Not a movie, per se

Rating: 8/10 (5 February 2008)

I can't say I liked this, as a movie. It didn't feel like a movie, which was probably the point. I certainly didn't look like a movie, which didn't bother me. It didn't develop like a movie, or begin or end like a movie, or "work" like a movie - unless it was a movie done by 7th graders w/ mom's cheap camera... I didn't get 'attached' to the characters, and I thought their decisions were idiotic - and at the same time, perfectly rational. And that is why this "movie" worked for me.
It didn't pretend to be a "movie," - it was erratic, poorly lit, poorly shot, and - my favorite aspect - absolutely, brilliantly acted.
These people were so unbelievable real.
There were aspects which I thought were 100% realistic, like their behavior and reactions in the subway (other than the fact that they were insane to go into the subway in the first place...). I was so very, very "with them" in the subway! But that was why I didn't think of this as a movie. A movie makes you think, makes you feel, makes you connect (or hopes to). This had no such goals - and yet, I found myself responding to the events along with the characters.
I should think that generation-X which (according to marketers is all about 'experience') will ADORE this movie - nothing to think about, nothing to connect to... but lots and lots of reactive emotion.