Stillwater

This is a deeply engaging film. The plot and the characters draw you in. Matt Damon is very good in this. I enjoyed it a lot.

Amazing story of a father, going to France to visit with his daughter, who has been (he believes) wrongly imprisoned for killing a friend. Staggeringly good acting by Matt Damon, playing against type, as the inarticulate, poorly educated, blue-collar worker, out of his depth in a foreign country, but committed to helping his daughter, regardless.

Shows just how alien France can seem to a non-French-speaking American, not understanding the culture or the issues. Beautifully dramatised, with grit and heart, inching forward to a final denouement. Don't miss the final line of dialogue from Matt... it completely reveals his journey. Delightful acting from the french actress who becomes his friend, and her daughter Maya, who brings out his genuinely caring side.

Although it's a little slow at times, I found it deeply satisfying - another tour-de-force from Tom McCarthy.

It certainly suffers a great deal from a lack of focus; there is a LOT going on here for Damon's character. But the nuanced portrayal of its themes and the incredible execution of the story's tragic events make this an incredibly investing drama.

Just know that you're not going in for a crime thriller and you'll find a great deal to love in this complex drama.

Matt Damon is excellent and thoroughly convincing as Bill, an unpolished roughneck from Stillwater, Oklahoma. Essentially, this is a fish out of water story, when he finds himself on a prolonged stay in Marseille in southern France, trying to prove his daughter innocent of the murder of her girlfriend. This, right here, is the movie's weakest link: Abigail Breslin is completely unsympathetic as the daughter Allison. When you should be rooting for our hero to succeed in his mission, you really don't care one little bit whether she rots in prison or not. Conversely, Bill's relationship with local woman Virginie and her adorable daughter Maya is when this movie is at its best. Their Franco-American culture clashes also provide all of the humour. I also liked how no effort whatsoever was made to show either Marseille or Stillwater in a good light. Both are portrayed as gritty, shabby and uninviting. Sadly, for all it's promise and tension, the ending feels rushed and unsatisfying.

...an adult drama.

You just don't see this kind of movie in theaters anymore. Incredible acting makes this well worth seeing. Damon plays against type as a roughneck looking to free his daughter from a Paris prison.

Not an action movie but a deliberately paced drama, this is not Jason Bourne.