Watched this movie last night on a subscription channel...no..not gonna give free publicity to it..lol...
Anyway, I thought the movie was great.
I'll have to check out the director's other movies too.
I've read through a lot of the previous reviews which guided me on what I might want to include in my review.
Hmmm, where to start?
Let's start with BUDGET. I'm sorry but there truly is only SO much you can show on a screen with a small budget. So, give the people involved with this movie a break is my attitude.
Slowness. Well, relative to what? The story the movie tells IS about moments of life being played out in real time. There are no action scenes as such. It's not a suspense movie, though oddly enough, there is a type of mystery to it. The mystery I found was trying to figure out was what conclusions had these people arrived at, before the movie unfolded. Yes, they're unhappy in their marriage right from the get go. Yes they're having affairs. But, are they 100% committed to divorcing...or not? And through the course of the movie what would happen to them to either change the direction of those decisions or not. I was never quite sure. For me as a movie goer, that's perfectly fine.
SURPRISES - The movie contained one of the best romantic scenes I've EVER seen between a husband and wife. It starts with their being asleep in bed, facing each other, lips practically touching. What transpires after that moment was incredible. Perfectly directed, Perfectly acted AND with minimal dialogue. Bravo to all concerned.
MESSINESS - A rare movie where all the leading characters (husband/wife & their respective lovers) really are all sort of muddled. At times I would like certain characters more than others and other times, I would find the same character irritating..emotionally immature, selfish, confused, trying to figure out who did they really love...all very messy and again, perfectly fine with me.
COMPARISONS - Interestingly enough, it touches on the same themes played out in IT'S COMPLICATED, a fun BIGGER BUDGETED studio movie starring Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin. I recall there's a touching moment in that movie when Alec Baldwin's second wife, sees Mr. Baldwin gazing at his first wife, Ms. Streep who is dancing with her boyfriend Steve Martin at a family party. The second wife watches Baldwin's character and see's the love he obviously feels for Streep's character. It was an unusual moment in film in that it showed a 2nd wife not being some horrible ogre but just a woman who is in fact, in love with her husband. The same sort of theme plays out in THE LOVERS, but in a different manner. It's not as obvious, but it's there.
ACTING - Debra Winger and Tracy Letts were both wonderful. Perhaps Mr. Letts got a touch more screen time or maybe it just felt that way because Ms. Winger has always been one of my favorite performers. I wanted more of her. But to be fair to Mr. Letts, he played his part very well. All the performers did great jobs including the two younger supporting players,Tyler Ross and Jessica Sula.
Interestingly enough, the two "lovers", played by Aiden Gillen & Melora Walters whose characters I decidedly did not like, really did do great jobs. I think one of the toughest roles for actors to play are ones the audience generally won't like. Viewers tend to (it's only natural) want the STARS to be our heroes, so I applaud how well they annoyed me yet at the same time, I couldn't help but "feel" for them well.
I don't want to get too heavily into the plot, other reviewers have done that already.
Suffice it to say that expect a movie that's played out in living rooms with some brief office scenes,,riding in cars, that sort of thing.
Lot of awkward moments between a husband and wife who are JUST on the edge of formally separating..that's what you're gonna get.
BUT and this is an important but, it's not a movie filled with hate, arguing. It's a couple, who I suppose take one more look at their romance and are surprised by what they feel.
WARNING - Be prepared for an ending that MAY piss you off. It did me. I don't want to get into too much detail about it, because then I'd be you know, spoiling the plot...I just felt there was an ELEMENT to the ending story line that I didn't find believable. And it's not that the ending challenged my expectation of what I WANTED to happen, I just didn't believe that the characters WOULD REASONABLY DO what the plot line has them doing. And again, I'm referring to ONE SPECIFIC action that's incorporated in the ending. This ending felt contrived and it was the only point in the film where I REALLY felt I was being manipulated by someone who felt THEY WERE GOING TO MAKE THAT POINT which I don't have a problem with. But in a story if you don't show at least a GLIMMER that a character would be comfortable with making that decision then it doesn't work. And again, this element which I thought was dumb is presented glibly as if the two characters had no problem with what they were doing yet throughout the movie, this same element is presented in a manner that shows they ARE conflicted about it. So for me, it was just a stupid choice they made. That being said, I thought it through and came to the conclusion that it would not change my opinion about the rest of the movie. And it was, a great, unusual movie.
