robert-temple-1 This is a very sensitive film adaptation of the novel by Jennifer Egan of a younger sister's haunting search for her lost older sister, who is supposed to have committed suicide for unknown reasons some years before. Much of the film is shown in flashbacks, where the older sister is played by Cameron Diaz. Diaz creates a wild, carefree, idealistic character who was typical of the 1960s, a radical flower-child who wants to change the world. The other sister, who was six years younger, is played by Jordana Brewster. She lives in America, and the story commences in the 1970s when Brewster is old enough to want to set out for Europe on her own to seek the answers to Diaz's mysterious death in Portugal. Brewster is a quiet, introspective girl, who is obsessed by discovering the truth about Diaz, a task made all the more urgent in that she is haunted also by the death of their father when they were young, and the consequent feelings of loss and abandonment. The mother is sympathetically played, with a kind of desperate suppressed emotion, by Blythe Danner, who can always be relied upon to provide an element of gravitas to any story. Brewster leaves suddenly for Europe, using savings left to her by her father, and follows the trail of the postcards sent to her by Diaz. She begins in Amsterdam but gets nowhere, so she goes to France and in Paris she finds her sister's old boyfriend, played by Christopher Eccleston. She had known him in America, and he and Diaz had left for Europe together, but Eccleston had never come back. On the one hand he is glad to see her, but it is clear that he is also deeply disturbed and upset at her visit. He is living in a large flat with a French woman and says he has put the past behind him. He claims that he never saw Diaz again after July, 1987, when she left him to go to Berlin. He invites Brewster to stay in his flat and when he is out, she discovers old photos of her sister in a drawer, and one bears the date on the back of August, 1987. So she confronts him and he admits he lied, that he had in fact really gone to Berlin with her. Later in the story, he admits that he lied again, and that he had known Diaz much longer even than that. Diaz had been attracted to radical causes in a naïve way. In Berlin she was able briefly to join the Red Brigades, a terrorist group. But when they discovered how feather-headed she was, they sent her out to buy some newspapers, and when she returned, their squat had been totally vacated and they had vanished. This was their clever way of dumping her so that she would never be able to trace them. She feels well and truly 'dumped' and joins another, less deadly terrorist group. But that affiliation too does not prosper because she ends up detonating a terrorist bomb which kills an innocent man, leaving a widow with several children behind. This suddenly wakes her up from her naïve revolutionary fantasies, so she goes off the Portugal to try to get herself together. The film has some inept patches, such as a purposeless sequence where the younger sister, who has been given some LSD by a stranger, takes the pill and has a bad 'trip' while riding a tourist boat on the Seine. This gives an excuse for psychedelic camera angles and so forth, but it does not move the story forward at all and should have been cut from the script. Despite rambling a bit, the film does retain the mystery right through to the end, where surprising things are revealed in Portugal. The film is not just a mystery story or a thriller, but has some significant lessons to impart, and shows a humanity and a concern for the characters which is often lacking in more one-dimensional thriller stories. It is also an interesting insight into attitudes of what has now become a historical epoch, though to those of us who experienced it personally, it all seems as if everything happened just the other day, or even just a few minutes ago, so vivid were those times and the people and events then.

wwoodyard What a shame. What a terrible shame. The table was set, the candles were lit, the guests had arrived... and then...... well nothing really. Just pretentious drivel. It could have been great, OK maybe not great, but it could have been very good. All the elements were there but at the end of the day the bottle was empty: NO LIGHTNING! How that happened is a mystery with everything at the director's disposal...... the story was quite brave although it certainly needed considerable work with possibly several finishing rewrites to fix the story and tighten up the characters a lot (the only thing that was consistently and constantly and unnecessarily tight was the cinematography, but i'll get to that). But the direction was lousy, the acting was just that: _a-C-T-i-n-G_ with a heavy side of cheese and lots of ham, and then the cinematography......well that was something to behold! But only if you are in film school's "Cinematography 101 how to never ever use a professional movie camera under any circumstances". Obviously the student had fallen asleep through part of the lecture's introduction and only heard "... use a professional movie camera..." then blissfully back to la la land as the sentence finished off.What can i say; amateurish and pretentious to the last! I can only see this film meant to appeal as a Chick Flick because it's supposed to be sad, but then falls flat and just ends up being 'sad' (as an excuse for a movie)... so that even those 'Chicks' wouldn't be fooled by this schlockenspiel! PS. I felt bad for Miss Diaz. She's a lot better at her craft than what this film allowed her to be, even though she was totally TOTALLY miscast. Actually i feel sorry for everyone in this movie except the director and (you guessed it) the cinematographer! I say '1st against the wall for them when the revolution comes!' OK, not really, after all "it was only a movie" but perhaps a good "tar and feather and running out of town" might be more satisfying or at the very least a lot more entertaining!!!TTFN :-(

jotix100 Jennifer Egan's novel was brought to the screen by Canadian director Adam Brooks in a film that, based on some comments from contributors to this forum, sounds a bad proposition, but in fact, it's much better than one is led to believe.This is a story about two sisters who loved one another dearly. Faith, the fair headed and happy-go-lucky hippie girl, takes her younger sibling, Phoebe, under her wing. Phoebe plainly loves Faith; when the older one decides to follow her boyfriend Wolf to Europe on a summer vacation from Berkley, she promises she will send Phoebe a post card every day. Faith does that, until the cards stop coming in and one night, some time later, the family receives a phone call to inform them Faith has died under tragic circumstances.Phoebe can't forget Faith. That is why after some years pass by, she decides to take the same route the older sister took. She takes the cards from Faith and visits each place, starting in Amsterdam, then moving on to Paris and she wants to end up the trip in Portugal, where Faith encountered her untimely death.In Paris, Phoebe hooks up with Wolf, who by now, is not a hippie anymore and is living with his girlfriend. Wolf, tries to persuade Phoebe into abandoning her trip and to go back home; she suspects that Wolf holds the key into solving the mystery, and as she is going to depart for Portugal she makes a discovery when she finds a picture that clearly contradicts Wolf's version he has told Phoebe. He feels guilty and, against his girlfriend's wishes, decides to accompany Phoebe to the town where Faith died. The story changes at this point and we go back in flashbacks to what Faith experienced in Europe and what happened in her final days.The best thing in "The Invisible Circus" are the performances of the principals, something that Mr. Brooks has to take the credit for. The big surprise is the range of Cameron Diaz, who, as Faith, seems to select light comedy parts, when she is quite able to do good dramatic work under the right director. Jordana Brewster is seen as the older Phoebe and makes a wonderful contribution to the film. She is a stunning beauty with what seems to be a naturalness for acting. Christopher Eccleston is Wolf and shows he also is capable of doing more serious drama. The sweet Camilla Belle plays the younger Phoebe quite convincingly. Blythe Danner appears as the mother of the girls.The European locations are gloriously photographed by Henry Braham. The film is also enhanced by the musical score of Nick Laird-Clowes and Petra Haden's original song. Elizabeth Kling edited with great elegance. Ultimately, this film shows Adam Brooks in great form as he gives the right tone to the adaptation of the novel and gets rewarded by having the right cast doing wonders for him.

adnankundi1 i must say that this movie had a great cast, locations, music and camera work. Cameron Diaz was great, she had a very exciting roll, very uproarish, while Jordana Brewster had a serious roll yet still capturing one. for me Jordana's very nostalgic, she reminds of a female classmate of mine! what realy got me in this movie were the very skillfully planned camera work and the choosing of the locations. the story is very talently written. it is a must see one. the one's who are into mystery movies should watch this one, i guarantee you all that it'll keep you in your seats till the end.