Cruel & Unusual

The summary of my comments was going to be "The Eighth Amendment prevents you from being forced to see this movie". It was pretty unpleasant for someone like me. but now that I know how it ends, it just takes patience and it's actually quite well done, which plenty of good acting and writing.

I would say the standout performances come from Michael Eklund as Julien and Michelle Harrison as Doris. These are just the best because of what these characters do. Actually David Richmond-Peck as Edgar eventually makes an impression. He was good enough for most of the movie, but nothing spectacular. And yet at the end, He delivers. Julien is kind of a rebel and tries to help Edgar and be his friend, while at the same time being kind of a bully. Kind of like Eddie Haskell without the being charming to those in authority. Julien is the best character yet in this movie, but that will eventually change.

At one point I think "Quantum Leap" fans will be very happy.

The ending finally makes everything we have suffered through worth watching. It's actually quite amazing.

If you like weird sci-fi with philosophical questions and confronting your guilt, this might be for you.

There's a classic sense of horror to this story, something that seems vaguely like something that Terry Gilliam would have done. I'm hesitant to provide specific details about the story, but I can say this- It's unpredictable. Every time I thought I was certain about how things were going to play out, the story surprised me. It's manipulative, but not in a way that bothered me. You keep getting exposed to new information throughout, and you are forced to re-evaluate your perspective each time.

It's a distressing, but also very uplifting exploration of human failings as well as our ability to force ourselves to rise above those failings.

I realize I'm writing this review in a vague way. All I can say is that you should watch it. It very gradually ramps up, and the longer you watch, the more you'll want to see what happens.

Yeah, I know. The summary seems a bit oxymoronic, but if you've seen it, you'll know what I mean. This is a movie that gets more mileage per production dollar than 95% of what you will ever see.

Bleak almost throughout, and repetitive, but welcome to purgatory. It's totally necessary, if a bit confusing at times. I'd like to see it again, now that the premise is firmly in focus. It's a movie that is better, in some ways, the second time around.

The acting is mostly great, but the unrelenting hostility of Doris gets a bit wearing. (I have an unfortunate tendency to put "real world" values on movie characters) There isn't a bit of wasted emotion coming from her, though...it's just 'her.' Very true to the character.

There are a number of moments of doubt about some of the characters, the chief protagonists, mainly. This is all to the good, in my opinion.

I really hope the other projects involving the writer\director, Merlin Dervisevic, are as good. I'm sure going to be looking for them.

I enjoyed this movie. My wife went to sleep after about twenty minutes. I tried to get her to watch it because the story was a worthwhile tale. The feeling of the beginning was kind of depressing. A lot of people might not want to give it a chance but the plot and ideas expressed are thoughtful. It was imaginative and compassionate. It had that Rashomon element, if you know what I mean. I don't want to say anymore. Just watch it if you enjoy conceptual stories.

This doesn't usually happen to me with most movies, however, I had quite a difficult time identifying how seriously this movie really took itself. When I came to this website, I half expected the genre to say both "sci-fi" and "comedy," as opposed to "sci-fi" and "thriller." The acting was superb, however, the script and interaction between the characters had me laughing when I guess I was not supposed to. I cannot say that I was expecting what came at the resolution either, which certainly makes this movie worth watching. I did not want to include any spoilers in this review, so I'll conclude it by telling those who are a fan of the sci-fi genre to give this title a shot, and decide how they feel about it for themselves.