This film starts off slow, and given that I always keep a large handful of unseen films around at one time, I had completely forgotten what to expect from it which was all the more to my benefit, but bit by bit, there becomes more and more elements to examine, and about halfway through, you realize it's not a drama of inner turmoil about coping with a lost loved one, and that it's a very elaborate action mystery film, all unfolding at such a tepid and sequential pace, which makes it clear as to why it did not appeal to many Mystery fans. It also doesn't appeal to a lot of fans of hard hitting real life drama, as it doesn't really examine the characters with any depth. The closest it comes to that, is by explaining how the doctor and his wife were friends since childhood, and how they never cheated, thus providing a relative cop-out of "oh look, its true love at it's best"
In the end I came away from the film unconvinced either way in regards to the plot cohesiveness, and to whether it was overall trite and contrived, or poignant and well crafted, so I decided to check out some of the negative reviews to see if they could sway me, and in the end... not really. Most of the criticisms from people show they are just as undecided as I, and deal simply with PROBABILITY factors and not much else in an attempt to make sense out of a story which remained unconvincing to some viewers merely because it does not FIT into what we would consider ideal of any one genre, be it action, mystery, or drama, and in terms of the plot twists and turns unlike in most mystery films, nothing really SCREAMS in your face as being downright moronic or impossible, thus it is difficult to find a worthy culprit.
In reality this movie presents truly one of the most cohesive forms of a Mystery movie I have seen, and where most of the criticisms focus on "what would the characters realistically do or not do" and explain certain actions and motivations as being stupid or nonsensical, in reality you CANNOT over estimate the stupidness of any human being in a traumatic situation. The doctor fleeing from arrest seemed stupid and reckless, and a bit of an excuse to package some high intensity action into this otherwise slow moving film, but is it beyond belief? No. The fact that a street thug and his gang were so willing to help the fugitive doctor at great risk to themselves, and were faced with police just as the doctor arrived on their turf; coincidental? Foolish? Unlucky? Yes, but not impossible and not unbelievable. Personally my biggest problem which surprisingly no one else brought light on so far, was how the police would illegally break into the doctors place and search his apartment ONLY because he was the one last seen with the murdered photographer. That doesn't even amount to circumstantial evidence against him since they didn't even bother to first question him as to whether he had an alibi which in fact he DID.
The entire complex plot was in the end revealed during the last 10 minutes of the film, and like the doctors father in law, you might want a shot of strong alcohol while hearing it out. It is really a LOT of probabilities, motivations, and facts to sift through, but I will tell you in the end you can criticize the BELIEVABILITY of all of it, but it really does all hold out, and none of it is a direct slap in the face of logic, and another important little twist to keep track of if you will, is that the film clearly allows you to realize, what the father in law SAYS is not necessarily the truth, and thus everything he presents, in itself is self serving to him, and very open ended to ones imagination.
The end result is one both as straight forward as you'd expect, yet underwhelming given the overall buildup and complexity, and in the end since we weren't really given much character depth, many of us can not help to be unconvinced and undecided, and seeking for answers and justification for our overall dissatisfaction with a film that required so much of our attention. To me this is a film that simply is what it is. Truly this type of film is a very difficult one to direct, and I remain fully undecided as to whether it is a good or worthwhile film, but any value is does have is how it is one of the few mystery movies out there who's plot twists do not scream in your face as being stupid or impossible.
In the end I came away from the film unconvinced either way in regards to the plot cohesiveness, and to whether it was overall trite and contrived, or poignant and well crafted, so I decided to check out some of the negative reviews to see if they could sway me, and in the end... not really. Most of the criticisms from people show they are just as undecided as I, and deal simply with PROBABILITY factors and not much else in an attempt to make sense out of a story which remained unconvincing to some viewers merely because it does not FIT into what we would consider ideal of any one genre, be it action, mystery, or drama, and in terms of the plot twists and turns unlike in most mystery films, nothing really SCREAMS in your face as being downright moronic or impossible, thus it is difficult to find a worthy culprit.
In reality this movie presents truly one of the most cohesive forms of a Mystery movie I have seen, and where most of the criticisms focus on "what would the characters realistically do or not do" and explain certain actions and motivations as being stupid or nonsensical, in reality you CANNOT over estimate the stupidness of any human being in a traumatic situation. The doctor fleeing from arrest seemed stupid and reckless, and a bit of an excuse to package some high intensity action into this otherwise slow moving film, but is it beyond belief? No. The fact that a street thug and his gang were so willing to help the fugitive doctor at great risk to themselves, and were faced with police just as the doctor arrived on their turf; coincidental? Foolish? Unlucky? Yes, but not impossible and not unbelievable. Personally my biggest problem which surprisingly no one else brought light on so far, was how the police would illegally break into the doctors place and search his apartment ONLY because he was the one last seen with the murdered photographer. That doesn't even amount to circumstantial evidence against him since they didn't even bother to first question him as to whether he had an alibi which in fact he DID.
The entire complex plot was in the end revealed during the last 10 minutes of the film, and like the doctors father in law, you might want a shot of strong alcohol while hearing it out. It is really a LOT of probabilities, motivations, and facts to sift through, but I will tell you in the end you can criticize the BELIEVABILITY of all of it, but it really does all hold out, and none of it is a direct slap in the face of logic, and another important little twist to keep track of if you will, is that the film clearly allows you to realize, what the father in law SAYS is not necessarily the truth, and thus everything he presents, in itself is self serving to him, and very open ended to ones imagination.
The end result is one both as straight forward as you'd expect, yet underwhelming given the overall buildup and complexity, and in the end since we weren't really given much character depth, many of us can not help to be unconvinced and undecided, and seeking for answers and justification for our overall dissatisfaction with a film that required so much of our attention. To me this is a film that simply is what it is. Truly this type of film is a very difficult one to direct, and I remain fully undecided as to whether it is a good or worthwhile film, but any value is does have is how it is one of the few mystery movies out there who's plot twists do not scream in your face as being stupid or impossible.