Thanks for Sharing

It’s rare that you watch a movie that makes you really wanna blog about it, and it’s almost never one of those blockbuster movies that everyone knows about. Thanks for sharing, in a gist, is about a 3 dimensional perspective on an apparent disease that some may use as an excuse: Sex addiction. Its funny coz its taboo. I had no idea about what the movie is about when I started watching it, because of its main focus, I got interested, and it seemed funny, as many will. It almost seems like a clever ruse for getting the masses to watch it, even though its not totally about it. You might have lost interest in the movie you had by this point. But believe me when I say that it not totally being  about sex addiction is a good thing. Yes it does speak about the adverse affects of it, and everything revolves around it. But during my watching I had so many perspectives about the movie, that I gotta share. So you’d thank me for sharing!.Sorry for the bad joke, but anyway, lets dig in.

The movie revolves around 3 sex addicts, or actually 4 (including Pink). One surgeon, one a veteran sober as they call it, and another businessman. One is trying desperately to get out of it, and failing horribly, one is out of it, and seeking a relationship which might ultimately break him or fix him for good. And the other one is a family man who has won over the addiction and trying to repair what he has broken, figuratively. A great cast, Mark Ruffalo, Tim Robinson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Pink and another rising star to personal favoritism: Josh Gad.  

As I said, it ventures in to many interesting persepectives about the addiction through these characters. I will not directly talk about the characters and examples per se, but I want to share my thoughts that I got. One of being which how it obviously affects family life. Like any addiction it could have adverse affects. But especially sex addiction will most definitely result in adultery. I mean it is understandable, why no one would ever wanna start a family with an sex addict. The thing is how do you know that you are a sex addict. The first thing of getting out of an addiction is admitting that you have a problem. In a way I guess it could be detectable. I mean the movie gives good examples. Lol. But it makes you think that here, in Sri Lanka, there's no such thing. Sex it self is so taboo here, forget about sex addiction. No one would even want to admit that there exists such a problem. With the religious background and everything, one would definitely come to the conclusion that its something that the ‘Americans’ came up with to explain there sexual desires or something. And discard the whole idea. But think, if it’s a real thing, how many families are suffering because of it. It also makes you think about one of the main things that is missing from Sri Lanka greatly, you know Anonymous circles, where people help each other to solve there problems. 

Another thing is how hard it is to achieve self control. You might be convincing others that you are handling it well, that you got it all under control, but it obviously is never good enough to completely get normal, or to fix yourself. You just gotta accept that it affects you more than anybody else, and hiding behind a mask is not gonna help. Otherwise it keeps getting worse and worse until it will be too late to fix it. 

Even after you accept that you need help, that the utmost dedication of self sacrifice and control is needed, it might be a very tough challenge to face it alone. A good friend in need is a gem in times like these. A friend you can share everything to, who you can reach out when shit hits the fan, and when you feel like there’s nothing else to turn in to. It will be so uplifting, and so affectine in changing your life, when you have such a great friend to turn to when you need. Coz he/she will help you without prejudice, without judgement and with just a good heart only. Gosh, it’s something very valuable isn’t it, and something which seems rare. They tell that you don’t have to believe in god or something to pray or seek redemption. It can be any higher power, which you can just reach to for guidance. A good friend can be that higher power. 

Another thing which with one dimension focuses on, is all the perfection and transcendence of true love. The relationship between Phoebe and Adam is made in to something which everyone who sees it envy it. It’s too perfect in that sense. But to see that two people connect and click so well as they do and just build up to something awesome, will be something to yearn for. But it faces a test of trust and honesty with addictions like sex addiction. It will leave you irreparable, and degenerate to an old self which disgusts you. That’s the thing with relationships, you never know at the end how fucked up a state you’ll end up in. But Not all hope is lost. 

Despite the bad ratings, I really like this movie. Because movies which makes me think that much are not that abundant. But it’s not a great movie. It’s amazing how much I was conscious about the time throughout. Maybe I was in somekind of withdrawal from an ‘addiction’ my self, when I was writing this. Anyway, the ratings It got is understandable. It tends to stray from the path too often, and seems to be running out of material towards the end. Anyway, even if the topic of sex addiction does not interest you, it still is a good movie. So recommended!

It’s amazing how watching a good movie can clear your mind out just right!