"No man is an island." A good summary of my last post, and a key theme of our movie for today. "About A Boy" is the story of Will, an enthusiastically shallow bachelor who pretends to have a toddler in order to meet "fabulous, sexy, gorgeous single mums." Instead, he meets Marcus, a boy so weird that even the computer nerds don't want to be his friends. Will decides to mentor Marcus in "the art of being cool," but ultimately it is Marcus who teaches Will that "you're never too old to grow up."
Will's defining moment comes after his scheme has predictably crashed and burned, and he is facing some uncomfortable realizations. "All in all, I had a very full life. It's just that, it didn't mean anything." I imagine we can all relate to his statement. It is so easy to be overwhelmed by the stuff and chatter of modern life. It is so very tempting to ignore the depth of human interconnectedness. "About A Boy" reminds us that the meaning of life can only be found through our relationships.