I've seen The Truman Show a multitude of times, and each time it gets better. First watching it at a young age (Roughly 10 years old), I never picked up on much of the deeper meaning behind the film. The idea of someone's whole life being a television program was simply entertaining. Now, as an older viewer and with more experience in analyzing books and movies, I can really pick up on the satirical meaning behind the plot. Truman plays the star of a 24/7 television program. His entire life is broadcasted for all the world to see. He is raised to believe that there is no real reason to try and leave his perfect "island". Throughout the film, we watch as Truman tries time and time again to discover the truth behind his life, and as he attempts to escape. The struggle he experiences while trying to break free from the artificial world can be seen as a satirical message. The world is trying to oppress you, and although difficult, you can escape. This is supported by a statement made by the creator of the Truman show. He said, "We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented. It's as simple as that". Several other hidden messages (Ideas) appear throughout the film. All the actors who play roles in Truman's life, are indeed fake. Despite directly lying to a person whose life is immediately affected by that lie, the actors/actresses show no emotion for Truman. This is comparable to the lack of care society has for the majority of its citizens. Overall, The Truman Show is filled with subliminal messages and hidden meanings, all of which can be directly tied back to daily life.
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wlay-8185213 September 2016
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skepticskeptical19 July 2019The Truman Show is a film I never got around to watching until now, despite having heard references to it here and there over the past ... twenty years?! Now that I have seen it, I am somewhat glad that I waited, because from this vista, twenty years later, it really seems prophetic. Think about all of the children who were born after the ascendance of the internet. Many of their lives are not unlike Truman´s life: every moment captured for all the world for all of time.
What is even more disconcerting is that many people willingly choose to focus on and cultivate their internet presence at the expense of everything else. We have become a selfie culture, and reality t.v. thrives because people not only like to watch other people but also to put themselves and their lives on display. Modern people have become narcissistic exhibitionists--and are proud of it! -
MrPupkin25 October 2019As inventive and creative as Weir's staging is, The Truman Show wouldn't work without credible Truman. And Carrey carries off the tricky role with a chipperness that belies a deep-seeded longing for more in life than surface perfection in all this movie is one of my all time favorites.
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Mark19889 April 2007'The Truman Show' epitomizes strong and original storytelling on screen. This film is emotionally engaging, didactic, witty, dramatic and very unique. For those unfamiliar with the concept, Truman Burbank has never left his ideal home town of Sea Haven. What he doesn't know is that his entire environment is a materialized set and he is the ignorant star of a reality TV show of epic proportions.
Taking this entirely original concept, writer Andrew Niccol and director Peter Wier take the viewer into territory uncharted by anything in film history. Thus, the plot is entirely unpredictable but still flows along expertly. The tightness of the screenplay and the immaculate pacing of Peter Wier contribute largely to this film's brilliance.
The acting performances are amongst the best I've ever seen. Jim Carey is superb as Truman, effortlessly conveying his fears, desires and personality. Ed Harris is excellent as the reclusive creator of the production. In addition, the entire support cast appears synthetic enough to let the audience know they are "acting" for Truman but in some scenes let their "genuine" feelings shine through. The ensemble simply cannot be faulted. Carey was hardly done by not to get an Oscar nomination for his performance.
The music and visuals are top notch. The cinematography has a reality TV feel that is clever but never intrusive. The shot selection is of the highest quality, particularly in the movie's final sequence. Muscially, this film is incredible. Phillip Glass is a dream on the piano, perfectly evoking the mood for each section of the narrative. The two combine excellently during the scene in which Truman breaks his routine for the first time. During the sequence, Truman makes subtle changes to the bland routine he follows compliantly every day. The emotion of the music when combined with the apparent simplicity of Truman's actions makes this scene one the most powerful I'v ever experienced.
This film is an absolute gem. It effortlessly combines everything a classic film should have. It has comedy, drama, strong character development, atmosphere, originality, superb visuals, a superb score, tight writing, raises interesting moral questions as well as providing insight into the human condition. One cannot watch this spectacular film without wondering how a human would react when put in that kind of situation. It touches on our sense of adventure, desire for conformity and the courage we require to question the life we are presented with. 'The Truman Show' does all this in the most accessible and compelling fashion. One of the greatest films of our time. -
zkonedog10 March 2017When "The Truman Show" hit theaters in the summer of 1998, there was no such thing as reality TV. "Survivor", "Big Brother", "Amazing Race", or "Keeping Up With the Kardashians"? All in the future. The fact that this film beat America to the reality-TV punch shows how much of a landmark production it truly was--ahead of its time, to be sure.
