Truth, Honesty, or Somewhere in Between (A Review of Laurel Canyon)

Note: This film review was written some time ago and is not polished. However, I intended for this to appear in a space something like this, so here goes nothing :).

Long, long ago in a time not too far away the ideals of the true, the good, and the beautiful were equal and thought worth attaining. That world has past us by this century. Laurel Canyon tries to deal with the moral morass that exists in a world where the true, good, and beautiful are no longer equal or ideal. Who is the most true? Who is the most honest? Is there an honest truth? If so, who embodies it?

Frances MacDormand portrays an LA-based record producer whose long-standingrepuration for music and short-term affairs is well-known. The story is engaged with Sam decides to move out to California with his fiancee from Connecticut - a high-society girl. Both PhDs. To live in his mother's home in Laurel Canyon. The moral questions of truth/honesty begin from the start as Sam and his fiancee are in the car. Same is obviously ashamed of his mother and her life. Obvious he's trying to be someone that he isn't; trying to embody a lifestyle that negates what he sees as chaos. Yet, the girl falls into that world and it opens her up. Same finds himself also tempted to "open up" with a second year resident at the hospital (Sara). is he honest about his commitment to his fiancee? Is his fiancee (Kate) honest about her commitment? Is she truthful about her identity - an ivory tower PhD Eastern way of living? is honesty really the best policy?

In the end, there is time for confession. Kate messes up in a way that "she's not been allowed to" before. Sam messes up in his attraction for Sara. Sam's mother admits she messed up. In the end, we find a tempered place somewhere between truth and honesty where all these can begin to forge a greater honestly that arises in their relationships as they now know themselves more honestly and hopefully are on the road to a greater understanding of truth.

So, while good, truth and beauty may be murky in the postmodern world, they are still navigable somewhere beyond the point of pure desire. But having lost these moral satellites, such navigation becomes an ever increasingly difficult matter. That reality is exposed in the final scene of the film as Sam, being offered a chance with Sara sinks into the pool and the credits roll. Where is truth? What is honesty? And where is life lived? In Laurel Canyon, the Kantian is and ought are not split, but passion drives the is and the ought, and the classical virtues are called into serious question.