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@mariwatchingmovies
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Broadcast News (1987) dir. James L. Brooks
When I find a movie I have literally never heard of before, that seems like a movie that I should have known about (for reasons like notoriety, hidden gem performances, or just generally ones that slipped by me), I tend to stop everything i'm doing and watch. This happened with Love Exposure by Sion Sono (now one of my favorites), and it happened again with this 1980s romantic comedy Broadcast News. Jane is a rising talent in broadcast news production, with her quippy best friend Aaron staying right at her side in the fast-paced work environment. The station's newest reporter, Tom, admits to his interest in Jane's immense talent and beauty, while Aaron continues to be in love with Jane from the sidelines.
I love Jane. She is talented, hardworking and brutally honest with others, but then immediately absorbs their reactions. She has her moments of triumph in the newsroom, then loudly sobs as if to release as much tension and anguish as possible in order to save time. She's fiery, and all Tom wanted to do was use it for his advantage and tamper it when she got too hot. Aaron, her closest friend and confidant and someone who sees the world like she does, wants a love from her she can't give him. While she finds success and happiness from her peers at the network, she's too smart to not realize how neither relationship can make her happy. Hence the crying. More people should cry more like Jane does - the loud bellowing cathartic cries that ruin your makeup minutes before the coworkers arrive at all the surrounding desks.
The surrounding storylines of the broadcast news network are just as interesting as the central romantic narrative. The writers carefully side-stepped boring genre tropes and subverted stereotypes to create charming character development that feels realistic. Also, for comedic purposes I was half expecting the broadcast theme song that those guys pitched to be silly, but it was actually awesome!
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