For a basic plot summary, "The Truman Show" tells the story of Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey), a seemingly regular guy who begins to suspect that his life is being controlled by forces outside of his own. As it turns out, his life (from birth) has been viewed by the TV-watching public since birth, with everyone in on the idea except him. That includes his wife (Laura Linney), best friend (Noah Emmerich), and even an old flame (Natascha McElhone) intent on revealing the mystery once Truman starts putting the pieces together and ultimately discovers how manipulated his life truly is. But not if enigmatic director Christof (Ed Harris) has anything to say about it.
"Truman Show" is a concept movie through-and-through. It really nails the concept of "reality TV" & just how pervasive commercialism can become in our society. As previously mentioned, this film was years ahead of its time in portraying such issues. As such, in way the experience actually resonates more today than it ever could have in '98.
The acting helps the production rise above just the concept as well. Carrey completely and utterly sheds his more farcical comedic roles and turns in an Oscar-worthy performance as the befuddled Truman, while the auxiliary roles are finely-tuned as well. Director Peter Weir will have you truly caring about the little town of Seahaven Island and its inhabitants by the film's conclusion.
I consider "The Truman Show" to be one of the finest films of all-time. It has everything a great movie needs...intriguing plot, good pacing, solid acting, investing characters, and even a little humor thrown in here and there. Not only does it work on its surface level, but it also expertly presages a digital, commercialist, voyeuristic culture--all avenues that seemed to be moving closer to a societal reality. -
bob the moo29 October 2004Truman Burbank is an ordinary guy in an ordinary little seaside town of Seahaven Island where nothing really happens. Everything is clean, everything is perfect, he knows people but never really connects to anyone. The one woman he ever really loved is not his wife and has long since left for the other side of the world where he longs to visit but feels he can never go. Paralysed by his fear of water since seeing his father die on a boating accident, Truman still feels he is missing something. A strange light falling from the sky, a man who reminds him of his dead father, a strange radio broadcast and the feeling that the world really stops when he shuts his eyes all combine to make him feel something is wrong but what is it that he seeks but feels he cannot find?
When I first saw this film it was with my girlfriend (who would then become my wife, then ex-wife!) and I remember how she and our friends felt a little bit cheated by the film that they had expected to be yet another wacky Jim Carrey comedy. In fairness to her and the others, it was easy to do this at the time who would have thought that Jim Carrey would be able to act certainly not the marketing department that sold this film on the basis of it being a hilarious film as opposed to the thoughtful and rewarding film it turned out to be. The plot can be viewed on so many levels that it is honestly easier to leave it to each viewer to take what they will from it. On the most obvious level it satirises the media, the emotional façade of television and (the increasingly relevant) look at reality shows. To others it will say as much about God, the empty drone of life and the things that we all desire. Of course to others it will just be a comedy with general comments to make and there is nothing wrong with that whatsoever; in fact the multi-level approach works to make it appeal to many audiences.
Starting as a comedy, I am always taken by how well the film moves to become more and more interesting but yet never loses sight of those audience members who have come for the basic story. Hence it delivers an enjoyable and engaging central narrative that, plainly put, makes for a comic and involving yarn we grow to care for Truman and this makes the ending an emotional and satisfying one even if some viewers will bemoan the fact that (to them) it appears 'open ended'. That it is also a very thought-provoking affair is only a bonus, with the satire working on many levels. Of course by seeming to tackle so many subjects and issues in such a short running time, the film never really gets its teeth deep into any one of them but this is not a major problem because it leaves us to do that in our heads after the film finishes.
The cast is roundly superb even if the majority of them are in minor roles. Of course it is easy now to look back at Carrey and accept that he can act straight but at the time it seemed so unlikely and few felt it was a good casting choice. Of course, seeing the end result it is clear that he can and he delivers such a great performance that he really makes the film work.
