The notebook story of an elderly lady’s life is being read to her, by her elderly partner in the hope that she will remember and conquer her dementia. Dementia is un-reverseable. The story of the notebook, Noah (Ryan Gosling) and Alley (Rachel Mcadams) fall in love over a summer, however he is a country boy, and she is a very rich city girl.
A sort of cliche inside a cliche story, done moderately well. I was extremely keen on the inside story (the notebook), rather than the outside wrapper of Noah overcoming Alley’s old age. This is in no way a spoiler, it is made quite clear in the first 30 minutes the two elderly’s are Noah and Alley, it does not try to patronise you with a surprise gotchya.
Ryan Gosling a country boy, who works on a lumber made you really feel for him; from asking her to a date to all of his downtimes. His dream is to get the run down house nearby in sea brook, do it up, and then Alley can paint and drink tea on the porch. Rachel McAdams was brilliant in fighting off her parents and was rather good at kissing….there is a lot of kissing! I could not imagine Alley and Noah played by anyone else!
I would have probably enjoyed it more, without the wrapper story of Noah and Alley in their age, however there would be no use for a notebook. It was slightly ambitious having two cliches, upper class loves lower class, and my love life forgetting our story. I did eventually have feelings for the wrapper story but it was a little too late. All of the cinematography was quite amazing, flapping birds in slow-motion and moon shining on the water. Incomparable to the English Patient.
IMDB The Notebook
Movie critic 