Respite

This film held my interest from the beginning and never slowed down. A compelling story, well crafted plot, and a great job of editing.

The actors gave some great performances, particularly Monte Bezell as Jimmy Baz, and Julián Juaqin as Alves.

I really liked this at the start, but then drifted away from it. It's obviously low budget but has a great feel to it thanks to the main actor, but then the cracks start to show. The crime scene with one tech and no uniforms just shows the movie's limitations. Add in a few bad actors and a ridiculous coincidence at the end it just left me feeling hollow, thinking of what could have been.

I did not enjoy 'Respite'. First of all the dialogue was trite; the characters in no way communicate as normal people would. It's very stilted, formal and over dramatic. Second, the viewer comes away with no understanding of the abusers' internal rationale for their actions beyond the prurient, so the film offers no illumination or human insight on the issue it's attempting to address. Finally, the acting varied widely from a few decent performances to outright BAD-the ending scene is basically comical. In short, it's a film best forgotten.

The lead actor Monte Bezell, reminded me of Andy Garcia. All but one actor acted as if they were seriously reading from a script. The man who owned the hookah shop was the best actor.

The story was really good however the acting was very played out. Disappointed but I still gave it 4 *.

I watched Respite and wish I could have that 90 minutes of my life back. I have no idea what the "filmmakers" were thinking. Respite tells a tale of childhood abduction and prostitution in the Middle East, which could have been an intriguing subject except for the lurid way the producers approached it, using cliched characters and cheesy dialogue. The ending is heavy-handed and the acting is amateur, the whole thing is painful to watch. I gave it 2 stars for a couple of reasons (for example the actor who played Alves was interesting and occasionally the Jimmy Baz character showed depth) but otherwise this is a cheap and unintelligent movie that does not have actors strong enough to save it.