reviews, the latter on 11, so you might check back some time to see if anything’s changed). Not everyone is negative, though, as with Mae Abdulbaki of ScreenRant: “Director Lasse Hallström capably leads us on the couple’s journey, lovingly employing a good montage or two to shape the story and allow for the passage of time. Screenwriters Les Bohem and Vera Herbert’s dialogue is serviceable; nothing is over-the-top, but it can also come off as quite muted. […] It’s much better than some of the other romance films streaming has to offer, and with beautiful locations and a good cast, the Prime Video movie is worth a viewing.” Still, the vast majority are more like Chris Azzopardi in The New York Times: “[It] continues the long tradition of easily forgotten romantic dramas propped up by unforgettable vacation backdrops. If you revere the quieter sparks in films like ‘Before Sunrise,’ the film’s ocean views may hold your gaze even in this CW-style imitation, which has more sheen than soul. […] The best love stories ask that question and earn their wisdom. This one hands it out on pretty postcards.” (Oddly enough, while this was given a mere 40 score by the MC staff, it got a positive response from the RT deciders, so it may be difficult to know for sure how these critical-collective numbers actually verify anything.) I suppose if Richard Linklater had chosen to shoot this story, with different characters than he’s used before, it might come out as something like Before Mid-Afternoon. Well, what else can I say? I did like the movie (as did Nina), so I’ll just close with a Musical Metaphor that, like the McCartney songs, easily sums up the plot, the Everly Brothers “Let It Be Me” (on compilation albums such as 1960’s The Fabulous Style of the Everly Brothers) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZYpa7u28WU&list=RDAZYpa7u28WU&start_radio=1: “Each time we meet, love / I find complete love / Without your sweet love / What would life be?” What indeed, for those of us lucky enough to have found our “eternal person.” (My phrase!)
SHORT TAKES
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