A Wake

One gets the impression about half way in that this film would make an interesting novel. It fails, however, as a motion picture. The beginning scenes portend a focus on two brothers that merges abruptly into a diffuse family situation with everyone deeply involved in his or her own complicated personality. This is the stuff of a really good read on the beach or cruise ship, not an engaging visual or lively movie or stage play. The theme of death hangs over every character's place in the narrative, like a recurrent suffocating blanket or some other senselessly futile motif. An appearance at one point of a Ouija board lacks the comic response it merits, and is presented seriously. Still, there is merit in some of the performances, and visuals are generally good.

This style of story is always hard to tell... this moved me so much as someone who tried to take their own life and having seen it aswell.

It will always be a hard topic to show off well and there are a few faults that is for sure but I think the writing was generally good and it showed the real fundamental things even if harsh which shows how others and how they behave push us to the edge of darkness. The acting was alright it wasn't the greatest but this had a lot of heart and it deserves a lot of props for that. It might be one of my favourite attempts to broach a really dark subject material.

Great movie Low budget....absolutely But gets the message across Really tasteful!

It is a message that has be normalised.

The acting was mainly good...I have not heard of the director/writer but I will have to look them up.

This movie was good. The family comes together at the request of the youngest child (who I think has OCD) to honor Mitchel who has passed potentially via suicide. Mason is trying to connect with his dead twin brother, however, he can. There are family issues with the the father afraid to face the truth, the stepmother who appears cold, the alcoholic older sister, the boyfriend, etc... it felt real without being exhaustive or extremely heavy. In the end you realize we're all people trying to get through it.

This is definitely not a film for pedants who need everything explained or resolved. I will admit I was somewhat bored in the beginning, but I found myself more and more drawn into the subtle nuances the director captured about prejudices, dysfunctional families, the visceral bond identical twins share, depression, addiction, and ultimately, acceptance.

I thought the actor who played Jameson was absolutely outstanding (and I am a very harsh critic of acting) and I found myself deeply moved by this film that by the end I almost became emotional.

This isn't a perfect film, but if you appreciate subtlety and nuance in cinema, you could do far worse than A Wake.