My take on Blow . . .
You could say that Blow is about just that and you wouldn’t be wrong -- but that could be said about Frozen too. Johnny Depp plays George Jung growing up in blue-collar Massachusetts and sees that hard work does not always pay off. Jung wants the richer life that his father could not buy with his blood and sweat. This even in the face of his father’s wisdom:
“Sometimes you’re flush and sometimes you are bust, and when you’re up, it’s never as good as it seems, and when you’re down, you never think you’ll be up again, but life goes on. Money isn’t real, George. It doesn’t matter. It only seems like it does.”
These were the last words spoken to George the child and they have the reverse effect. Kinda like telling a kid not to look over there -- Jung goes for the money.
George is very good at what he does -- it feels good to hit a homerun or flush a golf ball -- there is no resistance -- it just flows -- and its result is beautiful -- you can’t look away -- you are spellbound by its beauty. George’s father brims with love for his son -- his love is unconditional. George feels this and his father is the backbone of his life. He one time tells his son that he could have been good at anything -- but so it goes that sometimes you get good at the one thing that can turn everything bad -- superman becoming really good at kryptonite or something. So it is when George is in jail for a third time and his father is on his deathbed that he thinks back to his father’s advice on money and the truly scarce commodity -- time.
“And that time you told me that money wasn’t real -- well, old man, I am 42 years old -- I have finally learned what you tried to tell me so many years ago -- I finally understand. You’re the best, dad. I just wish I could have done more for you. I wish we had more time.”
They say that you learn more in defeat than you do in victory. When things are bad, George falls back on the truth of his father. Instilled truth can be seen in George and it takes fire when he becomes a father.
“Talk about religious experiences: I didn’t believe in religion -- hell I didn’t even particularly like kids, but when Christina Sunshine Jung came into this world, something in me changed. I knew what I was put on the planet for -- it was the greatest feeling I ever had.”
I kinda have come to come to the idea that the closer someone’s heart is to that of a child the more I want to be around them. You learn so much from a child’s innocence and purity -- two ingredients that we need so much when our casserole begins to turn. Without yeast bread does not rise. The closer we are to the heart of a child the better we rise. It is kinda unfortunate that “crossing imaginary lines with plants” makes it difficult for George to live this life, but he can say that he found it and he knew it -- that is more than some can say. In the words of Harley Quinn and we give the last to George Jung.
“It is ok to be a little messed up in the head -- we all are -- it’s only when you’re messed up in the heart makes you a piece of crap.”
“Throughout my life, I’ve left pieces of my heart here and there. And now there is almost not enough to stay alive. But I force a smile, knowing that my ambition far exceeded my talent. There are no more white horses or pretty ladies at my door.”
May 3, 2020; WKGerrish
