Recently viewed films

[Jack of All Parades]

The Great Beauty a while back by Paolo Sorrentino with my wife. A heady experience for the eyes and deceptively a workout for one's brain. If I sum it up it is a man, a city, a country and the beauty of movies all rolled into 140 minutes of sumptuous and pulsing cinematography. Journalist, Jep Gambardella, played with elan by Toni Servillo with his drooping lids and bonhomie is the epitome of the flanneur as created by Baudelaire and Walter Benjamin, a prodigious walker into all the nooks and crannies of Rome. He is an aging sybarite whose wit is still sharp, not dulled by his aging and sad-poetic soul. He had early success with his one novel- The Human Apparatus- and now life is closing in on him as he looks out on Rome from his terraced apartment overlooking the Colosseum. The year 1968 figures in the background as the ripples of that revolutionary year have flattened out and one is now witnessing the stultifying political and economic malaise brought on by the Berlisconis of the elite. Jep is drawn back to his youth and 1968 with the death of his first love and with a new relationship with the daughter of a friend he has just connected with on one of his late night walks. The ghost of Fellini haunts this film but it is more haunted by the passing of the great generation of Italian realists in film. Rome has never looked more sumptuous and decayed at the same time. In essence we are simply passing through our individual lives-best to make the most of our time here and where better than the city of "La Dolce Vita".

http://youtu.be/Dyt430YkQn0

[Jack of All Parades]

12 Years a Slave a few evenings ago with my wife. It sure is not 'fiddle dee dee dah' at Tara anymore. Thankfully. This film by Steve McQueen is beautifully faithful to its vision that slavery and the ante bellum south was not a Disney theme park but instead nasty, brutish, in human and chock full of misery. This story of Solomon Northup, a free African American, who was kidnapped off the streets of Washington, DC in 1841 and sold into slavery is tough to watch. The vicious and denigrating way that African Americans were held down and suppressed is hard to watch let alone contemplate. That this was one man who was physically, emotionally, and psychologically deprived of his humanity and yet survived is a testament to his own intelligence and inner sense of self. It makes you cry for the rest. His story embodies a spirit that screams out 'I want to live'- not just exist. I have never seen such a depiction of human misery and cruelty- right down to the deeply embedded scars on people's backs. Chiwtel Ejiofor, Lupita Nyong'o as Patsy, Michael Fassbender and most of all Mr. McQueen deserve their success in this film. It took some guts to tell a straight narrative and not pull the camera away from key scenes. How does this movie make you feel- like someone is frightening you at every-turn with a loud 'boo' in one's ear so you do not become complacent.

http://youtu.be/z02Ie8wKKRg

[Jack of All Parades]

Philomena last night with my wife. Have not seen much from Stephen Frears in some time so this movie was a welcome reminder of his skill behind the camera at telling a human story. Judi Dench is the reason to watch this movie- her 'little old Irish lady' is easily watchable- a 'cute' comedy which thankfully turns into the 'true' story of a young woman forced to give up her child in adoption by the Catholic Church in Ireland and then kept from ever making contact with him by that same Church. The 'cute' part of the movie is passably funny but the 'true' story is its meat and the development of that dramatic story by Frears is to be applauded. That and the work of its lead as the elderly woman who has carried a terrible secret for fifty years and who only wanted to reconnect with her son. Her search has a quiet dignity which is brought vividly to life by Dench's subtle facial gestures throughout the film. She is unassuming and common but uncommon all at the same time. Steve Coogan's character, cynical and emotionally stunted, is humanized by his encounter with Philomena. The whacks at the church and organized religion may be a tad excessive- though I am no fan of the institution-but in this particular case the villainy is rightly earned- what they did to these young women is despicable.

http://youtu.be/EZQkETG0aJ0

[Jack of All Parades]

"The Invisible Woman" last evening with my wife. Based on a biography from a few years ago by Claire Tomalin-it is the real story of the secret affair between Charles Dickens and a young actress, Ellen Ternan, and it has been brought vividly and intelligently to the screen by Ralph Fiennes who is a decent director it turns out following his Coriolanus two years ago and now this. He plays Dickens as the fully energetic, charismatic and egotistical man he was- he is the center of attention of any activity he is doing. His relationship with the young actress, twenty seven years his junior, is dissected visually and emotionally by Felicity Jones who plays her. It is a man's world and woe to the woman who tries to resist it. That is why the outcome is so satisfying. I also like how Fiennes frames the story in time- it moves at a pace on the screen that is beguiling as the days and months seem to double back on one another in the visual narrative. This is not a dry period piece but a satisfying historical and psychological study. In truth it is most 'Dickensian' in its humanity.

http://youtu.be/1rzi_i9etvg

[Poor Deportee]

This thread has turned into "Jack's Movie Blog." (taps mic) Anyone alive out there? Is this thing on????

