The Movie "The Truman Show": A Film About Risking Everything to Challenge for a Real Life—Are We Truly Living as the Protagonists of Our Own Lives? [note💞Voicy]

Good morning!

In case I don't see you, good afternoon!

Good evening!

Good night😴

These words are the greeting lines of the protagonist in the movie "The Truman Show," which I am introducing today.

Today is a heartfelt review of a work that shook the very foundations of my life.

I can no longer laugh at that Jim Carrey smile.

This article is also a collaborative project between note and Voicy.
The second installment of Tenmame Cinema Talk is the masterpiece film
"The Truman Show."

I am talking about this work with all my heart.
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I think you will be able to enjoy it with a fresh perspective!

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[Movie Overview]
This is a comedy-drama depicting a man whose entire life was broadcast live on a reality TV show.

Truman is a man born and raised in the island town of Seahaven. While working at an insurance company and living a peaceful daily life with his sensible wife Meryl, there is a shocking fact that only he is unaware of. In reality, from the moment he was born, his entire life has been broadcast live 24 hours a day on the TV program "The Truman Show," the town he lives in is a giant set, and everyone, including his wife and best friend, are actors. Having begun to feel a sense of discomfort with the world he lives in, he struggles to uncover the truth, but...

The protagonist Truman is played by Jim Carrey, and the program producer is played by Ed Harris, with both winning the Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor awards respectively at the 56th Golden Globe Awards.

Peter Weir of "Witness" directed the film, and Andrew Niccol of "Gattaca" wrote the screenplay.

Now, let's start the review of "The Truman Show," a film with a deep theme that shakes the foundations of life!

For me, this is Jim Carrey's number one work, and it is also the work that made me cry with just his facial expressions.

I think the screenplay for this movie is excellent. As expected from Andrew Niccol, who also wrote the screenplay for the masterpiece sci-fi "Gattaca."

And the visual sense of the master director Peter Weir was also outstanding.

Although it is a setting that twists the reality shows that are mass-produced nowadays, this work has a depth that doesn't end there.

The surprise and freshness I felt when I watched it at the time of its release still remain in my heart.

And in this modern age covered in social media, the meaning of this work carries even more weight.

This work is a masterpiece that will remain in film history and is a favorite of mine, but more than 20 years after its release, the message of this film resonates even more strongly and sadly like a cry.

I can no longer laugh at that Jim Carrey smile.

'The Truman Show' Movie Review

A film about risking everything to challenge for a true life—are we really living as the protagonists of our own lives?

He was living in a world where everything was set up for him.

Truman lives his life without realizing that he is being broadcast live to the entire world 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. All the residents are extras. Even the weather is controlled.

Watching him, you notice your feelings gradually sliding from amusement to sadness before you even realize it.

I burst out laughing at Laura Linney's commercial-style acting from the viewer's perspective as his supposed wife, I am moved by the inner cries of Truman who believes in his best friend, and I shudder at the dual world directed by the background music.

The intoxicated expression of Ed Harris, who is directing that world...

And the whisper of truth from his first love, Lauren, is unbearably poignant.

'Come and find me...'

And she disappeared, leaving behind only a single kiss.

It starts with laughter at the sense of unease caused by a car radio on the wrong frequency and the extras running around in confusion, but the development gradually becomes impossible to laugh at. Every scene serves as foreshadowing that comes to life in the climax.

The theme of this work is actually deep.

Perhaps it is even deeper than more serious human dramas.

Who does life actually belong to?

It asks this question.

What if your life wasn't your own?

Or what if it was something given to us by someone else?

We might not think about such things in our daily lives, but Truman is living in a world created by someone else in all seriousness.

I believe this Jim Carrey as Truman has a strength of character that rivals Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump.

His greatest charm is his pureness.

And as you watch, you come to like him and then feel sad for him. Anyone would be deeply saddened to realize that what they thought they had achieved through their own efforts was actually set up for them by someone else. This film touches upon the sorrow at the bottom of that realization.

The fear of seeing the world crumble as you realize that the casual scenery you've known until now is all a fabrication.

The despair when you realize that your comfortable home, beautiful wife, best friend you can tell anything to, and stable job are all artificial.

