patience is a virtue!

Rating: Null/10 (13 September 2004)

just got out and couldn't wait to pen down a few words... - great film, very carefully made - great contemporary director with genuine talent, a genuine love of film and a fertile imagination not weighed down by pretention and style - invests a lot in active audience participation, rather than spelling out the entire plot and fully explaining thematic material, which many whiney, impatient people on this website seem to require in modern movies, hence the reflexive negativity... ;) - beautiful photography, careful in regards to the differences to night and day, and also to where the focal point is most effective - the music (once again) is face-melting! such an elegant, dignified, intelligent, haunting composition totally removed from the usual bloated, base-element scores of other composers. JNH is a wonderful talent, and MNS obviously brings out the best in him. -the performances were good, not great, and the dialogue was the same. great in some parts, ordinary in others. Hurts plea to the other elders concerning ivy's sojurn to the Outside was a tease; THAT's the animation and emotion that could have been more liberally used throughout, both the acting and the script - Howard's going to be a star. simple as that. not giving her performance a gold medal or anything, but a great, charismatic debut - pheonix was cut too short, his character just began to blossom, and then... - brody's wasn't given enough credit. solid, interesting character - the ending? come on guys! what do you want? it was fine! a really moving, understated conclusion that lingered nicely, rather than rising into melodramatic aloofness or supernatural silliness - night better stop the cameos before they turn into a farce.. ;)
great movie. don't read too much into the self-perpetuating negativity. go treat yourself to a good, old-skool film sans useless, tired, impatient, (usually internet related) critical burdens...