Trouble is, I don't see many films, so my contributions hereabouts are scarce. I did watch Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan, a Best Foreign Film Academy Award nominee from around 2008, last night on IFC...stunning scenery that really needed the big screen, and a seemingly-credible effort to render the myth with some level of historical fidelity. In truth, though, I felt it occupied a fine line between a genuinely compelling historical epic and a gussied-up martial arts film. What bugged me in particular was the acting; while these are no doubt distinguished thespians, I saw neither the hardness nor the fire that would have really suspended my disbelief. Probably cynical of me (surely I can't be crass enough to find subtitles a barrier?). But worth watching for the cinematography alone. In any case, reviews of older flicks watched on TV are not what this thread needs. Sorry, Jack!

[Jack of All Parades]

"Short Term 12" with my wife the other night. This was one I had never heard of and a leap of faith by Lisa. Boy did it pay off.Written and directed by Destin Cretton it is the story of a foster care facility and its denizens. Shot as if it were almost a documentary its gritty style gets the visual story just right. The cast elevates it to a unique experience lead by Brie Larson as Grace and Mason, played equally with assurance by John Gallagher , Jr. People need to see their performances as semi damaged people who give strong love and guidance to young kids when they are barely out of childhood themselves. And what a loving environment it is. This movie is a revelation- the young actors are credible, the digital camera work has a hue of reality, the locations don't seem like sets, the story is funny, touching and angry all at once and always heartbreaking in its respect for one another. Ms. Larson, like Greta Gerwig in Francis Ha earlier this year, gives a performance that is eye opening.= they both hold the camera and the viewers interest without seeming to act- they just disappear into their character and bring to life a complete human being. For me they offer hope that there are some young actors ready to take movies into the next part of the 21st century with intelligence and craft.Just watch the scene with her boyfriend where they trade portraits of one another and you will see this first hand. This is a very good movie- track it down and then watch it. I firmly believe the opening scene will suck you in to the movie's beautiful and thoughtful execution.

http://youtu.be/2g0Z7oWMjfo

[Emotional Toothpaste]

Noah -- what a waste of film! I'm ashamed to admit that I paid money to sit there and endure the whole thing. Easily the worst movie I've seen in the last 20 years. Laughable from beginning to end. Poor Emma Watson -- not her best career move.

[Jack of All Parades]

t has been a productively sound past year for music documentaries. The latest one I saw was a few nights ago, Muscle Shoals by Greg Canalier, a few nights ago, with Lisa. Time has dulled my memory but this film easily stirred many musical memories. The soundtrack is my childhood and young adulthood listening to the radio and playing records. It is astonishing the sheer number of musicians and songs that came through the two studios associated with that place- Fame studios led by Rick Hall and Muscle Shoals Sound. That and the outstanding band that was associated with both studios- The Swampers- David Hood, Barry Beckett, Jimmy Johnson, Roger Hawkins, Spooner Oldham. These guys were white but they played the heaviest and funkiest grooves going. Throw in the Allman Brothers and Aretha Franklin and you have the peak of American popular music coming out of those two studios for close to seventeen years. My fault with the documentary is that it comes over more as a travelogue of hits as opposed to the telling of the richer stories of the characters and people who made music there. And that drummer- Roger Hawkins is a revelation. He may well be the best rock drummer I have heard.

http://youtu.be/7UDe4JrFAIQ

[InvisibleMan]

Maps To The Stars [Cronenberg, 2014] - crappy "we people are so disgusting, especially in Hollywood" auteur movie, with lots of farts from Julianne Moore, and scatological observations from everybody.

