So, the new Scott Pilgrim trailer made my heart go mushy and my brain think all sorts of thoughts about the extent to which the visual vernacular of video games has entered our verbal lexicon, even if we don't play video games:
I think part of the reason the trailer got to me though, was the scene of Scott and Ramona getting into bed together. Something about her body language, about two people going through a familiar but still thrilling ritual of seduction, seemed more convincing to me than the conventional Hollywood Let's Get It On. Is it me, or is there a whole series of movies coming out with more naturalistic, plausible eroticism than the conventional Hollywood fare? There's Love Ranch, which generates that heat across generations. There's heat between real-life lovers in Going the Distance. There's the heat in Matt Damon/the camera's gaze lingering over Emily Blunt dancing in The Adjustment Bureau.
Of course, there's a lot coming out with people slamming people up against walls in the heat of the moment, and stupidity, and objectification. But if we even get a few movies that understand the eroticism of anticipation, the intense tenderness of desire within the context of deeply-felt love, I'll be happier, and I suspect a lot of other people will feel that way as well. There should be competition for conventional, anemic love stories in the movies, but there should be competition for stereotypical, heatless depictions of lovemaking, too.