SoTrumpBelieve Must See Movie...

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Bergorks If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Aiden Melton The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

SnoopyStyle Raimund Gregorius (Jeremy Irons) is a teacher in Bern, Switzerland. He saves a young woman from jumping off a bridge. She disappears leaving behind her red coat. The coat leads to a book and a train ticket. Hoping to find the woman at the train station, he abandons his class. When she doesn't show up, he decides to use the train ticket to Lisbon. There he finds the book's late author Amadeu do Prado's sister (Charlotte Rampling). He follows the story of Amadeu's rebellion against his father and society during the revolutionary 70's.Granted, there are great veteran actors in this movie. Most of whom are in the present day story but most of the drama happens in the past. This dichotomy leaves a hollowness to the story telling. It's hard to understand Raimund's motives. He doesn't seem to care about the young woman from the bridge or at least, he rarely mentions her until she literally tracks him down. Quite frankly, the character doesn't really understand himself. The movie is better off abandoning all the flashbacks and simply go back to the 70's to tell Amadeu's story. This is structurally flawed. His search should be as much about the girl as it is about a long dead author.

robert-temple-1 Having just returned from Lisbon by air, I thought I should return immediately by night train, so I watched this wonderful film again. The film is based upon the brilliantly-plotted best-selling novel of the same title by Pascal Mercier, the pen name of a Swiss writer from Bern, whose real name is Peter Bieri. It is the only novel of his which has yet been filmed. This film is a complete and total success. It was directed by the Danish director Bille August, and the studio work was done in Hamburg, but the location work, of which there is plenty, was done in Lisbon with some in Bern (and I thought I glimpsed a scene in Peniche). The film contains actors from several European countries. The film is therefore what in the business is described affectionately (and sometimes derisively) as 'a Euro-pudding'. But this is a truly delicious pudding, just as good as any Portuguese custard tart (known as a pastel in Portuguese, where the 's' is pronounced 'sh' and the accent is on the second syllable; my Portuguese lessons are available at one million pounds an hour: any takers?). Greg Latter and Ulrich Herrmann did the screenplay. Director, novel, screenplay, and cast, are all superb. There are several excellent cameo roles by famous actors. Tom Courtenay, Charlotte Rampling, Christopher Lee, and Bruno Ganz are all scintillating, and I don't believe I have ever seen Tom Courtenay do a better job on screen than he does here playing one of the key characters when older. As for Charlotte Rampling, is there anything she cannot do? Really, one gasps at these old pros at work. And if anyone ever wondered about Jack Huston, here is the concrete proof that he is at the top of his profession, sheer perfection itself as the lead young man, Amadeu. But the film as a whole is held together by the main actor in the story, Jeremy Irons. I don't believe I have ever seen him do a better job either. When he was younger I occasionally found him annoying, as I did the one time I met him at a mutual friend's 50th birthday party. (I won't say who was the woman with bright red glistening lips and a practiced backwards lean when snogging whom he would not stop kissing in front of everyone, but I found it significantly slobbery.) But here Jeremy Irons atones for all previous annoyances by being inspired and moving. Frankly, he makes a better middle-aged and aging actor than he ever did as a young man. And he genuinely 'makes' the film. So hats off to you Jeremy, as your acting irons have never been hotter. As for the pulchritude contingent ('pulchritude' being Charlie Chaplin's favourite euphemism, by the way, so it has a cinematic pedigree), we have both the ravishingly beautiful Mélanie Laurent and the warm and beneficently smiling Martina Gedeck to stimulate all of our male hormones (those of us who have them), and to deliver superb and moving performances. Yes, this film has something to offer anyone, not least the intricate and emotional story. Also, the final scene is a classic. The story commences in Bern, Switzerland, where the author of the novel lives. Irons is a teacher at the university, divorced for five and a half years, demoralised, who believes himself to be boring (and with some justification), whose life is uneventful and who lives as a dry stick. He is walking across the high bridge at Bern when an unexpected and highly dramatic event occurs which changes his life entirely. A girl is standing on the edge, about to throw herself off and commit suicide. He saves her. From that moment on, nothing is the same. She is a mysterious Portuguese girl whose identity he does not know. He fortunately knows Portuguese himself and later in the film we realize that he can even quote Fernando Pessoa's poetry, which is my view is the qualification for being a true gentleman. The girl flees and leaves her coat behind. He impulsively takes the night train to Lisbon to try to find her. In the pocket of the coat he discovers a rare book of poetry by an unknown Portuguese poet, whom he also tries to find, as the poetry is so beautiful. He then becomes involved in an unimaginably complex web of intrigue and events of the past, culminating in the revolution of April 25, 1974, 'the Red Carnation Revolution', when the horrible dictator Salazar was overthrown by rebellious soldiers who stuck red carnations in the barrels of their guns. The story is extremely intricate, the pieces of a gigantic puzzle fitting together in the most unexpected ways, and Irons discovers, as a result of his spectacles being crushed by a motorbike, that he is not boring after all. The tale is uplifting, profound, and moving. This film is worthwhile for anyone.