I felt that his peculiar world is deeply connected to our own world in our subconscious.

Can I say with certainty that I am living the story I created—MY LIFE—without hesitation?

Is there a chance that I am hiding my true self and living out a certain role?

Am I unconsciously following what is expected of me by someone else?

Is the daily life I'm convinced is 'happiness' just something I've been led to believe by commercials and the constant stream of information?

Am I avoiding looking at the path ahead because I'm afraid to step off the rails that were laid out for me?

Am I desperately acting out my days to meet the expectations of my parents or society?

Have I stopped thinking for myself?

Am I truly living my life as the protagonist...?

※From here on, I will touch upon the core of the work and explore it further.

Truman's sun-like smile as he lives a life directed by others without realizing it. And the created, radiant sunlight.

The brighter it is, the more it makes my heart ache as I watch.

The final scene. I was deeply moved by the last expression on Jim Carrey's face in this film.

Even now, I believe that expression in that scene is a wonderful moment that will remain in film history.

And the sight that appears after courageously breaking the chains from those trying to control you and setting sail, the courage to leap into your own life.

I feel that this is not just the world of Truman, who lived a fiction, but the world of all of us.

I especially want those who are suffering, bound by the surveillance society of social media, to watch this movie.

The tragedy of the reality dating show that occurred in 2020 is no different from the structure where social media surrounds you with no escape, videos and information are repeatedly spread, and the whole world watches your statements there.

The speed and scale are expanding far beyond that. As long as you live only within that, there is truly no escape.

To protect our lives and dignity, will we be able to escape like Truman?

Cutting off all social media, taking refuge in a remote, nature-rich village, and being forgotten by the world for a few years—if it is to protect your life, there is nothing that can replace that.

But it takes courage to throw everything away to escape from this information-space world that has clung to and become one with the self we are living as now.

That is why I cannot stop my tears at Truman's escape.

Because it is a life-risking escape to regain true freedom.

I think this movie is a masterpiece that confronts the viewer with the difficulty and urgency of living one's own life.

So, if the air in your heart suddenly feels thin right now, if it becomes painful to show yourself and be seen, if you feel distressed, please send a message to someone who cares about you saying you need help, and escape from the world you are in right now, even immediately.

To protect your one and only life, I want you to escape from that world of vanity. To a world where only those who love you exist.

Let's return to the movie.

And to our story.

As I empathized with Truman, a feeling of contempt somehow welled up for the viewers who enjoyed his suffering as entertainment and watched from a high vantage point.

Then I suddenly realized.

I was the same as those viewers who were bystanders..

Watching this movie inevitably creates a triple structure: the audience worldwide watching Truman on the show, and us watching the movie of that double world.

And what is closest to us in this work is the figure of watching Truman on the show, laughing, crying, being swayed by the misfortunes and happiness of others, and being enthusiastic.

While watching the drama of others' lives—like a movie—as a spectator, the act of living one's own life (not in the sense of just existing) gets left behind.

Before we know it, we have surrendered the seat of the protagonist.

We may be moved by the fictional lives of others, but how many moments do we have where we truly rejoice in our own lives?

A life like a spectator's is boring.

I enjoy movies from the bottom of my heart, but I absolutely do not want to end my life as a spectator.

I want to die thinking that this life and story I have lived is the greatest masterpiece, better than any movie I have ever seen.

As the protagonist of my own life, I want to end my days with joy, enthusiasm, and deep emotion.

Movies can provide hints, but the intensity of real life can only ever be generated by oneself.

That is why we struggle, suffer, and feel anxious. Yet, we stand up and fight. That is real life.

We are all 100% destined to die one day.

For everyone, we are living that best and worst drama at this very moment.

I believe this work is a masterpiece that actually confronts us with such questions in many layers.

I want to live, live, live, and live my life to the fullest.

It is a human masterpiece that once again forces the viewer to face the courage, difficulty, and urgency of living one's own life.

From the moment I finished watching it, I felt as if my real life was beginning vividly.

Truman. A true man.

I, too, want to become the protagonist of my life, not a bystander.

Just like him.