Books and Movies: About a Boy

One of my favourite movies of all time is About a Boy (2002) directed by Chris and Paul Weitz. The movie is an adaptation of the best-selling book of the same title written by Nick Hornby. Don't let the title mislead you though – it is not a typical soppy and mushy chick flick reserved for women in their late 20s and early 30s who own a cat and indulge in chocolate and ice-cream. About a Boy is a movie (and a book) that addresses difficult subjects such as depression in a witty and accessible way that can be of interest to both female and male viewers (readers). 

The plot revolves around the lives of two characters, a single middle-aged guy called Will (Hugh Grunt) and a 12-year-old boy named Marcus (amazing Nicholas Hoult) who meet unexpectedly through Will's date.

WARNING: There might be spoilers in the following descriptions (but no major ones).

Will is a cool guy. He knows how to pick clothes, shoes, music and haircuts. He lives in a typical bachelor pad filled with fancy gadgets and posters of his favourite musicians. Will doesn't have a real job and lives off royalties from a Christmas song that his dad wrote ages ago. When it comes to relationships, Will is a bit of a heartless jerk who can't commit and therefore prefers to date single mothers who often have commitment issues themselves. I personally love how Will divides his days into 30-minute units of time.

Will: I find the key is to think of a day as units of time, each unit consisting of no more than thirty minutes. Full hours can be a little bit intimidating and most activities take about half an hour. Taking a bath: one unit; watching Countdown: one unit; web-based research: two units; exercising: three units; having my hair carefully dishevelled: four units.

Will: She couldn't stay at my place, and she didn't have a DVD or satellite or cable, so we were always stuck watching some crap made for TV movie about a kid with leukemia. I had to end it.

Marcus is a weird kid. He lives with his mum and like her he is a vegetarian and listens to Joni Mitchell. Marcus is a loner. He doesn't really have friends his age. At school he is called names and sometimes attacked with footballs. Marcus has a weird tendency to sing in public without noticing and for that he is often bullied by his classmates. What I love most about Marcus is how hard he tries to understand the adult world and how heroic he can be when it comes to his mum, despite not having an easy life.

Marcus: I think I killed a duck.

Marcus: Suddenly I realized: two people isn't enough. You need backup. If you're only two people, and someone drops off the edge, then you're on your own. Two isn't a large enough number. You need three at least. 

 

I highly recommend watching the movie and/or reading the book just to see how these two perceive life, interpret love and how they start to rub off on each other.

GLOSSARY:

to mislead – zmylić

soppy – ckliwy

mushy – ckliwy, łzawy

a chick flick – a film about relationships, romance, etc. that attracts mainly women

to indulge in – tut. objadać się (to allow yourself or another person to have something enjoyable, especially more than is good for you)

to address something – poruszać (temat) (deal with a matter or problem)

witty – dowcipny, błyskotliwy

accessible – przystępny

the plot – fabuła

to revolve around – koncentrować się wokół czegoś

someone's date – tut. osoba, z którą idzie się na randkę

spoilers – szczegóły, które zdradzają treść filmu, serialu, książki itp. (a published piece of information that divulges a surprise, such as a plot twist in a movie)
major – znaczne, ważne

to pick – wybierać

a haircut – fryzura

a bachelor pad – mieszkanie kawalera  (a flat where a man who is not married lives)

fancy – drogie

royalties – honorarium, tantiemy

to commit – angażować się

commitment issues – problemy z zaangażowaniem się w związku

a unit of time – jednostka czasu

intimidating – przytłaczający

Countdown – a British game show involving word and number puzzles

web-based research – szukanie informacji w internecie (research – badanie)

to carefully dishevelled – starannie czochrane

cable (TV) – kablówka

be stuck – tut. być skazanym

crap – shit

leukaemia – białaczka

weird – dziwny

a loner – samotnik

be called names – być przezywanym

without noticing – bezwiednie (notice – spostrzec)

to bully – znęcać się, dręczyć, tyranizować

despite –pomimo

backup – zaplecze, wsparcie

to drop off the edge – znikać

to perceive – postrzegać

to rub off on somebody – dosł. udzielać się komuś, tut. wpływać na siebie ( If a quality or characteristic that someone has rubs off, other people begin to have it because they have been with that person and learnt it from them)