jcbinok This movie involves twin plot lines: Jeremy Irons' character sloughing off his boring his life in Bern, and his making connections among people that lived through a traumatic era of Portugaul's history; facilitating some healing and understanding among them.I thought Irons' journey of self-discovery was by far the more effective story line, though it probably took up less screen time. The historical flashback scenes and interactions with those characters in present time were interesting but felt forced. In essence, Irons unravels an entire web of intrigue by innocently nosing around an author's old haunts; doors open up to him and a long series of events/coincidences allow him to keep sleuthing. I suspect the book does a much better job at unfolding this part of the story.Nevertheless, the performances are strong across the board. There is real chemistry between Irons and his special optometrist friend, Martina Gedeck. I just wish that relationship would have been the major rather than minor theme. And, I really liked how the ending was left as an unanswered question/invitation...roll credits.

kckidjoseph-1 "Night Train to Lisbon," an especially engrossing 2013 film now appearing on Netflix, may not be everyone's cup of tea, but for those hungry for a movie without flying cars that instead pulls you in with an unusual plot and thoughtful, incisive performances by an exceptionally capable cast, this one's for you.The film was nominated for six Sophia Awards _ the national film awards of Portugal _ including best picture, and won three, for best supporting actress (Beatrice Bartarda), best art direction and best make-up. Directed by Bille August ("Pelle the Conqueror"), "Night Train to Lisbon" was adapted from a philosophical novel by Swiss author Pascal Mercier.Mercier's quotations are spoken in voice-over by the film's protagonist, Raimund Gregorius, played by Oscar winner Jeremy Irons, a quiet, lonely classical studies professor working in Bern, Switzerland, who rescues a young woman about to leap off a bridge and after she disappears, finds himself on a quest to Lisbon, not only to find her but to fully understand the story of a doctor-turned-poet whose book he discovers in the pocket of the coat she leaves behind.The story isn't as dense or contrived as it sounds, thanks to the deft screenplay by Greg Latter and Ulrich Herrmann, and the uniform commitment to character and plot by Irons and a cast that includes veterans Tom Courtenay, Charlotte Rampling, Christpher Lee and Lena Olin. It's the kind of story that sucks us in because it's a kind of "getaway" piece: Who doesn't daydream in a Walter Mittyish way of getting away from it all and taking off on an historical detective story, which is what this is. Once in Portugal, Irons' Gregorius sets about on a quest for the author but instead finds his sister, Adriana (Rampling as the mature version, Batarda as the younger), and learns that Amadeu died in 1974 and that only 100 copies of his book were printed. The sister has six of the books and, wondering what happened to the rest, is delighted to find that her late brother's limited edition work found an audience beyond her country's borders. Thus, a tenuous but all-important bond is formed between the soft-spoken, insightful professor and the poet's sibling.The movie intersperses Raimund's investigation with flashbacks to a past in which we meet the young Amadeu (a superb Jack Huston), a member of the resistance to the dictatorship of António Salazar.Through Adriana, Raimund meets the priest (Lee) who taught Amadeu, Amadeu's best friend, Jorge (Bruno Ganz in the older version, August Diehl in the younger), and learns of Estefania (the fiery Mélanie Laurent), a resistance fighter who was Jorge's girlfriend until she met and fell instantly in love with the handsome Amadeu.After Raimund breaks his spectacles, he meets a sympathetic optician Mariana (Martina Gedeck) who by happenstance has an uncle named Joao (Courtenay as the elder version, Marco D'Almeida as the youthful one) who was also a member of the resistance and fills in the story. Late in the film, the strings of the plot are pulled together when Raimund finally meets the mature Estefania (a stunningly beautiful and completely believable Olin).As I said, "Night Train to Lisbon" isn't for everyone, especially for those accustomed to tons of action and instant gratification via computer wizardry and slam bang eye-for-an-eye retribution, but it did it for me. It's extraordinarily literate and sumptuously photographed to boot, and it's not a stretch to say it contains threads of David Lean's wonderful 1965 film version of "Doctor Zhivago," albeit on a much smaller scale.I was especially drawn to Irons' professor, a sensationally muted performance that holds the whole thing together.Since you'll probably be watching this in your living room, "Night Train to Lisbon" is rated R (under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian) for a scene of violence and brief sexuality (which really aren't all that bad).