He is comic but yet serious, sympathetic but not worthy of pity it is a great delivery and one that basically meant that I now look at his Ace Ventura stuff as the 'other' category and see his acting as his real work (6 years ago that was vice versa). Carrey carries the film, being on screen for almost the entire film but he has good support from Linney, Emmerich, Krause and others who play it well despite being stuck in the necessary stiff and unreal roles. The controller etc roles are all well played and feature a collection of well known faces including a great support role from Harris through to roles for Giamatti, Shearer, Baker Hall and a few others. It may be Carrey's show but the support certainly helps.
Overall this is a great film that can be appreciated as much for what it is on the surface (a great little comic story) as it can for the issues that it hints at all the time. There was a time when some viewers may have looked to a Carrey film to be a load of mugging an crude, basic laughs but this was the film that saw that change. Thought provoking, funny, entertaining, short, enjoyable and well acted throughout well worth seeing and well worth coming back to several times. -
I asked a friend to describe The Truman Show. He said, "No, it's not a comedy, well...not exactly." I didn't quite understand until I watched it myself. Truman takes on a tone quite different than any parody/comedies I've seen lately. The point (the media and its destructive powers) is subtlely relayed through dark humor, and you don't feel like the director is smashing you over the head with his morals. Peter Weir demonstrated his artistic genius in Dead Poets Society and here as well. The soundtrack is great, Ed Harris is stellar (what were they THINKING at the Academy?) and for once I actually liked Jim Carrey. His performance wasn't ribald for once. The final scene--I will not reveal it--is a majestic, long-awaited finish to an intellectual movie. Some people will insist that it was boring or pointless. Those are the same viewers who prefer slapstick, obvious humor to the subtle layers presented here. This is a thinking person's movie. If you can't see the underlying message here, of course you won't like it!
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JamesHitchcock31 August 2005Life is starting to imitate satire. "The Truman Show" was only made seven years ago, but it predates the current mania for so-called "reality" television shows such as "Big Brother". The idea behind such shows is that they present the viewer with a slice of actual reality- real people in real situations with real emotions- rather than the simulated reality of drama or the edited reality of documentaries. The flaw in this idea is that nothing is more unreal than a reality show. The presence of the cameras has a distorting effect, inducing artificial behaviour patterns in those who appear in front of it, and the sort of people who star in such programmes are almost invariably eccentric exhibitionists. "The Truman Show" takes the central concept of reality TV shows one stage further in order to overcome this flaw: what would happen if we made a reality programme about a person who has absolutely no idea that he is appearing on television? Truman Burbank is an insurance executive, living in a small American seaside town called Seahaven, and happily married to a nurse named Meryl. Or at least he thinks he is. What Truman doesn't know is that he is the central character in a soap opera and that his whole life is a fiction. The company he works for does not exist. Seahaven, the island it stands on and the surrounding ocean are all part of a gigantic set, specially created for the programme and sealed off from the outside world in a gigantic geodesic dome. Everyone in Truman's life- Meryl, his mother, his colleagues at work, his best friend Marlon- are actors playing out their roles in his drama.
For thirty years Truman has accepted his world unquestioningly, but at the beginning of the film a series of incidents- a light falling from the sky, the reappearance of his father, who was supposed to have drowned in a boating accident when Truman was a boy, strange messages picked up on his car radio- awaken his doubts. Although members of the cast make strenuous attempts to dissuade him, he decides to try and explore the world outside Seahaven; in particular he wants to travel to Fiji where he has been told that his former girlfriend Sylvia now lives. (Sylvia was written out of the show when the scriptwriters decided that he should marry Meryl instead).
The film has certain similarities with another film from the late nineties, "Pleasantville", which dealt with an inverted version of the same idea; two teenagers from the real world are magically transported into the world of a fifties television show. In my view, however, "The Truman Show" is the better of the two. "Pleasantville" deals with its political themes in a heavy-handed way with some very obvious symbolism. "The Truman Show", although it deals with some weighty issues, is never ponderous or excessively serious; indeed, it is often very humorous. The main source of humour is the contrast between the naïve, trusting Truman and the behaviour of those around him, all living a lie and desperately trying to prevent Truman from finding out that it is a lie. I had previously thought of Jim Carrey as a rather annoying actor whose appeal was based upon the idea that manic overacting is in itself funny, but here as Truman he is very good indeed, both amusing and touching. I was also impressed by Ed Harris as Christof, the show's enigmatic producer.
