MovieHoliks
One of my favorite actresses, Catherine Keener, stars as a war photographer who recently endured a brutal detainment in Libya who holes up in Sicily to come to terms with her ordeal. All this happens not far from the home of her former lover and mentor (Ben Kingsley). Soon she crosses paths with a Tunisian migrant in need of an abortion and safe passage to France, who bears a striking resemblance to a Libyan girl she photographed just before her capture.As much as I wanted to like this film, I just was booooorrrrd outta my gord up in here! Like I said, Catherine is one of my all-time favs, but her performance wasn't enough to save this schnooze-fest. Good performances all around, just needed a little more in the way of storyline I'd say-?? Marginal thumbs down...
thefan-2
Imagine, if you will, Catherine Keener bending over a sink for whatever reason. Imagine a mournful solo cello noodling away on the soundtrack. Now imagine Catherine Keener snapping photos of Sicily (which, it turns out, is a sh*thole) or of various fashionably grungy Middle Eastern types. Minimalist synthesizer noise on the soundtrack. Now she's back at the sink. Now taking snapshots. Ear-splitting vocal on the track. Now the sink. Regarding the spoiler alert: there is no plot. That's the spoiler.Regarding the music: we all love music, right? I love music, too. But the music on the soundtrack made me want to run twin power drills into my ears.
Stuart Davies
Watched three quarters of the movie before coming to the conclusion that looking at the inside of my eyelids would be more entertaining and that's exactly what I expect most people will end up doing if they are unfortunate enough to see this fatuous non-event. I kept hoping for Ben Kingsley to arrive and inject something into the movie, like perhaps a storyline, some rhyme or reason for following a woman round with a camera to no end. I didn't get to see him, as unfortunately I nodded off more than once and when I came to, I decided to turn it off. I am bewildered as to why anyone would spend money and effort making such a piece of crap. I can only imagine that one day someone woke up on a lovely sunny morning, with birds chirping, children playing and a feeling that all was good in the world and then thought "Karma's a bitch so I'll now have to spend my time and other people's hard earned cash making the dullest movie I can think of"! Shame on everyone involved, as none of them had the integrity to say "Stop it!" at any point.
caribouster
I think this film deserves more than the stars it has accrued. I believe this score is just due to lack of reviews (by anyone with a brain...ha ha) . It's VERY Bleak but compelling, believable and well acted. This film is looks beautiful and the musical score is gorgeous. Catherine Keener is brilliantly cast in the role of this wasted woman who still has the tenacity to try. Light Saturday night movie with popcorn this is not. From the title you might think there will be conflict and violence but you'll be disappointed if that's what you are looking for. This film is dramatic and poignant and very thought provoking. The themes of post traumatic stress, depression and friendship were very well portrayed for me.
AD
