An Uncomfortably Honest Presentation

Rating: Null/10 (22 April 2013)

It's interesting how polarizing this film seems to be. Some complain of the 'flatness' of the characters, others complain of the 'unrealism'.
To me, it was both very good and very unlikeable, in similar ways as American History X or The Life of David Gale. These films expose a gritty realism that few admit to have experienced first-hand, and one that most reject with a hardened shield of denial. Maybe these people have perfect relationships, or maybe they haven't tried hard enough to make things work when they didn't -- to see the facades crumble, to truly get to know someone for who they are instead of who they want you to think they are (or possibly worse, for who you want them to be.)
But I've known these people, and I've been there done that. I've listened to their stories and I have my own. I've watched the insecurity and distrust intermingle with the passion and the love, watched when the selfishness wins out, watched as one's grip on reality fall apart, watched people coming to terms with their own inner demons. Do they love this person, or do they love what this person does for them? When that stops, does their love stop too? What was love anyway to them? Do you tell the truth to protect someone, or do you lie to protect them? How much of it is really just about protecting yourself?
This film provides no answers. What it does is take black and white issues and exposes their grayness. It shows that things aren't what they seem; not because there's some hidden magic at work, but rather because we never really saw things for what they were in the first place. Nor can we. All we have are our guesses, our motives, our idealism/pessimism, and our strategies for dealing with uncertainty and insecurity.
And so it's pretty honest. The story is neither happy nor sad, it simply is. What you decide to take from it is up to you.
Some excellent insight with a different conclusion:
"Strippers, photographers who take pictures of strangers, cybersex - it's not enough. It's character development that makes stories like this compelling. We don't really know who they are. We see what they do. We don't know what they want, what drives them. They remain abstract and general." - kalayaan48 from Philippines
And I would say that's the point. Better if you just flesh out these characters with your own experiences. And if they still fall flat, perhaps it's worth spending more time observing the world as it is and less time judging it.