Another factor in the success of the film is its visual look. Seahaven (like the town in "Pleasantville") appears as an eerily perfect, not-quite-real version of the typical American small town, but was actually filmed in a real place, the purpose-built village of Seaside, Florida. There are similarities with the cult British sixties television series "The Prisoner", which was also filmed in an eerily perfect seaside village, Portmeirion in North Wales.
The film is obviously a satire on the intrusiveness and obsession with celebrity of the modern media; added relevance was given by the fact that it came out shortly after the death of Princess Diana. There is, however, more to it than that. Much has been made of the film as religious allegory; it has been pointed out that Christof whose name is clearly, and quite deliberately, similar to "Christ", is a God-figure, whereas Truman (the "True Man") is a symbolic Everyman. It has even been claimed that the film is an anti-religious allegory, with Truman's final escape from Seahaven symbolic of man's need to break away from outdated religious dogmas. This is not an interpretation with which I would agree- if one is trying to put across a "God is dead" message, it seems odd to provide a God-figure who is very much real, not mythical or illusory. The imagery of the final scenes the calm after the storm, the ascent up a flight of stairs into the sky and clouds- also struck me as religious rather than secular. Moreover, the film seems too complex to be reduced to any single allegorical meaning, although it certainly deals with the relationship between man and God. It also touches on man's need to explore- both to explore new places and also to explore new ideas and to break away from established ways of life and ways of thought- and on the nature of reality. Truman's world may seem unreal to us, but as Christof says, "we accept the reality we are presented with".
This is a brilliant, multi-layered film, part comedy, part satire, part philosophical speculation, and in my view one of the two best movies of the late nineties. (The other was "American Beauty"). I felt it should have taken the "Best Picture" Oscar for 1999- "Shakespeare in Love" is a good film, but "The Truman Show" is a great one. It confirms my view that Peter Weir is one of the best directors currently working. 10//10 -
One of the most creative films ever conceived, let alone made and executed- The Truman Show is on all fronts an absolutely perfect film- and will stand the test of time as an absolute classic. On every singular level this film works astoundly- jim Carrey provides a pitch perfect performance as our titular star Truman Burbank- in an incredible casting decision that I am sure turned a lot of heads at the time. Yes we see some of that classic Carrey throughout the film- but the man can act, and never before had it been brought to such attention as it had with this film- and he captures his role perfectly. The other actors do an excellent job as well, namely Ed Harris and Natascha McElhone- as well as Laura Linney and Noah Emmerich. The direction is fantastic, and much needed for the creative vision of the film at hand. The script is not only well done, but incredibly thought provoking, original, and brilliantly put into flm format. The music is fantastic, letting us feel so much emotion from such simple and classic pieces of work. The pacing is excellent, and the film leaves you with a smile and you wanting more- as I think any good film should. In the end, I have absolutely no complaints about The Truman Show. I've seen it more times than I can count, and it's easily one of my favorite films out there. Its a creative masterpiece that is unlike anything we would ever see today, or anything before it. It may be 20 years old, but The Truman Show may just be one of the most brilliant and influential films ever made.
My Rating: 10/10. -
planktonrules16 February 2014I have never liked Jim Carey's humor. I have found it to very broad and boorish. However, I was very happy that I saw "The Truman Show" and am surprised I did considering my feelings about his earlier 'comedies'. Thankfully, Carey showed he could act and NOT ham it up--a tribute to his native talents as well as the director and writer. With a weak director, Carey might have begun to seek laughs in 1001 crazy ways. Here, however, it's straight and quite endearing. I could talk about the plot, but there are already a bazillion reviews for this one. The bottom line is that don't assume because you don't like "Dumb and Dumber" or "Ace Ventura" you won't love this film. And, I really loved "The Truman Show" and think it's a lovely film with a lot of heart and an awful lot of imagination.
By the way, I would say the same things about Will Farrell and Adam Sandler. Despite disliking some of there very broad films, there serious films (such as "Reign Over Me" or "Stranger Than Fiction") are exceptional. Additionally, I gotta admit that I did enjoy a few of their 'stupid' films such as "Water Boy" and "Talladega Nights". So don't assume that just because you may not like a few of their films means they all are not your cup of tea. -
gavin694218 December 2014An insurance salesman/adjuster (Jim Carrey) discovers his entire life is actually a T.V. show.
