A frontiersman on a fur trading expedition in the 1820s fights for survival after being mauled by a bear and left for dead by members of his own hunting team.
A promising young drummer enrolls at a cut-throat music conservatory where his dreams of greatness are mentored by an instructor who will stop at nothing to realize a student's potential.
Director:
Damien Chazelle
Stars:
Miles Teller,
J.K. Simmons,
Melissa Benoist
A wealthy art gallery owner receives a draft of her ex-husband's new novel, a violent thriller she interprets as a veiled threat and a symbolic revenge tale.
Director:
Tom Ford
Stars:
Amy Adams,
Jake Gyllenhaal,
Michael Shannon
The adventures of Gustave H, a legendary concierge at a famous hotel from the fictional Republic of Zubrowka between the first and second World Wars, and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend.
Director:
Wes Anderson
Stars:
Ralph Fiennes,
F. Murray Abraham,
Mathieu Amalric
Acting under the cover of a Hollywood producer scouting a location for a science fiction film, a CIA agent launches a dangerous operation to rescue six Americans in Tehran during the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran in 1979.
A young African-American visits his white girlfriend's parents for the weekend, where his simmering uneasiness about their reception of him eventually reaches a boiling point.
Director:
Jordan Peele
Stars:
Daniel Kaluuya,
Allison Williams,
Bradley Whitford
Lee Chandler is a brooding, irritable loner who works as a handyman for a Boston apartment block. One damp winter day he gets a call summoning him to his hometown, north of the city. His brother's heart has given out suddenly, and he's been named guardian to his 16-year-old nephew. As if losing his only sibling and doubts about raising a teenager weren't enough, his return to the past re-opens an unspeakable tragedy.Written by
Jwelch5742
Surprising everyone on set, Casey Affleck unexpectedly cried during the morgue scene. The brutal, but yet beautiful scene had been written without it, but Kenneth Lonergan decided to keep the scene. See more »
Goofs
After the visit to Elise's house, Jeff writes an email to Patrick. In the email, Jeff uses the word 'privilaged' rather than 'privileged'. See more »
First, this movie isn't for everyone. Some will rant and call it sentimental because it doesn't hit home. Whatever - stop watching if it doesn't work for you.
The quiet ordinariness of most of the film gives no distraction or respite from the searing pain of loss, regret at the irreversibility of time. Small, seemingly insignificant acts at some critical moment become pivot-points of lives - anyone who's been through anything even somewhat close to this film's events knows this. "Walk a mile in those shoes" as they say.
There are no glossy moments or artificially witty lightening lines or visuals to distract from the reality. This film shows how the middle-class in America (the getting-by middle-class, where things can turn on a dime and trade-off & sacrifice is a daily choice).
Regular lives - not bond-grinding poverty or its opposite - go through the rituals of hockey practice, band practice, teenage libido, frustration boiling over at petty obsessions from people unaware of the possibility that someone lives in tragic irreversible pain and regret.
What makes this film so powerful is that the central thread is barely perceptible at first - you guess that something troubles this man, but very likely your speculations are far, far off the reality. It slowly shows itself using muted retrospectives ('flashback' is too jarring a word); the pivotal event appears without any forewarning. One thought likely to occur when the viewer grasps the fullness of the event is "how is this man able to still face the day, communicate, function?".
The main character(s) anguish becomes more noticeable with time, to the point that even slightly empathetic viewers will likely question whether they need to re- calibrate their own perception of their ability to empathize.
Did I enjoy this film??? No - film can be more than feel-good eye/brain candy.
Will I watch it again? No - I don't need reminders about my own regrets, mistakes. I got a lot out of it - the empathy-calibration, context for my own experiences, and stellar performances from a few people.
I did re-assess my perceptions of empathy and my ability to empathize. Everything in the plot is more than plausible - the cinematography feels like it's filmed through the eyes of a normal, sane, rational and perceptive person. No artifice. People live in houses like those I've lived in, seen countless others live in. Actors didn't step out of Vogue or GQ. Very little true grubbiness is shown, but it's _not_ the scrubbed clean, crisp everything that many movies show. This feels exactly like what it is - a movie about ordinary middle- class/blue-collar living in 'normal' houses, streets.
This film won't be escapist for anyone not in the middle of far more difficult, horrific experiences - it's a window into a normal life that's been twisted and smashed by a small but pivotal omission - something tiny that many people have done without having to live with the consequences.
Watch it without preconceptions and see how it affects your perception of empathy, your ability to empathize.
It's not a film without hope, but the hope that does emerge as it winds down is realistic, muted and believable. Despite the obvious mistakes and failings of the main adult characters, it's plausible that most people would respect real-life people who could pick up, carry on, and try their darnedest to mend and be good people.
33 of 36 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
| Report this
First, this movie isn't for everyone. Some will rant and call it sentimental because it doesn't hit home. Whatever - stop watching if it doesn't work for you.
The quiet ordinariness of most of the film gives no distraction or respite from the searing pain of loss, regret at the irreversibility of time. Small, seemingly insignificant acts at some critical moment become pivot-points of lives - anyone who's been through anything even somewhat close to this film's events knows this. "Walk a mile in those shoes" as they say.
There are no glossy moments or artificially witty lightening lines or visuals to distract from the reality. This film shows how the middle-class in America (the getting-by middle-class, where things can turn on a dime and trade-off & sacrifice is a daily choice).
Regular lives - not bond-grinding poverty or its opposite - go through the rituals of hockey practice, band practice, teenage libido, frustration boiling over at petty obsessions from people unaware of the possibility that someone lives in tragic irreversible pain and regret.
What makes this film so powerful is that the central thread is barely perceptible at first - you guess that something troubles this man, but very likely your speculations are far, far off the reality. It slowly shows itself using muted retrospectives ('flashback' is too jarring a word); the pivotal event appears without any forewarning. One thought likely to occur when the viewer grasps the fullness of the event is "how is this man able to still face the day, communicate, function?".
The main character(s) anguish becomes more noticeable with time, to the point that even slightly empathetic viewers will likely question whether they need to re- calibrate their own perception of their ability to empathize.
Did I enjoy this film??? No - film can be more than feel-good eye/brain candy.
Will I watch it again? No - I don't need reminders about my own regrets, mistakes. I got a lot out of it - the empathy-calibration, context for my own experiences, and stellar performances from a few people.
I did re-assess my perceptions of empathy and my ability to empathize. Everything in the plot is more than plausible - the cinematography feels like it's filmed through the eyes of a normal, sane, rational and perceptive person. No artifice. People live in houses like those I've lived in, seen countless others live in. Actors didn't step out of Vogue or GQ. Very little true grubbiness is shown, but it's _not_ the scrubbed clean, crisp everything that many movies show. This feels exactly like what it is - a movie about ordinary middle- class/blue-collar living in 'normal' houses, streets.
This film won't be escapist for anyone not in the middle of far more difficult, horrific experiences - it's a window into a normal life that's been twisted and smashed by a small but pivotal omission - something tiny that many people have done without having to live with the consequences.
Watch it without preconceptions and see how it affects your perception of empathy, your ability to empathize.
It's not a film without hope, but the hope that does emerge as it winds down is realistic, muted and believable. Despite the obvious mistakes and failings of the main adult characters, it's plausible that most people would respect real-life people who could pick up, carry on, and try their darnedest to mend and be good people.