#14 - Fight Club (1999)

Finally, Fight Club. You know, I was about to watch this one a while ago, it was probably the 3rd or 4th one in the list. But after I mentioned the whole list thing to my dad he said he didn't really like it. Don't think I'm that suggestionable, but still, I kept saying to myself "this will be the next one" until I finally sat down and watched it. And just like the general consensus on it, I'm not sure whether I like it or not.

The plot is kind of weird. Our nameless narrator (Edward Norton) is stuck in a dead-end job, has an obsession with buying Ikea furniture, and suffers from insomnia (which he deals with by crying at support groups pretending he has testicular cancer) among other weird character traits. During a flight he befriends Tyler, a soap salesman (Brad Pitt), who he ends up staying with after his apartment is destroyed by an explosion. After being involved in a series of street brawls, they both start the eponymous fight club. And things just keep fucking up after that.

So yes, in a certain way it reminds me of the Clockwork Orange. Everything about this movie is so surreally twisted it doesn't make sense at times. Norton's character has all the aforementioned crap, Tyler is an anti-consumerist anarchist and Marla (played by Helena Bonham Carter, aka that chick that pops up in every Tim Burton film ever) is just as weird. She is tied up into the plot very awkwardly: the narrator keeps bumping into her in the support groups to the point that she creeps him out, she then becomes sexually involved with Tyler but shares emotional moments with the narrator... Some people like that style, some don't. I think it's Ok.

Hugging morbidly obese men to get proper sleep... Nope, can't relate to that.

Another thing that bothers me is the anti-consumerist message behind the film. While I support that idea, this is a VERY hypocritical statement, given that this movie has a 63 million dollar budget. And Brad Pitt probably wipes his ass with 20 dollar bills. Even then, the message is not conveyed very well. The message I really liked is how this concept of "society brainwashes you" ends up brainwashing those that believe it. That is fantastic. I was instantly reminded of, say, hipster culture: how ignoring a fad can become a fad on itself, or how some people spend more money to look like they have less.

And phrases like "The things you used to own, now they own you." are awesome.

In the end, I'm not quite sure on how I feel about this. The characters and plot can be both original or awkwardly weird depending on your taste; the message may not be conveyed properly; the ending, which I won't give away, can be either very cliche'd or brilliantly executed.... It is a movie you have to see for yourself to decide.