Movie review - Everything must go

"Is that it?” I said as the movie ended with Samantha giving Nick a big hug.

The movie itself was interesting from the beginning to the end, but I believe it failed to effectively convey its message to people. So, about the question whether this movie was well directed, I have to say “NO.” The movie does have a theme even though the delivery was not that successful, so let me talk about some ideas that came to my mind while watching the film.

1. Nick, the protagonist, is a very unlucky man. One the same day when he is fired from his well-paid job, his wife left home, leaving all his possessions thrown out on the yard. His car is taken away, and even his bank account gets frozen. When Nick encounters this catastrophe, he seems to have no will left to live on. Just everything was okay with him. He did not expect it to come to him at all. It is totally understandable that Nick almost loses hope to live, drinking beer all day long. But what can he do about this? Does giving up everything and thinking about his glorious past solve the problem? Nick waits for someone who would save him from this disaster. But there is nobody. Nick himself is the only one who could overcome the hardship. Nick, thus, starts garage sale with Kenny and manages to navigate himself out of the catastrophe. With the idea, “everything is not yet lost,” on his mind, he starts all over again.

Nick lost the will to live since he was fired

Many people can’t let their glorious past go away. They chew their past over and over again, embellishing the past even more splendid. People deprive their own happiness, not happiness of the past, of the future, but of the present. One who keeps looking back the past can’t be satisfied with the present. Past could seem more satisfied and happier, but people have to live anyway. Everything must go no matter one wants to go back to past. It is just a matter of how one lives with one’s life.

The film sends us the message that we need to focus on the present, but at the same time it warns the danger of alcoholism. The scene that Nick begs a beer from a store really points out that alcohol is one of the factors that bring about such disaster. It is probably because Raymond Carver, the author of “Why don’t you dance,” was a serious alcoholic.

2. Kenny, the black kid who works as a business partner of Nick, plays a significant role in the plot. Kenny, who is always left out from friends and has nothing much to do except riding a bike, is just like Nick. Kenny who finds his talent in marketing enables Nick to get over the hardship, giving Nick a hope that Nick could also start all over again and embarks on a new career.

Kenny plays a significant role in the plot

3. I believe the main difference from “Why don’t you dance?” is that in “Everything must go,” Nick gradually manages to overcome his difficulty. In the short story, the man tries to escape from the reality by watching two young couple dancing in his yard.

To sum up, the film was interesting but not well directed. I could find a theme that people need to find happiness from the present, but the conveyance was not effective. What role does Samantha or Delilah play in the plot should be more explicitly described. It is relief that Samantha is pretty.