Reviews

This movie is unlike anything else out there . That's what makes it great. Not suitable for sensitive individuals. The ending is predictable however. Although it fits in with the story it is perhaps the weakest part of the film. I have watched this movie several times and each viewing is a treat.

There is some graphic violence which is not gratuitous (also true of the sex scenes) but is far too graphic for my taste (referring to the violence). Again, however , it does fit in with the general feeling of the movie. Fortunately, it takes up only one short part of the film. Helen Mirren is great as ever even though this was close to the beginning of her career. Every actor stretches his/her acting skills to produce an amazing picture. It is a very, very, dark humour and may not be suitable for everybody.

The emperor has no clothes. My first sentence sums it up but like the movie this review has to be padded with meaninglessness just to fill up the space required for a review to be published. The film is like a Rorsarch inkblot test. There's not too much to it and consequently reviewers will project all sorts of meaning onto a film that has none. I guess you somehow have to justify why you would sit there in sheer boredom for nearly three hours. Fortunately my partner and I had the sense to walk out before the end with reality intact and not analyzing the hidden depths of the movie because basically there were none. See it as what it is and don't project anything on it.

Baking a cake with old ingredients and not knowing the quantities of each, you end up with the equivalent of what happens in this movie. Take some Chicago, some Moulin Rouge, All That Jazz, as well as bits from here and there and add some existential angst and you have this movie.

The as-usual great acting by Daniel Day Lewis as well as a number of big name stars is not enough to salvage this movie. Start with poor ingredients and no matter how good a cook you are, you end up with a so-so outcome.

Nothing original, just a re-hash of old stuff. Been there, done that, type of thing. Spend your money on a good meal rather than this movie - you'll leave feeling a lot more fulfilled.

This was an incredible heartwarming and heart-breaking movie. Its power lies in its simplicity. In some ways its is a coming of age movie about a middle-aged professor coming to terms with his life and allowing himself to finally be who he is. Or perhaps a re-birthing movie in which, having died psychologically and spiritually, he emerges from his cocoon.

A series of random events coincide to bring about a life-changing event (isn't that always the case?). The unfolding of the story occurs at a slow and steady (but never boring) pace that is in perfect keeping with the tone of the movie. It operates at many levels at once, presenting a comedy, drama, social statement and lesson, magnificently intertwined. Without much fanfare viewers are carried along quietly and unknowingly by the movie before realizing they are totally caught up in the depth and humanity of the story. The events opens up the main character as well as the audience's awareness of what is happening all around us in everyday life, of which few are aware and most of us prefer not to know about.

What makes the movie what it is is the fact that it is not necessarily designed to make a specific point or manipulate the emotions of the audience or to provide an answer or ending to make folks feel one way or another. However these factors do emerge in the minds of viewers. This is why the movie have such an impact - a simple story, very well told, with no hidden agendas. Movie making at its best.