[Jack of All Parades]

There is a new gauge for me as to whether a movie is worth viewing which stars Nicholas Cage- I will call it the dour meter- the more the needle points toward a visage and personification that is tightly wound and conflicted it just might be worth watching. Such is the case with "Joe" which I watched last evening with Lisa and Kristin. It is a tightly told and darkly shot story of Southern Nihilism as seen through the eyes of the director, David Gordon Green, and Mr. Cage and the other denizens of this deeply Southern community that seems lost in time. It is a feral world where the sounds of dogs barking and snapping seems to be everywhere, mirroring the the poverty, pain, anger and meanness of the human world around them. People just snap at one another out of sheer frustration and soul numbing poverty. But it is the sinister evil in the Characters Willie and Wade that is riveting. Particularly Wade, as played by Gary Poulter. I have not seen such a pure personification of evil in a character in some time. The penultimate scene between the three protagonists is earned. This is a powerful Gothic morality tale. It is also the best performance by Mr. Cage in some time.

http://youtu.be/3WPLVEUx5AU

[Jack of All Parades]

Watched Under the Skin last evening with Lisa- most unsettling. The director, Jonathan Glazer, he did Sexy Beast with Ben Kingsley many years ago, may be a legitimate heir to Stanley Kubrick in his visual abilities. The opening sequence of this film is startling as the images morph into the eye of the alien predator, played by Scarlet Johansson, as she starts to prowl Glasgow for 'food'. This is one of those films that is greatly aided by the score as done by Mica Levi. The alien is given the form of a modern day Lorelei as she drives the streets and back roads in search of her daily caloric intake. And the scenes of that intake are most disturbing. Johansson has gone from the alluring and almost human sweetness of her operating system in "Her" to a cold, near unfeeling but not altogether 'personage' slowly engaging and becoming vulnerable in our human world. The scenes with the young man she targets who suffers from Elephant Man syndrome are particularly impactful. I came away from viewing with a hard sense of how hidden and isolated we are from one another 'under the skin'. The image of floating away from one's epidermis haunted me in my sleep last night.

http://youtu.be/b7wph6xrtXQ

[Poor Deportee]

Watched Under the Skin last evening with Lisa- most unsettling. The director, Jonathan Glazer, he did Sexy Beast with Ben Kingsley many years ago, may be a legitimate heir to Stanley Kubrick in his visual abilities. The opening sequence of this film is startling as the images morph into the eye of the alien predator, played by Scarlet Johansson, as she starts to prowl Glasgow for 'food'. This is one of those films that is greatly aided by the score as done by Mica Levi. The alien is given the form of a modern day Lorelei as she drives the streets and back roads in search of her daily caloric intake. And the scenes of that intake are most disturbing. Johansson has gone from the alluring and almost human sweetness of her operating system in "Her" to a cold, near unfeeling but not altogether 'personage' slowly engaging and becoming vulnerable in our human world. The scenes with the young man she targets who suffers from Elephant Man syndrome are particularly impactful. I came away from viewing with a hard sense of how hidden and isolated we are from one another 'under the skin'. The image of floating away from one's epidermis haunted me in my sleep last night.

http://youtu.be/b7wph6xrtXQ

Sounds great! With a basset hound hogging the bed, my wife and I get relatively little sleep anyway I like everything I've heard about this movie and the endorsement of a discerning, thoughtful viewer like yourself seals the deal for me. I'll check it out the first chance I get.

[Jack of All Parades]

"The Grand Budapest Hotel" by Wes Anderson the other evening with Lisa. To say it is ingenious and imaginative is to somehow diminish its accomplishment. This charming picaresque film, based loosely on the writings of Stephan Zweig, is a unique film experience- chock full of the visual and story editing techniques that are unique to Mr. Anderson- closely packed and detailed shots fill the frames of the film which often makes grand usage of stop action type filming. One is often enthralled by the camera moving in sequence with the character on the screen. The use of rear projection and matte images was stimulating for my visual enjoyment of the film. The story is populated by eccentric characters who are silly and essentially human at the same time.

