Rooms on Film: The Adjustment Bureau

I don't know what is going on with Matt Damon right now, but he keeps doing movies that make me kinda love him. Not he's-so-hot-infatuated love. No, I'm talking old school Andrew McCarthy-he's-so-sweet-love. To wit, a charming little movie called The Adjustment Bureau which has been all over HBO lately. 

matt damon and emily blunt

Basically, star-crossed lovers go to the mat to fight the agents of fate that would keep them apart. Not since Mulder & Scully have two people fought so hard against the shadowy powers that be. Even as the potential romance of David and Elise is continually thwarted, the story takes time to stop by a typically quirky New York City apartment. Modern ballet dancer Elise's two-room studio exhibits that mix of creativity and functional make-do.

It has those three crucial aspects: color, texture and pattern. Earth tones paired with brighter shades. Blue as the base color on the walls, then the layering of warm terracotta and mustard textiles. And you recognize some of the typical NYC retailers: Pier 1, IKEA, CB2. And that little bit of ruffled flange to keep it feminine: 

source: setdecorators.org   photo credit: andrew d. schwartz

The filmed version is slightly different in the accessories. We never get as full a view as in the photos above. Mostly just the bed and part of the kitchen. By the amount of seating around the bed, it's pretty clear there is no livingroom. It's easy to imagine this as what's known as an "in and out" apartment, despite it's size. That phrase is a real estate hook for apartments so small you couldn't stand to be there. It's meant to real in tenants who will only come home long enough to sleep, shower and change clothes. If Elise were home more, one imagines she'd get a love seat or sofa instead of that (lovely) settee. 

But it's a fake person's fake apartment, so we're free to imagine...

the kantha cloth headboard makes the bed

It's a shame they don't show more of the apartment in the actual film. It looks like a really cool set. I'm guessing it was filmed in an actual apartment. The kitchen cabinets look amazing. Prewar, glass-front, very high and built in; features that are always in demand. 

Still, it's a light and fun movie and you really root for the couple to make it. Long live true love and free will!

isn't emily blunt a dead ringer for rory gilmore?

alexis bledel as rory gilmore in the gilmore girls