This movie has been brought to ethics and philosophy classes and used as a tool for discussion. Unfortunately it was never used in any class I took (despite being a philosophy major), but I guess we cannot all get that experience.
So much to ponder: was it right to treat Truman this way? Was the television executive playing God? If the wife (Laura Linney) was only in it as part of a contract and not because she genuinely cared for Truman, what does that make her? And what if this really happened? Would people watch it or rebel? -
kingoham515 December 1999When I first saw 'The Truman Show' I came out of the theatre amazed. This is your first clue that you are watching something different from your normal Jim Carrey movie. I love the dialogue, camera shot, performances, direction, music, and running time of this movie. There is nothing I would do to change it. I came away from 'The Truman Show' feeling inspired which is the goal of good filmmaking Jim Carrey was outstanding as Truman, underplaying him, not making him too comic or too dramatic, but giving true sincerity when asked. He deserved an Oscar nomination. Ed Harris has always been a good actor, but in this movie he's a great actor. He plays Christof with such arrogance and bullheadedness that you don't know whether he's helping or destroying Truman. He and the director, Peter Weir, deserved their Oscar nods.
Weir, who directed the great 'Witness', uses different camera angles to make you feel like you're actually watching 'The Truman Show' and not a movie. He ends it before you get tired of the concept and helped Carrey and Harris give immaculate performances. Andrew Niccol script is a real star in the movie too because of it's inventiveness and ingenuity. Overall, 'The Truman Show' is what I like to call a true American classic. -
As a satire this movie was decent, as a movie for pure entertainment purposes it had a weak plot and no real climax point. There were many places where satire was seen in this movie. The first satirical element we saw was irony when Truman agreed to take part in a job that he needed to take the ferry to get to, except he was prepared to go and then he did the exact opposite, walk off the pier and not go. This was a good example of dramatic irony. I think that the target of this satire is reality television. There are many similarities between the Truman Show and reality television such as, both give others insight on people's' lives through television and both are a little too invasive in the stars' life, especially the Truman Show because the people can watch Truman for 24 hours if they'd like to. Because the target of this satire is reality television it could be said that the Truman Show is merely an inflation of reality TV to show people the problems that are present in reality TV. The Truman show shows Truman as a baby and you get to see him grow up, most have been watching him his whole life, and in reality TV when there are child stars, like Kendall and Kylie Jenner (who have been on reality TV from a young age), the audience watches them grow up as well, the Truman Show just takes it to the extreme. Reality TV and the Truman show are also similar in the fact that they don't want the stars to leave, so they create obstacles. In reality TV the obstacle that most stars face when trying to get out of the limelight is media backlash/loss of fame. Both of these things can be very hard to face, that's why the star will continue to be a star and make their boss company money. The obstacle for Truman is that he is terrified of water. This fear was instilled in him by the producers of his show, made so that even if he wanted to leave he would be too scared because Seahaven is surrounded by water.
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kmzwc15 February 2023I think the movie is great for an evening with the kids and the husband or the wife.
The film is about a man whose name is Truman as you may have guessed from the title. His hole live is televised and all the people around him are actors, but he doesn't know about that. It all started with an relatively old man, who decided to adopt him and show his hole live on TV.
I quite like the story, even if it is a little bit absurd, but the ending is a little bit predictable, what makes it a little bit boring to watch.
After all, if you like funny and weird film or you just want to laugh a little bit, it surly is a great way of entertainment. -
daveisit10 July 2005"The Truman Show" owes a lot to the direction of Peter Weir. Weir refuses to pump out the movies in a search for extra dollars. Instead he chooses wisely and directs brilliantly. Just by looking at a list of his movies will surprise and even amaze you. So as you would imagine "The Truman Show" is another success.
Truman Burbank has the perfect life, or so he thought until finally his life long suspicions about his world begin to unravel. Even though the idea for Truman is not totally original, it is thought provoking enough and allows the audience to wonder, what if? If you think this couldn't happen, just look back over the years at the stupidity of the human race and think again.
