360 (2011)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Director Fernando Meirelles' latest takes place in seven cities as a wide range of people with different backgrounds are thrown into difficult decisions due in some way to sex. A Russian (Gabriela Marcinkova) woman decides to turn to prostitution; an older man (Anthony Hopkins) searches for his daughter who is missing; a sex offender (Ben Foster) is released from prison and fears he's going to commit another crime; a married man (Jude Law) thinks about having an affair while a married woman (Rachel Weisz) tries to end her affair. 360 actually delivers what the title promises as the story really does go full circle but the entire ride through it isn't nearly as entertaining as I was hoping. There's no question that there are some good stories scattered throughout but by the time the end credits came I felt that there really wasn't a point to any of them. The funny thing is that while each character here gets several bits of development, all of the stories pretty much end without anything ever being solved so the viewer is left to wonder what will happen or if they'll be connected in some sort of way. I think one of the problems with a film like this is that the great stories don't get enough time while the more boring ones feel unfinished or you wish that they'd get to another story. The best one here is the sex offender as we get a terrific and very intense story as the man feels he's about to relapse and commit another crime. Foster's performance is right on the money and downright chilling. The Jude Law sequence really doesn't add up to much and the twist his character takes from a rival really isn't all that interesting. The stuff dealing with the prostitute was actually quite interesting as was the piece with Hopkins and his relationship with a young woman (Maria Flor). Both Hopkins and Flor deliver strong performances that help their stories. 360 is directed with style and there's no doubt that it's a well made film but there's still too many frustrating or weak things that keep it from being a good movie.
