Longing

Wow. Such a great script, such a great thriller. Perfect acting, charismatic actors .. just a delight.

Haven't seen anything like it . Went from laughing to crying to laughing again. So much conflict , so much sanity!

The critique? Alright, I'll spell it out considering the polarization of this movie.

My critique is about the son's actor, not resembling any of the parents in grace or beauty, and about the dream. The dream could've been less .. erotic, but I guess it is rather realistic that way.

It is so rare to find art that is so uplifting and hopeful .. and representing reality accurately.

Praise God!

Saw this in a 'surprise' screening of a random new movie.

The movie starts by Richard Gere and his ex from 20 years ago reconnecting, finding out that he had a son etc.

From the starting scene on I wanted to leave the cinema but I had just bought popcorn so decided to soldier on. That was a mistake.

Two hours later movie ended. Not a single laugh / chuckle from audience during the movie. Nobody looked happy while leaving the cinema. People around me were pondering is it ok to just sneak out halfway of the film.

The film was a mess, hard to relate to any of the characters and the grand wedding finale feels very flat. In Cinema I felt a wave of relief that it ended. That was also the only time audience seemed to react to the film.

Longing is an English reboot directed, written and partly produced by Savi Gabizon, who released a similar French Hebrew version called Ga'agua in 2017.

Businessman Daniel Bloch (Richard Gere) lives a rich life and never wanted children. When he learns from an old girlfriend that they had a son, but he has died, Daniel decides to immerse himself in the old life of his unknown, surviving son. In this way he learns about his life choices and is confronted with the mistakes he has made. He tries to correct these, so that he can leave him with dignity.

Despite the fact that this is a reboot of an earlier, similar film, you would expect the writer-director to have worked it out a bit more. However, there are logical details missing, which makes the film seem vague, far-fetched, or sometimes unintentionally comical instead of truly dramatic or emotional.

Because the father tries to live the life of his surviving son, many moments come to the fore in the film. Because you as a viewer have not really experienced this son, this revival seems rather long-winded than really emotional. Many scenes also go on for too long or have unnecessary, short scenes between the events.

Due to the lack of good direction and writing direction, the cast members also seem somewhat uncertain and unclear, which means you do not really care about their characters. The strange choices they make only make this more difficult.

I saw the previous review and thought, well, it can't be that bad. But, it was. It started out pretty good and then before long devolved into bizarre then insanity. Just strange. I kept thinking that there would be some twist that I didn't see coming and that then I would understand all of the bizarre behavior and acting. That never happened. It just got worse and worse. Even at the end I though that something would happen, but it didn't. Overall I think the acting was fine, but the story was just not very good. The movie left me feeling really nothing, except that I wasted a bunch of time. Don't bother with this movie.

Where do I start? With the superb acting? The genuinely not- cookie- cutter predictable story?

Or how about the true meaning of the film's title as devolves throughout the story?

This work of art left me longing for more films of this caliber.

This is a must- see!

I most enjoyed watching the characters themselves reveal dark secrets from many years past that haunt them, the novel, albeit unusual, way in which they dealt with the concomitant trauma, each character's hard- won redemption, and the graceful way that the story ended: simply and eloquently, never maudlin or sentimental.

And I thought that they didn't make movies this good anymore!