Review - Sweet November

‘You can be my November’ ~ Sara Deever


Sweet November is one of the movies I missed back in 2001. So when I got the full movie, I wasn’t sure on what it was, except a love story. The reviews I remembered, washed it off as a below average soppy flick.

Keanu Reeves & Charlize Theron … probably the most interesting combinations … played the roles of an over-workaholic advertising executive & a free spirit. Nelson (Reeves) is the egotistical guy whose work is everything, it’s beyond his life and has this overbearing mentality that with power & money, he can steamroll over everything in his sight & has absolute disregard for social norms and see them as interferences in his life. But not everyone can be bought or steamrolled over.

Theron’s Sara must be one of the most interesting free spirits I’ve come across in fiction … and perhaps the term spiritual missionary who takes up ‘lost souls’ from time to time trying to break their problems. She dedicates a month to each ‘project’ before moving on to her next one.

Naturally, the work & career freak Nelson crashed into her life and she immediately decides that he’s her next project.

Now, there’s no mega breakthroughs in storyline and no crazy chases. It’s mostly about reconstructing the mind of a guy twisted by his chase for corporate success & he has reached the extreme, the point of no return & absolute bartering of everything for his obsession with work. Yes it’s aptly named Sweet November because it’s sweet, it’s November and it’s an indie-style love chapter, but no epic.

I liked this movie for several reasons, partly because I relate to Nelson’s character as the career chasing maniac and while I am in touch with my inner self & past, the drive for career success has pulled me quite hard. And I need a ‘Sara’ to save me.

This movie is good for you young managers who’ve reached a stage where you wonder where your life is leading. Especially when you’ve sold your soul to work. These are times when we should let go when a ‘Sara’ comes into your lives, probably the angel has arrived.

Note: The ending was kind of surreal to me. Not sure how to describe what I think.