Ed's Review Dot Com

BV McCann-Erickson, HBO Romania, Mindshare Media,

Dragos Bucur, Maria Popistasu, Mimi Branescu, Mirela Oprisor, Victor Rebengiuc

Paul (Mimi Branescu) is torn between two lovers. His wife, Adriana (Mirela Oprisor), and Paul have been married for ten years. But for the last few months Paul frequently visits his mistress Raluca (Maria Popistasu) with whom he’s also very much in love. As Christmas is coming, Paul must decide between the two and suffer the consequences.

This is a Romanian film by director Radu Muntean. It’s a very stark view at the affects of adultery on all parties involved including Paul and Adriana’s little girl Mara. It has excellent character development, and the scene between Paul and his wife when he tells her the truth is very realistic. It’s hard to watch, the realism is so strong, but it is a very well made foreign film. You’ll have to watch with subtitles, but if that doesn’t bother you, you’ll find this a very decent drama and a story of a dissolving family. No matter what happens, things will be different for everyone. Some have criticized this film as being slow paced, but I think that it’s actually much better for taking a slow, long look at each of the players. It’s well done in many ways, and for a foreign film, very worthwhile watching the film in subtitles and getting into the lives of the characters. This is a well done dramatic work and one I enjoyed watching.

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Class 5 Films, Olympus Pictures,

Mark Ruffalo, Gwyneth Paltrow, Tim Robbins, Josh Gad, Joely Richardson, Patrick Fugit, Carol Kane, Pink

Adam (Mark Ruffalo) is battling his way through a 12 step program to overcome sex addiction when he meets Phoebe (Gwyneth Paltrow) who has, based on past experience, cast off all recovering addicts. So Adam has to lie to her, by swearing he’s not an “alcoholic” but leaving out the rest. As he battles through problems with his group, and with his sponsor (Tim Robbins) he finds himself really falling for Phoebe, but as in all romantic comedies, sooner or later the lies are going to catch up with him.

This is a fairly complicated romantic comedy, and is about the addiction as much as the romance, but it’s just not as good a film as it could have been. I just didn’t feel the chemistry between Gwyneth and Mark, and I just can’t see them really liking each other. Furthermore, Mark Ruffalo’s Adam is really rough. I never really got to care much for this guy. One bright spot was surprisingly Pink/Alicia Moore as Dede, a really funny member of the group. I am not sure I’ve seen her act before, and though her part was not really big, she was really good. Surprisingly the background characters in this film are much more interesting than the lead. This is not a really horrible movie, but I’m not sure where the target market is for this, as I don’t think the usual market for romantic comedies will enjoy the whole background sex addiction plot, and I doubt that 12 step addicts are big movie buffs for the most part. So it’s all rather ho-hum, and giving it three stars is probably even a little generous.

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Kaminski.Stiehm.Film GmbH, Bavaria Pictures, Senator Film,

Michael Caine, Clémence Poésy , Justin Kirk, Jane Alexander, Gillian Anderson, Anne Alvaro

Matthew Morgan (Michael Caine) is living alone in Paris, a retired teacher who just buried his wife who died from a long illness. He’s estranged from his son and daughter, and not doing very well. When he bumps into a young dance teacher, they form a connection. Helping each other, they are able to find meaning again in each others lives. But when the kids return to Paris they are appalled at their father’s new “girlfriend”.

This is a very bittersweet story of love and loss. Everyone jumps to conclusions about the motives of the others, and they’re completely wrong. This is a Lifetime style movie, not very fast paced, and a good character study of the four primary people in this film and what their underlying motives are. The thing that elevates this film far above that level is the skills of Michael Caine. This raises this to an absolutely special film that is very interesting to see. This reminds me a lot of On Golden Pond, but also of films like Dead Poet’s Society and Good Will Hunting. Those too were special films because of the actors in them. This is a really touching film, and one I am really glad I got to see. It may not be on the top of the list as greatest picture of the year, but it is one of those minor films that probably missed your eye. I felt like it was very worthwhile to check this one out, and I recommend it to any film lover that can handle a good character driven drama like this. One note on this. It is set in Paris, and the natives speak French. This is realistically done in the movie, so even though Michael Caine’s character is trying to learn English, and the teacher and the kids speak English, there is a lot of subtitled parts where they are speaking French. It’s not that much, and most of the film is in English. Some of the best humor comes from Matthew’s efforts to speak French (very badly), so unless you really hate subtitles, this should not reduce your enjoyment of the film a bit.

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Gaumont, Screen Australia, Ciné@,

Naomi Watts, Robin Wright, Xavier Samuel, James Frecheville, Ben Mendelsohn, Sophie Lowe, Jessica Tovey, Gary Sweet, Alyson Standen, Skye Sutherland, Sarah Henderson

Two friends, Lil (Naomi Watts) and Roz (Robin Wright) live beside with their young sons on the sea coast in Australia. They have been friends through their whole lives. The boys are also very good friends. One is single, the other married to a man who is distant and not present most of the time. He wants to move to the mainland but his wife rejects moving with him in lieu of staying with her friend which leads people to think they are a couple. But far from it, an affair starts between the two mothers and each others sons. This, of course, requires extreme secrecy, even between the two friends until one of the sons wants to get married, and things start falling apart sending shock waves through the entire community.

This is a rather useless film. There is drama and fighting, and lots of screaming, but there’s no real point to it. The movie doesn’t take a side on this kind of behavior, but rather just gives us the attitude of “it is what it is”. To say I was shocked by this film is not true, but at the same time, I was not disgusted either. Disappointed, perhaps, is a better term. These people are acting stupidly and hiding it makes things much worse. I just was not into this movie, and found it a little off-putting. I’m not sure why it was made, but it did not have anything really that could keep my interest. It was like watching the Jerry Springer Show. You know the people are acting badly for the cameras and it really can’t shock us anymore. So pass this one by. It’s not worth it.

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Larry Levinson Productions, Nonius Productions