ageing and narrative thrust

Rating: 5/10 (29 September 2007)

A well-mounted, solidly-performed piece that somehow never takes off. Maybe it's because I watched it in two sittings, but the plot structure felt episodic; nothing ever came to the boil. Also, the ageing of the leads over time was unconvincing. A film like 'The Sea Inside' is much more impressive on this score. Here, the fact that Damon looks little older than his grown-up son was a little jarring. Richardson's lighting is flawless, but didn't evolve with the story particularly. Score was very good, however. Worth seeing, but don't expect to be gripped. On a separate note - why does IMDb insist on 10 lines of commentary? What's wrong with brevity?