It's All About Love

The one movie I've seen in the last 2 years that doesn't actually telegraph what's happening 2 frames ahead. i took the wrong fork in the mystery, got surprised, loved the production values, enjoyed some great music, the best mood music with ice since Smilla's sense of snow, and a video store find turned out to be the best in 4 rentals.

This movie got slammed by a lot of critics, who seemed to resist what the director was trying to present. life is a well choreographed, visually designed mystery with randomness thrown in. The terrestrial back story to the anomie in the societal makeup brings the character;s focus and hope in clearer definition.

is the headline craziness in this film any weirder than what's actually in the headlines today? There is a post-Katrina resonance to the topography agitating for notice in the periphery, and i actually wondered if it was written by Philip K Dick, there is a first-The Matrix freshness here that backs up our suspicions, that nightmare incidence of a look over your shoulder, when not only is something there, but it's not good, and you can actually see all the way down its gaping maw.

see it.

I've seen much, I've seen many, but still i haven't seen it all. This "Plot" could easily fit into a japanese anime movie like the evangelion epic or other weird animes. To see it with real actors is disturbing. But, if you fade out the messy plot and all the weird things, you'll find a beautiful romance buried in the snow and the pre-apocalyptic setting. This movie polarizes and makes oneself a bit schizophrenic. It sucks, but in a great way.

Reading the plot of the movie and watching some wonderful scenes in addition to knowing that Preisner is making the score and Sean Penn is in it , i was so much intrigued to watch this film ; what a pity and what a waste of so much potential by the director . It all begins quite interesting , but soon enough you realize that the director tries so hard to prove nothing, Hitchcock, Lynch, Trier, all mixed up . It's not lyrical but tries to be , it's not poetic but tries to be , it's not a thriller but tries to be , it's not a love story but tries to be ; in vain .

Well

Where do you begin on such a film? First thing to point out, if you wish to save yourself £3.50, then read this first.

Several words can sum up this film. 'Pointless' 'Weird' 'Strange' the list would continue until I run out of negative expressions.

It all starts with a character called John, (Joaquin Phoenix) who flies to New York to meet up with his wife called Elena (Claire Danes) . The purpose of the meeting is nothing more then to get divorce papers signed. However he is met by two of his wife's entourage, and he is taken back to her hotel, and is forced to endure a night at the ice skating.

His wife is a world famous figure skater, last time I looked this sport was as popular as synchronized swimming, however for the purposes of the film, it's as popular as the world cup, and she as a sports personality has world wide fame and recognition that David Beckam would be envious off.

Anyway, long story short, she is well past her sale by date in the sport, and her team are replacing her with Elena Clones. Sounds stupid, and is. The reason for this is because without her, they are all unemployed and unemployable (just as they should be as a collective group of actors)

John is clueless to the entire situation until he meets one of the clones wielding a knife at him, and it's only when Elena's Brother called Michael, grows a spine and tells John of the Teams plans.

As for Sean Penn who plays Johns Brother in the film, well I am still trying to understand his part in the overall story, in my opinion Sean Penn is one of the worst actors I have ever seen, and this justified my opinion further.

In conclusion, Elena does not die at the hands of her management team, rather she opts to die with her husband in the middle of nowhere in freezing conditions, so, actually opting for a much more painful prolonged death, (her clones were all shot), her Husband John dies as well, again, freezing to death, her brother Michael also dies in the forest, but he dies alone. We can only assume and hope that Sean Penn's character dies in the plane he is a passenger off, with him ending any possible chance of a sequel.

For those who express such a film as ART, or creative brilliance, you need to lay of the alcohol.

If Dogville shows the new directions taken by Director Lars von Trier since Dogme, It's All About Love shows the very different creativity of Dogme co-founder Thomas Vinterberg.

John (Joaquin Phoenix) is planning to meet his wife Elena between flights in order to have divorce papers signed. Their marriage has broken down some years ago. It is as if their 'calendars are written in different languages.' Things are not what they seem. And things don't go as planned.

It's All About Love is set in the near future but defies the sci-fi or any other genre tag. Attention is focussed on the title, what love is really about. What happens when a relationship ends? When you still ‘love' someone but no longer want to be part of each other's world? When the other person seems like almost another person to the one you knew? It's All about Love looks at parallel emotional dislocation and its extension into the physical world, a world near the brink of cosmic collapse. It contains images of stunning beauty and is also jarring and artistically innovative. It's probably also the quirkiest movie since David Lynch's Mulholland Drive.