In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
Example: plot : two teen couples go to a church party , drink and then drive .
they get into an accident .
one of the guys dies , but his girlfriend continues to see him in her life , and has nightmares .
what 's the deal ?
watch the movie and " sorta " find out . . .
critique : a mind - fuck movie for the teen generation that touches on a very cool idea , but presents it in a very bad package .
which is what makes this review an even harder one to write , since i generally applaud films which attempt to break the mold , mess with your head and such ( lost highway & memento ) , but there are good and bad ways of making all types of films , and these folks just did n't snag this one correctly
.
they seem to have taken this pretty neat concept , but executed it terribly .
so what are the problems with the movie ?
well , its main problem is that it 's simply too jumbled
.
it starts off " normal " but then downshifts into this " fantasy " world in which you , as an audience member ,
have no idea what 's going on
.
there are dreams , there are characters coming back from the dead , there are others who look like the dead , there are strange apparitions , there are disappearances , there are a looooot of chase scenes , there are tons of weird things that happen , and most of it is simply not explained .
now i personally do n't mind trying to unravel a film every now and then , but when all it does is give me the same clue over and over again , i get kind of fed up after a while , which is this film 's biggest problem .
it 's obviously got this big secret to hide , but it seems to want to hide it completely until its final five minutes .
and do they make things entertaining , thrilling or even engaging , in the meantime ?
not really .
the sad part is that the arrow and i both dig on flicks like this , so we actually figured most of it out by the half - way point , so all of the strangeness after that did start to make a little bit of sense , but it still did n't the make the film all that more entertaining .
i guess the bottom line with movies like this is that you should always make sure that the audience is " into it " even before they are given the secret password to enter your world of understanding .
i mean , showing melissa sagemiller running away from visions for about 20 minutes throughout the movie is just plain lazy ! !
okay , we get it .
. .
there are people chasing her and we do n't know who they are .
do we really need to see it over and over again ?
how about giving us different scenes offering further insight into all of the strangeness going down in the movie ?
apparently , the studio took this film away from its director and chopped it up themselves , and it shows .
there might 've been a pretty decent teen mind - fuck movie in here somewhere , but i guess " the suits " decided that turning it into a music video with little edge , would make more sense .
the actors are pretty good for the most part , although wes bentley just seemed to be playing the exact same character that he did in american beauty , only in a new neighborhood .
but my biggest kudos go out to sagemiller , who holds her own throughout the entire film , and actually has you feeling her character 's unraveling .
overall , the film does n't stick
because it does n't entertain , it 's confusing , it rarely excites and
it feels pretty redundant for most of its runtime , despite a pretty cool ending and explanation to all of the craziness that came before it .
oh ,
and by the way , this is not a horror or teen slasher flick . . .
it 's just packaged to look that way because someone is apparently assuming that the genre is still hot with the kids .
it also wrapped production two years ago and has been sitting on the shelves ever since .
whatever . .
. skip it !
where 's joblo coming from ?
a nightmare of elm street 3 ( 7/10 ) - blair witch 2 ( 7/10 ) - the crow ( 9/10 ) - the crow : salvation ( 4/10 )
- lost highway ( 10/10 ) - memento ( 10/10 ) - the others ( 9/10 ) - stir of echoes ( 8/10 )
Example solution: N
Example explanation: The phrases used in the review convey a negative sentiment (e.g. "presents it in a very bad package").

Problem: note : some may consider portions of the following text to be spoilers . be forewarned .
floating life , australia 's first - ever submission to the academy of motion picture arts & sciences for consideration in the best foreign language film category ( its dialogue is in cantonese , english , and german ) , marks a special accomplishment by clara law .
a compelling , at times poignant film
, it manages to maintain its truthfulness while teetering between comedy and melodrama .
floating life centers around a hong kong family 's sense of dislocation and loss of identity after moving to australia in order to avoid the communist takeover of hong kong , and is divided into clearly defined vignettes , each chapter labelled with title cards pertaining to houses , which serves to emphasize the film 's theme of family .
the film opens with mr .
and mrs .
chan ( edwin pang , cecilia fong sing lee ) and their two teen sons ( toby wong , toby chan ) leaving the bustling , claustrophobic metropolis of hong kong to join
their second daughter bing ( annie yip ) in australia .
with their spacious , immaculately - white new house and the vast abundance of neighbourhood greenery , the chans initially find this serene new land a strange and wonderous one , and - with neurotic bing cooly remarking about the possible dangers of australian life ( killer dogs , poisonous spiders , dangerous ultraviolet rays ) - a frightening one .
this sets up a wonderfully amusing scene early in the film where the four immigrants , aimlessly ambling about their new suburban neighbourhood , are sent scrambling by the yelps of a little white puppy .
the tone set up early in the film is broadly comic , and one expects floating life to depict the clash of cultures as the chans struggle to acclimatize themselves to the new ways of australian life as they integrate themselves into australian society ( a scene where the two teen sons meet up with a sunbathing neighbourhood girl is left dangling ) , but the film suddenly veers towards an introspective and melodramatic tone .
floating life shifts its focus away from the exploits of the new immigrants and towards bing 's domineering of her newly - reunited family , setting out a set of stringent and oppressive rules which create tremendous tension within the household and threaten to fracture the family .
meanwhile , elder daughter yen ( annette shun wah ) , happily settled in germany with her husband and young daughter , begins to suffer an identity crisis , manifesting itself with her claims to her patiently exasperated husband that their new home is cursed with bad feng shui , and further exacerbated upon hearing of the familial conflict down under .
among the dramatic threads of floating life , this is perhaps the most effective and engaging , with an interesting set of characters and a storyline which generates a genuine emotional punch .
the one misguided vignette in floating life involves eldest son gar ming ( anthony wong ) , left behind in hong kong to resolve various affairs on behalf of his family and to await his immigration papers before rejoining his parents and brothers in australia .
emotionally detatched and aimlessly drifting , his is an uncompelling character , and consequently subsequent attempts to draw out pathos are uninvolving and ineffective .
his desperate search for emotional fulfillment is depicted by philosopical droning on the exquisite peak of an orgasm , which quickly becomes tedious .
ms .
law 's film cheerfully embraces melodrama - each of the major vignettes feature excessively emotional climaxes which i could n't help but find reminiscent
to wayne wang 's acutely unsubtle the joy luck club - but despite the director 's rather clear attempts to tug at the heartstrings , i could n't help but be touched by a powerful and affecting soliloquy delivered masterfully by cecilia fong sing lee which truly packs an emotional wallop
and , in dramatic terms , is certainly the highlight of floating life .
floating life at times spreads itself too thin ; given the myriad of characters involved , it could either stand to delve into each vignette a little deeper , or narrow its focus to a select group of key characters . however ,
it is a fine film , with a thoughtful and insightful screenplay by clara law and husband eddie ling - ching fong , and some superb acting by a cast consisting almost exclusively of non - actors ( special note is to be made of cecilia fong sing lee , annette shun wah , and a short but dazzling performance by an actress who portrayed gar ming 's girlfriend from vancouver ) .
floating life is ultimately about the ties that bond a family together , which are able to withstand great distances and new environments .
Solution: P