jackkern-862-993699
Borrowing the quote from the review by Jake Thompson, the movie Apocalypse Now, and after watching this movie when it first came out 8 years ago and again today, "Yes, sir. Absolutely. Obviously insane."This film does very well in presenting an inside view of someone suffering a mental breakdown, an aggressive form of Alzheimer's or dementia. This film rated IMDb 5.1 and I honestly expected it to have done far worse, but why didn't it? Because there is something Oddly Unique about this film.This movie will leave you (from beginning to end) feeling baffled and bewildered. You may even experience feelings of anxiety while watching it, I know I did. With that said, years from now you may feel compelled to watch the movie again, as if to look for some form of logic to the story that you already know isn't going to be there! Believe it or not, this flick has all the ear marks of a Cult Classic in 10 years.
thinkstrats
Absolutely brilliant! Whether or not it was Sir Anthony Hopkins's vision this is, hands down, the best representation of a BSD psychotic episode I have encountered. If folks are curious about what it feels like to have a Bipolar delusional episode this is a wonderful depiction. Can't put more into words about how this moved me. I highly recommend it!Cinematography and editing made for truly dreamlike scenes. The lability of time in this film allows the viewer to have a more intimate connection to the main character. One can feel the confusion and fear and experience empathy for the main character. Some scenes and language although likely disturbing to young and very elderly viewers, depicted the type of mental images/anxieties one might experience during psychosis. I felt relief that someone out there found a way to use media to explore these things. Great for (stable) persons with Bipolar Spectrum Disorders and their loved ones.
oscarhopkins
Look, I'm sorry if half the world takes offense at this, but life is confusing enough. I don't need to watch it that way. I dig Anthony Hopkins, big time. I even watched Fracture, and I knew that would be a steaming pile of Quentin. But this thing is not well shot, and it's not daring--even if it is artsy. Well-produced films have reasons for cuts and fast edits, not this "oh, but it's a realistic interpretation" excuse. This thing'll make your head hurt. It's the fastest moving picture ever to take you nowhere at all. I still love AH, and I'll always give him another chance, but if you aren't made of time to watch bad ideas on screen, skip this.
AndrewGHickey
What a muddled mess. I saw this with a friend a while ago and we both consider ourselves open-minded to the many wonders of cinema, but this sure isn't one of them.While there very well could be some good ideas/concepts and there are certainly some good performances (under the circumstances), it is all buried under random nonsense. Sir Anthony draws way too heavily from the same gene pool as Natural Born Killers, U Turn and similar films as far as the editing is concerned, or maybe he watched himself in Nixon for inspiration. Say what you want about David Lynch, but at least he more often than not has a method to the madness.His quote of stating that he made the film as a joke says it all. It's not worth your money, bandwidth or time.
AD