What is new here is that Anderson has brought in a moral sense- in this case the story of an imaginative Eastern European country in its death throes from the Hapsburg Austrian Hungarian glory days- Zubrovka- it is a well told and acted parable of the totalitarian nightmare that engulfed so much of that part of the world in the mid-twentieth century. Ralph Fiennes as Gustov H- the concierge extraordinaire is a great conceit- 'why do you want to be my Lobby boy' indeed. This is creative film making with a distinctive style and voice and vision. I cannot recommend this film enough.

http://youtu.be/1Fg5iWmQjwk

[Jack of All Parades]

Last night The Art of the Steal with Lisa and a light, funny, entertaining way to spend 90 minutes on a midsummer's night. It features Kurt Russell, in his first movie since 2007's Death Trap by Tarantino and it is nice to have him around on screen again[he has always been a pleasure to watch over the years-a gifted physical actor with an assured self-deprecating touch. Just watch his heavy frame try to recreate his Elvis moves of yore]. This is a movie that does not take itself too seriously and just entertains the viewer with its characters and their interplay. The plot twists are not overdone and the movie moves at a crisp pace. The cast, lead by Russell and Matt Dillon and Terence Stamp, seems totally engaged in the action. I had a fun time last evening with an old friend on the screen.

http://youtu.be/UbqvELZ1-P8

[Jack of All Parades]

I go to movies to be entertained;sometimes to be edified and elevated; sometimes to be transported to another world or time. Rarely does it happen all at once. Last night was such an event for me. I sat in the theater at the Downing Center in Newburgh and witnessed an artist at the peak of his powers-Richard Linklater's "Boyhood" is an epic experience. Mr. Linklater is operating in this film at the height of his craft and he has created a masterpiece of American Cinema. Forget the plethora of superhero mashups that populate the movie theaters this summer or the sadly unfunny comedies like "Tammy" and get to the theater to view this film. It is that good and satisfying.

Linklater has taken the promise and humanism he has previously displayed in his "Before Sunrise" trilogy and combined it with the humor and sense of character he found in "Dazed and Confused", "Bernie", "School of Rock" and "Slackers" and made the best movie I have seen in many a year. He has taken what is essentially the most mundane of stories- a boy grows up- and fashioned an epically engaging study of time and how we exist within it by telling this wonderfully nuanced story of a boy and his family over the years with his compelling insights into human nature. Shot over 12 years and done in a total of 39 days, the movie never feels forced or labored, the scenes flow seamlessly with a natural sense of time passing- the movie is 2 hours and 40 minutes long but you do not feel that- it passes so easily, just like in life. The characters age before you in a progression of scenes that just happen because Linklater has managed to pull you onto the screen with them and to make you feel like you are living alongside them. I have never felt this before in a movie. It was simply exhilarating. I emerged from the theater charged with a love and respect for these people and emotionally spent as if I had shared their lives.

Ellar Coltrane as the young boy Mason, Lorelei Linklater as his sister, Patricia Arquette as his mother, and the wonderful Ethan Hawke as his father are a great cast. They all grow as humans before you on the screen and become over the years[and minutes] a family. At the end you are gratified to see that this young boy has become a young man of promise with a life ahead of him- that he has passed through the 'vale of soul making' and survived the worst that life can show him in his formative years. In the end one is left with the sense that life is a series of 'moments' that we experience as Mason muses on screen- that it is not one big moment but a confluence of events that makeup a lifetime as we live it. It is something I have been musing about as I approach Sixty.

And because it is a Linklater film it is filled with music that aids the story. It is also imbued with a marvelous ability to place you the viewer on the screen as if you were a part of the events taking place. Linklater needs no screen trickery to manage this feat-just his natural ability to tell a story in a deeply humanistic manner. He is my favorite director; this film places him in the pantheon of the great ones. If it were a book I would be purchasing multiple copies to pass out to friends. As it is a movie I can only urge you vehemently to get to the theater and view it. It is as satisfying and definitive an experience as one will watch for some time.

http://youtu.be/IiDztHS3Wos

[ice nine]

I do agree that 'Boyhood' is a great movie. No deaths, no on-screen physical altercations, just good characters and raw emotions. At times, it did seem that the characters were thinking about and internalizing way too much. The aim of the movie is exploring life, so that is more my fault than the movie's fault. I could have done with twenty minutes less of the movie.

[verbal gymnastics]

I watched Frozen again with the mini VGs. I'm not ashamed to say I love this film, and the end of the film makes me well up every time. I love the story, the humour and the songs. It also coincides with two sisters who love each other realty which resonates with my girls.

