A very romantic and visually stunning film

Rating: 9/10 (20 January 2010)

Director Nick Cassavetes, famous son of the admired film director John Cassavetes, has created an impressive film. The story is based on a first time novelist's best selling book. Though there are some weaknesses in the story, the film is filled with artistic visual delights from beginning to end. It's a love story of the American South told in flashback. By a quarter of the way into the film, I was hooked, and being familiar with this particular storytelling technique, made a successful prediction, one that connects the present with the past, in the film. This did not lessen my enjoyment of the film. As a romantic, this film was definitely "pushing the right buttons" for me.
Cassavetes could be accused of pushing the romantic look a little too far in this film. I'm a natural born romantic, so the look of the film had me captivated from the first few minutes. Cinematography and art direction are outstanding to create a very convincing romantic look for the film.
About half way into the film, I predicted this would become a new favorite film of mine. I was correct.