En carne viva

I didn't have too high of expectations for this movie, but it still fell well short of my already lowered expectations. None of the characters in this movie were endearing in any way. Now, I like characters who are complex and flawed, but there has to be an appeal in there somewhere. The Franny character (Meg Ryan) was never developed. She character was enigmatic, which is a good start, but the plot never developed anything within that character. I still don't know why she found the detective (Ruffalo) interesting. I thought the character was rude and unappealing.

The relationship between Franny and her half-sister, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh, is never fully developed either.

The plot, though based on an interesting premise, plodded along much too slowly. Since the character development was lacking, this made for a very boring movie. It's interesting that a serial killer movie with sex and top notch actors can be boring, but it was.

Stay away from this dog of a movie. You will do a lot better renting "Basic Instinct" one more time.

I've never been a Jane Campion fan, but I do always respect her as an original filmmaker. This time though, I am utterly lost while watching "In the cut". At the beginning of the film you get the sense that something horrible is going to happen yet the film goes on and on and on with the unstable fling (Kevin Bacon) and a black student writing an essay in blood in between--not to mention the close-up full-on sex scene with Frannie and Malloy--the intensity kept you waiting but your expecting cinematic orgasm was let down. I don't know if I was just very distracted by the deep, poetic cinemaphotography or just tried to figure out the relationship between the main characters. (still don't know why the character of Mark Rufflo had the key to Jennifer Jason Leigh's apartment, did it imply they were involved? Perhaps plots are not essential to the film author such as Campion, but I do like to know since I sat straight on the edge of my seat in the dark for almost two hours.)

The ending was also quite disappointed, kind of your typical Hollywood thriller.(no spoiler here.)Maybe I should watch it again but the blood in the bathroom somewhat put me off.

I don't think it is a badly made movie, but I guess I'm just lost in translation.......maybe I'll never get Jane Campion's movies. Oh well.

"In the Cut" features solid acting and a nice color scheme but is mostly unremarkable in terms of story, script and visuals. Savvy viewers will recognize most of the plot elements and characters from other recent thrillers. The film does, however, have two remarkable elements: an amazing 5.1-channel sound mix and a nude scene that is notable not for its pornographic or fantasy-fulfilling qualities but for its stark realism.

Anyone who appreciates film sound should watch (or rather, listen to) "In the Cut" because it's one of the few existing films that uses 5.1-channel sound for more than SFX gimmicks or making sure the Dolby Digital logo appears on its DVD case. The film creates real ambiance and mood with its sound mix, which helped suck me into the story world and get a sense of the characters' environment. I first noticed this when Frannie descends the stairs in the restaurant (just before she sees the mysterious villain). As she walks through the noisy crowd and down the stairwell, the conversations, bustling and other background fade from the front to rear channels and mix with her footsteps as she descends. This, to me, is much more elegant use of 5.1-channel surround than sticking a few whizzing noises in the rear channels when a spaceship flies off the top edge of the frame. "In the Cut" makes full use of its available channels, which is more than 99% of high-budget films can say.

The other piece of the film that stuck with me was the nude scene with Frannie and Malloy that follows their inevitable hook-up. It's so rare to see a Hollywood nude scene that features characters just lounging with nothing on and in such an unromantic setting. It's especially amazing with an established star like Meg Ryan. There are no mysterious L-shaped sheets to hide their bodies but there is also no sense that Campion left them nude to attract voyeurs to her film. The characters don't assume erotic poses; they simply act as if they've already seen what they have to show each other, as most people do after sex. I don't often praise realism in films, especially stupid thrillers, but this scene stood out as much as the excellent sound design. If only the rest of the film could live up to those standards.

Half-baked, underwritten crime drama-cum-sexual thriller has Meg Ryan playing mousy English teacher in NYC attracted to a handsome homicide investigator on a serial murder case, one that has left body parts in Ryan's yard (and yet this barely fazes her!). Sub-plots involving Ryan's half-sister (Jennifer Jason Leigh, trying hard with a bad part), ex-boyfriend (an unbilled Kevin Bacon), her students, her job, and her fetish for the English vocabulary go absolutely nowhere. Meg, trying for an understated seriousness--but mostly just looking unhappy--gives a fairly brave and intriguing performance, and it's interesting to see her in these jittery, sordid surroundings, but the plot is alternately off-putting and curiously morbid; it's a fascinating misfire. Nicole Kidman co-produced (and perhaps was in line to star in the film herself), but Ryan does as good a job as any actress might have in the role. **1/2 from ****

Deary me, some people get upset when a film isn't what they want it to be, don't they? How dare the film be what the film-makers set out to make, instead of what someone's narrow expectations dictate it should b?

Fancy In the Cut being gritty, seamy, sexy and deeply disturbing ... just like all the publicity (and the rating) warned us it would be. What a shock. How did the people expecting another Piano, or Meg Ryan Finds True Love Yet Again ever find themselves in the cinema?

As for those who have said they have walked out completely unmoved ... either they must be aliens or robots, or are fooling themselves, not wanting to acknowledge the truth of what they've seen on the screen. Seldom have I seen a film that so truly examines the dark side of our sexual impulses. I walked out quite shattered, and wandered around in a daze for a while.

Meg Ryan completely miscast? Ridiculous and insulting. How dare you tell an actress she has to be Little Mary Sunshine for the rest of her life. And she pulls it off brilliantly. She and Mark Ruffalo give the most stunning lead performances for a long time. Why? Because they're playing real, multi-layered people. Not goody-goodies or baddy-baddies.

Didn't like any of the characters? Must have a very limited range of acquaintances, or alternatively, don't like the real people you do know.

Thriller plot not thrilling? Admittedly it's not the strongest point in the film, but it has all the required shocks and surprises (and, you'd think enough gore for the modern audience), and while the revelation of the murderer is not the biggest twist ending ever, the final shot takes your breath away.

And anyway, Campion, while handling the thriller genre competently, is using it as a means to explore sexuality. And attraction. And how much of love involves physicality, carnality, trust, the desire to dominate, the desire to be dominated, and above all, the attraction of the DANGEROUS. Yes, adult stuff, not often tackled in mainstream films.

I think it's her best film ever (possibly excepting Sweetie), and I give it 9 out of 10.