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Movie Review: “Lovely by Surprise” Has Many Surprising Acts

Published on: 7th July, 2009

Lovely by Surprise

Movie Review: “Lovely by Surprise” Has Many Surprising Acts by Perry S. Chen

Four out of five starfish

(Unrated, DVD released nationwide July 7, 2009)
Have you ever wondered how an author writes a book? A young writer named Marian Walker is ready to try it out! Soon she finds out, after taking dead wrong advice from her mentor, that her book wasn’t just a story…
Marian accidentally unleashes the plump and somewhat immature Humpkin (one of the two main characters in her first book “The Neverything”) into the missing pieces of her tragic childhood. Once Humpkin escapes, things start getting hectic!
In this breathtaking but elusive award-winning movie, my favorite characters are Marian and Bob (Her late father). Marian is insightful, determined, and beautiful. As a writer myself, I also experience writer’s block. To clear my mind, I usually go outside to my garden and watch the swallows scoot and dance in the air. Other times, I go on walks with my mom to the neighborhood park, and discuss about my writing. Then I resume to my writing feeling refreshed.
Bob is a devoted father who tried everything to connect with his daughter Mimi who stopped talking after a family tragedy. Bob was loyal, kind, struggling to get his life on track. I cried when Bob told Mimi “I love you” when she locked herself in her room.
I noticed that Marian might be chasing her childhood because Mimi’s first name is Marian! When Marian was phoning her dad, she was dragging the phone wire around, unplugged from the phone jack. I also noticed that when Humpkin went into Bob’s house, Humpkin brought father and daughter closer to each other. But I don’t get why a man would leave his 6-year-old daughter to a homeless man he found by the side of the road?
I give this movie 4 starfish, because I don’t get the two brothers, the heroes of Marian’s book. What did life mean for them? Who are they? They seem to exist only because Marian wrote about them. I don’t fully understand that.

The movie is about fatherhood, connection, love, the creative process, and hot dogs with “melish!”
A book is more than a story. It is a world in itself…