Sorry this is not a highbrow review or post but films are not a strong point of mine

[Jack of All Parades]

Watched "Big Deal on Madonna Street" by Mario Monicelli last evening with Ms. Lisa. A pleasant surprise as this spoof of the crime drama Rififi held my attention and my laughter. Gorgeous black and white and a deadening feel for the economically and physically depressed area of Southern Italy after the war, the movie teems with the bumbling attempts of a cast of amateurs who are trying to rise above their stations in life with a score of stolen jewelry. Their ineptness is charming and hilarious at times as they can never seem to get out of their own ways. The cast is quite good with a young and dour Marcello Mastroianni, Vittorio Gassman, Renato Salvatore and the engaging Toto as well as a young Claudia Cardinale. It is a human comedy and when they emerge from the bungled job at the end of the night onto the early morning street and go their separate ways you are happy for them-these are at heart decent people who seem to know their limitations as humans.

http://youtu.be/6wSyQvJbDtQ

[handnhand]

Just watched 'Calvary' ...and wow. Brendan Gleeson is just amazing and the director could film a cup of coffee on a table and make it interesting. BG's beard gets its own moment on screen and it just beautiful. Lots of emotions here and all of them strong and scary. After watching I downloaded 'The Guard' and equally as dark, but not as haunting. Dylan Moran's character is disgusting as ever, but refreshingly honest and non-PC. Must watch!

[Jack of All Parades]

Watched "The Past" last evening with Ms. Lisa directed masterfully by Asghar Farhadi whose "A Separation" a few years ago was a revelation. This time he gives us a modern tragedy that is extremely complex in its exploration of incorrect life choices and people's attempts to rewrite their past. Bad decisions out of good intentions. Farhadi is masterful in layering a narrative and then peeling back layer by layer of the sub texts. He is equally masterful in pulling out strong performances from his actors including child actors. Berenice Bejo is so good as the conflicted Marie. Equally impressive are the two male leads-Tahar Rahim and Ali Mosaffa. There is a scene with one of the child actors in a Tube station in Paris that is a master class on how to interact with a child on the screen. It is harrowing and touching at the same time. This is high minded cinema for adults that is morally serious but never tedious. You have to play close attention to the subtleties that are exposed as this director keeps peeling back the layers of his characters' stories. It is painful and taxing and most satisfying. I wanted to just keep talking about the action on the screen long after the movie stopped. In this it is like a Chekhov play- the everyday as high drama and its richly intricate narrative is quite filling. I am most eager to see what this director does next.

http://youtu.be/gLKpTRilMFc

I also want to say welcome to Handnhand as I think it is courteous to greet a new poster. Welcome aboard. I look forward to more posts from you.

[Jack of All Parades]

It can be fun when an actor lets his/her hair down and goes full balls to the wall in a performance. Such was the case last night watching with Ms. Lisa as Jude Law in "Dom Hemingway" filled the screen with his outsized character in full strut, a slight black comedy that takes as its theme the often tired story of a vicious hooligan finding a modicum of redemption in his life. As directed by Richard Shepard it never flags visually and its narrative skates a very thin line between sentimentality and sheer vulgarity. That is because the director has the sense to let Mr. Law have at it from the very opening scene's soliloquy as Dom gives an epic and phlegmatic peon to his penis as he is receiving a blow job in prison. That scene sets the movie's tone and it never relents. The fun of this movie is watching Law's character vacillate back and forth between 'his anger issues' and a tender hearted inner core that is let out from time to time. When Law is coupled with Richard Grant, his best and only pal 'Dickie', the results are often hilarious and touching. The Queen's English will never be the same for me after watching the 'Dom' have his way with it for a full two hours.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RIfxInncis

[Jack of All Parades]

"Words and Pictures" by Fred Schepsi last evening with Lisa. A romantic comedy about ideas- go figure. That it for the most part works- go figure even more. It is a smartly updated variation on the old Spencer Tracy/Katherine Hepburn models and as such the dialogue is witty and it crackles as the two leads Clive Owen, as the disillusioned alcoholic poet/teacher, and Juliette Binoche, as the famous artist dealing with crippling disabilities, circle one another, sparing and stimulating one another and their students both mentally and, for the two leads, physically at a prestigious private academy in Maine.

Any movie script that can make use of John Updike's name in a sentence, let alone drawing attention to his words, and not make it sound pretentious has something going for it. This one does in these two actors who have a definite chemistry on the screen. The aesthetic debate that forms the structure of the movie is stimulating- some of the subplots however are weak and the finale dissolves into 'mushy' regurgitation of tired points on the importance of 'great art' be it verbal, written or pictorial but there is an engaging and agile fun in watching these two characters circle one another and spar. It was fun to watch.

