Film Reviews by AM

I'm assuming this was dubbed for children - however the dubbing acting was atrocious and there should haven the option to have the original Danish with English subtitles. So bad I couldn't watch it. ALL the Japanese anime and Manga have language vs dubbing options.

In a long tradition of films which emulate dream states or states of limbo this one isn't bad.

It does get bogged down in a trudge towards the denouement and ends up being about half an hour too long...(is this a rather common factor with French films perhaps?) Good characters and well acted and not badly filmed. The story itself is muddled rather than mysterious with many unexplained devices and ultimately unexplained behaviour on the part of some of the characters.

A really worthy and intense subject, rarely tackled - the genocide of 10 million people by forced starvation ordered y Stalin in 1932.

The film however has treated this subject to cliched direction, shmaltzy musak, wooden filming; in all, a mess of a film. The actors try hard but can't overpower the lack of atmosphere or any sense of reality or even documentation. It's ended up as a sort of attempt at a stylisation failing miserably and looking more like an episode of a low budget TV drama.

Another example of how Korean cinema can teach Hollywood a thing or two about storytelling and exquisite imagery.

Beautifully directed and acted with ever fluctuating sensuality and intrigue. The story takes twists and turns and dead

ends in a sleight of hand manipulating allegiances all the way to the denouement.

Cranston at his best (award winning performance) a gentle and heartfelt monologue of someone who doesn't know who he is and where he's going slowly but surely discovering his demons and rising to face them. Lacks a sense of place - probably east coast US - and other structures such as financial sources and backstories of any substance - some of the flashbacks seem to be there as a nod to audience expectations - and misses the opportunity to use imagery in a creative fashion ( a great problem with much US cinema - poor use of the screen as a creative tool).

This DVD has no subtitling and was very difficult for us to watch as a family as we frequently had to pause to explain to a hard of hearing relative.

Not good, not good...it may even violate laws regarding requirements for disabled people.