nwnyc Reviews

I'm Glad My Mother Is Alive (2009)

Excellent, believable portrayal of tragic events

[8/10 · 15 November 2014]

I found this movie totally captivating from start to finish and I believed the way each of the characters was portrayed. The emptiness left in Thomas' as a result of his mother's inability to express love for him deeply enough was clear from start to finish. It was not told in a contrived, cut and dry way and was, instead, full of subtleties that seemed true to life which apparently confused some other reviewers. I never found myself confused. I had not heard of the true story and just wanted to see how this young man's unhappiness played itself out. It hinted at the possibility of it developing into a sexual acting out and I never really expected it to go where it went. Bravo to the writers, actors and directors for telling this tale so well. All the actors did a great job and those young children who acted in the movie were especially amazing.

Rectify (2013–2016)

Really Tedious

[3/10 · 21 May 2013]

I watched the first episode and decided not to watch the rest of the series. The main character's demeanor began the series with appropriately strange and brooding mannerisms, but he remained in that shell-shocked state which did not seem believable to me at all. I have seen interviews with people who have emerged from years in prison and they remain able to talk and engage, regardless of their need to catch up with society. I gave up on the series when all the other characters who emerged seemed almost cookie-cutter predictable and also interacted in a limited slow frustrating manner. It was like watching events taking place in molasses. It was almost like a daytime soap opera where if something occurs, the camera lingers on the face of a character looking pained as the music swells and a commercial is cut to, but at least something occurs there. Here, long silences were filled by background music which left the viewer time to ponder what might be going on in the minds of the characters and it was painful to wait for something to finally happen. Essentially, I saw too many clichés which discouraged me from watching the rest of the episodes.

I did return to watch the last episode to see if anything had changed that would make me go back and watch the rest. It hadn't.

Ce qu'il faut pour vivre (2008)

A Film That Moves You

[14 August 2011]

I came across this movie just by accident on Sundance Channel. I quickly read the synopsis and decided to give it a chance. Boy, was I pleased. This kind of film is so beautiful in so many ways. It immediately introduces us viewers to a place and to characters we might never come across in life and then asks us to figure out ways to relate on basic human levels to them. Especially because of the terseness of the main character, Tivli, I was made to feel his feelings through his eyes and gestures and the actor certainly did a great job conveying what he did.

I was very impressed by the story, the direction, the filming and the acting. Only one thing bothered me - but it was necessary for the film to progress... that is that it did not seem to occur to the doctors and nurses to find someone to act as a translator for Tivli right away. Clearly, the people on the hospital ship had such abilities, so others must have had them too. Perhaps this can be explained away, but I cannot imagine a language barrier such as this being ignored for as long as it was in the story. Otherwise, as I say, great film!

Never Let Me Go (2010)

Implausible Premise

[5/10 · 9 June 2011]

I had not read the book and knew nothing about this film when I watched it. As I began watching, I was intrigued and continued to be intrigued until I discovered the story's basic premise. The three stars are known to me as terrific actors and I was particularly drawn to the film when I saw Andrew Garfield was in it. (I first came across him by accident when watching the film, A Boy, in which he was utterly brilliant. He has a certain quality about him that makes you feel his feelings.) While this film is beautifully acted and photographed, once I realized its basic premise, I could not accept it and that ruined almost everything else it had to offer me. I appreciate imaginative science fiction and know how to drop enough of my reality behind in order to be entertained by a film, but this story went too far in asking me to accept that such beings would be created and used the way they were. The words in the introduction about the medical advancement of 1952 which enabled the human life span to be extended to over 100 years seemed unrelated to the procedures we later learn these beings were expected to undergo. It was also ridiculous to believe that the beings would not revolt when they reached later teens or adulthood, as human teens do. Human teens naturally rebel as part of their maturation process, so why wouldn't clones? The fact that they don't was absurd.