While it is not my favorite
movie (although it does belong in my “Seven Movies in Heaven” list), I don’t think
there is a movie I have seen more times than The Breakfast Club. My feelings
for it have grown, wrapped and changed dramatically since I first watched it a
few weeks before I started my own disappointing high school journey. I can
quite it almost verbatim and every time I see it I spot something new. That love
for a movie inhabits every page of Searching for John Hughes, the memoir of
writer Jason Diamond. And it is that love that makes it such a charming read,
even though I have to admit that some of the writing is not that good and, from
how it is written and it’s approach to external, non-cinematic components, I don’t
think Diamond has grown as a person as much as he thinks he has. Diamond was
born in Chicago to Jewish parents who took all their frustrations and disappointments
out on their son. His only solace came in the form of movies, mostly the teen cinematic
universe of Shermer, Illinois, created by writer/director John Hughes. From the
moment a babysitter let him watch Pretty in Pink a few years too soon for him,
his life was changed, and through all his hardships, loneliness and social betrayal,
the movies become a lifeline for him, so much so that he starts to write an
ill-fated biography of the then reclusive filmmaker. It’s a fool’s errand, and
we, as well as Diamond, are aware of this when it is first brought up over drinks
with a long lost friend. It’s a journey of self-discovery that is littered with
failed ambition and self-hatred that anyone who has ever felt less than and
unable to move on from point A to point B will see their reflection in the life
of Diamond. It is too bad that it is sometimes comes off as a shoddy megalomaniacal
journal written by someone without the awareness of other people and the world
beyond their feelings and emotions. But if you are one to see yourself more in
the context of pop culture and less in the world around you and have ever felt
stuck, this book will charm the pants off you.
Rating: 4/5
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