It was also nice to see parts of Vancouver, which substituted for Maine, and the actual St Georges Prep School which is located in that city. One other thing to note- all the art work in the film was actually done by Ms. Binoche- she has an eye and her work shows her to be an artist as well as an actress playing one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehQimFhQmQg

[Jack of All Parades]

What do you do if after 30 years of marriage and the children have left home you find you no longer really recognize the person you have lived with those thirty years? "Le Weekend" by Roger Mitchell and written by Hanif Kureeshi-they paired well together a decade back with "Venus", another intelligent and moving story of aging, have an able go at trying to answer that question. It is not a rom-com but instead a steely and often funny look at a long term marriage. And it is beautifully done.

Staring Jim Broadbent as Nick and Lindsey Duncan[who incredibly looks like what Julie Delphy might age into] as Meg. They are entering the last decades of their life and have decided to go to Paris for a weekend to perhaps launch that new part of their lives or put an end to their marriage- it is often hard to differentiate. A slightly melancholy air pervades the movie- an air of 'odi et ami'; contentment and disappointment; reality vs wished for 'luxury' and new thrills. These two are not genial aging codgers. There is an undercurrent of rage and regret between them that will frequently explode at inopportune times over the weekend. Nick's neediness and shame and Meg's restlessness rub abrasively along the fault lines of their marriage. Nick voices it poignantly when at one point he baldly states "I've become a phobic object to you." What should be a celebratory weekend in Paris too often seems to be an end of a marriage, or is it? Another telling scene is when Nick, raiding the mini bar in the suite they cannot afford, ear buds in and Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" blaring the lines 'how does it feel to be on your own?' filling his head, the terror of old age and the fear of being alone floods his face.

This little movie works on so many levels. I hope many find a way to see it. I only hope the movie's ending is indicative of a better time ahead for this couple- the image of them dancing to the youthful image and sound of a vibrant Sixties Paris as filmed by Godard in "Bande a Porte" is quite vivid as an almost youthful visage overtakes their faces in a cafe as they dance in 2013 Paris. This along with Boyhood is my favorite movie of 2014.

http://youtu.be/CatPXJu0-H0

[Jack of All Parades]

We watched, Finding Vivian Maier, a documentary about a previously unknown street photographer whose work was only discovered accidentally by John Maloof, an historian, who bought a locker in an auction because it was filled with undeveloped film negatives. What he wound up buying was just about all of her negatives as he later purchased a storage locker filled with her work. What he had stumbled upon was a major photographer of the Twentieth Century who nobody in the art world seemed to know. This film tries to unravel why she stayed so hidden and never seemed to show her work. She had a talent that equaled Cartier-Bresson or Diane Arbus for example. She was also an extremely complicated person who worked as a nanny for wealthy families in New York and Chicago starting in the 1950s. She also had some dark secrets. Her story is fascinating and disturbing. The film, however, fails to explore some questions her work presents such as what constitutes art and is photography a 'real' art form and who really owns this art? I would have liked to see the film take on those questions.
http://youtu.be/2o2nBhQ67Zc

[Jack of All Parades]

Date night, last night, with Ms. Lisa Cohn Sjoholm. "Gone Girl" on the agenda. David Fincher is in fine form as takes the material provided by the best seller, which Lisa read but not I[thank you for not spoiling the story], and transfers it memorably with a sense of cinema history and strangely with humor onto the screen. This story of the sadness and meanness of a modern marriage is layered deftly. Fincher keeps the action always ahead of the viewer and he manages to fill the screen with rich detail and 'shaded' characters. The scenes elide into one another with a near seamlessness even as the narrative flits back and forth from one untrustworthy narrator to another. It is also attuned social satire while at the same time being just an excellent film noir. I think it owes a great deal to the classics in this genre and the one that comes most vividly to mind is Basic Instinct. Fincher has cast well- Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike, god can she play 'hollow, and most especially Kim Dickens as Detective Rhonda Boney- you will think Fargo- and Tyler Perry as a scene stealing defense attorney, Tanner Bolt. Those three questions- "what are you thinking? How are you feeling" and What have we done to each other", that frame this film, reverberate throughout its telling and constantly cause one's perspective to shift in an uneasy manner. At near three hours the film moves quickly and never tires. I came out of the theater muttering 'god, what fresh hell is this?' That was, and is, disturbing.

http://youtu.be/9DPpygqaCjY