#88 - The Secret Lives of Dentists

From foreign art house movies, we transition into independent films. When I made comments about art movies can only be art if they are foreign, that wasn't completely true. It's high art that is foreign dramas. The regular art, which is all we could possibly hope to produce in America, is available in the form of indie films. You see, there are obvious layers of art, and along with them come layers of pretentious people who are their champions. Therefore, my thick sarcasm. But as you come down from on high, things become more tolerable. What I am saying is that I like indie movies. I think that they are the source of some of the most imaginative and innovative work being done. But people can be just as snobbish about their indies as others can be about their art house flicks. Now that I sound like a broken record, which is probably more annoying than the people I am blabbering about, I think it's best that I talk about the movie I watched, especially since it's a good one.

I thought about why the creators of this movie chose dentists to show the secret lives of. I'll get more into it later, but the movie isn't about dentists specifically. Instead, it's a story about what may be happening to these people outside of the their office. Given that, I felt that it could have been any kind of medical doctor. The Secret Lives of Pediatricians. The Secret Lives of General Practitioners. The Secret Lives of Anesthesiologists. You get the point. For me the idea of a doctor as being the cheerful person you go see when you have problems and don't really know much about them beyond that is something that works regardless of what type of medicine they practice. But as I thought about it a little more, the relationship one has with a dentist is a unique one. You sit there with your mouth open, unable to talk while your dentist is picking and scratching away at your mouth. And yet you are able to maintain a conversation about whatever comes up. Also, if all goes well, you see your dentist more often then other doctors, and when you do, they are right in your face. It's a pretty personal, face to face relationship, yet you know very little about them beyond the moments you are in the chair, which is a pretty comfy chair. So, I think the choice of dentist is quite an interesting one.

But as I said, this isn't about what we know of our dentists. The main characters in this movie are a married couple and are both dentists that share an office. This adds an interesting dynamic because the story is about what happens as their marriage falls apart. This is a warning because a lot of the movie deals with the husband and his assumptions about his wife's infidelity. It's pretty brutal to watch at times because the signs are right there, yet he doesn't ask because he's afraid of what would have to happen if it were true. But here's the thing, this has some elements of a dark comedy, which make it that much better. Dennis Leary plays a patient that has some dental work that goes bad, so he confronts him about it in the ways that only Dennis Leary can. But after that, Leary becomes the devil on the shoulder of the guy as he tries to ignore the signs and keep his family together. It's great to watch Leary try to get this guy to just take a stand and lash out, while the guy attempts to maintain his mild mannered ways. It's a fascinating movie. Serious moments, humorous moments, and even some moments of delerium all add up to a pretty interesting and entertaining slice of life/character study sort of thing with a quirky little tweak to it. I recommend that everybody take a look at it, unless the infidelity issues would hit a little too close to home because some of those moments are pretty brutal to watch.