"I am a spirit of no common rate.
The summer still doth tend upon my state"
declares Titania to Bottom in Act III Scene 1 of "A Midsummer Night's Dream". The gracious fairy queen has become a victim of a potion that has everybody falling in love with the wrong people. Her husband thought it would teach her a lesson for denying him. But after being dosed with the potion, she falls in love with Bottom (a commoner), who has been turned into a donkey. Love being blind, the joke is on her.
In the play within a play of "Jane Wants A Boyfriend" (2015), Titania is being played by a stressed out Bianca, the title character's older sister.
Shakespeare lets the audience share in his joke while viewers of "Jane Wants A Boyfriend" have to work a bit to figure it out. The joke being that Bianca's protectiveness toward her little sister is largely misplaced. Not only is it unnecessarily stressing out Bianca, it has become an obstacle to Jane's growth.
Jane has Aspergers, but processes a lot more than she is given credited for by Bianca. Childlike in many ways she is perceptive enough at age 25 to realize that her existence is becoming precarious, that her dependency on her parents cannot continue much longer. Accordingly, she is forcing herself to interact more with people. Guidance for this interaction is provided by watching old movies and observing people, mimicking their speech patterns and facial expressions. She refers to this as practicing.
Jack is the boyfriend that Jane wants. But like Titania's resentment of her husband's infidelities, Bianca disapproves of Jack's bed hopping and fear of commitment. She underestimates her little sister's off-kilter appeal and is afraid that any relationship she enters into with Jack will be brief.
Another parallel between the two stories is the unlikelihood of the match; the play's fairy queen loving a commoner becomes a neurotypical loving an Aspie. In "Dream" this is part of the joke, in "Jane" it is in large part the reason I embraced the film.
I like this film better than anything over the past couple of years. The ensemble casting and scripting was excellent, the acting-for-the-camera direction as good as you will find, the pacing perfect, and the editing solid. I especially like the scene transitions where the audio tracks begin a second before the new video track cuts in. The best of these when the film's title is said by Bianca over Jane's face and then later when the cheers and applause of the theater audience plays over the kiss.
The film is full of tiny touches that you barely notice during the first viewing, like when Bianca thanks the janitor for not running the sweeper while she was talking to Jane. They go out on Bianca and not the title character. With that you realize that this is actually Bianca's story, that she is the character who changed during the course of the narrative. And with this you suddenly realize that Dushku's underplayed performance is every bit as good as that of Krause, something quite unexpected as she is rarely asked to do something this restrained.
And be sure to watch the entire credit sequence because additional lines from the play are featured along with a several black and white sequences.
Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.
declares Titania to Bottom in Act III Scene 1 of "A Midsummer Night's Dream". The gracious fairy queen has become a victim of a potion that has everybody falling in love with the wrong people. Her husband thought it would teach her a lesson for denying him. But after being dosed with the potion, she falls in love with Bottom (a commoner), who has been turned into a donkey. Love being blind, the joke is on her.
In the play within a play of "Jane Wants A Boyfriend" (2015), Titania is being played by a stressed out Bianca, the title character's older sister.
Shakespeare lets the audience share in his joke while viewers of "Jane Wants A Boyfriend" have to work a bit to figure it out. The joke being that Bianca's protectiveness toward her little sister is largely misplaced. Not only is it unnecessarily stressing out Bianca, it has become an obstacle to Jane's growth.
Jane has Aspergers, but processes a lot more than she is given credited for by Bianca. Childlike in many ways she is perceptive enough at age 25 to realize that her existence is becoming precarious, that her dependency on her parents cannot continue much longer. Accordingly, she is forcing herself to interact more with people. Guidance for this interaction is provided by watching old movies and observing people, mimicking their speech patterns and facial expressions. She refers to this as practicing.
Jack is the boyfriend that Jane wants. But like Titania's resentment of her husband's infidelities, Bianca disapproves of Jack's bed hopping and fear of commitment. She underestimates her little sister's off-kilter appeal and is afraid that any relationship she enters into with Jack will be brief.
Another parallel between the two stories is the unlikelihood of the match; the play's fairy queen loving a commoner becomes a neurotypical loving an Aspie. In "Dream" this is part of the joke, in "Jane" it is in large part the reason I embraced the film.
I like this film better than anything over the past couple of years. The ensemble casting and scripting was excellent, the acting-for-the-camera direction as good as you will find, the pacing perfect, and the editing solid. I especially like the scene transitions where the audio tracks begin a second before the new video track cuts in. The best of these when the film's title is said by Bianca over Jane's face and then later when the cheers and applause of the theater audience plays over the kiss.
The film is full of tiny touches that you barely notice during the first viewing, like when Bianca thanks the janitor for not running the sweeper while she was talking to Jane. They go out on Bianca and not the title character. With that you realize that this is actually Bianca's story, that she is the character who changed during the course of the narrative. And with this you suddenly realize that Dushku's underplayed performance is every bit as good as that of Krause, something quite unexpected as she is rarely asked to do something this restrained.
And be sure to watch the entire credit sequence because additional lines from the play are featured along with a several black and white sequences.
Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.