Jim Carrey once again nails his role, as do the entire cast. It is rare he fails to perform at a level that perfectly complements the movie and its genre. This is something he does not receive enough credit for. Acting for a comical role or a more dramatic role requires no less effort for the performance to be spot on. -
Valdemort1 December 2006I loved this movie. Everything about it. It is one you just want to watch over and over again. Jim Carey, as usually, played an amazing role. He made you think you were him, as the whole movie did. Watch it... its a must.
Imagine being captivated all your life in a show, without knowing. Your neighbors, your family, your loved ones... everyone you ever knew were just actors, pretending to be people they are not. Well Truman Burbank not only imagined it, but also lived it. This is a hilarious movie, that will catch you from the first minute you watch it. Just be aware... once you start watching it, it will be difficult to stop. I rate this movie 5/5, with no negative comments. -
"The Truman Show" is a rarity in Hollywood - or movies in general - a film that actually makes the audience think, and is about ideas. How do we know what we see is real? Why do we accept what is around us without questioning it? What would happen if we found out that a fundamental we were making about the world turned out to be completely wrong? You'd think a movie that was about those things would be a chore to get through, but in fact "The Truman Show" is great fun. I certainly wouldn't call it a comedy (although there are a few light moments here and there), but it's not too heavy and goes down easy.
It might sound like exaggeration, but the scene where Truman first starts to realize what's going on is one of the best scenes I've seen in any movie, because of Carrey's acting, the direction, and also because of the Philip Glass soundtrack (which was critical to making that scene work).
If you haven't seen The Truman Show, do yourself a favor and check it out. -
bombersflyup8 June 2021The Truman Show is an engrossing masterpiece. Carrey almost in a role as if it were created for him.
The viewer and the show audience all root for Truman's triumph, as his aspirations are thwarted time and again. The premise brilliantly creative, though criminal. Likely spawning a lot of the reality tv to follow, which doesn't work as knowing makes it entirely unreal. Quality musical cues and Harris and others good as well. "We accept the world with which we are presented" is a great line to ponder, as change may be rejected within one's lifetime, but automatically accepted among newborn. -
kiradykesky31 March 2020The script is very creative, doubting that this is not a movie at all, but a complete realization at the end of life; to the so-called real world, although there are lies and hurt, but cruel truth is always better than false content; The mediocre person never notices.
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It's not often a Hollywood film arrives with such lofty ambitions as this. On one hand this is a high concept comedy in the vein of "Groundhog Day" about an unwitting man whose entire life has been a TV show. This is also a Jim Carrey vehicle designed to display his charms. On the other hand this a very satirical look at the way the media manipulates our reality. The film also wants to take a philosophical look at free will vs. a higher power and reality vs. fantasy. It doesn't always work as the satire often keeps you from thinking too deeply about the underlying themes and the philosophical stuff keeps the satire from biting as well as it could. Credit engaging performances and solid and thoughtful direction from Weir for keeping things afloat and entertaining. There are some great cinematic moments here. I loved the "stolen kiss on the beach at night" and "Cue the sun!"
In the end this film is closer in spirit to psychological dramas and sci-fi movies where a person suddenly realizes they are the pawn in some grand experiment or a prisoner in an alien world than it is to anything in our current "reality TV" obsessed culture. Eventually it touches on a very basic conflict all humans must face (most people do so in childhood, some I fear never do). The universe does not revolve around us. In the closing moments we are excited for Truman because he finally realizes there is a whole new world out there to explore, but also slightly saddened because we know all to well that he will never be able to return to that idyllic "childhood" existence. How's it going to end? Who knows...but things will never be the same. -
J.Bond8 August 1998Although it sometimes seems that Hollywood is catering to the lowest common denominator of everything, The Truman Show is proof that there are great ideas that are able to be turned into great movies. Jim Carrey plays an excellent role as a man with whom you can emphasize as well as be entertained by. The film's surrealistic nature is frightening when the viewer realizes the legal feasibility in today's society, and it offers a great message about who or what we assume God to be and how He (he?) would react to our personal drives for discovery to challenge a world we treat as an aquarium. Some things to note and ponder: The way the real-life viewers ignore the real lives of their compatriots and customers while focusing on a false life on screen; whose life is more real and whose is worth living? Also, note that Christof does not have his name listed among the "real world" in the credits, but in "Christof's World." His high-profile media-driven life is no different from Truman's!
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Wampa_one19 October 2022Which is 8.2 as I write this comment. Rarely I find movies nowadays, which deserves watching and this movie does.
