Simple Stories Deep Messages

Here is a  brief recap of my recent watches on Netflix :

The Life List

Alex is heartbroken after her mother’s death and even more surprised to learn that she is no longer the CEO of her mother’s cosmetics company. Instead she is handed over the Life List, that she herself had prepared when she was thirteen, to complete the tasks therein within a period of one year in order for her to get her deferred inheritance.

The list includes mending her relationship with her father who had separated from her mother when Alex was in her teens, taking up a challenge which scares her the most, going back to teaching which was/is her passion and finding true love.

On completion of each task she is to be handed a video of her mother by her young lawyer, Brad , to prod and encourage her to go further.

Will Alex be able to achieve what her mother wants her to and move a bit closer to what she really is?

A mother’s love and endeavours to guide her  daughter even after death is poignantly manifest in this story.

Also how by challenging your own potentials and facing your inner fears can you lean closer to your true self.

Sofia Carson as Alex or Alexandra, Kyle Allen as Brad and Connie Britton as Elizabeth, Alex’s mother, among others make the narrative of this movie moving and real.

The Intern

Seventy year old retired executive, Ben Whittaker, takes up the job of a senior intern in a fashion start-up out of sheer boredom of retired life. The start-up is run by a young, passionate workaholic Jules Osten who is looking for an able CEO as her own replacement  because of investors’ pressure and also because she wants to give more time to her personal life – her stay-at-home husband and her little daughter

At first though sceptical, Jules eventually comes to trust and rely on Ben. In due course a beautiful bond is forged between the two which helps Jules tide over the downturns in life.

The film reinforces that friendship does not have an age bar and can blossom between two unlikeliest of persons if there is understanding and empathy.

Robert De Niro as Ben and Anne Hathaway as Jules are heartstealers.

My Oxford Year

Anna De La Vega is an American student who gets enrolled in the University of Oxford to learn Victorian poetry which is her passion. Finishing the course she has plans to go back and rejoin her job as a financial analyst.

But as unplanned as it is, she falls in love with the young and handsome DPhil student and tutor, Jamie Davenport. At first it’s just fun but as their involvement becomes serious she has to revisit her decision to move back and face the unpredictability and harsh truth of life with courage and conviction.

This is not a “they lived happily ever after” kind of love story. Yet it’s not a “broken heart wallowing in grief” story either. It’s about strength to cope with pain. It’s about living with the wistful memories of love and togetherness. It’s about taking a path unthought of and walking alone with dignity.

The film has Sofia Carson as Ana De La Vega and Corey Mylchreest as Jamie in their sparkling chemistry.

All these three movies have very simple stories but the messages belying the simplicity are powerful and introspective.

Do watch if the excerpts kindle an  interest.

Pics from Wiki