Phil Connors (Bill Murray), the protagonist of the classic film groundhog dayHe is a bad guy. In fact, the screenplay by Danny Rubin and Harold Ramis makes that clear right away. The meteorologist and TV presenter is annoying and with cynicism bordering on antipathy, and enjoys it. For this selfish and violent character, the world around him – and everyone who inhabits it – is annoying. Moreover, one that he tries to overcome as quickly as possible. Perhaps for this reason, being forced to relive the most boring day of your life over and over again is the worst of punishments.
This may seem like a simple premise, interpreted through the lens of the science fiction genre. After all, the movie is full of nasty personalities who end up going through an arc of redemption, even by force. But Phil also has to face the caveat of facing his own setbacks as they arise.
Engage in the same conversations that make you impatient. Realize that at the end of the day, your view of the world is the only thing that really changes. Chronological trap that throughout groundhog day, will force you to check that each decision, small or large, leads to a certain type of learning. That even the most insignificant date in his life is filled with lessons and rare beauty.
groundhog day This is a little humorous gem that never loses its relevance.
When groundhog day The premiere took place in 1993, it was called “crazy and with simple humor”, but it soon found its audience. It wasn’t just the time loop Phil was in, it was a thinly veiled lesson in the simplicity of everyday hard learning.
Also better appreciated is its surreal tone, which intensifies each time the identical setting puts a little more pressure on the character. This is a comedy that appeals to the very essence of routine, to the feeling – which we all once experienced – the ordinary and the vulgar. But Harold Ramis, and especially the performance of one of his favorite actors, takes him into a dimension of complex emotions.
Best of groundhog dayHe just doesn’t take himself too seriously. The direction of Harold Ramis has the same deceptively optimistic meaning. Dave, president for a day, his other premiere of that year. But unlike the fable of a man who does good by force, the movie starring Bill Murray goes in the opposite direction. At least initially, Phil takes advantage of waking up in the same bed countless times to Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You, Babe.” Take advantage of the lazy hours of the ludicrous day of your life.
A naughty boy who knows all the tricks of any day
In the town of Punxsutawney, the naïve tradition of Groundhog Day is an important event. Which makes Phil’s inflated and childish ego feel even more insulted that he has to cover a holiday centered around a furry animal in his arms. For this bad guy, humiliation is giving importance to a banal custom in a city lost among the maps. It is this context that makes the time cycle deeper and more honest, much more difficult to understand than it seems.
Even for a character. Enraged, having experienced the same events for the fifth time, he lowers his head into his hands. “One day I met a beautiful woman, we made love, and everything was wonderful,” he tells everyone who wants to listen to him. “Why does not that day repeat itself, but this one?” These are, of course, the first signs of despair. Then Phil stole a few dollars, slept with an old classmate, scammed several people by surprise. The experience turns from hilarious to dreary. “I must have gone crazy,” he assures himself. “There is no other explanation for this happening today among any other moment in my life.”
A love that barely survives twenty-four hours in groundhog day
The circumstance has aggravating circumstances. Phil did not go to his reports alone, he was accompanied by Rita, the producer of his program. The charming woman, played by Andie MacDowell, is a mystery to the miserly protagonist, who finds her seductive as well. Which leads to a subtle attraction that is heightened by the impossible and extravagant coexistence.
No doubt this is a dirty trick that causes time to reset every time. The meteorologist lives with a woman he finds most irresistible, and she remembers nothing. No conversations, first smiles, mutual understanding and, in the end, falling in love with intimacy, which disappears at dawn.
Harold Ramis, who was an expert in the genre of comedy exploring the small causes that move the will, builds his most inspirational work with Phil. On the one hand, she drives him into a chronological labyrinth from which he cannot get out, and makes him a victim, a kind of demigod and, in the end, a hostage. On the other hand, it gives you the opportunity to understand that a handful of endless, endless hours, linked to the point of insanity, may have a reason.
In the middle stage, and after Phil tries to die in a hundred different ways, he discovers that the duplicated reality has a purpose. You can have it at least. This is when the most touching episodes in the film begin.
Once a story that repeated itself over and over
Because the character isn’t actually as obnoxious as he’s been shown cycling through an endless day at Punxsutawney. Little by little, he passes from the wicked euphoria of discovering that he has an inexplicable secret, to repressed resignation. But the journey doesn’t end there. This hero reluctantly eventually fell in love with the city, its traditions and, of course, its inhabitants.
The sarcastic man, who had no enthusiasm for history with human content, begins to contemplate the wonders of the simple. Use the remaining time to learn how to play the piano. Help the old lady. Don’t let the person choke.
groundhog day He has such a solid script that he goes through all the possible events of life in endless alternation, one script at a time. The city is changing, becoming a friendly place. Neighbors become close friends, grateful debtors of favors that they will only remember for 24 hours. Phil is happy, integrated into the community, loves and respects him. His endless journey has given him a mysterious gift for appreciating the little things.
Which also implies a hopeless love, doomed to failure and oblivion, for Rita. Once again, Bill Murray’s character is trying to fall into a trap. He seduces her with tricks, manipulates her, tries to deceive her. However, he never makes any progress. Only when he is finally vulnerable is Phil able to connect with a woman he won’t remember the next day. Someone who will never know that he carved an ice sculpture for her, who heard her talk about her master’s degree in French literature. But he learns that the feeling, which should be fleeting, also has its beauty. Like everything that disappears at dawn, when Groundhog Day begins again.
Little miracle of another day
When time finally moves in the right direction again, Phil doesn’t know it. Not right away. He needs Sonny and Cher to stop singing on the radio and Rita to pinch his arm to understand the prodigy. Hundreds of days in one.
Countless lives, a long apprenticeship that left no physical trace. But the character is more than enough with acquired wisdom. Just as important as remembering your place in time is on the path to understanding the future. Of course, there is also love, perhaps again the focus of the joy of a truly new day.
groundhog day, has the magic of the classics, which does not take time to understand. Much less, something more than participation in a small and unforgettable movie that has unconditional fans. Perhaps, as Harold Ramis said when asked why writing about an ugly guy getting a life lesson, it’s all about “learning from the impossible.” The biggest secret is that the feature film is thirty years old, for anyone who wants to listen to it.
Source: Hiper Textual
