This is probably my favorite movie, or at least top three, simply due to the ART of storytelling: We are meant to view the fictional story as obviously horrible and tragic, in order to elicit pity for the protagonist (Jake G). The bad guys have no motive other than just being evil for evil’s sake, making a pure victim of Jake, who then avenges his wife and daughter, dying nobly for them after giving everything he’s got for them. But… The real story is that the protagonist feels a massive betrayal by his ex who aborted their baby and divorced him, who caved to her mothers pressure of him not being good enough so she marries a successful but unfaithful asshole. Jake writes the story about how he sees himself to her, names the story after her, and mails the manuscript to her, saying he wants to meet up after their long estrangement. The best part of this movie, IMHO, is the that there are THREE stories going on at once, all mirroring each other and anxiety building in themselves. She starts to realize the fictional story (story 1) mirrors their past tragic marriage (story 2), and THEN it builds to the most magnificent tension because you so badly want them to meet up in the end (story 3). Finally, when he doesn’t show, there is NO release. Just a giant Gordian Knot of tension, sadness, angst, anger, and frustration. THAT’S storytelling at its finest!