SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Mjeteconer Just perfect...

ShangLuda Admirable film.

mackeymary-98-478708 Brilliantly filmed and acting superb American Pastoral shows how lives can be turned upside down even for those whose beginnings are so charmed and envied. It's a sad movie but not false in the story of family, parental love and how, given the circumstances, that love can't save or fix what shatters their existence. Yes, we don't truly know what motivates Merry. But, in real life there are times, we never have the answers. Ewan McGregor captures this brilliantly.

Reno Rangan The book was from the 90s and the story is about the 60s. Narrated from the father's perspective, that's what I think did not work in this film. This is where a film and the book does not synch. Because books are always very detail when it describes a person. In the films, they are just a simple visual where viewers have to focus on those details to have a perfect impression like the book. So I totally point out to the writer who did not quite transformed the point of the storytelling.It is not the parents to decide what their kids want to be. The film opened with a couple ready to get married, arguing with their elders about something. Soon it forwards to a few years where their relationship with their daughter seems not good. Further, they become more distant and completely lose her for the unrest in the society and the nation. But father never gives up. His love and care for her leads the way and what comes later is even more disturbing before it all ends.It was Ewan McGregor's directional debut. I don't think he would try it again, not any time soon. But I would appreciate his quality of filmmaking. He only needs a better writer and the screenplay. I also think, he should not direct himself. I never considered him a best actor. I yet to see his performance. The film was not strong enough, if you are from outside the United States. Because what they call this 60s revolution was more a misunderstood by the young people. Particularly that religious thing, they were misled and spoiled their lives. So, instead of focusing that, the film centred on a father-daughter relationship. That is why it was a decent film. Otherwise I would have rated even wrose.5.5/10

yjudith Some reviewers are disappointed that it didn't live up to the category of psychological family drama or missing person crime thriller and I wonder if this movie even BELONGS in either category; and really why does a movie have to fit any category? If you go into an experience with a boxed in expectation, nothing done will satisfy you. I sat down to watch this film not even knowing that Fanning was in it and that's how I like it. Personally, I thought the daughter was born to be more sensitive to the world than others; I was quite like her when I was a young child and still am. Swede and his wife, Dawn didn't take the stuttering seriously enough and didn't believe that it was emotions driven. You have parents who know that they are special and to a child this self-knowledge might put them in a place of feeling inferior, that she cant live up. That's how i saw Merry. All the hurt she felt turned to a general hate of the world, and she gravitated to like- minded people in a very confusing time for our country and a very vulnerable time for Merry. I told my son, I would have let her go as soon as I heard that she was suspected in the first bombing. The fact that neither parent could even fathom their Merry being involved showed me just how lofty of an opinion they had about their child and themselves. The moment I really came to that realization is when I truly understood why Merry did what she did. The mental breakdown of Dawn really surprised me and the face lift thing...it further proved how I felt about the family. When Swede finally finds Merry and she is living as a Jain in an abandoned house; here's where the movie awkwardly weird for me. Fanning didn't do a good job in her acting. I just didn't believe her in these scenes. She's Dakota Fanning in makeup to me. I was left a little confused about the role of Rita and how she knew so much about Merry only to discover in that moment that she was never sent by Merry and it fell flat. What was the point of it? When both ladies decided to get out this revolutionary thing they were involved in, "broke ties" how is that Rita knows where she works and even what she now does for a living. I now want to read the book because I suspect that the book to screenplay didn't go well. This movie has made me sit and think and want to talk to my son about it, who watched it a while back. That is what a good movie should do, not quench some desire to figure out what category it belongs in. I didn't care for the ending. So much was left undone about this movie. For Swede to die, leaving us to wonder about the holes in this film and for Merry to wait until the end of the funeral, but now wait for everyone to leave...is she coming back into their lives?? If so, why would she needed to wait until her Daddy died?

The Couchpotatoes When I saw the cast I really thought this was going to be a good movie but in the end it just a disappointment. It deserves an average five star rating just because of the cast. Their acting is good, so nothing wrong with that, but the story is just not interesting enough to make it a good movie. I though the character played by Dakota Fanning was extremely annoying and therefor I lost interest in the story itself. She's playing a confused young brat that I would not give one second of my time. When she was younger and still stuttering it was okay to watch. I thought the story would go somewhere but when she grows up it's just about a father searching for his daughter. It's just too slow and too boring to be good. Well at least that's my opinion.