Nobody gets to determine how you grieve. If you’ve lived a bit, you probably don’t lack for examples. When there’s a loss, people show you what to wear, how to act, what to feel. Examples are bullies. Treat them as suggestions, not protocol. Nobody gets to tell you what you’re feeling. Unfortunately, I know this from experience. I also know from experience that there is no calendar on reverting to the version of you who can behave as if nothing had ever happened. Don’t let anybody say otherwise.
Davis (Jake Gyllenhaal) loses his wife in the opening scene. She gets T-boned from the driver’s seat. He in the passenger seat is untouched. This is directly in-line with his character; Davis is guy who is numb to life, almost impervious in his muted bubble. Perhaps he’s unscathed because nothing can touch him. In another man, this might seem invulnerable and cool; in Davis, it’s reflective of someone who isn’t living.
Unable to score a candy bar from a hospital vending machine, he takes out his emotion on the vending machine company. Although his narrative tone is light and his disposition even and stoic, this is his therapy; this is Davis grieving. Most won’t recognize it for what it is; this is exactly the genius of Demolition. Inspired by an off-hand comment delivered by his grief-stricken boss/father-in-law, Phil (Chris Cooper), Davis decides to dissemble things that don’t work. Unlike those standard scenes where the prodigy neatly reassembles and fixes the broken fridge, computer, and bathroom door, Davis has no intention of repairing anything. He simply wants to tear a whole thing down and turn it back into parts. After a small taste of what blunt tools can do, he doesn’t even need the neatness factor.
Before long, the customer service department from the vending machine company is in his life. Her name is Karen (Naomi Watts) and she’s
a single mom. Demolition has much in common with another underrated gem, St. Vincent, but this time Naomi gets to lose the Russian accent. It’s hard to read Karen; it feels like she’s missing something, too, but doesn’t know what it is. Does she need Davis around to figure out her own life?
Let me simplfy all this: Demolition is a movie about a guy who has lost his wife and behaves as if he’s perpetually puzzled by the tragedy, constantly searching for his life is in the aftermath. It’s not an easy film; easy is for Transformers fans. When you step on a nail, it should cause pain, not elation. I don’t know if this is Jake Gyllenhaal’s best role, but of the bug-eyed male Gyllenhaal oeuvre, this is the role that resonates best with me. You can decide for yourself whther that thought is comic or tragic; and as such, it mirrors Demolition perfectly.
A sad man whose wife had to go
Examines his life as a show
Shard separation
Resolves his frustration
Is bliss what you think (or) what you know?
Rated R, 101 Minutes
D: Jean-Marc Vallée
W: Bryan Sipe
Genre: Self destruction
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Anybody who has ever been prematurely urged to rejoin the human race
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Neophytes
