Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

fibermik This story is a drama about a man (James Franco who plays "William") whom is going to find his life in a new identity. It is also about how he is going to loose it, that is "loosing his life". The movie is being told by "William" and we are to view it in a non-chronological sequence. That make it a bit hard to understand and the viewer has to sharpen his/hers ears. Actually it opens with a scene that is going to happen in the end. We are to be enlightened by learning a letter that William wrote to a character in the play "Ann" (whom is part of a group that's being mentioned later) She reads it and then we know, but we will be hearing Willims voice. Pay attention to this letter. William will tell what happened to him, as we listen we will be watching' scenes that undertakes his experience.The other title "Shadows and Lies" are much better than "William Vincent" because it reflects on taking a new identity. A new identity could be a lie, it could be a shadow of the former identity too. At least that's what the man we are going to know is going through because he is becoming a shadow and a lie in terms of all who once knew him, is going to think he no longer exist, but he does, it's just a lie now. He is becoming a burton to himself, a lie, on which he cannot prevail. Then he dies.After he misses a plane which then crashes and leaves everyone on-board dead and incinerated, he finds himself "alive" but then chooses not to go home but continue on to a new life. He doesn't explain why but he does get a new "fake" passport identity in the back-store of a Chinese restaurant. A new name to live on. He then gets a job, but no friends?, what does he do?, he is searching but he seems like a social mishap, he no longer understand the value and seems to be playing with other people. Starts to pick-pocket just for fun, he has money, doesn't need them, he steal a telephone, then throughs it in a waste-container. He is not after that! He needs some inputs/stimuli from other people. The scene where he steals a telephone leads him on to a group that shows interest in him. They think he has skills, they want to use him, make him a part of what they do. He accepts and this new relation is all the movie is about, his identity being build up and then taking apart. Very dramatic and truth-full movie, that is - yes, society has it's dark sides.

love me love you This movie is awful! It moves extremely slow and it has random moments of nothing that seem to last forever. Summed up...it will show a photo up close of an insect for 5 minutes while different people are narrating. Then it shows the guy randomly doing things like just sitting there eating staring off blankly or just standing there yet again blankly staring at something and we watch them do this nothingness for a good few minutes. Then it will flash to the leading lady in a different setting doing a random guy for a minute and then flash back to him eating blankly staring and we switch between the two a few times before moving on to another picture of an insect with a different narrator in the background followed by him standing on a train staring into space and then it flashes back and forth between him standing/staring on the train and the lady doing a different random guy. Most of the movie moves extremely slow with little talking and even less interesting things happening...BORING!!! I guess that's what you get when you buy a $1 movie from the dollar tree. All in all I am giving this movie 1 star only because I have to...if it were up to me I wouldn't be that generous. I am at the point where I would almost pay the store to take it back!

zardoz-13 Writer & director Jay Anania's brooding, low-budget, artsy-smartsy crime yarn "Shadows and Lies" could easily have been inspired by the late Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni's film "The Passenger." In the Antonioni epic, Jack Nicholson takes over the identity of a dead gun runner and gallivants all over Europe until the mob catches up with him and kills him. In "Shadows and Lies," James Franco plays a man who steps off a plane because he forgot his book and then decides to ride across country on a bus to his home state of Connecticut. When he reaches New York, he learns that the plane that he had booked passage on has crashed and every single passenger has been incinerated. This sounds rather like the first "Final Destination" franchise movie, too. Anyway, at this point, our protagonist obtains a fake passport in Chinatown and begins a new life as an editor of nature films. When he isn't editing some really cool footage on his Final Cut Pro system, William Vincent--as he has come to call himself--gets his kicks by picking the pockets of strangers. Actually, William is pretty good at it, until he finds himself confronted on the street one day by one of his victims. What the victim doesn't realize is that William has dumped his booty in the trash. When William's victim challenges him about his billfold and cell phone, a crime boss named 'Boss' (Josh Lucas of "Sweet Home Alabama") and his chief henchman Victor (Martin Donovan) intervene on his behalf.Boss wants William on his payroll, and Victor serves as the go-between. Eventually, William meets Anne (Julianne Nicholson) and they hit it off. William gives her a kimono, but Victor hears about their assignation and warns William to keep his hands off Ann. Indeed, Boss uses Ann as a prostitute, and a jealous William walks in on her while she is with a client. William wields a lamp and beat the man to death and then takes it on the lam.Anania confines "Shadows and Lies" to a quartet of characters: William, Ann, Victor, and Boss. The action occurs in flashback as the film opens with William following Ann unobtrusively through the streets of New York and then mailing her a letter after a four year hiatus. No sooner has William mailed the letter than he is attacked by Victor. It seems that Boss is a very jealous individual. Victor has warned William to stay away from Ann, but they ignore these warnings. William handles some unsavory business, including an episode with two women who receive a cocaine shipment. When William rejects their advances, the two girls label him gay.Evidently, from his attitude around Boss, William doesn't need the dough and he has no qualms about assaulting people himself. The dialogue is cryptic and often repetitive. The performances are tight-lipped. Martin Donovan fares the best as Boss' chief henchman, while Josh Lucas wears a Van Dyke beard that gives him a sinister look. Franco is Franco; he looks like a pretty boy. Although he can be violent, Franco's character doesn't seem to care a whit about money or emotional displays. He plays in cool throughout "Shadows and Lies." Composer John Medeski's melancholy music adds to the grim atmosphere, while lenser Danny Vecchione shoots predominantly in medium shots and close-ups.Altogether, Anania has fashioned an urban crime drama that doesn't rely on bullets blazing, careening car chases, or ritual torture. If you prefer pictures with subtlety, "Shadows and Lies" qualifies as a must-see. Unfortunately, none of the characters here are remotely sympathetic. Further, Anania keeps us at arm's length from them. They are all a lot of cold fish. If you like your films with less contrivance, you should skip this opus.

dave-72-638824 Shadows and Lies came completely under the radar for me. I had never heard of it, heard anyone talking about it or been recommended to watch it. This is one of those films, for me, that leaves you with a profound feeling that something special has just happened. this is the kind of film that immediately after watching had me texting my friends, looking for someone to talk to about it.Its a love story but its not the over sentimental type, at times there are scenes that i found to be the most romantic i have ever seen, but it wouldn't make you smile. its a crime story but it doesn't dwell on the details, there's no foul language, and though there is violence, it is utterly believable and not gratuitous. i found this film to be, in my eyes, perfect in every sense, perfectly balanced. with a lean dialogue stripped of any bravado, shadows and lies is extremely naturalistic. it has just enough information on the characters to help you understand them. enough kept back from view that you have room to think about them wonder after them, like or dislike them, or more importantly, like or dislike aspects of each individual's personality.im tempted to liken this film in tone to biutiful, but thats only in the quality of the acting and the subdued palette. this film is original and stands alone. within this film, every character stands alone. the acting is top drawer. i cant even remember of there was a soundtrack. if there was, i missed it completely. if it was there im sure it did its job properly because i was immersed.ill leave the rest to you to find out. but this is a special film and as such this is my very first IMDb review - i was moved to share my love of this film with the world.ps - the cinematography is beautiful.