Platicsco
Good story, Not enough for a whole film
Spidersecu
Don't Believe the Hype
Voxitype
Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.
Brigid O Sullivan (wisewebwoman)
How many times have I seen this done before. Every old man's fantasy. Except this time he dies. And then tries to control her from beyond the grave.The guy (played by Jeremy Irons dishabille, worn, ancient and boring) has been cheating on his wife for 6 years. He also manages to escape to his villa in Italy every year to spend acres of time with his young paramour.The stock characters of boatman and Italian charlady are right out of central casting. Every secondary character in this movie works to keep his letters, emails, gifts and texts coming after he's dead.That's basically the whole thrust of the film.Also main character played by Olga Kurylenko is a complete narcissist. She abandons her mother, has her cellphone ringing in the theatre, at lectures, in solemn libraries, everywhere. She stalks his family who all come around to her way of looking at things (where's the betrayed wife?) i.e love of his life, even his youngest gets introduced to her.Seriously, skip this, suspending disbelief gets exhausting after a while.
Michael Ledo
Ed Phoerum (Jeremy Irons) is a renowned astrophysicist having a six year affair with a student Amy Ryan (Olga Kurylenko) who is also an actress/stunt woman. The opening scene was rather drippy which sets up for the cheesy love scenes that will make it impossible for couples to have normal relationships after watching this film. Knowing he is dying, Ed sets up for text messages, letters, and recorded DVDs to be sent to Amy from beyond the grave. Ed was very astute and knew Amy's schedule and her too.One of the discussions is String Theory which includes parallel and alternate universes from which we can have some sort on immortality of be able to communicate with each other. Amy realizes Ed lives on his her life as a dead star whose remnant we still see.This is not a film for everyone and requires a hopeless romantic with a little bit of a geek background. It is way too long at 2 hours as the Ed run around grew tiresome.Guide: F-word and nudity (Olga Kurylenko)
Larry Silverstein
Italian filmmaker Giuseppe Tornatore has brought many terrific films to the silver screen including "Malena", and what I would regard as an all- time classic movie "Cinema Paradiso". Some may regard this latest effort as romantic but others will look at it as quite pretentious, and unfortunately I fall into that latter category.The fine actor Jeremy Irons portrays Astrophysics Professor Dr. Ed Phoerum who for six years has been in a passionate relationship with one of his former students Amy Ryan, played by Olga Kurylenko. Attending a seminar one day,she learns of his death and goes into sudden shock and grief. However, she begins to receive many cryptic messages, CD's, and other communications which seem to indicate that he's somehow aware of her activities each day.Amy begins to investigate how this is possible and will slowly learn the truth, so that by the end of the film it will all be revealed. Sorry, but it all seemed quite preposterous to me, and additionally I was never able to connect emotionally to the characters here.
gradyharp
Writer/Director Giuseppe Tornatore ('Cinema Paradiso', 'The Legend of 1900', 'The Best Offer', 'Everybody's Fine') has created a love song to Italy, science, astronomy, writing as an art form, communication and that fragile love between an older professor and a student. In other's hands this combination may come saccharine and a silly treatise on life and whether we die or become part of the universe spirit. Tornatore makes it a sensitive and delicate poem of a film.Amy Ryan (Olga Kurylenko), a young student and stunt woman for films and Ed Phoerum (Jeremy Irons), a highly respected astrophysicist have an affair for 6 years, primarily an affair over distance. When Ed goes out of town, both of them keep in touch by text and video chats. All seems well and carries a light touch of humor as well as longing until Amy discovers Ed died 2 days back due to cancer. But still she receives messages and gifts under the name of Ed. Amy meets Ed's family (Shauna Macdonald, Oscar Sanders) and gradually assimilates with them. She ceases to feel lonely with the frequent input of videos she receives at strange intervals but remains surprised about the mysterious messages and gifts. How Amy copes with her life and how is Ed texting and sending gifts even after his death forms is brought to a satisfying if over long conclusion to the film. Ed suggests that she will find another man and very briefly in the end Amy encounters an old acquaintance Jason (Simon Anthon Johns), suggesting that Ed's last prediction will be fulfilled. Tornatore's writing includes some wonderful information about the stars and the theories of their life span as well as other Astronomical insights and mixes these with love poems that are radiant as delivered by both Irons and Kurylenko. Though the film opens with a passionate love scene we both hear in darkness and eventually see as the film progresses, the remainder of the film is a conversation via cell phone and video and for those of us who have problems with the obsession with those forms of interaction in today's society, Tornatore manages to soften the mechanical emptiness of their use.Ennio Morricone provides the musical score and Fabio Zamarion the exquisite photography of Italy, Scotland, and the UK. The film is in need of some editing but the spirit is there and Tornatore's little gem restores our faith that fine films are still being made.
