Don’t stop Believing

Why you mustn’t miss the magic of Timothee Chalamet’s Wonka

The best way to receive art is to absorb it like a sponge absorbs water. The sponge knows not the nature of the liquid - it embellishes itself to retain anything it is given with its whole soul [don’t ask me if I’m saying that inanimate objects have a soul].

A lot of times I don’t go watch a movie in the theatres if I’m not particularly excited about it, or if people everywhere are talking shit about it. Sometimes I don’t like when a classic has been remade with actors I don’t care about. What I’m trying to say is, there’s a million reasons you’d give yourself to not go watch a movie in the theatre and wait for it to be streamable from the comfort of your home.

So when Wonka finally came out to theatres, I was skeptical at first. The last time I saw Timothee Chalamet in a movie, he was staring at a fire with Sufjan Stevens’ Visions of Gideon playing in the back which felt like a deliberate punch in the gut nobody asked for. Chalamet playing the iconic eccentric chocolatier that Johnny Depp so intimately emulated on screen? Probably not for me. 

And yet, with everything that life has thrown at me the past few months, if there’s one thing I’ve learned, is to be water - ebb and flow where the path takes you. Be open to everything because life has a way of surprising you when you least expect it. 

If you’re as big a sucker for Christmas movies as I am, you’d be a fool to miss Wonka in theatres. What you might not know is that the movie is a sorta-musical [which I didn’t know beforehand]. And yet, musicals can really make you sit back, relax, and feel like you’re 10 years old again. Like you’re still a naive child who believes that anything is possible. That the world is madness and magic and all-you-can-eat chocolate. That you should never, ever give up on your dreams. And even though I’m a stubborn musical hater, I do like to say that life is good, but it’s better with a background score.

Wonka isn’t a movie. So don’t go watch it if you’re looking for logic and reason. Don’t go watch it if you’re looking for reasons to hate. Watch it if you need a break from your reality. Watch it if you’re out of Hope juice and can’t find enough reasons to fall in love with the beautiful world we live in. Watch it if you want to taste the true spirit of the holiday season - where you look beyond yourself and are all but thankful for the people who give a shit about you despite your many shortcomings. Watch it if you’re looking for a 116-minute-long escape into things that made you curious as a kid and for all the wonder and delight that you lost on your way to adulthood.

A lot of this might sound like a bunch of hooey, but believe me when I tell you that I went to the theatre after 30 minutes of traffic, with my GPS rerouting me to a dug-out road twice, my day heavy and my brain all but mush from working at a place I no longer enjoy working at; and came out feeling the warmth, the love and the sentiment of giving season, seeing and believing that there’s still magic in the world, feeling like I was a kid again.

The world will sometimes make you forget to be kind to yourself and to others, but if there’s anything that watching Wonka made me realize, is to always, always be open to receiving. Be sponge. Be water.

If that sounds delusional to you, don’t go watch the movie. But for all of you looking for some fantasy and magic and chocolate, go give yourself this treat. Keep an open mind, and let yourself be blown away by Chalamet’s silly Willy, his unlikely group of friends, his obnoxious empathetic optimism, and his hatful of dreams. 

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