The Rebound: I would say “Love Bound"

I saw this one a while back, probably at a time where a REBOUND for me would have done good. May be, just for experiences’ sake. Google would probably throw up a few theories on “Rebound”, but this movie by far is my most favorite rendition of the concept.

Sandy moves to New York with her two kids, after having stumbled upon a cheating husband, and is casually introduced to Aram in a coffee shop while finding an address. I wouldn’t call this a very distinctive plot, however wait for the story to unveil and you would have probably been introduced to one of the kindest man in the world, Aram.

Now Sandy is doing her piece of life - handling her divorce, raising kids and beyond all her current state of emotions (anguish of deceit). She’s smart and also has a sense of the general course that life will take, that is, continue raising kids, find a reasonable job and get started with the dating life. To the contrary, Aram is 24 with a world of opportunities open to him. He has the freedom to choose anything in the world that he pleases to do, however for now, he has decided to work at a coffee shop, pick up a few odd jobs at a woman’s center and babysit Sandy’s two kids. All these are his life’s choices inspite of holding a management degree from Stanford (I may have missed that important detail while watching the movie). Both have a past that significantly influence their current state of mind-affairs.

Well, the reason you love Sandy is because she looks like Catherine Zeta Jones :). I mean tell me how many women manage to look that gorgeous in a simple black dress?

I tried to get a picture of only her's however didn't get it :(

However, Aram is a work of art in this movie. I have tried to ponder over this character for the past two days and this is the best I have come up with my limiting power of thought: “If you had a unisex checklist of someone to marry; he probably would make 90% of the right ticks in that checklist”.

Hypothetically, lets say, today was your last day to live, who, what or where would you spend it? I wonder how many people would want to spend it investing in their job or shopping the most exquisite merchandise on earth? Most of the people I know probably would pick their loved ones and spend the last day with them. This “last-day-of-philosophy-on-earth” is how Aram approached his real life. In the quest of his wishes and wants, all that mattered to him were the people in his life and that included his parents and the two kids that he played the baby sitter to. He has this spiritual thought process at 25. Now world around would sit in judgement on whether it is worthwhile working at an investment bank, or babysitting kids and being a part of their growth process! What is nobler? Quiet often, its an implied assumption that women shall do the latter and men are better off doing the prior and these gender based roles are respected in line with gender orientation. The movie dispels this myth of conditioned parenting where father makes bread and butter and mother nurtures kids with care. The attachment between Sadie (Sandy’s daughter) and Frank (Sandy’s son), and Aram is evident where they spring alive on seeing him home one night. 

The kids will tickle your humor nerves in this movie. The threesome of Aram, Sadie and Frank quite enjoy their time together with video games or orchestrated American Idol shows at home. The movie infuses laugher in bits and pieces such as where Frank tries to write his name with pee along with a roadside vellah in NY or Sadie has an ‘unscheduled surgery’ where she opens up a mouse and harvests its organs. Both the kids are sensational with their witty intrusions, frolic plays and their relationship with Aram. During their first meeting Sadie also tells Aram that by the time she is Aram’s age, she would have a real job. Its probably easier for Aram to be what he is since he comes from the upper east side of Manhattan and his mother works at Ralph Lauren. But again, watch the movie and tell me, in the event Aram came from a different socio economic background - would he have taken the job at ‘Rockwell Mathers’ ( I hope I have spelt this right)?

The movie is made of simple outstanding moments if you have a sense to capture the depth of those few seconds that will last with some forever in their lives - like the photograph-frame gift on Aram’s 25th birthday captioned as ‘the human totem pole’ or the seductive smoke-blow by Sandy in Aram’s face where she says “Surfing board, in the middle of an ocean - definitely” when quizzed on the craziest place where she’s “done it” thus unraveling a little wilder youth.

The movie then takes its course of relationship between a younger man and older woman. My first response was “People will need a spiritual streak in them to get this one”. Five years of life are covered in five minutes and you wish there was more to see. Cleveland, Africa, India are covered in five blinks - not rushed but you just want to watch a little more.

The movie has subtle class like “Shall we dance”. Masala movie watchers shall trash this white-orchid film (wait does the real world have white orchids?). Jeev recommends this to all his romantic friends. Zeta and Bartha share super screen chemistry and arouse you with their simplicity. The kids infuse some laughing gas moments. The last impression I am left with is “if you are bound by love, it becomes the hardest of things to let go”.

You know why some of your super fabulous friends are single? That's because they just haven't found a love that is super hard to let go.