ASIDE- Seek out the documentary : SEARCHING FOR DEBRA WINGER
Anyway, I thought the movie was great.
I'll have to check out the director's other movies too.
I've read through a lot of the previous reviews which guided me on what I might want to include in my review.
Hmmm, where to start?
Let's start with BUDGET. I'm sorry but there truly is only SO much you can show on a screen with a small budget. So, give the people involved with this movie a break is my attitude.
Slowness. Well, relative to what? The story the movie tells IS about moments of life being played out in real time. There are no action scenes as such. It's not a suspense movie, though oddly enough, there is a type of mystery to it. The mystery I found was trying to figure out was what conclusions had these people arrived at, before the movie unfolded. Yes, they're unhappy in their marriage right from the get go. Yes they're having affairs. But, are they 100% committed to divorcing...or not? And through the course of the movie what would happen to them to either change the direction of those decisions or not. I was never quite sure. For me as a movie goer, that's perfectly fine.
SURPRISES - The movie contained one of the best romantic scenes I've EVER seen between a husband and wife. It starts with their being asleep in bed, facing each other, lips practically touching. What transpires after that moment was incredible. Perfectly directed, Perfectly acted AND with minimal dialogue. Bravo to all concerned.
MESSINESS - A rare movie where all the leading characters (husband/wife & their respective lovers) really are all sort of muddled. At times I would like certain characters more than others and other times, I would find the same character irritating..emotionally immature, selfish, confused, trying to figure out who did they really love...all very messy and again, perfectly fine with me.
COMPARISONS - Interestingly enough, it touches on the same themes played out in IT'S COMPLICATED, a fun BIGGER BUDGETED studio movie starring Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin. I recall there's a touching moment in that movie when Alec Baldwin's second wife, sees Mr. Baldwin gazing at his first wife, Ms. Streep who is dancing with her boyfriend Steve Martin at a family party. The second wife watches Baldwin's character and see's the love he obviously feels for Streep's character. It was an unusual moment in film in that it showed a 2nd wife not being some horrible ogre but just a woman who is in fact, in love with her husband. The same sort of theme plays out in THE LOVERS, but in a different manner. It's not as obvious, but it's there.
ACTING - Debra Winger and Tracy Letts were both wonderful. Perhaps Mr. Letts got a touch more screen time or maybe it just felt that way because Ms. Winger has always been one of my favorite performers. I wanted more of her. But to be fair to Mr. Letts, he played his part very well. All the performers did great jobs including the two younger supporting players,Tyler Ross and Jessica Sula.
Interestingly enough, the two "lovers", played by Aiden Gillen & Melora Walters whose characters I decidedly did not like, really did do great jobs. I think one of the toughest roles for actors to play are ones the audience generally won't like. Viewers tend to (it's only natural) want the STARS to be our heroes, so I applaud how well they annoyed me yet at the same time, I couldn't help but "feel" for them well.
I don't want to get too heavily into the plot, other reviewers have done that already.
Suffice it to say that expect a movie that's played out in living rooms with some brief office scenes,,riding in cars, that sort of thing.
Lot of awkward moments between a husband and wife who are JUST on the edge of formally separating..that's what you're gonna get.
BUT and this is an important but, it's not a movie filled with hate, arguing. It's a couple, who I suppose take one more look at their romance and are surprised by what they feel.
WARNING - Be prepared for an ending that MAY piss you off. It did me. I don't want to get into too much detail about it, because then I'd be you know, spoiling the plot...I just felt there was an ELEMENT to the ending story line that I didn't find believable. And it's not that the ending challenged my expectation of what I WANTED to happen, I just didn't believe that the characters WOULD REASONABLY DO what the plot line has them doing. And again, I'm referring to ONE SPECIFIC action that's incorporated in the ending. This ending felt contrived and it was the only point in the film where I REALLY felt I was being manipulated by someone who felt THEY WERE GOING TO MAKE THAT POINT which I don't have a problem with. But in a story if you don't show at least a GLIMMER that a character would be comfortable with making that decision then it doesn't work. And again, this element which I thought was dumb is presented glibly as if the two characters had no problem with what they were doing yet throughout the movie, this same element is presented in a manner that shows they ARE conflicted about it. So for me, it was just a stupid choice they made. That being said, I thought it through and came to the conclusion that it would not change my opinion about the rest of the movie. And it was, a great, unusual movie.
ASIDE- Seek out the documentary : SEARCHING FOR DEBRA WINGER