Stellead Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

ShangLuda Admirable film.

ThrillMessage There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

SnoopyStyle Married couple Matt (Tom Wilkinson) and Ruth Fowler (Sissy Spacek) live in a small coastal community in Maine. Their only son Frank (Nick Stahl) returns in love with the older Natalie Strout (Marisa Tomei) who has two young sons. Her ex-husband Richard Strout (William Mapother) is angry and shoots Frank at the family home. The Strouts are an important family in the town and Richard gets bail. Natalie didn't actually see the shooting. Marla Keyes (Karen Allen) is the defense attorney.The story is presented quietly. Nevertheless, the acting is overpowering. Tom Wilkinson is a rock crumbling before our eyes. Sissy Spacek is brilliant. Everybody is terrific. Other than a couple big emotions scenes, this movie is a study of quiet desperation. The forced smiles and the meaningless conversations hide the true intensity underneath the surface.

Red_Identity I guess a film like this, with the subject matter (I knew of the "event" that happens about 40 minutes into the film) and so in that respect I expected the film to be different than what it ended up being. The performances are very good, if disappointing given maybe what I expected, which was showier material. Maybe that's my fault, and sort of hypocritical too considering I always say I prefer performances that are subdued and more internal, they are the ones that usually stay with me longest. In that respect, perhaps this will be sort of like that. The film's narrative is certainly unpredictable, and where it goes is really surprising. Spacek is the best in the cast, but she's almost matched by Tom Wilkinson.

beglenrice There are many things to be said about this film. It's twelve years later. So I'll just say this: Tom Wilkinson's acting performance is the best I have ever seen. I am a die-hard Daniel Day-Lewis fan so that's hard for me to say, in a way. I saw this movie when it came out in 2001 and just watched it again for the first time since. When I first saw it, Tom Wilkinson blew me away, and his performance was just as amazing tonight. How does one capture the subtlety of being a normal human being confronted with the murder of a son? Much consideration is given to actors who portray extreme characters, showing their range. But the most difficult and amazing thing to do as an actor, in my opinion, is play someone who is not so. Not to be average or boring, but to be so real and so believable that it opens up a world of empathetic truth due to the foundation of reality it creates. Watch it. He masterfully embodies the character, in this circumstance, to a level beyond believable. He is so good in it that it speaks volumes beyond the themes of the film. Sissy Spacek is also deserving of high praise. Somehow they both capture, to me, what a marriage really would look like in that situation. High praise of course to Todd Field for his superb direction. If anyone cares about acting, or telling a great story, I recommend this film with all of my being.

Maurizio There are two main events in the 2 hours that this movie lasts. Or maybe should I say "thera are BUT 2 events"? Two killings, that's it. One around 40 minutes from the start, one about 15 minutes to the ending.Before, in between and after, there is utter, complete boredom. And no, sorry, the actually wonderful acting alone is not enough to save this yawn of a movie. The first almost 40 minutes are preparatory for what is (rather predictably) going to happen, but there is so little going on that one just wonders why it has to take that long to get to the point. Then it finally happens. In the beginning you start to feel for the characters, for their loss, but after a while it gets so unbearably slow-paced, so redundant, that all tension is released and gives way to what seems to be a never ending humdrum. The film has a sudden flick of emotion when the revenge takes place, but then again, the tension only lasts 10 minutes, and then dead calm again, up to the end. The makers of this movie succeeded in the not easy task of turning a life's tragedy into a slumbery, somnolent confrontation between a few characters, that gets your eyelids heavy sooner than you might like.I see this movie got mostly high grades, I'll rather go upstream and recommend to avoid it. Then again, it's your choice.