For the first 30 mins I was a bit bored, didn't gave attention what's happening, but more and more it started to catch my focus. I tought it's a psycho thriller movie, where the main character cannot decide if he is in reality or in a conceptual show.
The story slowly unfolds and we got certification, that Truman is in a made up reality show, where he is the main character and everything around him is a commercial, product.
But only a blink of an eye decides the fate of the story, which is hearthwarming.
Can only recommend. -
macpherr1 February 1999When I was a young adult on the search for my true self, religion and God; I found myself reading all kinds of books such as: Demian, Sidarta, Brave New World, 1984, the works of Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Bolvoir. The world of Truman Burbank certainly took me back to those days. I used to look at myself in the mirror and say out loud: "I wonder if I am me? I wonder if everybody thinks the same shade of red when I say red? Why was I born? Why are my parents my parents? Why did God create the world? Will I get punished by God for thinking all these things?" This is a deep movie, bound to become an art film. Jim Carey did such a superb job that it earned him a Golden Globe Award. This is definitely an Oscar contender. It made me think! What a suprise! Movies do not make me think very often. They are predictable to me now. Could it be age?
When the lady comes on the bike with the basket, then the dog and then the yellow Volkswagen it reminded me of how repetitive life seems at times, when we think that nothing is going to change and we want changes. The Director was like God, the creator, although at times he was a mean guy, I think that all of us have questioned God and have been angry at him. Truman's world seemed so "perfect", no messy hair, no trash. Just phony! Our world seems much like that, everything is a matter of perception.
The audience that watched the Truman Show in the movie was a hedonistic audience of consumers who wanted to be entertained no matter what the cost to Truman, reminded me of the soaps, of the Paparazzi, of how we like to know about the celebrities, and ultimatly of how the product could be the death of someone such as Princess Diana, or Truman Burbank.
Purchase the video and watch it many times and many other symbols will come to mind. Like Jim Carey stated while he received the Golden Globe that he would enjoy it down to the crunchy chewy part. -
ashleysudmann10 September 2017In the Truman Show, we follow the life of Truman, someone who was adopted by a film corporation at birth and lives as the focus of the most famous reality TV show, without even knowing it. This show is on 24/7, following every little detail of Truman's life. His little town is all he knows, and for years, he is okay with it. Since he is the star of the show, he is the center of attention of the town. Eventually this fact sticks out to him; Truman starts to figure out that something isn't right and decides to do something about it. He tries to escape, but he encounters many obstacles keeping him on the TV show's island. This movie inflates the idea of how far we will go for our own pleasure. In the movie, the whole world knows about the TV show, that the main actor is being watched 24/7 without knowing it, and that his life is being controlled by the cast and directors, yet they do nothing about it. In fact, they don't want to do anything about it; they enjoy it. Truman has no privacy, but no one seems to care; it must be alright since they are getting entertainment out of it, right? The movie also uses irony to convince the audience of flaws in our society. When Truman is struggling in his life, he turns to his "best friend" who talks to him using the director's words spoken to him over his earpiece. One of the most ironic line in the movie, in my opinion, was when Truman's best friend turns to him during a serious conversation and says, "The last thing I would ever do is lie to you,". This is ironic, because of course as he says this, he is lying. He is trying to convince Truman that he is just thinking crazy thoughts and everything is normal, when he actually knows that the whole world is watching is life play out. The Truman Show really makes us reflect on our lives; how far do we go for our own pleasure? It uses many satirical elements to convince us of this flaw. At first, while watching the movie, we find it crazy and over-the-top at this world's crazy idea of reality TV. When we stop and think about it, it makes us wonder how far-fetched it really is.
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JUuttu22 September 1999When the movie started I hoped I'd see a movie that utilized the potentiality of what this kind of plot has: Finding that your whole life was one big lie - and the emotional crisis that follows it. Alas, that was not to follow - I hoped the movie would go on from the point Truman successfully escaped the place, but instead the movie ended.
I was dismayed that the director didn't realise what great potentiality the movie would had if we could see the emotions Truman would go thru when he finds the Real World(Tm). One would go insane from going from a safe haven to a more unfriendlier and tough world, which would be very interesting to see - and give the movie a much more emotional edge! Which is a shame, because at its current form it does not live up to the hype it had back then.