angelic_wounds Most rom - coms made in Hollywood were either told by a woman or written/thought by one, so we always got a one sided affair that contained emotional swings, unreal scenarios, fantasy endings and plot twists that only strengthen the happy ending; an ideal scenario to a female fantasy regarding love, born out of fairytales. Additionally, when such movies were more realistic and on the mature side, they continued to tell the story through a woman's lenses. High Fidelity is such a poignant chapter in the Hollywood annals of romantic comedies precisely because it breaks the norm - the story of love, sorrow, confliction, friendship and personal psyche is finally told by a male's point of view, and explained in a very realistic scenario of a simple, every day man. Rob Gordon (John Cusack) owns a record store in Chicago, and he is going through a break up. A man who always seems to have everything sorted and in order, he narrates through the whole movie, cataloguing his top 5 break ups up to the recent one, explaining the reason they occurred.Through the course of the film, we see him going through the motions of his break up, the so called five stages of grief, so to speak. Along the way, with his ex - girlfriend Laura (Iben Hjejle) constantly on the forefront of his mind, Rob tries to sort out his feelings, going into deep musical conversations with his employees Barry (Jack Black), an elitist music lover who often connects day events with a "top 5 tracklist", and Dick (Todd Louiso), the sentimental part of the trio. Along the way, Rob goes through a soul search of his own, eventually coming to conclusions about his character, his behaviour, and acceptance that for love and a relationship to survive, you have to take a leap of faith into the unknown.Do not believe that this movie is anything sappy, for it remains a comedy for the bigger portion of its 2 hour course. Black ensembles a perfect character on himself, and you'll definitely laugh with his constant opinion on contemporary and old music alike, especially when he downgrades a poor old customer about it. Cusack is as believable as it gets, bringing forth every emotion possible associated with falling in love, from anger to envy, and nostalgia to care. Above all, it's a very educational film into the male psyche, and will definitely become a favourite of both genders, because it lacks any "fairytale ending". It's a dive into an emotional trip, seen through the eyes of an everyday man, where it is bound to stay with you long after the credits roll.

Antonius Block This movie captures so perfectly the perspective of many who love music: to have such passion for a band, to take pride in knowing lesser known artists, their influences, and music trivia, and to snobbishly judge others for what they listen to, even though it's all of course personal and subjective. It's also a pretty good movie about the difficulty of relationships. John Cusack is talented, funny, and likable as a record store owner floundering his way through breakups, mainly because as much as he's an expert on music, he's a dunce about women. He often talks directly to the camera, drifting back to memories and musing over various 'top five' lists. The film also has a fantastic supporting cast, including Jack Black in his breakout role, Joan Cusack in some great scenes opposite her brother, Lisa Bonet, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Tim Robbins among others. Quirky and well- done, this film has something for everyone.

Michael Radny What I like about High Fidelity was the fact that the humour was really well done and the story didn't feel boring and clichéd; at least at first thought. In my personal opinion, the first half of this film is fantastic, funny and sophisticated. The second half of this film fell quite flat with that typical romantic comedy storyline which seems to plague most of these films. But all in all, the film ends up being decent, leaves a slightly bad taste in your mouth at the end, but you will reminisce the first half to make it better. Good for the most part, but I very much dislike the final half hour. It seemed unnecessary and boring, but above all clichéd and typical. But if you get your hands on this film, the glory is the first hour; that is comedy that you will never see in a film again!

Horst in Translation ([email protected]) Here we have a British/American movie from 15 years ago, which runs for roughly 110 minutes. It is directed by Stephen Frears ("The Queen") who also made the wonderful "Philomena" a while ago, but somehow his effort here did not appeal to me very much. One major reason may be John Cusack. He seems a likable fellow, but as an actor I just don't think he is particularly talented. When he was very young, in his early 20s or so, I remember people thought he would be a real superstar one day, but not really. This film was made in 2000, but somehow, maybe also because of Cusack, it comes off as a lot older to me, maybe because all of the references about music, mostly older music. Another thing that did not appeal to me was Jack Black's character. He came off as extremely unlikeable and I totally cannot see why the main character would be a friend of his. He seems arrogant, self-righteous and totally looks down on everybody around him. And the worst we are even supposed to like him with his performance near the end. Louiso's character on the other hand was the exact opposite: shy and not confident at all and it was nice to see him get a girlfriend.Another thing that did not appeal to me at all was Cusack's character constantly breaking the fourth wall here. I am generally not a fan of this technique, but here it became sort-of annoying really. I mean he always gives off this vibe that we totally want to know what was going on with his relationships and the people in his life, but honestly I found all the characters in this movie so dull and unappealing for the most part that I just wasn't interested at all. The performances were pretty forgettable too, especially Black's, but I guess it's not really his fault as he was written that way probably. It just did not fit in my opinion. The central female character is played by Iben Hjejle and her portrayal also wasn't memorable at all. There's a reason why her Hollywood movie times have been a thing of the past for a long time now. I found this a very forgettable effort from everybody involved. Not recommended, unless you really are a huge music geek. Then all those references about records and sings will maybe make it bearable for you. But everybody who isn't should better stay away.