Better than a lot of critics have made out, the fallout of the American dream for this family is quite shocking. I've never read the novel on which this is based, and that may have given me a different opinion, but as it is, this isn't as bad as you have heard!
The storyline is very interesting, but the movie is a mess.
Am I the only one who found the character of Merry amusing? From stuttering beautiful child to insufferable teen, onto violent demonstrator and finally to repentant down-and-out, every aspect of her life becomes a complete caricature. Overall, I felt it was a bit of a comical shambles BUT the concept behind it was interesting, after all, the novel is an award-winner. So I'm going to read that now ... I suggest it would be time better spent than watching this.
It’s a bit of a sleeper but was good ... delivered in the end.
If you made a movie that is making $ 544k domestic and a little over $ 1m worldwide it tells you something. There wasn´t much interest in the first place (no, honestly how many movie goers are that? 100-110k maybe?) Anyway, if you haven´t seen it I don´t think you´d missed out.
Yes, the story is - or rather could have been - interesting. I think it is to superfical. You have the innocent little girl that one day sees the monk burning himself and suddenly she went haywire and becomes anti-everything. From there on the story jumps through the years with little explanations or deeper investigation. It´s the father not wanting to give up on his daughter and the mother trying to move on. You could have easily jumped from Merry´s disapearance to the day her father found her because all what happened in between isn´t really meaningful. I don´t blame McGregors directing, I think he did a good job and since he didn´t wrote the script you can´t lay blame on him for that. I haven´t read the book, maybe it isn´t even a bad adaptation. Maybe the origin is as sketchy.
All the actors did a very good job and it is what keeps this movie above water so that you get through it. But that is just it, you get through it and after the end you just forget. If this was supposed to be a critical lock into that time in history it failed.
Minutes into the film, I'd realised I'd started to read the book a few years ago. Midway through the movie, I realised why I'd stopped reading the book. Both the film and the book are well-made from an artistic point of view, yet they are slow and difficult for me to relate to. Disappointing, though good performances by the actors, especially Jennifer Connelly, save this from being a total loss.
Not perfect, scenes seems to end too soon. It has a compelling story
Shout by Nancy L DraperVIP 8BlockedParent2018-04-24T16:53:50Z
The death of innocence of a dream. An interesting point of view about the 50s and 60s in America. Slowly paced. Excruciatingly painful and emotionally brutal at times. Great performances. I give this a 7 (good) out of 10. [Drama]